Aurora Rising

Review originally posted at A Reading Brit

The Plot
It felt like the first few episodes of a TV show, and just when the series was really ramping up and getting amazing, it's the end of the season and you've got to wait ages to see the start of the next season. That's what this feels like. It ended on the mother of all cliff hangers, and the story doesn't feel remotely complete. There's closure about pretty much nothing come the end of this book. And that'd be great if the next book was already out. But it's not. And I'm not good at waiting.

There's not much of a chance to breathe with this story either. From the first chapter to the last, there's always something happening and the authors skillfully weave characterisation and relationship around the action.

The World
Aurora Rising is set over 300 years in the future, where humanity has encountered (and of course warred with) other species in space. The Aurora Academy is a neutral organisation, purely created to help those in need. Think something like The Red Cross in space. It's a cool idea, and one I'd like to see explored more thoroughly. As, whilst this squad is technically supposed to be helping others, they don't really get the chance before their own crisis and drama happens. Long-distance space travel is achieved through The Fold, which seems to be something similar to travelling through an alternate reality. It's an interesting concept, and again, something I wish was explored a little more. That's the thing with Aurora Rising, I love it for its characters, but I wish some more of the world was really explored. I want to know more about all of the fun sci-fi stuff that's going on in the background.

The Characters
As always, characterisation is my favourite thing in reading. And I feel like this is where Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman really shine. Aurora Rising is told from the point of view of... I want to say 7 characters. I'm not a massive fan of books that jump between characters like that, all in 1st person POV, but this was done so well. Each character had such a unique voice that I knew who it was without having to read the chapter title.

Taylor
Our Alpha, the leader of Squad 312 and a character that from his description before I started reading this, I was sure I wasn't going to like. And yet I did. Tyler just wants what's best for the squad and Aurora. I thought he was going to be an arrogant jock-Type, but besides a little moaning at the beginning, he was nothing like that.

Aurora
The main character/trouble starter. If it wasn't for Aurora, the rest of the squad wouldn't have come together and each of these character's stories would've been very different. She's an ok character, I wouldn't say she was anywhere near my favourite. And I found her ability to deal with waking up 200 years after she thought she was going to wake up quite incredible. She managed to function instead of being a blithering mess, which either shows she's the strongest character there, or maybe a little unrealistic. Who knows.

Scarlett
Scarlett is the FaceThe diplomat, trained to deal with those that may be less willing to accept help. And she does it well. She's charismatic, and uses her beauty to her advantage, more than once. It was fun to read her less serious interactions with the characters, but also good to read about her handling the emotions and feelings of the squad. Her sibling relationship with her brother was also a laugh to read, the typical sibling rivalry and jokes.

Zila
Zila is the Brain, the scientist, the logical. Is it weird if she's the character I relate to the most? She struggles with emotion and thinks of everything with logic, and as the story progresses, you see her begin to experience emotions and try and deal with that. I loved reading her progression, often from other's point of view, as her point of view was brief and to the point. Brains for the win!

Cat
The one character I had some serious difficult liking. Her pining and drama were a little frustrating at times, and I found myself wishing she'd stop moaning, especially in chapters that were from her point of view. She did redeem herself a little later on, proving her worth and loyalty, but I still wasn't a fan of her as a character, and I think I was supposed to be?

Kal
Aww, Kal, with his slightly weird Twilight-esque romantic imprinting. It was cute, but sometimes creepy. I was still cheering for him to succeed by the end of it. He wouldn't allow his violence to define him, which totally won me over.

Finian
I was laughing a lot, almost every time Fin spoke. Every good group has to have a bit of comedic relief, and Fin fills this role perfectly. He's insecure, so covers almost everything with a laugh and a joke. His character was endearing and relatable in some ways. He was awesome.

Would I read it again? I read this twice before I even thought about writing this review, so yes, I can 100% see myself reading this again. The first time was just a simple readthrough, the second I used tabs to label my favourite parts.

Will I be picking up the next in the series?That's not even a question. Of course.

Would I recommend it? If sci-fi is your thing, or even if it's not. This would be a great soft, YA intro to sci-fi for those that might not be sure if sci-fi is something they'd enjoy.

Is it going on my favourites shelf? Yes!

