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carissa230's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Hannah likes to party and she likes to do that with Dust. Jackson, her boyfriend isn't a fan of her doing dust, but helps to cover her tracks to meet her dealer. Nik is her dust dealer and member of a crime family that is hidden on Heimdall.
Heimdall is getting ready for a big celebration when BeiTech comes to ruin the day...again. BeiTech is much more ruthless and cutthroat this time around. They have hired mercenaries to handle the ship and they plan to leave no survivors.
While this book was a quick read, it was not as fun as Illuminae. The layout was still entertaining, but not as entertaining as the first time I experienced it. I think the concentration on the romance love-triangle was slightly annoying.
Heimdall is getting ready for a big celebration when BeiTech comes to ruin the day...again. BeiTech is much more ruthless and cutthroat this time around. They have hired mercenaries to handle the ship and they plan to leave no survivors.
While this book was a quick read, it was not as fun as Illuminae. The layout was still entertaining, but not as entertaining as the first time I experienced it. I think the concentration on the romance love-triangle was slightly annoying.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Death of parent
anticapitalist_2000's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent
Minor: Drug use
nxclx's review against another edition
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Giving this three stars hurt me, so I didn't. It was still intriguing and drew me in, but it was almost the same formula as the first one: BeiTech attacking with an non-human secondary threat. But still good.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and Murder
caoimhe9876's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Torture, and Grief
danni_0412's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Honestly, I was not expecting to like this book as much as I liked the first book but was pleasantly surprised in the end. I enjoyed the pacing of the novel and felt like everything was wrapped up pretty well. I managed to guess many of the plot twists but that did not take away from the excitement of this story. One pet peeve I have with this series is some of the language usages of the characters. The characters sometimes have cringe-worthy dialogue that can pull a reader out of the story. A plus of this story is the plot. I like how plot-heavy the book is because it kept me on the edge of my seat. I would highly suggest this book as a fun read that doesn't require excessive thought to be enjoyable.
Content Warnings
Minor: Genocide, Gun violence, and Blood
nytephoenyx's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
And so continues the story of the Illuminae Files.
First off, I have to once again applaud the audiobook production of Gemina. I know this has nothing to do with the actual book, but like Illuminae, the full cast production was stellar. Each voice actor was great, but the music and sound effects take the story to the next level. This series is in my top three for favorite audiobooks – they’re so immersive.
Story-wise, I didn’t like Gemina quite as much as much as Illuminae. It felt too similar. Much of the book was spent in a space survival situation, hiding in vents and avoiding or negotiating with an enemy. In fact, I’d even go so far as to say that Hanna and Nik felt like photocopies of Kady and Ezrato me, only lacking some of their depth. None of this made Gemina a bad book, but it did make me grateful for the length of time I waited between books so it wasn’t as exhausting as it could have been.
If you want to find a series with constant action and small, quick twists, I think the Illuminae Files does a great job. The science is well explained and accessible for those who aren’t science fiction aficionados, but there isn’t so much of it that it drags down the story or becomes pretentious. The characters tend to be witty and there are a lot of quips. The only thing that bothered me about the dialogue was a single repeated joke, “I’d like to buy a vowel please,” implying that not only is Wheel of Fortune alive and well deep into this distant future, but it’s cool enough to be quoted by teens. Since that isn’t true now, this struck me as a bit out of place. That’s such a small little nitpick, but it got under my skin, so I wanted to mention it.
Overall, I still think the series is interesting and generally original, particularly in the YA genre. I was a little thrown off in the beginning (where are Kady and AIDEN? Who is this Hanna character?), but I think the way Kaufman and Kristoff tied both storylines together at the end was really good. My hope for Obsidio would be that we don’t get another whole new cast of characters and then have to tie these ones in again, because that trick has already been done before, and it just wouldn’t be as good the second time. For myself, I’ll definitely be reading Obsidio. The Illuminae Files gets a lot of praise and while I’m not sure it’s at the level of gushing-I-can’t-even-describe-my-feelings-omg-this-book, it’s a highly entertaining read and worth your time!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Cursing
vendela's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, and Drug use
Minor: Terminal illness, Medical content, and Medical trauma
triptych_turning's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I LOVED Illuminae, so I was eager to follow up with the sequel. This was an amazing follow-up. There were a ton of plotlines that all tied up satisfactorily, and I enjoyed many of the characters. The worldbuilding, like its predecessor, was immaculate, and I highly, highly reccomend this book to amyone who enjoyed the first book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Drug use, and Police brutality
scarlettskyes's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
My first advice to anyone reading this series is to take a small break between each book. It is very difficult to change into the mindset that the two main characters of Gemina are not the main characters of Illuminae, though there are plenty of similarities. I had originally picked it up immediately after finishing Illuminae but put it back down within a few pages because I was too confused with the change of perspective. After reading two or three other books in between however, I tried it again and absolutely loved it. The graphic designs included in the book are just as incredible as the first one (though I found that the first few chats were way too dark contrast wise and actually were physically difficult to read, though that may have been a printing mistake), with some very creative ways of exploring the world and the characters. I especially loved the journal entries written by Hanna as they were a unique format not present in the first book. Every small cameo from Kady was hilarious, and some of the plot twists while predictable were still very interesting. I am rating this book a little lower than the first because I found that Nik was a less interesting version of Ezra while Hanna was a less interesting version of Kady. It was still a very interesting read that I have recommended to other people.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Medical trauma
ravensandlace's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
My heart is sooooo happy right now! So freaking happy! Like I did with Illuminae , I will try and gather my thoughts into something that is coherent. Because lord knows, my mind is a jumbled mess of happy and eek noises.
