Aurora Burning
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review!
First, the bad news: an ancient evil—you know, your standard consume-all-life-in-the-galaxy deal—is about to be unleashed. The good news? Squad 312 is standing by to save the day. They’ve just got to take care of a few small distractions first.
Like the clan of gremps who’d like to rearrange their favorite faces.
And the cadre of illegit GIA agents with creepy flowers where their eyes used to be, who’ll stop at nothing to get their hands on Auri.
Then there’s Kal’s long-lost sister, who’s not exactly happy to see her baby brother, and has a Syldrathi army at her back. With half the known galaxy on their tails, Squad 312 has never felt so wanted.
When they learn the Hadfield has been found, it’s time to come out of hiding. Two centuries ago, the colony ship vanished, leaving Auri as its sole survivor. Now, its black box might be what saves them. But time is short, and if Auri can’t learn to master her powers as a Trigger, the squad and all their admirers are going to be deader than the Great Ultrasaur of Abraaxis IV.
Shocking revelations, bank heists, mysterious gifts, inappropriately tight bodysuits, and an epic firefight will determine the fate of the Aurora Legion’s most unforgettable heroes—and maybe the rest of the galaxy as well.
Aurora Rising was a nice little surprise for me, I'd been sent an ARC by the publisher and even though Sci-Fi isn't my usual thing I fancied picking it up and giving it a shot. I ended up really enjoying myself reading it and highly anticipating the sequel, Aurora Burning. In fact I was kind of procrastinating from reading Aurora Burning because I was so excited for it and knew I'd binge through it in no time!
Aurora Burning follows much the same kind of formula as the first book. There's a nice action packed opening before the whole Kuzco 'yeah that's me' kind of thing like I mentioned in my review of Aurora Rising. I do love how it's addressed and acknowledged in the narrative so I'll give it a pass for being kind of, exactly the same. There's also the multiple POV's, the slices of information on the world although from what I could tell a lot of them were the same as from the previous book but don't quote me on that because I'm not 100% sure as I didn't have time for a re-read! I just got that eery sense that I'd already read them. The humour and snark of the previous book is also present in abundance throughout Aurora Burning, as is the action scenes, fast pace and slight ridiculousness that sometimes pops up.
However, this time around I feel like we get a lot more emotion than there was in the previous book, to go with the new characters that we're introduced to and we finally get some more background and insight into the characters. Zila in particular was much appreciated by me as I kind of always forgot she was there in the previous book and I felt like out of all the characters we got to know her the least. With the absence of one character, Zila certainly takes the spotlight a lot more in this book. Not only do we come to understand her thanks to a very cleverly written chapter, but she also has a lot more to do in this book! Before she kind of felt like an additional crew member to bulk out numbers and I couldn't quite figure out what her purpose was so I was excited to see her take on more of a role and learn more about her. It was also nice to see her relaxing and becoming more comfortable with the others!
As you'd expect from the cover of Aurora Burning, our cover man Kal takes more of a focus in this book. I felt like we saw a lot less of Tyler than we did in the previous book and all eyes were on Kal as we went deeper into his character's background and there were some brilliant twists with him that I usually figured out about 2 seconds before the reveal! I also loved getting a deeper look at the Syldrathi and the split between them with the Unbroken opposing pretty much everyone.
Aurora Burning picks up smoothly from where we left off with a burst of action to pull you in as we get to grips with the current situation our crew have found themselves in. Once again, I liked that we didn't hang around and jumped straight into things. Quickly being introduced to the 8476343 problems they have to face. One of which is new character Saedii who's badass, a little bit scary and yet still kind of awesome.
I have to say, Finian further cemented his place as my favourite character in this entire series! I love he and his narrative and I loved getting to see one of my ships develop further in this book. I feel like Finian had more depth in this book, as did Scarlett actually! The two of them really remind me of my Teen Wolf OTP Stydia! Speaking of OTP's, I feel like Saedii and Tyler are going to become a thing next book and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that. I've been holding out hope for Cat and that hope hasn't entirely died so I'm not sure if I can get behind Tyler X Saedii.
