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bowlo89's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
remilauren's review
4.0
If you enjoyed the first two installments in this series, you might find this a bit slow. I might have taken some time to show love to Illuminae (purely due to the format) but Gemina was a breeze. So, the slow pace at the beginning might you off but do go through with it. I had a reading slump due to this book lmao (took a month and more to finish). But the last 200 pages, damn, action, emotions, AIDAN, oof! Stressing over the fate of characters, crying for their fate yet hoping everything would fix itself at the end. AIDAN was more human than it ever was, feeling pain, love, sorrow, it was a treat to read. How one could get so attached to a monstrous AI is beyond me but I did.
While the first book was mainly about Kady-Ezra and second being about Hanna-Nik, this book brings a whole lot of new characters, yet manages to make you feel bad about their state (Kerenza civilians and BeiTech troops alike). The series was great, but Illuminae still tops the list.
While the first book was mainly about Kady-Ezra and second being about Hanna-Nik, this book brings a whole lot of new characters, yet manages to make you feel bad about their state (Kerenza civilians and BeiTech troops alike). The series was great, but Illuminae still tops the list.
violetflower23's review
adventurous
challenging
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
sari_imf's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
johanna661's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0
thewordslinger's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
<b>"The die is cast. But today we will shake the table upon which it lands."</b>
This book is good! But I have a few thoughts.
1. So there's quite a lot more transcription bits in this book as compared to the first 2. It's a lot of narration by people ultimately uninvolved in what's going on in the story. This makes the story sort of drag.
1.5. There's also a lot of random backstory happening in these bits that I don't think is necessary. Some of it is interesting, but after a while, I really quit caring and wanted the action and drama back.
2. AIDAN is a straight up badass in this one. But it's also creepy as fuck.
On the one hand, it uses that 'infallible' logic to start killing people again. And the way it talks--as if it's GOD or something... I don't often get queasy uncomfy feelings while reading books. But this one gave me proper chills.
AI in general in stories has always sort of triggered my unease. BECAUSE of their logic-based 'morality' and how it always seems to cause things to go wrong.
But AIDAN's relationship with Kady is probably the most disturbing?
Don't get me wrong, AIDAN does a good job keeping Kady and her peers safe (sometimes at the expense of other innocent people), but it seems weirdly obsessed with Kady and, alarmingly enough, Kady seemed to reciprocate those feelings. This relationship is so odd that it overrides the AI percentage based logical actions on more than one occasion, causing AIDAN to act against what you'd expect logic to dictate...so I don't know how much SENSE it makes scientifically.
And the conversation they have before AIDAN sacrifices itself at the end was just... creepy.
3. The battle is, without a doubt the best part of this story. It takes 70% of the book before we get there, but it's well worth it. The audiobook production is SO GOOD. I know I've been raving about the audio all through this series. But <i>y'all</i>. If you can't be assed to read these weirdly organized books, at LEAST pick up the audiobooks and give them a listen. You won't regret it!
4. Once again, the pretend-deaths are excessive. And by now, you shouldn't believe it unless the text explicitly says somebody's face was blown the fuck off. The impact is supposed to make this dramatic and heartbreaking and heroic even in the face of tragedy. But these authors have cried wolf far too many times by now for it to really feel real. This is a YA story. OF COURSE the lovers are going to have their happy ending.
4.5. And, of course, once again. It's the MALES who end up "dead". Never the womenfolk. Because where would these stories be without our girlbosses, right? Once again, it just ends up feeling like an agenda, rather than a legitimate plot point and I am disappointed.
4.75. And let's not forget, the INSTANT it's insinuated that her lover is dead, Kady IMMEDIATELY turns into a kamikaze. Nevermind that she's leading a SHIP FULL OF INNOCENT PEOPLE into the afterlife with her. There's no in between. She's a clever, resourceful, badass leader when things are going well, but a mopey, dejected, soulless, "I don't care who dies now" robot when Ezra's presumed dead. Just willing to throw her life away (and in this case, an entire ship's worth of lives, INCLUDING HER OWN DAD) because loverboy isn't there.
It's gross, childish, predictable bullshit.
5. The ending is SO much like the after-credits shawarma scene in The Avengers it's obvious this was ripped off from that film. Just the main crew sitting around a table in some random diner listening to the news. I'm sure this was supposed to be a great closing scene--but when you straight up plagiarize other media, I don't enjoy it.
Despite my gripes, I did enjoy this book. I think it's perhaps the best of the 3. If you enjoy YA science-fiction stuff and non-traditionally told stories, I encourage you to check these out. But, if you're gonna, PLEASE do yourself a favor and pick up the audiobook!
This book is good! But I have a few thoughts.
1. So there's quite a lot more transcription bits in this book as compared to the first 2. It's a lot of narration by people ultimately uninvolved in what's going on in the story. This makes the story sort of drag.
1.5. There's also a lot of random backstory happening in these bits that I don't think is necessary. Some of it is interesting, but after a while, I really quit caring and wanted the action and drama back.
