Well, that was a rush. Ya girl has just finished binge reading the entire Illuminae Files series, and I don’t think I can deal. Excuse me as I just sink into a pile of feels and float around like Sandra Bullock in Gravity, because I am DONE over here.
I figured I would do a grand series review post, basically because I just want everyone to read this series ASAP please and thank you. Here is my sales pitch.
Title: Illuminae
Author: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Pages: 602Release Date: October 20th 2015
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Format: HardcoverGenre: Science Fiction
Goodreads Rating: 4.31 (of 79,242 ratings)
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Highlights from my review:
- Okay, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. Like, I expected to enjoy it and all, but I did not actually expect to eagerly be flipping through the pages, full on invested in a book that literally was just a bunch of chats and mission reports.
4.5 crowns and an Anna rating! - Also, there was no way I ever thought that I would have a ship in this book – well, no ships from then actual spaceships. Like, how can you have the feels over two people that we never even get to really dive into characterization and just get in little text lines every once in a while. However, Ezra and Kady’s ship came out of nowhere, and I just wanted to scream at them, COME ON. GET YOUR SHIP TOGETHER AND JUST SAIL. They were so cute together, and their banter was so witty.
- I loved all the characters, and the characterization was amazingly detailed.
- There were really only two main issues that I had with the book. The first one was that it was super confusing when I first started reading. Like, I got there was a planet and it was attacked and then…I got really confused. There was a bunch of names that didn’t have a lot of meaning to me, and I kept getting lost. After a while, I figured it out on my own, but I could see where some people might have just given up.
- The second issue that I had was that I did feel some sort of disconnect with it overall. Like, I do like it, but I don’t think it will ever be a favorite.
Title: Gemina
Author: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Pages: 659Release Date: October 18th 2016
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Format: HardcoverGenre: Science Fiction
Goodreads Rating: 4.54 (of 35,288 ratings)
Book Princess Reviews receives a percentage of commission from purchases you make after following Book Depository links provided on our site.
Highlights from my review:
- What’s difference (between book 1 & 2) is the level of feels I had for Nik and Hanna – and not just to be with each other but for the character. I loved both of them equally, and absolutely was fangirling for them to be together. I wanted to smush them together and cry over their cuteness.
This book actually got a princess train – Mulan, Rapunzel, and Aurora and a clear 5 crowns. - Hanna was a kickbutt lead – she was smart, funny, didn’t take no for an answer, and stuck to her principles. I loved how she missed with the crew’s minds and even left notes for them with lipstick. The authors never belittled her sorrows that she had, and she just kept going – and it was all super believable.
- Nik was fantastic as well. He was hilarious, dreamy, and complicated. It wasn’t just the shallow characterization of the deep-space bad boy. He had facets to him, and I loved that about him. What was also so wonderful was his love for his cousin Ella – CAN SHE PLEASE HAVE HER OWN BOOK, PURTY PLEASEY??
- The plot was also definitely as interesting as the first one. I actually kind of liked this plot a little bit better – perhaps because Aidan creeped me out so much in the first one – and the plot twists actually had me decently surprised.
- So, if you were thinking that Gemina was going to fall into the inevitable second book slump – you’re wrong. It was so ridiculously good, and now my best friend hates me a bit since I told her we could try and do a buddy read for it…and then binge read it all within two days because I couldn’t stop.
Title: Obsidio
Author: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Pages: 628Release Date: March 13rd 2018
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Format: HardcoverGenre: Science Fiction
Goodreads Rating: 4.57 (of 19,311 ratings)
Book Princess Reviews receives a percentage of commission from purchases you make after following Book Depository links provided on our site.
Well, that was one spaceship ride I’m 200% not prepared to be done with. I just want my space babies, and now I’m over here floating around like Sandra Bullock in Gravity because I JUST WANT THEM BACK. GIMME GIMME GIMME MORE…even though space is scary af.
My only complaint about this book: Asha and Rhys. They were just…okay, like, you have the powerhouses that are Kady/Ezra, Hanna/Nik, and Ella. I was completely and fully invested in them. And Asha and Rhys? I could never really pin them down who they were. I felt like I got Rhys more than Asha, but I was just…I sped read through their parts just so I could get back to what was happening with my precious babies up in their spaceship.
Oh, and, um, I could have used more Nik. Always more Nik.
Other than that, it was all love. Omigosh, I was on the edge of my seat. I had no clue what was going to happen, and Kaufman/Kristoff kept throwing in twist after turn after twist after turn. THERE WAS SO MUCH. And my head was shoved right in between the pages to gobble down page after page. It was so intense, and I give absolutely so much credit to Kaufman/Kristoff for managing to pull everyhing together. Idk how they did, but it was a masterpiece. They even pulled things from the past, and it made all the sense (LIKE WHO WAS TRANSCRIBING ALL OF THE REPORTS).
The characterization was top notch as always. They are forever amazing characters period, and then Kaufman/Kristoff continued to add such layers to them. They all reacted so realistically and humanly. They were dealing with crisis after crisis, and I was just so amazed at the care the authors took to the fine details of who they were as people. My clear favorites were the group from Gemina – Hanna, Nik, and Ella – but I actually was in deep with Aiden, Kady’s dad, and Kady/Ezra more than I had in the past.
I really am not a fan of sci-fi at all, but this is the one series that I will forever love despite all the scary space. It is inventive, unique, and despite never having true prose with in-depth description of our characters’ thoughts, you still get to know and love them so so dearly. Ugh, the praises for this series will never cease and basically you just need to read it. Kk thanks. 4 crowns (literally just for Asha and Rhys) and an Ariel rating!
What do you think? Have you read this series? What other sci-fi books do you love? Do you ever have a book that just completely shocks you?
Book Princess Reviews 
Katy and Ezra were my favorites and they were AWESOME in the last book. My one complaint for Obsidio was that the romance wasn’t given as much attention as the previous two were. I know they had a lot to accomplish, but I guess I got used to expecting that. You know? Still one of my favorite series.
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Omg, it was so cute to see them finally hitting their stride and constantly being there for each other. And I totally agree! I think they relied too much on the fact that they used to know each other and there was a bit too much on the hate section? Agreed, though!! 😀
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Fantastic series review!!!
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Thank you, Kaya!! ❤
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I loved the whole series! If I had to pick, I’d say Gemina was my least favorite because I didn’t personally care for Nik and Hanna and found them a bit angstier than the other leads. Still, they’re all five star reads, so it’s close. Obsidio is one of my favorite series enders of all time.
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Ahhhhh gotcha. There definitely was a lot of angst for them. Was Illuminae your favorite? And it was just one amazing way to go out a series.
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Obsidio was probably my favorite because I loved seeing all of the characters combine and interact.
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Ooooh yes. That was so much fun to see them all together and how they all worked together.
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this review is fire
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maybe it was the fire emojis?
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good
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bad.
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I only read book 1 and never continued. My friend keeps trying to push them on me, but I keep putting them off lol. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy book 1, it’s just that I found it okay. Who knows maybe I would find the sequels to be more interesting, I’m still considering reading them. We shall see. Lovely review, Mandy!!!
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It’s definitely a hard series to continue if just thinking it was okay. With all the spaceyness and so big, it’s definitely not the excitement to grab for. I will admit that I found Gemina a lot more exciting, and one of the main characters is prettyyyyyyyyyyy swoony.
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swoony is quite tempting. We shall see 😉
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