I have to say, Kal was my biggest disappointment in this book. He was super intriguing in the first book with his 'enemy within' and that internal struggle and then we get plenty more intriguing information about him in this book...but somehow he ended up just being relegated to being the love interest. He stopped being a character all of his own and really just became like one entity with Aurora and I felt like the entire point of him this book was to be Aurora's love interest. It was really disappointing and I felt like his potential was never really explored which made the ending all the more frustrating.
On the subject of Aurora and Kal, I never fully got on board with their romance in the first book, it seemed very insta-love and didn't have much depth to it but I figured it would be expanded upon in this book. However, there's a little plot device in this book that allows months to pass for the two of them in the blink of an eye and I was side-eyeing it immensely. It sped up the romance but I still didn't fully buy it because we didn't get to see a lot of it and it seemed like it was there to make things more wrenching and emotional towards the end but it just...fell a little flat to be honest.
There are still some plot twists that are pulled out to surprise you that leave you gasping and ramp up towards the end fantastically. I also particularly thought that the final chapter was clever as we snap quickly between POVs and it added to the building rhythm of the finale, keeping you speeding towards the end and amping up the tension before the absolutely horrific cliffhanger ending. Was that really necessary!?
I can't say whether I enjoyed this more than Aurora Rising, I think I might have enjoyed the previous book a little bit more. Aurora Burning is much like Aurora Rising in that it isn't entirely perfect, there are a few things that niggled at me, but it was still a fast and enjoyable read that you could have fun reading! I look forward to having that cliffhanger resolved in the next book and I'm once again, probably foolishly, holding out hope for a certain character! Although I think I've now finally lost hope for Cat.
Aurora Rising
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review!
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 sarcasm
A sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmates
A smart-ass techwiz with the galaxy’s biggest chip on his shoulder
An alien warrior with anger management issues
A 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.
I'm going to be honest with you guys, this was a surprise in the post from the publisher! I love Jay's books but I'm kinda really picky about Sci-Fi as I do prefer fantasy. I picked this up anyway and I ended up being pleasantly surprised by it! It's been super hyped, as I'm sure everyone's aware, but I did really enjoy it!
This is gonna be a weird comment but, the opening of the book with the action and the imminent peril going on, then pausing and rewinding for context and background screamed the whole record scratch, freeze frame meme like" yup, that's me, you're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation". It also oddly reminded me of Emperor's New Groove. No I don't know why that example is what popped in to my head, llamas and space have no correlation but this is my brain so here we are.
The opening was tense and had me holding my breath, I had so many questions right from the first chapter. I was more and more intrigued by each nugget of information Tyler dropped for us, and I was enjoying his narrative. I immediately decided it was time I jumped on the Illuminae hype, and I sat back to enjoy reading what I knew was going to be a wild ride. It only took me a couple of sittings as well!
Aurora Rising is nicely paced, and like I said, I'm picky with my Sci-Fi and I don't always enjoy it but I got so hooked in to this. The mystery, the slightly creepy, spine shiver moments with Auri that I found so spooky, the hilarious banter between all of the characters who were such a diverse bunch with interesting personalities. Each character was such a little sass master in their own way, some more than others. The snark was just on point okay, and I appreciated that. I also appreciated the squad as a whole, they were a bit dysfunctional to start with but watching them come together was brilliant.
I loved Squad 312, they're such a brilliant bunch! Tyler is the Alpha aka the leader, he's dimpled, he's called Goldenboy because he's the best at everything and basically perfect and I was envisioning some all American, QB kinda guy. He's just....so optimistic and all "I have faith" which had me like, "Oh Tyler....oh dear". BUT I could so picture him doing the Office, "stares in to the camera" thing a couple of times.
Scarlett is his twin sister, she's the Face aka the Diplomat. She's like the mum of the group, taking care of everyone, knowing what everyone needs...but able to completely flirt her way in and out of anything. I loved that she and Tyler had such a strong sibling bond, and I loved seeing them interact.
