{"id":33665,"date":"2018-01-09T00:07:44","date_gmt":"2018-01-09T04:07:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=33665"},"modified":"2018-01-09T00:10:30","modified_gmt":"2018-01-09T04:10:30","slug":"review-of-gemina-by-amie-kaufman-and-jay-kristoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=33665","title":{"rendered":"Review of Gemina, by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Gemina<\/p>\n

The Illuminae Files_02<\/em><\/p>\n

by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
\nwith journal illustrations by Marie Lu<\/p>\n

Alfred A. Knopf, 2016. 659 pages.<\/p>\n

Last year, I was a first-round judge for the Cybils Award category of Young Adult Speculative Fiction. We chose seven finalists, and the second-round judges chose Illuminae<\/em> as the final winner.<\/p>\n

Illuminae<\/a><\/em> was a thriller with a high body count, a tense story of people fleeing through space when their illegal mining company was attacked by a rival corporation. And that corporation was chasing the survivors as they tried to reach the nearest \u201cjump station\u201d to get to a wormhole and then to the Core planets.<\/p>\n

What I thought when the first book finished was that they\u2019d get to the safety of the jump station and get to share the news. I thought there\u2019d be some chance to catch their breath. Ummmm, No!<\/p>\n

Because the evil corporation BeiTech doesn\u2019t want anyone in the Core planets to hear about what they did. They\u2019ve sent an elite force to take over the jump station and destroy their records \u2013 as well as to let through a fleet of drones that will destroy our survivors on the spaceship.<\/p>\n

In this book again, the focus is on two teenagers caught in the carnage. Hanna Donnelly is the daughter of the station commander. At the beginning, we see her as a rich princess party girl. But we also learn that for fun, her father puts her through simulated combat scenarios. She\u2019s ready to fight back against this elite force. Well, with a little computer help.<\/p>\n

Other key combatants are Nik Malikov, part of a family supplying drugs to folks on the station, and his cousin Ella, a computer genius.<\/p>\n

This book was every bit as thrilling and tense as the first one \u2013 but I was kind of tired of the drama by the time I read this one. I would have liked a little variation from bad guys trying to hunt our heroes down in an enclosed place. When there was even a zombifying threat \u2013 I laughed out loud (probably not the reaction the authors were going for). In Illuminae<\/em>, there was a virus loose on the ship that turns people into zombies. In Gemina<\/em>, there\u2019s an alien worm loose that eats people\u2019s brains (grown to produce a popular hallucinogenic drug \u2013 but forgotten about when its keepers are slaughtered). Because apparently you have to have a few zombies and monsters for proper space horror.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a big paradox with the wormhole, and some convenient ways it helped the plot \u2013 which stretched credibility.<\/p>\n

But the fact is, there was no way I was going to quit once I picked this up. Okay, it\u2019s long and I did manage to stop in the middle \u2013 but I did have it finished in a surprisingly short space of time. If you can handle the high body count, mortal terror, and gruesome deaths \u2013 I\u2019m afraid this book is still a lot of diverting fun.<\/p>\n

Mind you, both books feature couples who might have real problems if they were to try to live together for any extended period of time. But I can easily believe they\u2019d have a strong bond after going through these harrowing adventures together.<\/p>\n

And, yes, I want to find out what happens next \u2013 and how they all bring the evil corporation to account. Oh, and get back to civilization.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re in for a wild ride if you read these books. But once you start, you won\u2019t want to stop, any more than you\u2019d want to get off a roller coaster once you\u2019ve started.<\/p>\n

amiekaufman.com<\/a>
\njaykristoff.com<\/a>
\nrandomhouseteens.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Teens\/gemina.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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