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A review by iamnotacentipede
Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff
4.0
Let me start off by saying that this was very much a YA novel, but in the end I liked this more than I thought that I would. I thought that this book was going to be a cringe read since it's a 50/50 bet for me personally in the YA genre, but I actually was VERY much sucked into this book. There are some very blatant YA moments in here like the weird style of cursing: one minute they will say "jackass" and the next it's more reserved by saying "biscuits" or something along those lines. It just felt very "teen" behavior and the constant flirtation and sexual undertone jokes were also very faux young adult mannerisms. I was a little irritated with the way the characters handled their love affairs, the only ones really doing it right was Finian and Scarlett.
This was like if The Breakfast Club, Enders Game, and StarTrek were to be mashed together. I really liked the dynamic of the characters and how the plot evolved as you went along. It was also pretty cool to see nods at classic Sci-Fi tropes and themes.
I will say that I liked this book much more than Illuminae that the authors also did but there were still some similarities like nuclear attacks for EMPs and parasitic style control over people. So it would have been nice to kinda have more of an original concept.
Another complaint that I had was this book was almost 500 pages and we really didn't get too much backstory on some characters, things were hinted at but didn't circle back around to discuss those, looking at Zila and Finian.
I also felt like the amount of POV that we got through the story was a little unnecessary, I caught myself several times forgetting which character I was reading from.
I want to applaud the representation and inclusion of different style of cultures in this world and even within this group. There were queer characters and people of color and even dynamic ways each species operates even if we see it only in passing.
Even with the complaints I still very much liked this book and will continue the series hoping to see how everything is going to play out for this group.
This was like if The Breakfast Club, Enders Game, and StarTrek were to be mashed together. I really liked the dynamic of the characters and how the plot evolved as you went along. It was also pretty cool to see nods at classic Sci-Fi tropes and themes.
I will say that I liked this book much more than Illuminae that the authors also did but there were still some similarities like nuclear attacks for EMPs and parasitic style control over people. So it would have been nice to kinda have more of an original concept.
Another complaint that I had was this book was almost 500 pages and we really didn't get too much backstory on some characters, things were hinted at but didn't circle back around to discuss those, looking at Zila and Finian.
I also felt like the amount of POV that we got through the story was a little unnecessary, I caught myself several times forgetting which character I was reading from.
I want to applaud the representation and inclusion of different style of cultures in this world and even within this group. There were queer characters and people of color and even dynamic ways each species operates even if we see it only in passing.
Even with the complaints I still very much liked this book and will continue the series hoping to see how everything is going to play out for this group.