Tag Archives: Jay Kristoff

Book Review: Gemina by Amie Kaufman And Jay Kristoff

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Book: Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Published January 2018 by Ember|659 pages

Where I Got It: I own the paperback

Genre: YA Sci-Fi

Series: The Illuminae Files #2

The highly anticipated sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller that critics are calling “out-of-this-world awesome.”

Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed.

The sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault.

Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But 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.

Once again told through a compelling dossier of emails, IMs, classified files, transcripts, and schematics, Gemina raises the stakes of the Illuminae Files, hurling readers into an enthralling new story that will leave them breathless.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED GEMINA!  How is it possible to love the sequel even more than the original?  I don’t know but somehow, I did.

I just loved the story and how it’s going on both at the same time as- and right after- the events of Illuminae.  I loved Hanna a lot, and she reminded me of Kady in a lot of ways.  I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t sure about this book.  Sequels always make me a little nervous, and I wasn’t sure if it was going to live up to the expectations set by Illuminae.  But it really exceeded expectations!

I was also a little hesitant because I got attached to Kady and Ezra (but I was particularly attached to Kady) and I wasn’t sure about a book focusing on two new characters.  Again, I had nothing to worry about because I loved Hanna and Nik, and I was glad to see both Kady and Ezra show up.

And Aidan too!  How I managed to be fond of a crazy A.I. system, I don’t know, but I was glad that Aidan is back.  Granted, it’s in a slightly different form, but it was nice to see Aidan.

We also have the video surveillance guy back, and though we don’t know anything about him, I’m glad he’s back, watching surveillance videos and giving random commentary about what’s going on.

Like Illuminae, this is a really visual book!  While the placement of some of the text was still annoying to read, it wasn’t as annoying, and I think it’s because I was expecting it with this book.  Also, the multiverse stuff was really cool, and I liked seeing Universe A and Universe B side by side.  I liked seeing the comparison between the two, and how different but similar they are.

I also liked that instead of a deadly, PTSD-appearing virus, we have this parasitic alien-like creature.  It was creepy and horrifying but also really different and really cool.  I love that there was basically a Wikipedia-type page about it.  Obviously, not Wikipedia but a fictional version of it.  I just like how familiar the documents are- and yet, some of them are just so completely random.  I also love how they come together to tell the story, and I really can’t imagine this series being told any other way.  This is definitely a book you want to read in print!

5 stars.  I loved Gemina, and if for some reason, you haven’t read this series, I highly recommend it!  It’s a great story!

Book Review: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman And Jay Kristoff

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Book: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Published April 2017 by Ember|608 pages

Where I Got It: I own the paperback

Series: The Illuminae Files #1

Genre: YA Sci-Fi

Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the worst thing she’d ever been through. That was before her planet was invaded. Now, with enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra are forced to fight their way onto one of the evacuating craft, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But the warship could be the least of their problems. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their biggest threat; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady plunges into a web of data hacking to get to the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: Ezra.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

I really liked Illuminae and I’m glad I gave it another chance!  I tried reading it a few years ago, and had trouble getting through it because of the format.  I mostly gave it another chance because I had to read an epistolary novel of my choice for my final English essay, and of course, none of the books on the list given caught my interest.  I’m really glad we could pick a novel of our choice, and for some reason, I had my heart set on Illuminae.

I had an easier time with it this time around, and I don’t know if maybe I was in the mood for it, or if it was because I had to finish it in order to write my essay and do a video about it.

Random side note: based on the videos I watched (and I didn’t watch all of them), I was apparently the only one who didn’t pick a book from the list.

Back to the book, though.  I really liked it!  So much that I immediately bought Gemina and Obsidio, because I need to know what happens next.

It was interesting, because there are things we know that Kady doesn’t, and I was glad for her when she finds out that Ezra is alive.  I liked seeing all of the documents, and something I mentioned in both my essay and presentation was how the different documents came together to tell a much larger story, and how we were able to take a step back and see things more objectively because the type of documents used didn’t necessarily allow us to know what the characters were thinking at all times.