Sorry if none of this review made sense! It started off a little rambly and nonsensical, and this is it after a few weeks of rewrites and editing! I did love this story, and it is amongst my favourites, but no story is without one or two faults. Hopefully, my love for it came across more than my comments on the maybe 2 things I didn't like!

I have mixed feelings on this book. There were moments where I was tempted to DNF it, but I'm glad I didn't because certain elements made up for it. To start, I'll give a summary of what the story is about before going through a pros and cons list. I heard the audiobook, so names will be misspelled.

To summarize, this story is about a squad of six noobs (freshly graduated from the academy) and a “time traveler” (Aurora O'Mally) who form a squad to try to figure out why Aurora has telekinetic powers. The squad is composed of misfits who were chosen last for the draft and became a team by default. Tyler (the captain) finds Auri floating in space. Auri is from 200 yrs in the past and has basically been frozen in cryosleep. She has telekinetic powers and the GIA (a human government entity) is after her. Tyler (the captain) has to decide if they should help her or turn her in to the authorities. They help her and discover a dark secret about warring alien species (the Rahal vs. the Asfereth?). The Rahal are basically the Borg from Star Trek, who are a hive of plant people which have returned and are planning to take over the universe. Auri is the key to a weapon to stop them given by the now extinct race called the Asfereth. In the end of the novel, the group take Auri to search for the weapon to defeat the Rahal.

Cons:
- Questionable squad qualifications: why in the hell would any military government think it's fine to send teams of noobs on spacefaring missions that could lead to war?? Seriously? It's a YA novel, so it explains why, but I can't take the story seriously when I'm reading about these green cadets doing this. Probably because I love Star Trek and the Vulcan in me finds the concept completely illogical.
- The Draft: the first chapter speaks endlessly about Tyler missing “the draft”. Basically, “alphas”, essentially Captains, are the top of their class and given the privilege to hand pick their squad. Again, are teenagers choosing their friends for a group project qualified to make such important decisions? No, they're not. The academy should have a say on teams based on their qualifications and merits rather than leave it all to a “draft”.
- Immaturity of the characters: each chapter is written from the perspective of one of the squad members. Overall, they're immature (imagine that!). The only exception to this would be Kal, my favorite character from the book. I found Kat and Scarlett's to be annoying and dreaded the chapters from their perspective. Kat is crazy about dating Tyler, and her chapters were the worst to get through.
- The constant disrespect and violence towards Tyler (even for comedy). I actually really liked Tyler's character, so the constant disrespect and beatings he received became annoying and tiresome. Funny enough, most of the abuse came from his own twin sister (Scarlette) and his childhood friend who has a crush on him (Kat). To start, his twin sister disrespects him by calling him ‘Beebro' in front of his new squad, rather than giving him the respect he deserves as a new Alpha. And Kat calls him “goldenboy” for being so perfect, which Finian starts using as well. Scarlette fantasizes about kicking her own brother in the balls, and Kat looks back fondly on how she hurt him as a 5 yr old boy by throwing a chair at his face, leaving him with a scar. How fucked up is that? Despite this, Tyler takes the constant teasing on the chin, figuratively and literally. Tyler then gets beats up by Kal, and then even Kat at some point. The poor guy is a punching back, yet, he just brushes it off and thinks the constant abuse from his sister and Kat are normal and affectionate. Seriously, the guy needs therapy. I've never fantasized about hitting my siblings in the balls. This was all used for comedic relief, but for me, it came off nasty.
- Aurora's beef with Kal: I started off liking Aurora, but when it came to Kal, she kept getting mad at him and pissed off at him for absolutely no reason. She was upset when he called her something, but it was sincerely just a cultural misunderstanding. She kept calling him a jackass and poor Kal had no clue she was upset at him when in reality, he was protecting her. She's so immature, Kal can do better than her! I don't get why she was so pissed at him, especially when he voted to not hand her over to the GIA. She conveniently forgot that when she was calling him a jackass - no sweetie, YOU are the jackass, not Kal.

