The Stats
đ BOOK REVIEWâ đ
BOOK: Aurora Rising: The Aurora Cycle Book 1
AUTHOR: Amie Kaufman @amiekaufmanauthor and Jay Kristoff @Misterkristoff
Publisher: Knopf Books@aaknopf
Stars: ââââ
Published: May 7th, 2019
The Review
Aurora, Aurie to those that know her, is a girl out of time. Stuck in hypersleep, within a space-fold storm, she awakens 200 years later into a future where everyone she knew is not only dead, theyâve been erased. Sheâs also getting visions of blood and violence that start coming true. When the galactic version of the NSA show up to abduct her, itâs up to a rag-tag team of snarky Aurora Legionnaires to protect her. And go on a heist. And fight off evil plants. Oh, this is fun.
The Title/Cover Draw:
The title didnât do much for me. Especially since âRisingâ seems to be in so many sci-fi titles these days. The cover, on the other hand, is kinda cool. The blend of the shadows on Auroraâs face into the night sky, with a bright red star imposed over her eye. Itâs really catching.
What I liked:
I liked how the book bounced between the perspectives of the entire crew, not just one or two characters. This is the Kaufman/Kristoff style. Sci fi from multiple, snarky perspectives. I honestly think it works even better in this bright future setting than it did in Illuminae Files.
What I didnât like:
I did the audio-book version, and each character has their own voice actor voicing their perspective. This helps keep the characters separate. Itâs also a bit disorienting when each voice actor tries to emulate the characters that arenât their viewpoint. Like, Aurieâs VA speaking in her version of Tylerâs voice. Each of them are subtly different versions of the characters, which sometimes made it hard to tell who was talking. It may have been easier to simply have each voice actor also voice their characters during dialogue.
The bright future setting works against this story as well. It plays as a Star Trek homage, but without the dazzling array of cultures present, it gets a bit boring. Fortunately, the characters and varied plot make up for it.
What kept me reading:
The sense of humor. Really. Itâs a funny book, and each character has their own comedic perspective. Not to mention, the action doesnât really let up. Even when they have moments to rest, things are going on.
The Characters:
Squad 312 is a mash of tropes that somehow add up to something with a bit more heart than they seem at to at first. Girl out of time, a by-the-book leader with dashing good looks, hot-shot pilot with a temper, diplomat with a sharp tongue, anti-social science officer, and motor-mouth tech-head. Oh, and round that team off with Worf in Spockâs body. Yeah, thatâs our team. It feels like thereâs one too many here, but thatâs for a reason I wonât spoil. I love their interpersonal relationships, but wouldnât mind seeing a few more of them as aliens. Or at least have them be aliens that are more unique. Weâve got two, and they feel pretty stock average.
I like Zila and Finian a lot. Theyâre the most unique of the bunch, and I still want to know Zilaâs story. The occasional interruptions from Magellan, the AI on Auriâs uniglass, is kinda fun and gives me vibes of the ads from Horrorstor.
The Ending:
Well, the book is listed as book 1 of a series, so get ready for a sequel in that ending. That being said, the book doesnât feel like it resolves the existing action before it ends. It just removes the characters from it and has them decide to continue their adventure. Up until there, however, we have some really impactful character moments. These people resolve some heavy personal subjects in the last few chapters. I intend to listen to the remainder of the series, but I may wait until the others come out.
Reminds me of:
This has tones of many sci-fi video games that came out in the last decades. It has the same concept of ancient aliens helping us fight a pervasive monstrous force that we have seen in Halo and Mass Effect. On the other end, the Aurora Legion reminds me of Star Trek and Wing Commander. The main alien races seem to derive from the same tropes as Star Trek and Mass Effect, enough that Iâm wondering where my green alien women are. All of these franchises have books out now, so you can likely trip over them in the book stores.
You may also enjoy Flash Gordon. May. And, you should probably go check out Illuminae Files, since itâs basically the darker twin of this series.
You can see more in my video review:
*****
Summary:
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 touchâŚ
A cocky diplomat with a black belt in sarcasm
A sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmates
A smart-ass techwiz with the galaxyâs biggest chip on his shoulder
An alien warrior with anger management issues
A tomboy pilot whoâs totally not into him, in case you were wondering
And Tyâs squad isnât even his biggest problemâthatâd be Aurora Jie-Lin OâMalley, the girl heâs 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 Tylerâs 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.
I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I donât have plants growing out of my skull.