Kady’s interactions with Aidan really got to me though, and was easily the most beautifully written parts of the book.  I really loved Aidan, and I never would have expected that A.I. would be one of my favorite parts of the book!

I also liked how visual the book was!  Granted, trying to read some of the text was really frustrating because I had to turn the book into some really strange positions.  But we have Starry Night!  A heart!  Kady and Ezra together!  Kady by herself!  That was really cool to see.  So while some of the text placement was really frustrating to read, it also drew your attention to the page.  It is was like, what’s going on here?  What do they want us to draw our attention to?

This is a book that I think is best read in print, and it’s because of how visual it is.  I mean, you could go with the audio book, but I feel like you’re going to lose a lot by doing that.  I can’t begin to imagine the amount of work that went into designing each page, especially with all of the blueprints and schematics.  I commend not just Kaufman and Kristoff, but everyone who worked on the book for writing both a cool story and making it look really cool.

4 stars.  I didn’t love it, and I don’t know why, but I still really liked Illuminae.  I am really glad I gave it another chance!

Book Review: DEV1AT3 by Jay Kristoff

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Book Review: DEV1AT3 by Jay Kristoff

Published June 2019 by Alfred K Knopf Books For Young Readers|448 pages

Where I Got It: I own the hardcover

Series: Lifelike #2

Genre: YA Sci-Fi

Lemon Fresh has seen better days.

After the climactic battle in Babel, she finds herself separated from Ezekiel and Cricket in the wastelands. Lemon’s abilities to manipulate electricity mark her as a deviate, and deadly corporate operatives are hunting her to use as a weapon in the war between BioMaas Incorporated and Daedelus Technologies. Instead, Lemon finds herself falling in with a group of fellow deviates—a band of teenagers with astonishing abilities, led by an enigmatic figure known as the Major, who may hold the secrets to Lemon’s past.

Meanwhile, Cricket finds himself in possession of the puritanical Brotherhood, a religious cult set for a head-on collision with the Major and his band. Searching for Lemon, Ezekiel finds a strange ally in an old enemy, and uncovers a plot that may see him reunited with his beloved Ana.

And inside Babel, a remade Eve hatches a plan to bring an end to the world.

Honestly, I don’t know what I think about this book.  I felt the same about the first book in this series, and that continued with this book.

I liked Lemon Fresh, and she has an interesting time in this book.  It was the same with Cricket, but I didn’t really care about what happened with Eve.  It was interesting to see how the groups that Cricket and Lemon Fresh ended up had so many connections to each other.  Personally, I wish we saw more of that but with how things went with Lemon Fresh, I’m not that surprised we didn’t.  And I did feel for Lemon Fresh, because I wanted a different story for her.

I think Lemon Fresh was my favorite to follow.  Hers is the one I remember more, though Cricket had his own challenges.  I felt like we didn’t get enough of Eve for me to have strong feelings either way.

I know people love Jay Kristoff, and this series, but I had a really hard time getting through this book.  I could only read a couple chapters at a time before needing to put it down and do something else.  I felt like it took me forever to get through this book.  I struggled to get through Lifelike when I tried to re-read before this one, and I remember having a hard time getting through it when I read Lifelike for book club ages ago.

I think I read this one because I wanted to know what happened next.  For some reason, Eve’s family made me think of the Romanov’s, and how people think Anastasia survived her family’s execution.  Part of me is wondering if it’s just coincidence, or if there is some inspiration there.  Either way, I wanted more about that, and it didn’t happen.  Which is fine, because I’m glad we followed Lemon Fresh and Cricket.  Still, I would have liked a chapter or two from Eve’s perspective.

Both Lemon Fresh and Cricket narrate, but it didn’t really work for me.  I thought it was confusing and their chapters sounded exactly the same.  It took a while to figure out who was narrating, and by the time I got settled into who was narrating, it switched, and I’d start the process all over again.  Maybe I’m just really used to books where it’s obvious who’s narrating.

I’m not sure if I’m going to going to finish the series.  Part of me does want to know what happens next, but I don’t know that I’m invested enough to keep going.  It’s an interesting world, and I wish we knew more about what life was like before this world started, and what life is like everywhere else.  It seems pretty contained to a Southern California-type area, at least from what I can gather from the map.  So it makes me wonder what it’s like everywhere else in the U.S.

