Gemina

By: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Following the events of the Illuminae Files_01, the Illuminae group submits their second set of dossiers to the court for evidence in the trial against Director Frobisher of Beitech Industries.

In this startling account of events, the court will go through the attack on station Heimdall by a hit-squad of 24 trained Beitech operatives. Reports of an alien swarm gestating in the station’s core and a devastating wormhole malfunction have also been recorded.

The testimony in this dossier was collected from the communications, journals, and camera footage taken of Hanna Donnelly, the daughter of Heimdall’s captain, and Nik Malikov, a foot soldier for the House of Knives crime family.

As a brief warning for those members of the court joining us today, the contents in these files are, on occasion, remarkably graphic and horrifying. While it is understood that these accounts may be difficult to hear, we ask that you remain firm in your resolve during this trial.

At least it may comfort you to know that the deaths in this case, while astonishingly violent, were mercifully swift. With that said, let us begin.

I think this is the first time in the last year that I am experiencing a true reading slump. I’m unable to tell if I’m getting burnt out because of the number of books that I have been reading lately or because of this series in particular. It’s not even because the series is bad. Quite the opposite but these books take a lot out of me due to the style they’re written in. I feel like I have to pay attention to every detail, and it wears me out.

As a way to remedy this, I’m taking a small break. Not from reading, but just from this series. I’m going to read another book, a normal book, and then come back to finish with Obsideo.

Overall, this story was solid. There were elements that I really liked, for example, the hit-squad and wormhole shenanigans. The best new character, in my opinion, was Ella. She’s the real MVP, and you can fight me if you disagree. I was also glad to see that AIDAN made a return appearance even if I did have to deal with the AI waxing poetic again. Worth it.

There were elements that I naturally liked less. Hanna’s personality rubbed me the wrong way (though I think that may have been intentional), and the love triangle was crap. I don’t enjoy love triangles or melodrama in general.

The alien predators on the ship were compelling but flawed in a couple big ways. I won’t get into those here because I don’t want to spoil anything as they play a big part in the overall plot development. While they weren’t perfect, their conception was solid.

Glad to see the authors brought back the hard-sci-fi elements. Those will keep me coming back, and why I plan to return for the final book in this installment. Even at the risk of not wanting to read again for a little while.

Overall rating: 4