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.
Noragami Vol 21
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review!
Yato is a homeless god. He doesn't even have a shrine, let alone any worshippers! So, to achieve his ambitious goals, he's set up a service to help those in need (for a small fee of course). He hopes that one day he'll be able to build the temple he feels he deserves, but for now he can't be picky about the jobs that he chooses to accept. From finding lost kittens to overcoming school bullies, Yato is divinely intervening all over the place!
While Yukine is busy harbouring the stray who promptly disappears, Hyori is getting used to regular life without he and Yato. Speaking of Yato, he's gone off with Kazuma to train and hunt Ayakashi although it soon becomes clear that the two of them really need to work on getting more in sync with each other. Yukine needs to hunt down the stray but while doing so he ends up encountering Yato's father whom we all know and hate, and as soon as he said that there's a way out of Yomi my first thought was, 'here we go. What could possibly go wrong with this knowledge?'.
Yato's father provides plenty of interesting information in this volume. There's a glimpse of how he came to be and some ominous notes when he mentions the stray's death which kind of has me curious, because there's clearly some history there. However, there's quite a development when it comes to Yukine as he starts to wonder how he died and it definitely provides a sense of impending doom when paired with everything we learn this volume.
This volume largely spends its time building up for the next showdown and adding in a few little plot twists with Yukine and then with Hiyori and her lifeline, while also having Yato and Kazuma preparing for the next step. The Gods are all plotting together to help Yukine and go after the Crafter although the mention of 'God hunting' is ominous and had me on edge. Much as I love and feel for Yukine, I'm back in the 'wanting to shake him' place.
Volume 21 is another solid volume, moving the plot along and keeping the readers interest through to the end. While serving to continue to set up and move the characters where they need to be for coming volumes and events, it also provides more intrigue and ends on a super ominous note that leaves you desperate for the next volume!
Bone Crier's Moon
Rating: 3/5
Buy or Borrow: Borrow
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review!
Bone Criers have a sacred duty. They alone can keep the dead from preying on the living. But their power to ferry the spirits of the dead into goddess Elara’s Night Heavens or Tyrus’s Underworld comes from sacrifice. The gods demand a promise of dedication. And that promise comes at the cost of the Bone Criers’ one true love.
Ailesse has been prepared since birth to become the matriarch of the Bone Criers, a mysterious famille of women who use strengths drawn from animal bones to ferry dead souls. But first she must complete her rite of passage and kill the boy she’s also destined to love.
Bastien’s father was slain by a Bone Crier and he’s been seeking revenge ever since. Yet when he finally captures one, his vengeance will have to wait. Ailesse’s ritual has begun and now their fates are entwined—in life and in death.
Sabine has never had the stomach for the Bone Criers’ work. But when her best friend Ailesse is taken captive, Sabine will do whatever it takes to save her, even if it means defying their traditions—and their matriarch—to break the bond between Ailesse and Bastien. Before they all die.
Bone Crier's Moon has been one of my anticipated reads for a while so I was eager to dive in, unfortunately it didn't quite live up to my expectations and often fell a little bit flat. While the world was intriguing and I was incredibly fascinated by the Bone Crier's and the lore surrounding them, the negatives outweigh the positives for me.
I'll start off this review with what I did like about this book. As I said, the world is intriguing and so is the lore that surrounds the Bone Crier's, I actually thought it was quite original. I was excited to dive in and learn more about them and how everything worked. The opening of the book was misty and evocative and the atmosphere for the book was very well done throughout and was, in my opinion, one of the best parts of the book. It was atmospheric throughout and it was this atmosphere that helped pull you into the book and bring the settings to life. It just added a little extra something to the scenes and provided certain feelings depending on the scene and location. I was really able to get a strong feel for the aesthetic of the book as I was reading which I particularly enjoyed.
There's some nicely placed ominous hints throughout the book about what's really going on with one of the characters and serves to provide a sense of intrigue to keep you reading. However, I think the biggest plus about this book is how badass all of the female characters are. They're strong, they can take care of their selves and they aren't afraid to fight back when they need to. Even Sabine who doesn't really enjoy violence all that much! Each of the Bone Crier's really had each other's backs and I loved the strong, deep female friendship depicted between Sabine and Ailesse though I would have loved to see a bit more of it! I'm a sucker for strong female friendships in books and this one certainly provided!
However, there was quite a bit about this book that let it down for me and made me rate it three stars. While I did love the world and was intrigued by it, I felt like the world building was really lacking. There was enough detail for the magic system and so on, and the lore of the Bone Crier's, but when it came to the actual world and setting a feel like it wasn't followed through on enough. I assume it's a French inspired fantasy world judging from some of the words that were used, and there's the catacombs that are built from bones, but other than that I don't really have much of a feel or picture of the place. The Bone Crier's, the catacombs and the small area that Bastien inhabits are all expounded upon to a decent extent in most cases but other than that small corner there's not much known about the world. Some royalty are then thrown in at the end with not much detail. There's also a mention of some distant war but that's about it and we don't see much of the world. So much is poured into the mythology and magic system that I feel like the world building fell to the side a little.
The same could be said for the characters and their backstory. They seem quite two dimensional and flat and all we really know about them are their basic motivators. Revenge, completing a ritual and rescuing a friend, there's not really that much more to them than that. In fact I wasn't even aware that Ailesse was the main character when I started reading, I thought it was Sabine and I think I might have actually preferred Sabine as the MC because I did feel like out of all of the characters, we got to know her the most and see her develop unlike the others.
I also really wasn't feeling the romance, I have to be honest. It was straight up insta-love and I really wasn't a fan of it. All signs seemed to point towards Bastien and his female BFF who's name escapes me, but all of a sudden he's in love with Ailesse and I didn't...really...see why? All I gleaned from the book was that it was 'just because'. So I really didn't enjoy the romance, there was no chemistry between the two and it felt really lacklustre and then to make it even worse another guy is thrown in right at the end and again...it's insta-love. Hell, he hasn't even met her and he's falling all over himself because of her and I'm not entirely sure how a love triangle full of insta-love is going to pan out in the next book because I'm not particularly rooting for either couple. Honestly I was expecting a really intense/deep romance and this was...not it.
After the initial excitement over the world and the mythology, my interest waned pretty quickly. While it does have a fast start and a fast pace, I just ended up not being that hooked? To the point I could quite easily skim read to get through it. The insta-love had my attention straying but also the very repetitive plot. Ailesse is constantly running away and getting caught and then running away again over and over, while Sabine is looking for her and there's shady goings on. There's huge time skips that I honestly didn't feel worked because the plot still went nowhere? And I would have preferred to spend more time with Sabine as she developed and had to do the one thing she didn't really enjoy all to save her friend instead of reading the same sequence of events over and over. I ended up being pretty bored, and once I'd finished the book and was reflecting on it I realised that not a lot really happened, honestly. Which brings me to my next point....
For the majority of the book not a lot happens, as I said, and it's super repetitive but in what felt like the eleventh hour there was a plot twist that literally came out of nowhere. There were no hints to it or anything, at least not that I detected, and it really seemed like it was thrown in for shock value or to add something to make people keep reading and anticipate the next book. It really didn't seem to have the most solid basis to me, which wasn't helped by the lack of world building to be honest.
Despite a promising start and premise, Bone Crier's Moon ultimately ended up falling for flat for me and being more than a little bit disappointing. Perhaps my expectations were too high as I know a lot of people actually really loved this book, but for me there were too many negatives and aspects that I wasn't too big a fan of! I haven't quite decided if I'll check out the sequel to see how it all ends or not yet!
