Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff | 5 Star Review
Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff 5 Star Review
Hi friends! I’m so excited to bring you my review of Aurora Rising! Amie Kaufmanand Jay Kristoff have a habit of writing spectacular books, and an even more amusing habit of breaking the internet. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, where have you been? Every time special editions of Aurora Rising has gone on sale, the site it’s being sold on has crashed dramatically. It has been amusing, and a bit sad with how people have reacted but I’m not getting into that now.
Thank you so much Rock the Boat for sending me an ARC of this for an honest review!
ANYWAY. I read this and LOVED IT. As you know if you follow me, I LOVE space books. This is a space book, so I already love this by default… but the book itself is also good, don’t worry. Shall we get into the review? As always, NO SPOILERS.
Aurora Rising by Jay Kristoff, Amie Kaufman on May 7, 2019
Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Pages: 480
Format: Paperback
Goodreads
From the internationally bestselling authors of THE ILLUMINAE FILES comes an epic new science fiction adventure.
The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch…
A cocky diplomat with a black belt in sarcasmA sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmatesA smart-ass techwiz with the galaxy’s biggest chip on his shoulderAn alien warrior with anger management issuesA tomboy pilot who’s totally not into him, in case you were wondering
And Ty’s squad isn’t even his biggest problem—that’d be Aurora Jie-Lin O’Malley, the girl he’s just rescued from interdimensional space. Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time and out of her depth. But she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler’s squad of losers, discipline-cases and misfits might just be the last hope for the entire galaxy.
They're not the heroes we deserve. They're just the ones we could find. Nobody panic.
Okay I genuinely have no idea how to write this review, how do I write reviews for books I love again? Let’s give this ago.
I really enjoyed this book, the mix of characters worked so brilliantly, I just wanted to cuddle all of the little beans. I also loved the LGBQIA+ rep that was there! Gotta love some bisexual characters! Mild spoilers ahead in regards to the pairings: View Spoiler » The spoiler doesn’t say who ends up with who or anything, just about sexuality and gender etc. I also love the subtle use of non-binary language. There’s a bartender who they refer to as simply they/them etc and it just warms my heart to see it, and it not be called attention to you know? The characters weren’t all, mis gendering them and being corrected like I often see in books.
My only criticism would be that it almost felt like two different books – the first half and second half had such different pacing and the story was dramatically different. BUT. I loved both parts, so it’s not really a criticism just more like an observation.
I also loved little easter eggs from Illuminae that were in there – I won’t say what just keep an eye out and see if you notice them too!
The story is told from multiple POVs, which I really enjoyed. I also liked thinking that if some of the POVs weren’t there, we as readers would have felt so differently towards some characters. It really shows that there’s a lot going on beneath the surface of people that we don’t always appreciate or understand. It’s a good moral for not judging people by their covers.
It’s not set out in the same way as Illuminae etc is, but there is a little element of those books in it. There’s not an AI like Aidan but there is a kind of AI that adds comic relief, and also we get some cool insert pages which look a bit like the pages in Illuminae with world building info. I really loved that they were in there.
As I mentioned, the pacing dramatically changes towards the end of the book. The first half is pretty steady, quite comedic with high stakes, the end is VERY fast paced, full of tension, even higher stakes, twists and genuinely quite creepy/scary in parts. I was about to put it down to go to sleep when I reached this new pacing level and then finished the whole thing that night because I JUST COULDN’T PUT IT DOWN.
“Who wants to be normal when you can be interesting instead?”
The characterisation of Aurora Rising is ON POINT. Honestly, I really enjoyed getting to know each of them and seeing them grow as the book went on. They were all so unique and each of them were dealing with their own issues. It’s hard to say much without spoiling so I’ll give it a go.
I loved the twins! They were both so nuanced and different, I really enjoyed that take. So very often twins are done badly in my opinion, but Scar and Tyler compliment each other’s personalities and I love it.
Auri… well first I LOVE HER NAME. It’s my dog’s name so I was already partial to our girl out of time. She has such an interesting character arc, honestly, things keep getting thrown at her and I love seeing her navigate this new life she’s been thrown into.
Cat irritated me quite a bit, her love sick puppy but also I’m a hard-ass persona irked me so much but I also loved her? Not all characters are likeable and I loved that I didn’t like her? She was very flawed and I loved her arc.
Okay my memory is terrible and I’m already having to go back and check their names because I’ve forgotten some!
Fin! I loved his smart assery and the fact that he’s disabled! YES FOR DISABILITY REP. That isn’t just fixed for the plot? He had to walk with the assitance of an exo skeleton suit thing and I LOVED IT. He over exerted himself and had to rest and I just appreciated it and wanted to cuddle him.
I loved that Zila’s entries were short and sweet. Anything more wouldn’t have suited her personality. Arguably I think she’s one of the more interesting characters, but that being said – she literally barely says or does anything throughout the book. AND she’s kinda coded as autistic? But not in a good way, so I’m really hoping she isn’t. I kinda get the feeling they added one too many characters to this cast and crew and Zila kinda fell through the cracks.
I love that Kal is quite literally fighting his inner demons. I think that his inner turmoil can be applied to our own mental health, I am constantly fighting against the voice inside telling me that I’m not good enough, so I really appreciate that nuanced aspect of Kal.
Thanks for reading, I really enjoyed this book and will be uploading my booktube review soon! So follow me on there so you don’t miss out.
Have you read it yet?
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6 Comments
Welp. If we had a rotten tomatoes version for bloggers… this book would be certified fresh as fresh can be. I can’t wait for the library to get it in. BLAH!
Haha I love that!
Nice review! I’ll add this to me TBR list. Thank you.
Wonderful review, Jenn! I have been hearing so many great things about this book, and I already feel a strong connection to the characters! Haha! And Kal, Fin and Auri sound like the SWEETEST! I want to read this book pronto! 😉
*quietly screaming and flailing* I’m so eager to read this. Your review is great and makes me want to read it all the more! I mean, I’m sad there’s no AIDAN, but AIDAN is sort of one of a kind anyway. I love Illuminae so much, though, that I’m really happy it’s similar to that (but not too similar), because I think their style really works well. Their banter and characters are the BEST, and it sounds like that’s true for this book, too, and now I just can’t wait. xD
Great review! I’m adding it to my TBR now!