(Illuminae 2) Gemina

“It may comfort you to know that your death, while astonishingly violent, will likely be mercifully swift.”

“This tiny moment. In between the time you decide to pull a trigger and the time death arrives. There's just you and it and everything you're about to take away. It's too big. It goes forever.”

(Illuminae 2) Gemina by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Audiobook Narrator: Full Cast Listed below
Epub 646 pages, Audiobook 12:33:39 total

Title and Author links to where you may purchase the book. This is a rating primarily of the audiobook although I did read along in much of the ebook.... It easier to read the ebook in portrait, if your eyes are about 300% better than mine.

My Rating:

Highly recommended 5 star science fiction thriller novel, extraordinaire. If you don't want spoilers don't read the reviews of a second book in a trilogy? A review of a second book in a multi-book series is not possible without spoilers -- unless you say just about nothing, which I've grown weary of doing.

I will try NOT to be explicitly & blatantly spoiling but if you read even one sentence further, and you didn't want spoilers

... We both messed up. You read the blurbs, other reviews, and now this one.

Here we go...
We start again in media res. We are in the proceedings of the trial of Bei-Tech's massive crime which is pretty much all of what the previous book, Illuminae, is about. By now we know who is on trial, who they are related to, what atrocities they've wrought, and why Kady's boyfriend, per se, was ever at Kerenza to begin with. (Gives me Glenn Close quivers. Not sorry.)

We know from our previous reading that Kerenza is an illegal mining operation in a frozen tundra of a planet light-days away from even the slums on the outside fringes of the rim of the universe.

My initial feeling was, "Wait... this isn't what I was expecting". And considering how Illuminae ended --I previously discussed this briefly in my review of Illuminae -- that feeling is sort of like learning the ending of The Sixth Sense was just a minor plot twist.

Generally
As we transition from the rhetoric of trail banter we land in the narrative of what the "evidence" is in the trial from multiple viewpoints - largely in regards to Jump Station Heimdall.

Jump Station Heimdall is where the refugees of Kerenza are attempting to escape to. The testimony is largely gathered at Jump Station Heimdall, as if a really good detective has scoured through all the back op files and communications of every human alive, and a bunch more info that even black ops spies seem to have forgotten to make disappear. This is where we abandon any hope of re-visiting our beloved protagonist Kady, AIDAN, Ezra, et al. from Illuminae.

Yes this is disappointing in a sequel. But suspend disbelief and trust your hallucination guides Ms. Kaufman & Mr. Kristoff (and their amazing support crew).

Our new protagonist is primarily, "The Princess" -- the illustrious Hanna Donnelly, daughter of the commander of Jump Station Heimdall. And a set of 4-5 "character moons" in Ms. Hanna's orbit. (co-pro and contagonist)

Hanna is written with a very similar "sense of humor" and personality as Kady from Illuminae so it isn't long before you only wish Kady would show up and untangle the mess Bei Tech is creating.

I'll stop here to avoid further spoilers. Do trust, that like Illuminae, you'll have to remember to breath. Also remember our hallucination directors (authors) do want you to find this story mysterious as well as action packed, suspenseful, and thrilling, so while there are not a ton of red herrings there are fish, even gold fish.

Notable Notes:
This another book I did almost entirely on audiobook while doing other chores so no significant notes.

BUT, the Gateway/Heechee saga did come up again with me as if it were similar. And again, I don't see any real similarities. Perhaps they both make me feel a similar way. I have no clue why I would go there or that sensation would happen. Sure, I like both sets of characters a lot, but why I'd think them similar? Your guess is as good as mine. If you have a guess, I'll like to hear it. I apparently have some weird Pavlov's dog syndrome going on here that doesn't make sense.

