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Aurora Rising

Aurora Rising (The Aurora Cycle, #1) 
Special thanks to NetGalley for a copy.

I am an affiliate with Z Publishing House. For more information, see the bottom of this post.

Aurora Rising is the first book in a new series by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. Both authors wrote the Illuminae Files trilogy. Kristoff also wrote the Lifel1k3 series as well as the Nevernight Chronicles and the Lotus War series. Kaufman has written the Starbound sieries, the Unearthed series, and the Elementals series. Aurora Rising is published by Knopf Books for Young Adults and was made available on May 7th. This is a young adult science fiction adventure.

First off, I need book 2 right now.

Second, this is a Guardians of the Galaxy kind of story. Told in multiple perspectives, top student, Tyler Jones, is out flying in the Fold before graduation and picking members for his flight team when he discovers a damaged ship with one survivor. When Aurora awakens, it's revealed she's been in cryosleep for over two hundred years. Tyler is stuck with the most unwanted crew members plus his twin sister, Scarlet, and their best friend, Cat, and sent on a delivery mission to a refugee camp. Once there, everything goes wrong when they discovery Aurora snuck aboard their ship and the Terran government is after her for reasons unknown. The group of seven have to figure out what is causing her strange powers, why the Terran agents are wiping out anyone who has contact with her, and what happened all those years ago that has awakened a war from a millennia ago. There's snark and a little romance to follow.


This was one of my most anticipated releases for this year. 


Starting with what I enjoyed most.


I love each of the characters and how different they all feel to each other. They each can be jerks yet they are also capable of working together when they need to. They grow together as a family. Cat was a bit annoying with her obsession with Tyler when he made it clear he wasn't interested and there was a time when I flat out hated her because of her unchecked jealousy.Aurora is cool and moves through the various emotions of discovering she is in the wrong time, her family is all dead, and she is now gifted with a strange power that is implied to be older than most of the alien species. I also like how her relationship with Kal develops though there is a moment between him and Tyler that I found hysterical. Zila didn't get much development, which was disappointing but given the little we do see, I suppose it does make sense. Out of everyone, i think Finian is my favorite-- it's a tie between him and Kal-- since he is the jokester but he also seems like the annoying brother who helps everyone relax and fit together. Kal is the defender. He's hated by his people because of his clan, yet he shows himself to be caring and gentle, careful to manage his anger and rage and look for another way out of fights before turning to violence, though he is more than capable of taking out a small army. 

 The villains are also interesting. You believe it's a government entity and suspect it has something to do with Aurora's original mission. Suddenly it turns into a conspiracy that the crew are forced to run from,  and finally into an ancient enemy scenario. This is fun and it's interesting to see this UN type crew turning rogue in order to protect Aurora. However, it does feel a little odd pacing wise. Maybe it's because I started with Illuminae and loved the slow build and reveals that spiraled out of control once I realized what was going on. This book was more traditional and linear. The reveals aren't as ground shaking, which I was disappointed by. 

 As I said before, Cat also got on my nerves. She's a cocky pilot but her obsessive jealousy really rubbed me the wrong way, even though she does redeem herself in the end. 

 Overall, it's a great book. Fast paced, a fun adventure, and plenty of character development that sets this series up for another book and a bigger threat.

If you like space adventures, if you liked the Illuminae Files, and if you like rag-tag teams of assholes coming together as a big family, this is the book for you.

 I am an affiliate with Z Publishing House. If you're interested in reading the works of emerging authors, this is a great place to start. Please note I do receive a small commission for any items purchased through this link: http://www.zpublishinghouse.com?rfsn=1831564.e6264 
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