Book Review: Aurora Rising by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman

Rating- 312/10

Hello all, I am so excited to talk all about Aurora Rising.  I read this book than I started it again as soon as I finished. Then a week later having read nothing since I read it again. So I have already read it three times. That is the level of love that I have for this book. Oh, and can we talk about that cover? How perfect is that cover? Charlie Bowater is a freaking genius! I want her to do all the art for all the books. If I ever get a book published I would love a Charlie cover. If I got one I would feel like I won. Anyway onto the book itself. 

This is a SciFi novel, and it’s also pretty much everything I could ask for in a book. The characters are complex and complicated. The relationships are everything. The plot is freaking amazing. The ending pretty much broke me. So yes, here we are. The book tells the story of an unexpected squad thrown together by fate. Our fearless leader, Tylor Jones, misses the Draft rescuing a mysterious girl who has been in suspension for over two hundred years and thus ends up with a ragtag squad no one wanted. And then we are off to an adventure of a lifetime. My feelings were all over the place for all the right reasons. My poor children did not deserve this treatment. 

Now I go into Spoiler Land. I have no patience to talk about this book vaguely, I want to go into specifics. Stay out of Spoiler Land, and go read this book instead. You will not regret it. 

First up, I loved the whole squad together. They are all very good at their jobs, but their personalities are complicated enough to where it is difficult for many of them to get along with others. Nothing demonstrates this better than the fact that Finian irradiated a lab to avoid a group final exam. I can’t blame him as I hated group assignments myself. Zilla admits herself she understands everything but people. Kal is shunned because of his (mysterious) family. Scarlett is only there because of her twin. Cat would fight anyone, and her attachment to hitting people over the head with chairs is goals. She also just wants to fly.  Only Tylor wants to be there and to excel. He wants to prove himself. And then we have Aurora who is two-hundred years out of time and thus knows nothing about the world she’s in and the people in it. Yet no one is one dimensional and it is through the complexities of their personalities that they start to figure out that they complement each other and form a truly amazing squad. Squad 312 for life. I truly can’t pick a favorite character. They were all just too good. Sometimes when reading about people in books I admire them but I wouldn’t want to be friends with them. I would want to be friends with everyone on this team, even Zilla. 

This book very much deals with the team and their mission coming together. Watching those clashing personalities bond and figure out who they are together was such a joy. I appreciated that no one could agree on a course of action instantly, it took until the end of the book for them to figure out what they’re doing. it felt more natural and true to life that conflict was present. The tension only made the teamwork better. Some of my favorite scenes took place on the Sempeternity aka The World Ship. the time there showcased everyone’s strengths and weaknesses as well as who they are becoming. My favorite scene of all was the bathroom. I was giggling like a madwoman the whole time. I last it as soon as Kal said: “This toilet is not big enough for the five of us.” and kept losing it. This book sent me into fits of giggles regularly, but it also sent me into a heartbroken funk on a few occasions. 

Poor Auri, I felt for her. In her head, she went to sleep to live the rest of her life a few days ago. Yet she woke up to a world she couldn’t have expected. Not only was everyone she knew dead, but she also had to deal with weird powers, aliens, mysterious government conspiracies, and feelings. She spent most of the book trying to catch up and understand, and I admired her for that. It was the best thing to do under the circumstances. I’m glad she didn’t try to take over everything but instead let the people who knew what they were doing do what they were good at. She was learning and she knew it. This is not to say she was passive. She did plenty to find out what was happening, she just wasn’t too proud t oaks for help. Aurora’s powers are frankly scary. She stopped a spaceship with her mind. She made things and people explode. At the very end, we find out she’s telepathic and empathic. And she has visions of the future. I’m not sure I would have handled it as well as she did. Yes, it takes her a while to decide she’s done being a puppet of her powers but when she does it’s badass. And I think she finds her strength again because of her new friends. They gave her support when she needed it and thus gave her time to come into her own. Of course, what also helped was yelling at Kal. I loved how many nicknames she came up with for him, and how confused he was by them. 

Kal has many issues, most of which he’s refusing to talk about or acknowledge. His intro, when he punched Tylor in the face, was my favorite of all the squad. It kind of lets you know from the beginning that those two will either hate each other or be best friends. His race, the Syldrathi, are all in possession of a large amount of pride and he is no different. For most of the book, he assumes his squadmates could not possibly understand the things he’s feeling and thinking because they are other species (or is it races? Someone help!). The readers can understand his feelings because we are in his head so we get what is happening beneath the surface, but Auri was right when she said he was acting like a jackass. Not going to lie, his confusion over what exactly a jackass is, was adorable. His bafflement at most of the things Auri and Tylor do was great. I think he understood Zilla better than most of the other squad members because they both are wearing facades in different ways. I loved that he so clearly cared about her. With Auri he is experiencing The Pull so he has to care, but with Zilla, nothing is making him care and yet he does. This shows us there is empathy there. He might not think so but I know better. 