Pros:
- Audiobook is fantastic! The only reason I was able to get through this was because there was sound effects and different narrators for each character. It sounded like I was listening to one of those old radio dramas back in the 40s before televisions were invented. My favorite part was at the end when Kat was taken over by the hive and they were narrating it from the hive perspective with multiple voices. That part was so chilling and fun to listen to. The audiobook narrators and editors did a fantastic job. They get a 5 star rating alone!
- Kal is amazing! Kal is Sildrafi(?), a race that resemble the elves from Tolkien. Aurora refers to him as both Elrond and Legolas a couple of times. His culture is super interesting. They are fighting a civil war and have lost their planet, so his people are scattered. The instigators were the people from his own caste system (the warrior class), so he is hated by others of his race when they see the mark on his forehead. He's not only handsome, but a skilled fighter and the most mature one in the squad. He feels what his people call “the pull” for Auri. They mate for life with one person, and he's in love with her. He's so loyal and devoted to her, and when he confesses to Auri, she says nothing and walks away. I get they were called to the bridge, but that's heart shattering.
- Great ending: the villain reveal was really cool and well done. I love Star Trek, so it didn't bother me when they used the concept of a Borg-like race that was defeated by a now extinct alien species. The fact that her family and the colony was taken over by the Rahal gave a nice dose of angst.
- Funny moments: there were hilarious bits throughout. One favorite is when Tyler and Kal kiss in a restricted area to avoid getting apprehended. Finian also provided great comedy relief sometimes, I enjoyed listening to the gearhead (aka engineer) being sassy. He reminds me of Baird from Gears of War.

So yeah, overall, I liked this book, but I don't think I'll be continuing the series. I've been informed that the Tyler bashing only gets worse in the second book. I thought with Kat gone for now, it would lessen up, but apparently not. I also heard that Aurora breaks up with Kal because he kept a big secret from him (I'll withhold the reason for it from this review). Sweetie, you really don't deserve Kal. Breaking up with your soulmate is a no no. With both my favorites hurting, I think I'll skip the next one and just read spoilers.

ESE final

finian you are the only reason i like this book

I don't have a lot to say about this, it's a good pick if you want a book that you can read when you're half asleep and still be able to follow the plot. It's engaging without being overwhelming.

Leaning very heavily on the YA more then the Sci-fi. Very simple prose. 

Interesting plot with the characters filling out distinct roles. Good amount of originality with some plot twists. Not where I expected the book to go when reading the blurb but I understand needing to market the book. YA isn't to close to my tastes and the middle started to lose me for a second. 

Definitely not a disappointing book, it's got thought-provoking concepts but they aren't the main focus. 

I will read the rest in the trilogy hoping the books will go on a more original trajectory then where I think the plot actually will. 

Story was good but the characters made the book insufferable to read.
....Like what was the point of writing Cat as a character if we weren't meant to hate her?
Characters only had stereotypes, no personalities.

I love humour in books but as an author you need to know when to stop. Characters being near death or going through something serious and then a character says something “funny” every paragraph and it just ruins it. It cuts down whatever emotional feeling a reader might have when reading an emotional scene.

3.75 ✨

I really enjoyed The Illumine Files by Kristoff & Kaufman, but this one was a miss for me. Too many of the basic tropes. I just couldn't get into it. This is one I might audiobook at a later date.

Entretenido, me recuerda a escuadrón (de Brandon ), aunque más introductorio . El final es lo mejor, deja las cosas bastante interesantes para lo que se viene.

Let me start by saying I had a few expectations before I started reading. I thought I would enjoy the writing style, seeing as Jay Kristoff has written one of my favorite series. I had my doubts about the genre, because I’ve never read a sci-fi book before. And lastly, I was hoping I would love it so I could add the sequels to my TBR. Well, let’s say it didn’t really turn out as I hoped..

The story started of strong and I was invested in most of the characters. The whole girl-out-of-time-idea was nice, and I like how the Goldenboy who rescued her was not her love interest. Instead this was a brooding, “hot as all get-out” alien specimen, who calls her ‘be’shmai’, has violet eyes and is referred to as the ‘Tank’. I’ll take one of those, please 😏 However, the story was told from six different perspectives, and only three of those were interesting to me. Finian carried the story for the most part, and I couldn’t help but feel like this was a high school edition of Guardians of the Galaxy. I can’t be the only one who thinks so, right? I actually checked the release date to see which came first.

