Gemina by Annie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff: Well, If there were ever a chance I'd go to space . .

Gemina 

by 

Annie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

The Illuminae formula returns in Gemina. Meaning the whole book is told in in ‘retrieved’ documents, like chat logs and audio logs. Also there’s some sort of vulnerable chunk of metal, chocked full of equally vulnerable people, floating through space just waiting to explode for some reason or another. And did I mention that there’s one hundred and one ways to day lurking around every corner. If there were ever a chance of me going to space . . . it’s gone. Kind of like vast majority of characters.

Characters

Hanna: I’ll be honest, I was not sold on Hanna in the beginning. Kady and Ezra were normal kids, but they learned to be impressively capable as Illuminae progressed. And, I adored them. For the second book I had to trade my beloved ‘Space Princess’ hacker and her dorky-pilot-in-shining-armor for a spoiled rich girl and her drug dealer . . . 

let’s just say I was not initially impressed. But Hanna and Nik grew on me. Hanna was presented as a pampered princess, but she could kick anybody’s butt, a skill she learned from her commander father. Speaking of her dad, though we don’t see a lot of their relationship, I appreciated that it wasn’t regulated to some sort of cliché relationship. I liked how he spoiled her a tiny bit but also challenged her with crazy strategy games and insane combat simulations. So, in summary, Hanna started out as this bratty child but then we get this gal who likes pretty things and draws ridiculous little comics with hearts and puns but who could also kill you. 

So, yeah, Hanna is good in my book.

Nik: Again, I wasn’t sure about Nik at first. He began as every Bad Boy Cliché ever put to paper. It turned out that he was more playing the part of Bad Boy instead of actually being one; which is actually kind of clever on the authors' part. We did kind of exchange that cliché for the reluctant hero with a tragic back story cliché, but this cliché was written much better so it didn’t bother me. Maybe it was because, instead of making him morose and grumpy (as you would expect) the authors made him the living embodiment of sass and terrible jokes under pressure. I guess he can stay too.

Ella: I guess the authors couldn’t get rid of their hacker character completely. Ella is a fifteen-year-old paraplegic who could hack her way into anything (I think she and Kady would get along). Basically, she’s Oracle from the DC comics. Except, she's tiny; and, constantly playing third wheel between Nik and Hanna. Her job is to keep everyone alive while mocking them incessantly. She’s my favorite. Hands down.

Likes

Hanna was an artist so there were tiny journal drawings!!: And they were so friggen cute! Except for the part were the journal was covered in blood. That was kind of ominous. Anyway, this was a brilliant move on the authors' part because we got to see a bit more into Hanna’s mind than we did with any of the other characters.

Even though we got new characters the old characters were still in the background: meaning that they too were in constant danger of dying. Yay...? Honestly these poor people have been through so much crap. They’re finally on their way to a jump station only to find that more people are trying to kill them. And since there’s a third book I’m guessing it’s not going to stop here.

Comedy is on point in this one: Illuminae had a lot of gallows humor, which certainly fit the situation. But personally, I’m glad that Ella and that stupid song provided some lighthearted jokes. That song though! Apparently, it’s some inappropriate, pop-y, song that drives everyone crazy because (in some sort of prank) it’s the only song that will play throughout the entire station. Excuse me I need to imagine all the scary mercenary antagonists clomping through a space station to some sort of teeny-bopper tune.

Note from the Editor: The definition of gallows humor is grim or ironic humor in a desperate or hopeless situation. I wasn't sure what it was, and I like the definition.

Tiny side notes on the page with all the bad guy’s names and faces on them: There’s a lot of really cool opportunities when a book is written entirely in gathered data files. So, there’s a crap-ton of tiny insignificant things that make the whole experience ten times better. One of those things is two whole pages with the antagonists faces and names on them. As they die, their picture is X’d out. I don’t know why but... dang! It was a really cool mechanic! I think that one will stick with me.

Tiny side note about that poor nameless fella who has to watch all these tragedies unfold: This poor guy had his funny moments in Illuminae, but they were mostly relegated to a throwaway line here or there about the characters or all the crazy crap that’s going down. This time around he seems to have a mental breakdown and complains that he doesn’t get paid enough to repeatedly watch people be shot, stabbed and ripped to pieces. Somebody get this guy a raise? And maybe some chocolate or something. I think he deserves it.

Dislikes

Okay so the plot is a tiny bit recycled: There’s a lot that’s similar to Illuminae. This isn’t technically bad, since it worked the first time, but it did make the beginning a little worrying. I didn’t want Gemina to just be Illuminae with different characters and a different setting. You could honestly argue about that all day though and I don’t think you could ever come up with a concrete reason why they’re exactly the same or why they aren’t. So, I just kind of made the decision to not care too much. Hopefully the third one steps away from that a little.

Sorry but space eels with too many teeth aren’t nearly as scary as space zombies: don’t get me wrong that fake Wikipedia article was pretty creepy. But they weren’t nearly as scary as the Phobos Virus. However, in the authors’ defense, it’s not like you can top space zombies.

I for one adored Gemina. It had everything I wanted in a sequel (and some stuff I didn’t but that doesn’t matter as much). In fact, I might have to go out and buy the third book because who knows when my library will get it and I don’t want to wait. Besides, the way these books have been going, everyone is going to die anyway.