2 stars.  Overall, Deviate is just okay.  I really liked Lemon Fresh’s story, but I don’t know if it’s enough to keep me reading.

Book Review: Likel1k3 by Jay Kristoff

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Book: Likel1k3 by Jay Kristoff

Published May 2018 by Knopf Books For Young Readers|402 pages

Where I Got It: I own the hardcover

Series: Likelike #1

Genre: YA Sci Fi

On a floating junkyard beneath a radiation sky, a deadly secret lies buried in the scrap.

Eve isn’t looking for secrets—she’s too busy looking over her shoulder. The robot gladiator she’s just spent six months building has been reduced to a smoking wreck, and the only thing keeping her Grandpa from the grave was the fistful of credits she just lost to the bookies. To top it off, she’s discovered she can destroy electronics with the power of her mind, and the puritanical Brotherhood are building a coffin her size. If she’s ever had a worse day, Eve can’t remember it.

But when Eve discovers the ruins of an android boy named Ezekiel in the scrap pile she calls home, her entire world comes crashing down. With her best friend Lemon Fresh and her robotic conscience, Cricket, in tow, she and Ezekiel will trek across deserts of irradiated glass, infiltrate towering megacities and scour the graveyard of humanity’s greatest folly to save the ones Eve loves, and learn the dark secrets of her past.

Even if those secrets were better off staying buried.

I’m not sure what to think about Likelike.  I read this one because it was this month’s book club pick, and I get why people like Jay Kristoff.  I don’t know that I would have picked up Likelike if it were not for book club, but it’s different.

At first, I had a hard time getting into.  Partly because of the…terminology I guess.  It’s my least favorite thing about sci-fi, and I generally don’t read a lot of sci-fi focusing on robots.  Not only that, but I had a hard time keeping up with who was who, and I had to read the first few chapters a few times just to figure out who the characters were and what was going on, because I wasn’t getting it.  It could have been me, it could have been the book, but that is neither here nor there.

It also felt painfully slow, and the memories that Eve had were kind of disjarring.  I mean, you knew she was remembering things, and there are some secrets that should have stayed secret.  This is a dark book, and it is definitely not for everyone.  I don’t know if his books are ones I would like- there were things I really liked about this one, but I also don’t know what to think about it.  Between this one and Illuminae, which I couldn’t finish because the formatting drove me up a wall, I don’t think I’ll seek out one of his books.  I’d give it a try if it were for book club, maybe, but on my own?  Probably not.

I liked the plot twist (as obvious as it was), and I like the premise of the story.  I liked the world that Eve lived in, and it’s a futuristic wasteland.  I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it, and it is different than a lot of the other sci-fi I’ve read.  It stands out, and in a good way.  If you’re looking for something unique and that doesn’t shy away from the dark side, this is the book for you.  There is no happy ending, but I’m oddly fine with that.  I had the feeling it wouldn’t have a happy ending, and it seems like happy endings are not his thing.

Also, I don’t read a lot of sci-fi.  Well, something so strongly sci-fi.  Set in space, yes.  Dystopia, definitely yes.  Maybe sci-fi that’s not super-technical, but something like this?  Usually not.  Maybe it’s just not my thing.

Anyway, I did like the world he built.  It’s vivid, and I could picture things so clearly.  Honestly, while I’m not sure what to think about this book in book form, I’d probably watch the hell out of a movie or tv show based on Lifelike.  I’m pretty sure it would be interesting to watch, and all of a sudden, I’m thinking that this is one of those books that I’d like far better on screen than in print.  Or maybe, I’d like it better as an audio book, but I’m not sure if that’s something I’m interested in doing.

I feel like I’m making no sense at all with this review.  My thoughts are all over this place for this one, and I can’t seem to get them organized.  Or in a way that’s cohesive and makes sense.  I think it’s time to move on, because I have no idea where I’m going with this.

My Rating:  So, I’m not actually going to rate this one.  Well, not yet.  I have no idea what to rate it because I have no idea how I really feel about it.  So for now, Likelike gets no rating.