Finian was such a sweetheart. He doesn’t think he is and he puts up a good front but being in his head tells you more about him than he would ever admit to. I felt for his confusion and hurt over being picked last in the Draft. He is good at his job. And it always sucks to be picked last no matter how hard you tried to push people away. I loved that he thinks of the squad as his children. I also loved that the most common phrase in the book was “Shut up Finian.” it progressed from being an expression of annoyance to being an expression of love. He has such an obvious thing for Scarlett, though I’m not sure he realizes how big a thing it is. I also love that he’s bisexual, and no one cares! It’s fabulous that in a futuristic made-up world we can have characters of different sexualities and no one makes a big deal about it. It’s something we can all try to aim for. He’s Batraskan, and I hope we learn more about them in future books. I’m a little worried because he had a dream about the Ra’ham invading his home planet and honestly I could see that happening. The authors are certainly cruel enough to do that. I also want to meet more members of his family. It’s very clear that their treatment of him affected him deeply, and I wonder if we ever find out what kind of people they are and if Fin himself would bring up how the banishment made him feel. At least he found a new family now, and I’m hoping we get some development on the Fin and Scarlett front eventually. I’m willing to wait because I’m sure it will pay off. 

Scarlett was such a fantastic person. She was so sassy, yet so good at what she did. Her list of ex-boyfriends with the pros and cones was the best. One day I hope the authors publish the full list as an extra or something. Her ability to read people is amazing, but what is more amazing is how well she can use her superpower. She chooses to use it for good for the most part, but I would not be upset if she chose to use it for evil more often. Come on Scarlett, take over the universe. Her love for her twin is felt at all times. They talk to each other without speaking all the time. She’s allowed to tease him, but no one else is. And her friendship with Cat is one of my favorite relationships in the book, though they are all good. When they dance the tango, badly, my heart melted into a little friendship pile. Scarlett is the one who cares about the squad as individuals. I’m not saying they all don’t care about each other, I’m saying that Scarlett is the one who tries to go that extra step. SHe notices Silla’s earrings. SHe complemented Aurora’s hair before they ever spoke. She got Auri a Chinese inspired dress just because Aurora mentioned being Chinese once. She does the things like getting extra blankets, and casually unbuckling seatbelts just because she cares. She does the small things that pull people together and form a unit. 

Oh Tylor, my dear boy. He wants to prove himself so badly. There is, obviously orphan trauma there but its also his personality. He wants to be the best, and he wants to make his father proud. We all know he has a rebel streak in his from the beginning though because he goes ahead and rescues Auri despite the danger to himself and despite the regulations. He wants to do the right thing and to be the hero. The scene on the Teran Defense Ship Pretty much summed up his character. First, he gets into a fistfight and then he trusts his crew, and then he fights against his government. If you are going to rebel go all the way I say, and Tylor does. Quick note, How cool is it that scarlet throws water over Ty and Kal when she thinks they’re being idiots? And how cool is it that they respect her enough to listen when she tells them to stop being stupid. I also loved that Zilla’s logic worked to convince him they were about to die, and thus they didn’t die. His relationship with Cat made me sad. It’s very clear they had something great, and that he was scared of it. So he acted like an ass. At the end of the book, which I will talk about more when I get into Cat, my heart broke for them. They could have been amazing and now I don’t know how they could have another chance. Here’s hoping the authors find a way to give us a miracle. 

Cat was the real hero of this book. From the beginning, she practically gave off sparks of life and energy. It took her the longest to get on the Auri Train, and I got where she was coming from. Everything was going crazy, nothing was right, and the person she trusted to act sensibly was not acting sensibly. Her temper didn’t blind me to her core personality though, I knew Cat was loyal first. She chose to give her loyalty to Ty and the squad and that would not be easily broken. She had her moment of doubt, but she came through. Snd than that ending happened. WTF am I supposed to feel about that? What is everyone going to do without her? Scarlett and Ty will be heartbroken I’m sure. Cat is worse than dead, and I can’t believe the authors infected her with Ra’ham. How dare you torture me like that? Cat had such a huge personality that watching it slowly get crushed out by a galactic parasite hurt. I almost thought she could defeat it. THa she would kick them out of her mind, but no. In the end, we got to watch Cat get taken over and I am not okay. We got to be in her head as she was getting taken over and that was one masterful piece of writing. I can only hope to one day be as good. My heart had a moment of hope only to be crushed into a million pieces. Who will threaten everyone with chairs now? Who will tell Fin to shut up? I just can’t imagine how things will go one and maybe that’s why I’m still in mourning for this book.

Zilla is the final squad member and we don’t get to spend a whole lot of time with her in this book. A lot is going on in that head of hers we don’t get to see. She is almost a stereotype of a scientist, but very clearly we don’t know a lot. Her head will be a fascinating place to be once we get deeper into it, which I heard happens in the next book in the series. 

What else can I say but that I loved this book? I loved it so much I have yet to read another one. I’ve been listening to serial killer podcasts for almost two weeks now trying to get over the mourning period. The second book in the series is out now, but I’m not ready to go through all this again just yet. Plus I have a feeling the cliffhanger will be so much worse and its a year until the third book comes out. I want the security blanket of the third book. Please go read Aurora Rising, you might be a wreck afterward but it will so be worth it. Then come back and talk to me so I can get all my feelings out. This review is already very long, and I still haven’t discussed all the little things. 

Okay, that’s it for today. I’m leaving. See you next time. 

Anna