Cat is our Ace, aka the pilot and the SASS on her! I loved her instantly, she's got tats, she's a badass and she will tell it how it is. The banter between her and Scarlett in particular had me in stitches, and I shipped she and Tyler so bad! Even though I kinda thought Tyler and Auri were gonna be a thing at one point.
Auri aka Aurora, I empathised with her and what happened to her. There was a lot of mystery about her but she low-key freaked me out a couple of times with her possession thing. Like it sent a chill up my spine, and was like some ghost horror movie. I will say that despite all of that, she did get on my nerves once or twice but I got past that!
Kal, the Tank aka combat and strategy specialist. Let's be real here people, y'all know I love Legolas so y'all should know that the space elf was going to be my ultimate favourite. They kept calling him Elrond and Legolas and I was living for it but despite his whole "I will kill you" "punch first and ask questions later", anger issues thing he had going on...I felt like he was kinda extra in his own way too. I mean...."Oh I'm in love with Aurora...I will banish myself back to the civil war of my people and probably get myself killed" okay dude. Bit extreme but you do you. I loved him so much.
Zila...oh Zila. She's the Brain, aka Scientist and she's a low-key Sociopath. Her one sentence POV's cracked me up, and she loves her gun. Loves it. The only thing with her is...she barely says anything all book and sometimes I actually forgot she was there, so aside from her willingness to shoot people in to oblivion I was kinda like...what is your purpose? Like maybe she'll have more to do next book?
Finian is probably my other ultimate favourite after Kal. He's the Gearhead, meaning he's the tech/mechanic kinda guy. He's another alien, but a different race to Kal. I kinda wanted to smack him one a few times which is how I knew I was gonna love him. The sass from him is unreal. He's disabled and has a suit to help him walk and move. My favourite thing about him? His little "hmmmm which twin do I choose....Tyler or Scarlet?", I lived for his internal monologue. If I could choose to save only one member of this squad, I'd be so torn between he and Kal...the others are on their own.
Honestly, it's such a cracking space adventure. We've got a heist, we've got creepy...well, plant people. Is all I can say. There's a tonne of adventure and humour and the thing I found about this? It was so easy to sit and read for a little bit, and then the next thing you know it's been 200 pages. It's so easy to sit and binge read, and I breezed through it in no time at all! We do have some romance, although I do feel like it was a bit all over the place in the beginning because I had completely different couples in my head at the beginning and then we suddenly switched gears and went in a different direction although we did avoid a love triangle which is a win. I don't know, maybe it was just me? But I felt like we were heavily leaning towards Aurora and Tyler.
Anyway, I loved the world building, with the history to Aurora Academy and Terran and space exploration, and basically how everything came to be as it currently is. I liked the aspect with Auri being out of her time, and this shady cover up. But I really loved getting to see the customs and history of a few of the different alien races!
I have two gripes with this book that prevented me from giving this 5 stars. The first, I will admit to reading Scarlett's POV initially and getting confused because I thought it was Tyler's and I had to check. The second? The ending. I didn't feel the emotional impact from it that other people did, and while some things did surprise me...I was hugely disappointed by the reveal.
The moment it was revealed who the GIA agent was I was sat there like "right, well, Princeps is clearly X person" and I was disappointed that it would be so obvious and predictable, but then I did also figure that Amie and Jay would hit us with a plot twist and it would be someone unexpected so I perked up and dived right back in....only to get to the end and be right in my initial assessment. That was the only time the book really disappointed me, because despite the cliches, I had so much fun reading it, and while some parts were predictable, this pushed the book from being "yeah a couple things were a bit predictable" to "yeah this book is hugely predictable" territory.
Aurora Rising is a lot of fun to read, there's snark, there's banter and excellent dialogue. We've got excellent characters with different, fun personalities, a lot of representation and diversity, a tonne of action, adventure and humour and it's such a bingeable read!
