Title: GeminaAuthors: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Release Date: October 18, 2016
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (Random House imprint)
On board the space station Heimdall is Hanna, the station captain's pampered daughter, and Nik. the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. While the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy's most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion. When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station's wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren't just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands. But relax. They've totally got this. They hope.
Gemina is a story of fear, worry, survival, and impossibility. It's a meeting point in deep space where everything is about to explode. We know what's already happened, we know what's coming. Now we get to see the impact.
Hanna is the station captain's daughter. She's smart, skilled, tough as nails, and totally has her dad wrapped around her little finger when it comes to getting what she wants. Sure, she's spoiled, and sure, she doesn't want to be stuck on a space station where nothing exciting ever happens, but that doesn't mean she can't make her own fun. Like hanging out with her friends, spending a little quality time with her boyfriend. But she's no idiot. Nik is like a classic nice guy, except he's caught up in some family politics. Which can get pretty sticky and hard to escape when your family is a crime family. When you're knee deep in a current job. When you've already been to prison. But he's surviving, being on the station. He has things that get him through days. Like the chats with his cousin. Like the chats with Hanna.
Apart from Hanna and Nik, we get a good look at the bigger picture. At BeiTech's plots and plans, at their determination and ruthlessness. We get BeiTech's highly skilled team of "auditors," led by a seemingly calm and calculating monster of a man. We get a group of well-trained operatives who go in expecting business as usual and end up in a perfect storm of catastrophes. And because they're cold-blooded killers, it's hard to feel sad when they die.
AIDEN. Because of course AIDEN would be back. How could it not come back? How could it not return, say the most obvious and logical things, and give the human characters chances to snarkily talk back? How could readers pass up the chance to witness AIDEN's continued fracturing?
Even with the book written in chats, audio logs, and video transcriptions, you can find the differences in the characters. Their choice of words, the different degrees of their worry and panic. Their skills and how they use them. Hanna's trained in martial arts, she can definitely handle herself in a fight. Nik is your classic nice guy stuck in a bad situation, he's tough but that doesn't mean he's not afraid. This is an exciting, deadly, tense continuation from the situation that first started in Illuminae, that first started with the attack on Kerenza IV, and I can't wait to see how it will all unfold in the last book.
(I received an advance copy of this title from another review blogger.)
Gemina is a story of fear, worry, survival, and impossibility. It's a meeting point in deep space where everything is about to explode. We know what's already happened, we know what's coming. Now we get to see the impact.
Hanna is the station captain's daughter. She's smart, skilled, tough as nails, and totally has her dad wrapped around her little finger when it comes to getting what she wants. Sure, she's spoiled, and sure, she doesn't want to be stuck on a space station where nothing exciting ever happens, but that doesn't mean she can't make her own fun. Like hanging out with her friends, spending a little quality time with her boyfriend. But she's no idiot. Nik is like a classic nice guy, except he's caught up in some family politics. Which can get pretty sticky and hard to escape when your family is a crime family. When you're knee deep in a current job. When you've already been to prison. But he's surviving, being on the station. He has things that get him through days. Like the chats with his cousin. Like the chats with Hanna.
Apart from Hanna and Nik, we get a good look at the bigger picture. At BeiTech's plots and plans, at their determination and ruthlessness. We get BeiTech's highly skilled team of "auditors," led by a seemingly calm and calculating monster of a man. We get a group of well-trained operatives who go in expecting business as usual and end up in a perfect storm of catastrophes. And because they're cold-blooded killers, it's hard to feel sad when they die.
AIDEN. Because of course AIDEN would be back. How could it not come back? How could it not return, say the most obvious and logical things, and give the human characters chances to snarkily talk back? How could readers pass up the chance to witness AIDEN's continued fracturing?
Even with the book written in chats, audio logs, and video transcriptions, you can find the differences in the characters. Their choice of words, the different degrees of their worry and panic. Their skills and how they use them. Hanna's trained in martial arts, she can definitely handle herself in a fight. Nik is your classic nice guy stuck in a bad situation, he's tough but that doesn't mean he's not afraid. This is an exciting, deadly, tense continuation from the situation that first started in Illuminae, that first started with the attack on Kerenza IV, and I can't wait to see how it will all unfold in the last book.
(I received an advance copy of this title from another review blogger.)
I'm really looking forward to seeing more about BeiTech and I hope there's a good reason why they're being so ruthless beyond "they're just bad." Which given Illuminae I'm sure we will get that. And I'm curious to see about Heimdall too. Nik and Hanna sound great.
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