The enemy turns out to be a communist parasite that wants to spread itself all over the universe. It’s not that it doesn’t work for the story, but I feel like I’ve heard it before in other books and movies. And I really don’t watch that many sci-fi movies!

I was still rooting for this book, but then the last chapters happened. Everything that happened in the end felt like a cliché. The self-sacrifice, the squad becoming a family and Goldenboys speech that was a bit too much. Not even Aurora and Kal ending up together could safe it for me, because at this point I was hoping for a plottwist and I kind of wanted him to end up with the science girl instead. Just to mix it up a bit, you know? Besides, the authors kept hinting at Zilas sad backstory, only to NOT tell it in this first book! It felt a bit like click bait, and nobody wants that😒 I read it in a couple of days, which means I didn’t think it’s a bad book, but I expected more because it is written by the creative mind behind Nevernight (one of my favourite series).

As cadets graduate from Aurora Academy, they set off on their first missions across the galaxy in groups of six. Tyler, top of his class, is looking forward to take first-pick of the graduates to put together his dream team, but ends up leading a bunch of misfits instead.

The book cycles through the POVs of each of the six graduates, as well as the seventh character in our story, Auri. She had set out from Earth on a colonist ship, only for it to go missing 200 years prior. Mysteriously, Tyler finds her in cryo-sleep as the sole survivor on board the ship's wreckage.

The interesting thing to point out about Auri (other than the fact that she is now 200 years old) is that she's half-Chinese. Auri had a fractious relationship with her father (the Chinese parent) and in the book her Chinese heritage is usually brought up alongside mentioning something about her Dad. I guess this is an attempt to bring some extra flavor and conflict to her character. As a fellow half-Asian I did appreciate the attempt at representation but I'm not sure it really did anything for the story. If anything it might have been better to make her full Chinese because the other half of her heritage wasn't really mentioned at all.

There's a bit of romance with an alien “mating bond”. If they did this well I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to it but the fact that they did it and it's bad just makes it all the more cringey. If you're gonna do this right, you've got to do a better job building up to it! It just comes across as really creepy otherwise. Kal martyrs himself by saying "oh, don't worry about me I'll just eternally pine after you and leave and return to my people then" and of course Auri will feel sorry for him and give him a go.

Complaints aside I didn't find it to be too tropey, I liked the conflict between the team who weren't all aligned on their mission especially the conflict with Cat and the betrayal twist.

One of my favorite video game series is Mass Effect. If you've played the game, you know there's an ancient race of aliens bent on destroying the universe.

I got a lot of ME vibes while I was reading this book. That made it right up my alley. I was happy to have a few hours of reading that gave me a reprieve from the pandemic anniversary.

If you're a fan of futuristic space stories with a good dose of adventure and a sprinkle of budding romance, you'll enjoy this ensemble cast and the story itself.

Chapter 34 alone is worth listening to the audiobook over reading it. Overall great book sci-fi spacey book with an intriguing mystery. Cant wait to jump into the 2nd book.

“I believe of all the places I have not fit, I fit here a little better.” - Zila, Aurora Rising

...I almost DNF'd this book something like five times in the first two chapters because of the incessant flashbacks. I mean, it felt like every page we were switching between current time and flashback. Look, flashbacks can be very effective, and I like them as well as the next person. But there is a time and place for them and the first two chapters of your book is not the time or the place. That being said, I told myself that I at least needed to meet all the characters and I'm glad I persevered because chapter three came and the flashbacks disappeared.

So, this book is fun. A lot of fun. I like most of the characters - several of them right from the start and all of them did grow on me. I love the dissimilar people having to work together though they don't always agree on everything. Or, really, anything. But, boy, have they got each other's backs and I love it!

I did have a couple of complaints. I wish all the characters had toned down the lust because, early on in the book, there was a lot of ‘he's hot' and ‘she's hot' going around. When things started getting serious, I am pleased to report that that did lessen significantly. (I read some of the one star reviews and there were several complaints about things like characters wanting to lick each other upon first meeting and one character being obsessed with the color of her bra. I can only assume these readers read an ARC, because I can assure you, nothing like this was in my copy. ... Thankfully enough.)

I'm not the biggest fan of the ‘big bad.' This is just a personal thing. I've dealt with big bads like this before in books and they are never my favorites.

