Gemina

The Illuminae Files, Book 2

By: Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff

Narrated by: Carla Corvo, Steve West, P. J. Ochlan, full cast

Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's Summary

Hanna Donnelly is the station captain's pampered daughter, and Nik Malikov is the reluctant member of a notorious crime family.

Together they struggle with the realities of life aboard the galaxy's most boring space station, blissfully unaware that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall with news of the Kerenza invasion.

©2016 Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (P)2016 Listening Library

The best full cast Audiobooks ever!

This second book was a teeny bit more boring than the first one, but still absolutely incredible! The characters are brilliantly written and for some reason I keep falling in love with them to the point that I cry if something awful happens to them. I would say that that means something. Oh and the villains are scary and I want to pee my pants at times...

Well-produced, but read the book instead.

Doesn’t quite live up to Illuminae. Well-produced, clearly with an even higher production value than the first, but it is let down by a weaker plot with far too many convenient solutions. Plus, parts of it are really not suited to audiobook form and will flow far better, and make far more sense, on paper.

Has enough going for it production wise to make me want to finish the series, but I will be hoping for a far superior plot in the finale.

Same sharp writing, and a great cast

Illuminae (book 1) was a self-contained story based around the ship Hypatia. Gemina (book 2) has a new setting and new characters.

It uses the same framing as Illuminae: the book is a collection of chat logs and camera transcripts presented to a tribunal. It works really well at making it feel like this is <i>real</i>. It also means about a third of the story is presented through teenagers' instant messages. They're wonderfully written, and they're exactly as try-hard and snarky as you'd expect a teenager's messages to be... whether you enjoy that or not will play a big part in whether you enjoy the story.

Personally, I love it. The writing's every bit as sharp as the first book, and the format still works wonderfully. The new setting doesn't work quite as well for me - Illuminae had a couple of specific threats that really made the story stand out, and because this one has a new setting, those aren't present. Hence 4 starts rather than 5. But it's still a wonderfully-written young adult sci-fi novel.

I also found the 'big twist' was perfectly weighted, i.e. I spotted it ahead of time, but I had to pay attention.

The audiobook is brilliant. It's read with a full cast, and the main actors (Carla Corvo and Steve West) are wonderful. There's also an actor for the analyst describing the camera transcripts. This added another dimension for me, as he became a character of his own in a way I hadn't noticed when I was reading it myself.

Much better than the first book

I don’t agree with a lot of the breaking the mould stuff about these novels but they are fun. Lots of ideas from other novels and films all rolled into one.

This was great fun though and the lead characters were great. Really enloyed them. Right, book 3!

Great Cast

I adored Iluminae and I couldn't wait to start this book. We continue with the story of Bei-tech and their invasion. This time we are on jump station of Heimdall. The story is told from the perspectives of Hanna Donnelly and Nik Malikov.

Hanna is the station captains daughter. Some think she is pampered and while her Dad did spoil her, he also made her train hard. She is an excellent strategist and fantastic fighter both in and outside the dojo. I loved Hanna. She is funny, brave and very clever.

Nik Malikov is the bad boy of Heimdall. He is part of the notorious crime family, The House of Knives. Nik was such a good character. He's got a bad boy vibe, he's snarky, cheeky and full of quick witty remarks. He is one of my favourite characters in this series.

My other favourite character was Ella, Nik's cousin. Ella has been through a lot in her life so far and what she experiences in this book is never seems to diminish her spirit or determination. She is also wicked funny and a whiz on the tech side.

Again I loved the full cast on this audiobook but I have seen the paperback and its also a beaut so whatever format suits you, you are in for a real treat with this book.

As soon as I finished this one I knew I just had to hear how the series ended.

loved this book cant wait to read the third book

I loved this book can't wait to read the finale book this kept me hooked from start to finish

Hugely enjoyable, less teenage angst than before

I had the benefit of listening to this straight after illuminae, so I didn't need to get 'in' to the format of the narration again. The performance was fab again and the story included many of the elements that made the first book enjoyable without the gushing that put me off.

Really well made

The full cast and sound effects in this audiobook do an amazing job brining the story to life.

Amazing!

After reading illuminae via ebook and now listened to this I will definitley be going back and listening to book 1 as this is honestly the most immersive and exciting thing I've listened to. Not only do sound effects and different actors bring life to this story, the story itself is thrilling and a joy to read.

AHHHHHHHHHHH YES!

Yes... Just yes.... I can't even.... Wow.. Just wow, that ending... Roller coaster of brain F***ing.... That is all.

Edit: AND THE THIRD BOOK IS ONLY 11 MONTHS AWAY AHHHHHHH

recommend

like listening to a movie - really amazing sound Would recommend if you liked Illuminae