Likes and Dislikes
Dislike: It isn't an obvious extension of Illuminae in the sense that our primary protagonists do not re-appear as one might anticipate. That's probably a good thing as well.
Like: I was exceedingly pleased that even without our original protagonist we pick up some new co-protagonists equally as enjoyable. Like: I love history. This story had more than one historical story reference weaved into this story in appropriate ways that gives an ardent reader a deeper appreciation of the author's extensive grasp of historical novels/history and the craft skills they use to blend those references into this novel. There were quotes from Sun Tsu, The Art of War, Tolstoy, War and Peace and I even stopped the audio when a quote from a Shakespeare play was mentioned. They used only half of a really good quote.

I did stop the audiobook just because I wanted to complete the quote to myself before going onward. Its from Act 3, Scene 1, line 273 of English playwright William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. in Gemina they use Mark Anthony's "Cry Havoc..." quote. I wanted to stop as that line is incomplete. I longed to repeat the entire quote, just for my own greedy satisfaction. It is unrelated to anything in Gemina, but it's personal to me.

"...ranging for revenge, with Ate by his side come hot from hell, shall in these confines with a Monarch's voice cry 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war." More general history...

I do have a lot more "likes" but most of them are "technical" so I'll leave those for that section, below.

Technically
It isn't an unusual way to tell a story. It goes by many names, "A Frame Story", "Story within a story" and others. We already know the crimes, and what happens so this book opens with the trial about those crimes but as the attorneys are objecting and positioning we get sent into the "evidence" from the perspective of Heimdall Station where our Kerenza escaping refugees are attempting to reach for safety. In short, it is the story of what goes on in Jump Station Heimdall while the previous crimes were being committed. In the end we back out into the framework... the procedures of the trial, which has its own surprises.

Author's have a ton of "tricks" that well learned can enhance their art and craft. One is keeping both the reader and protagonist uncertain of who they can trust. This leaves the reader in suspense nearly at all times, uncertain who may or may not piss on the electric wires at any given time. This is done with excellence in this novel. It is only one among the many praises I can give the crew that put these books together.

I studied writing for decades so a lot of things fascinate me that may bore others. There's a crime family involved on Jump Station Heimdall. More than one, actually.

Lets say one set of criminals has meth labs on the station. As far as the story or any sub plots go, they seem insignificant. There's some banter that adds color, but later when the tick-tocks to doom are going off like concussion grenades during every tick of the clock, some of this backstory of criminal activity becomes an interesting factor between the good guys and the bad guys. Plot-wise, it's kind of genius in a multitude of ways.

Most folks have seen this writer's trick employed in a multitude of ways, but this time, with this one, I thought, "brilliant".

Conclusion
It's the second in a set of books of unknown number at this time. If I love the first, I usually can't wait for the second. This so troubles me I often won't touch a "great book" until I have a clue about who is writing, and who is directing the writer.

You will read Gemina if you read Illuminae. I started Illuminae after receiving massive recommendations but only ages after Obsidio was published.

I just picked up Memento. It is a prequel 0.5 on Goodreads or an in-between novella 3.5 of the series on other sites. There's nothing on Amie or Jay's sites. I presume they have less time and interest in the project than some other concerned people.

The author's aren't dead, as far as I know. May they live long and happy lives. That does almost certainly mean some publisher, Penguin Random House I presume, will continually hound them to write more Illuminae books, "To make all their fans so grateful and happy...." enough to make all concerned a bit wealthier. May the benevolent gods of capitalism forever bless them all.

Speaking of dead authors. I so dearly loved the recently departed Terry Goodkind. Rest in Peace sir and thank you for the years of Richard, Kahlan, Nicci, Cara, Zed et al. My deepest condolences to your family and your multitude of fans.

Read on: January 23 & 24, 2021
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Gemina Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Author and Narrator links

• Amie Kaufman (Author),
• Jay Kristoff (Author),
• Carla Corvo and at IMDB (Narrator),
• Steve West (Narrator),
• Lincoln Hoppe (Narrator),
• P.J. Ochlan (Narrator),
• MacLeod Andrews (Narrator),
• Lisa Cordileone (Narrator),
• Erik Davies (Narrator),
• Ryan Gesell (Narrator),