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Book Review: Gemina by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

* I have received this book for review from the publisher but this in no way affects my review *

Gemina (The Illuminae Files, #2)Title: Gemina
Author: Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman 
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Rock The Boat
Rating: 5/5 stars








Summary of the book from GoodReads:

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.
Picking up about five minutes after Illuminae ends, Gemina is the electrifying sequel to the hottest YA novel of 2015.


Book Review Summary: 

So like almost everyone who read Illuminae last year, I fell in love with the book so obviously when the opportunity came to review Gemina I jumped at the chance. This was an incredible book, equally Illuminae and was well worth the wait. 

Book Review:

          I think when an eagerly anticipated book or sequel comes out there is always the expectation that it should be equally as good or even better than the first one. On some occasions, this does not come true but Gemina is one of those cases where the book is better or if not as good as the first one and this is saying something considering I stayed up on multiple nights to read Illuminae. 

          Although you can argue that the format of the book is at play, Gemina is a truly captivating read something that I devoured only in a couple of days. Just like Illuminae, the plot is complex and interesting and keeps you on the edge of your seat until the last page, complete with a wonderful cliffhanger ending. It's just a shame that I read this book as a proof copy as it now means that I have a really long wait for the next one. 

          This series is a companion one, which means that each book follows a different set of characters but it is set in the same world which has caused other events to happen. Due to the nature of the series, this means you have different characters to learn and see develop on the page. I really enjoyed both the characters of Hanna and Nik. They are extremely different but they complicated often complimenting each other well and I loved how their relationship developed over the course of the book. I do think however their relationship was not as strong as Kady and Ezra's relationship but it was still nice to read about. Due to the nature of the story, we also get to see some cameos from characters in the first book which was a surprise to see. I would love to see how the stories link together in the finale and whose story we get to see next. 
   
           As those of you who have read this story know, the format of this series is extremely different being told in extracts, emails and other things which make this book have a unique reading experience. Although for the most part, I loved this and thought it worked well, in my opinion, I found myself getting lost in the story although this is a personal problem and would not be experienced by everyone. Although no one's fault in the matter, the proof copy was slightly unfinished but this is just the nature of proof copies and I will reread it to see if I can get a better experience as it felt like some informaton was missing. 

The Verdict: 

This is a wonderful continuation to the Illuminae Files and was a great reading experience that I just can't wait to see how it ends. Of course this is one of my favourite books of the year. 

Have you read Gemina? Are you excited to read Gemina? Leave your thoughts in the comments below. 

See you soon, 

Amy 


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