So this takes place after the events of the Kerenza invasion and all that. We have Hanna, who I didn't care for at first but she grew on me and is also the captain's daughter and Nik, who is part of a mob called the House of Knives, which deals a drug called dust on the ship. Basically, their ship, the Heimdall, is invaded by BeiTech terrorists. Written in the same way Illuminae is, with all the chat logs, video surveillance, emails and all that jazz, this is a story that I will not be forgetting for a long time.
Hanna, as I mentioned above, was at first okay for me. She was kind of snotty and I didn't like how she led Nik along. I enjoyed her journal entries though and her drawings were really well done. I also thought it was really cool that she was into martial arts. Girls in martial arts don't get enough rep in books, I think. As the story progressed, she grew on me more and more. She wasn't just a snobby rich kid. She was a warrior, determined to live by any means necessary.
Nik was cool. He reminded me of Ezra. I did enjoy the back and forth Nik and Hanna had. The added Russian mob story was really cool. It give Nik more character and who doesn't love a good background story. I really felt bad for him that he was in the situation that he was in due to family. Also, his cousin Ella was amazing! EVerything she said was just pure gold! I could read a whole book about her and not get bored!
Okay. This next little part I am putting under spoiler tags. I don't know if it would really be considered a spoiler but I don't want to be yelled at. I am also going to reference something that might help you to understand this story. But, like I said, it's probably a spoiler. So read at your own risk.
Alright. One of the many plots really was about multiverses. I actually understood what they were talking about and I appreciate the fact that they dumbed it down for those that don't understand a lick of science. For those that didn't quite understand, I'll put it in super easy layman's terms. Basically there is this theory that there are multiple universes. For example: there is this universe, where I excel at reading and can't stand math. In another universe, there is another me, who loves math but can't stand reading. If things are still foggy for you, I would suggest watching the Family Guy episode Road to the Multiverse . That should help clear up any confusion about this plot.
I'm going to wrap this up before it gets to ridiculously long. This made my heart happy. I'm going to buy this book as soon as I can and treasure it like I do Illuminae . I'm going to eagerly await the third installment. I'm going to throw this book at everybody and demand that they read it because they don't know what they are missing.
Just kidding. I would never throw a book.
So this takes place after the events of the Kerenza invasion and all that. We have Hanna, who I didn't care for at first but she grew on me and is also the captain's daughter and Nik, who is part of a mob called the House of Knives, which deals a drug called dust on the ship. Basically, their ship, the Heimdall, is invaded by BeiTech terrorists. Written in the same way Illuminae is, with all the chat logs, video surveillance, emails and all that jazz, this is a story that I will not be forgetting for a long time.
Hanna, as I mentioned above, was at first okay for me. She was kind of snotty and I didn't like how she led Nik along. I enjoyed her journal entries though and her drawings were really well done. I also thought it was really cool that she was into martial arts. Girls in martial arts don't get enough rep in books, I think. As the story progressed, she grew on me more and more. She wasn't just a snobby rich kid. She was a warrior, determined to live by any means necessary.
Nik was cool. He reminded me of Ezra. I did enjoy the back and forth Nik and Hanna had. The added Russian mob story was really cool. It give Nik more character and who doesn't love a good background story. I really felt bad for him that he was in the situation that he was in due to family. Also, his cousin Ella was amazing! EVerything she said was just pure gold! I could read a whole book about her and not get bored!
Okay. This next little part I am putting under spoiler tags. I don't know if it would really be considered a spoiler but I don't want to be yelled at. I am also going to reference something that might help you to understand this story. But, like I said, it's probably a spoiler. So read at your own risk.
Alright. One of the many plots really was about multiverses. I actually understood what they were talking about and I appreciate the fact that they dumbed it down for those that don't understand a lick of science. For those that didn't quite understand, I'll put it in super easy layman's terms. Basically there is this theory that there are multiple universes. For example: there is this universe, where I excel at reading and can't stand math. In another universe, there is another me, who loves math but can't stand reading. If things are still foggy for you, I would suggest watching the Family Guy episode Road to the Multiverse . That should help clear up any confusion about this plot.
I'm going to wrap this up before it gets to ridiculously long. This made my heart happy. I'm going to buy this book as soon as I can and treasure it like I do Illuminae . I'm going to eagerly await the third installment. I'm going to throw this book at everybody and demand that they read it because they don't know what they are missing.
Just kidding. I would never throw a book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Mass/school shootings