Heyo Bookaholics!
It’s Space Time. Again!
It’s space time again, and that means I’ve read another Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman co-authored novel! Aurora Rising is the first novel in the Aurora Cycle Series and is once again full of amazingly unique characters, family bonds between siblings and friends, and uber cool space stuff that is so reminiscent of any of their works.
I was going to put this novel on hold to read the entire 7 books on my Rainbow TBR for Pride Month (you can check that out in the linked post), but I was convinced by my friend Lucie (@whatluciesreading) to continue reading it alongside my other books because the Book Meet organised by TheYARoom is tomorrow!
REVIEW!
I want to keep this review spoiler free, but like any of Amie and Jay’s books, it’s hard to talk about them without mentioning spoilers, since their worlds aren’t like our own and a lot of the spoilers are world-building related… We’ll see how I go 🙂
Starting the book was a little weird, I have to admit. Going into another Amie and Jay space novel, I was almost expecting another Illuminae style production, which knocked my socks off and threw them out the airlock. This novel was a little different, and I didn’t want to compare them so I read on.
It begins with Tyler, the leader of Squad 312 – not spoilers because Amie and Jay have been giving us character profiles on their social media’s since the book was announced – and he’s on some kind of mission. This confused the hell out of me! But in true Bree fashion, I powered on past chapter one and into the wildness of chapter two where everything came together (thank goodness because I was beginning to worry), and the novel’s namesake Aurora is introduced making modern-day references and giving us all a good description of Tyler’s glorious abs and killer dimples. Thank you Auri x
Aurora Rising is told in multiple perspectives. And I mean multiple perspectives! Each character has their own chance at telling their own part of the story. Luckily I did a sneaky flick through and figured this out from the start, committing every character’s names, roles, and description to my memory. The blurb on the back helps heaps if you forget.
The above image can be found on both Amie and Jay’s Instagram accounts and is the full cast of characters in their Academy uniforms in front of their section logos.
Where I tried my hardest not to compare this to the Illuminae Files, and try I did, I really couldn’t shake the feeling that whilst this novel deals with themes of violence and war, each and every one of the characters are as ignorant as they are confident. Where they’ve all trained at the Aurora Academy their whole lives for a chance to be out in space and on missions, none of them had really any understanding of war (well except for Kal, but I did say no spoilers right…). This made them seem younger, but slightly more relatable as they slathered their fear in sarcasm, build friendships, and went headfirst into situations without really giving the concept of death much thought.
Thinking back on it, I really fricking enjoyed this novel. Every single one of the members of Squad 312 has their own unique personality, ability, or disability that makes them who they are. Not all are human, and not all are neurotypical either, but all are unique and different. It’s as if a jigsaw puzzle has been put together incorrectly but makes a prettier picture than what was intended. It’s like that one tumblr post I found where someone got high and made a puzzle incorrectly and it looks prettier than the original (see below coz I found the image).
I cannot wait for the sequel. It will be just as jam-packed and plot-twisty as this one. Nothing was entirely predictable and there was humour and a snarky comeback on every page which made is even more enjoyable to read because you can just tell that is was super enjoyable for them to write.
★ Rating ★
I rated this book a ★★★★★ (5/5 stars) because of well, all of the reasons above and more!
It was funny. It was sassy. It shocked me and made me contemplate the extremity of the universe while also making me question how Amie and Jay can create entirely new species with entirely new customs, rituals and manners without the use of witchcraft.
I would recommend this novel, everyone. Read it, enjoy it and pass on the love.
What’s your favourite space novel? xx
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With Love Bree xx
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