I have to make mentioned of LGBT+ rep because this is something that I actually heard a lot about before reading this book. Or, rather, I heard a lot about the lack of LGBT+ rep in the book.

I'm of the opinion that pretty much the whole galaxy here is bisexual and nothing is made of that, because of the way pretty much everyone in the story seems to note how good looking others are without it seeming to matter what gender they are. There is one tentative, possible, maybe future romance being set up. And, yes, it is a F/M pairing. But, nothing has happened there, yet.

There is one character that is pretty darn unambiguously bi. (Even if you don't agree with me that everyone else probably is, too.) There does seem to be a couple little hints that this character could be developing strong feelings for someone. If this couple would get together, this would be a F/M pairing. BUT - and I can't believe I have to say this - a bi character getting into a straight relationship does not mean that that character quits being bi.

There is a kiss in this book. It is a gay kiss. It is a fake kiss. I feel like it was used to great effect to 1) show that there is nothing unusual about same sex attraction in this world and 2) to finally start correcting years of this type of fake kiss only being used for straights that already had some romantic attraction. The kiss-y was flustered and flummoxed, not because of who kissed them, but because they were kissed at all.

YMMV on all of this. But I was happy with the book, I was happy with the characters, I was happy that there wasn't mass romantic pairings off in this book (straight or queer) and I am very happy I didn't DNF this book.

Audio read by: Kim Mai Guest, Johnathan McClain,
Candice Moll, Lincoln Hoppe, Donnabella Mortel,
Jonathan Todd Ross, Erin Spencer and Steve West

This review could be a very long drawn-out sigh. Why? Because I don't really know what to say. In Aurora Rising I've counted at least five instances of wanting to groan, roll my eyes, throw the book against a wall, and never touch it again.

But I didn't. In its second half I came to quite enjoy it.

Ironically the worst and the best thing about Aurora Rising are the characters. The squad, consisting of 6 members + “the mystery girl” Aurora, is all you're going to get in terms of, well, actual characters. The rest, including the villain/antagonist, have the depth of a puddle.

The leader, also known as Alpha (a title which makes my skin crawl) is pretty much a Gary Stu (that the name?). Tyler has blond hair, blue eyes, broad shoulders, he doesn't drink or curse, and he is very white and very straight. Yippie.

Tyler's got his squad. First is Scarlett, his sister. Scar's roommate Cat is there too. Genuinely, I had trouble telling these two apart at times! The book jumps from POV to POV every chapter and it's beyond unnecessary and annoying. There's 7 characters each with a few chapters of their own but written in such a way it's hard to tell whose perspective you're reading.

Then there's Legolas... I mean Kal. An elf... sorry, a Syldrathi (Sindarin called. It's not upset; it's laughing at how stupid this is.) Kal imprints on Aurora because he's a true alien of a warrior race blah blah. It's creepy.

Can't forget Zila! She is that character in stories that is a walking computer. She's got a gajillion IQ points in her big brain and can make Einstein-level calculation on the fly. Also she gets the shortest “chapters” (literally like 40 words... yeah, I've got no clue).

Then there's Aurora/Auri. She's great and fun. Got nothing snarky or bad to say about her.

And, drumroll please, the best for last is Finian. He carries the whole book being the character with depth but also a unique personality (compared to the rest of them). I love him and his snarky attitude. Also, there are some hints that he could be bisexual which, as a bi guy myself, I'd appreciate if it were given just a bit more than “haha, this guy hot:3 anyway...”.

There really needed to be only 3+1 characters. Scarlett and Cat blend into one so make them one character and add Zila because she gets so little character development... well I'd call it character stagnation. Kal is needed because of the plot. Tyler is as boring as a typical videogame white cishet lead, and so on.

So characters are a huge mixed bag but the plot was quite interesting. Not something I couldn't let go but it was fine, cool, fun and all.

Worldbuilding was a thing, I guess. There are pages after each chapter from a what's meant to be a encyclopedia articles but it's boring when read out of context. Besides that the worldbuilding has a lot of sci-fi babble that could be omitted (and the time given to character development).