2. AIDAN is a straight up badass in this one. But it's also creepy as fuck.
On the one hand, it uses that 'infallible' logic to start killing people again. And the way it talks--as if it's GOD or something... I don't often get queasy uncomfy feelings while reading books. But this one gave me proper chills.
AI in general in stories has always sort of triggered my unease. BECAUSE of their logic-based 'morality' and how it always seems to cause things to go wrong.
But AIDAN's relationship with Kady is probably the most disturbing?
Don't get me wrong, AIDAN does a good job keeping Kady and her peers safe (sometimes at the expense of other innocent people), but it seems weirdly obsessed with Kady and, alarmingly enough, Kady seemed to reciprocate those feelings. This relationship is so odd that it overrides the AI percentage based logical actions on more than one occasion, causing AIDAN to act against what you'd expect logic to dictate...so I don't know how much SENSE it makes scientifically.
And the conversation they have before AIDAN sacrifices itself at the end was just... creepy.
3. The battle is, without a doubt the best part of this story. It takes 70% of the book before we get there, but it's well worth it. The audiobook production is SO GOOD. I know I've been raving about the audio all through this series. But <i>y'all</i>. If you can't be assed to read these weirdly organized books, at LEAST pick up the audiobooks and give them a listen. You won't regret it!
4. Once again, the pretend-deaths are excessive. And by now, you shouldn't believe it unless the text explicitly says somebody's face was blown the fuck off. The impact is supposed to make this dramatic and heartbreaking and heroic even in the face of tragedy. But these authors have cried wolf far too many times by now for it to really feel real. This is a YA story. OF COURSE the lovers are going to have their happy ending.
4.5. And, of course, once again. It's the MALES who end up "dead". Never the womenfolk. Because where would these stories be without our girlbosses, right? Once again, it just ends up feeling like an agenda, rather than a legitimate plot point and I am disappointed.
4.75. And let's not forget, the INSTANT it's insinuated that her lover is dead, Kady IMMEDIATELY turns into a kamikaze. Nevermind that she's leading a SHIP FULL OF INNOCENT PEOPLE into the afterlife with her. There's no in between. She's a clever, resourceful, badass leader when things are going well, but a mopey, dejected, soulless, "I don't care who dies now" robot when Ezra's presumed dead. Just willing to throw her life away (and in this case, an entire ship's worth of lives, INCLUDING HER OWN DAD) because loverboy isn't there.
It's gross, childish, predictable bullshit.
5. The ending is SO much like the after-credits shawarma scene in The Avengers it's obvious this was ripped off from that film. Just the main crew sitting around a table in some random diner listening to the news. I'm sure this was supposed to be a great closing scene--but when you straight up plagiarize other media, I don't enjoy it.
Despite my gripes, I did enjoy this book. I think it's perhaps the best of the 3. If you enjoy YA science-fiction stuff and non-traditionally told stories, I encourage you to check these out. But, if you're gonna, PLEASE do yourself a favor and pick up the audiobook!
seyahrue's review
5.0
I was a little nervous to start reading this book, since the I loved the first two so much, but I wasn't at all disappointed. Obsidio was just as good as the two previous books, and it was great to see how the whole situation sorted itself out.
It was great to see more of Kady and Ezra in this one, as well as Hanna, Nik and Ella making a repeat appearance. I also really liked the two new characters, Rhys and Asha, even though they didn't have as big a role in their book as the other two pairs had in theirs. It was fun to see what was going on at Kerenza at the same time as what was happening on the Mao.
Seeing them start to put together the Illuminae files was great as well, finding out that it was mostly Ella and Nik putting together the video transcriptions made so much sense! It makes me want to go back and re-read the others with context, but I should probably hang back on that for a while and actually read some of the other stuff I keep meaning to start.
But anyway, seeing life on Kerenza IV was really interesting, and I loved the whole storyline with the resistance, and getting to see more about the BeiTech soldiers, getting to see them more like actual human beings. I especially liked Oshiro and Duke's characters, as well as the other four in Asha's resistance group.
I don't really know what else to say other than this book is amazing, and this series is amazing, and I'm so sad that it's come to an end! I really hope these two collab more in the future, because I would 100% read it if they did
It was great to see more of Kady and Ezra in this one, as well as Hanna, Nik and Ella making a repeat appearance. I also really liked the two new characters, Rhys and Asha, even though they didn't have as big a role in their book as the other two pairs had in theirs. It was fun to see what was going on at Kerenza at the same time as what was happening on the Mao.
Seeing them start to put together the Illuminae files was great as well, finding out that it was mostly Ella and Nik putting together the video transcriptions made so much sense! It makes me want to go back and re-read the others with context, but I should probably hang back on that for a while and actually read some of the other stuff I keep meaning to start.
But anyway, seeing life on Kerenza IV was really interesting, and I loved the whole storyline with the resistance, and getting to see more about the BeiTech soldiers, getting to see them more like actual human beings. I especially liked Oshiro and Duke's characters, as well as the other four in Asha's resistance group.
I don't really know what else to say other than this book is amazing, and this series is amazing, and I'm so sad that it's come to an end! I really hope these two collab more in the future, because I would 100% read it if they did
slothonastring's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
dothelindyhop's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25