And the final insult to injury is that in this group of SEVEN PEOPLE there are not one, not two, but THREE completely heterosexual pairings. Not only Aurora salivates at Tyler from the start, she also likes big muscle Kal. Finian, who could be a nice bi rep, likes Scarlett. Cat and Tyler are a thing too.

I don't like to be one of the “this MUST have XYZ rep” but with such a huge cast of characters it's glaringly obvious the authors chose not to include LGBT rep just because.

There's a second book. It's coming in January. I'll read it but I don't have much hope.

PS.: Authors, please stop referencing Lord of the Rings. Auri calls Kal Legolas and it's just... ugh.

I read this book in less than 72 hours and just wow.
I love all of the characters in this book. They're different and interesting. I love Cat's hotheadedness and Kaliis' struggles with himself due to a civil war that divides his people. I love how this crew is diverse - which makes sense cause its sci-fi, but even included a disabled character who is more than just a disability and whose personality I thoroughly enjoyed.
I love Zila and I hope we see more of her next book, cause I loved her small and few chapters where I definitely related to her. Her unique earrings make me want to be her friend.
Scarlet is a very interesting character. She is strong and smart and yet there's no shame when she has had a lot of boyfriends and a good flirting vocabulary - and I love it.
Tyler is in no way boring, but at the start he's just a boy with perfect grades. He is loveable and good and smart.
And lastly Aurora, who is so fragile and so confused to be in this world of spacetravel. She and Kaliis are frankly so so so good together (but I had wished for a lgbt+ romance in this book, not necessarily with Aurora or Kaliis tho but just any) and I rooted for them along the way.

Cat's death was both necessary and unnecessary to me. For the characters it was vital in the understanding of what was going on (and I needed the ‘explanation') but as she spent a lot of the book angry and hotheaded I didn't necessarily get a connection to her though I loved her and will definitely miss her in the other book.

Onto plot, I'm honestly still the tiniest bit lost but it's so so so good. The buildup and the reveal and as I read about the reveal of Ra'haam it already grosses me out. The chapter from Cat as she is sucked up in Ra'haam made everything connect for me and I think it's a good way to explain it a bit more and make people understand what's going on.
I can't wait to read Aurora Burning.

Loved every minute of this. Absolutely amazing. In love with Squad 312!

Enjoyed this one - it didn't grab me like Illuminae did - but enjoyed it enough to jump into book #2...and now that the characters are fleshed out, I'd say I'm enjoying #2 more.

A fun adventure story with a good sense of humour that became much more serious and showed good potential in the final third. As this is book 1 in the series I'm looking forward to seeing how things progress in the sequel. As a bonus, the between-chapter fact sheets felt very [a:Douglas Adams 4 Douglas Adams https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1591374335p2/4.jpg], and that's a real compliment.

I'd like to give credit to the narrators for trying to give each character a different narrator... Except that someone forgot to tell the one narrator that her character has an Australian accent.

Full review on bookblubbs.wordpress.com

I would've loved this book if it weren't for the annoying and over-done use of women on women jealousy.

So this was a lot of fun but some things still fell flat. Solid 4 stars though. I enjoyed it for the most part. Character favorites were Kal and Finian followed by Auri. I wish they would've let poor Magellan talk more.

I wanted to like this but unfortunately, I ended up being bored most of the time.

The plot... well, its very cliche and mediocre and nothing happened. Its divided into three parts but Part 2, is so unnecessary if you ask me. I was so bored the entire time that I've had multiple thoughts of DNF-ing it.

The characters... they're all bland and one-dimentional. They try too hard to be these “cool and smartass misfits” in space. I was rolling my eyes non-stop for the frequent mentions of Tyler's dimples, Kal's braids and purple eyes, as well as, the constant weird curse phrases in Auri's perspective. Speaking of which, she reminded me so much of Eleven from Stranger Things and she's supposed to be the “hero” or the “chosen one” in the story but I don't see that in her? Also, she's so annoying.

The POVs... didn't concern me that much. I listened to this on audiobook and I highly recommend it. It has a complete cast for each character and it helped me a lot to not be confused.

Overall, I'm disappointed and I will not be continuing with this series anymore. But the book also received a lot of good reviews and praise so my opinion doesn't really matter. This took me so long to finish and I'm glad that I'm finally over it.