Series: The Aurora Cycle

Synopsis:

Our heroes are back… kind of. From the bestselling co-authors of the Illuminae Files comes the second book in the epic series about a squad of misfits, losers, and discipline cases who just might be the galaxy’s best hope for survival.

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.

Review

HAHAHAHA I HAVEN’T READ A CLIFFHANGER LIKE THAT IN YEARS. I’M 38 WEEKS PREGNANT I CANT HANDLE THIS SHIT.

I…..honestly don’t even know where to begin with this review. I have been SO excited for Squad 312’s journey to pick back up since I read Aurora Rising also as an ARC back last March. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again—being able to be one of those people who are lucky enough to read ARCs is AWESOME. Who doesn’t want to get these books as early as humanly possible, am I right?! However. There are also TWO main downsides to this. 1) You are VERY limited to the number of people you can fangirl to about the book you just devoured and 2) you are now forced to wait EVEN LONGER until the next book comes out. In the case of Aurora Burning….I might die. This GD book ends on THE CLIFFHANGAR OF ALL CLIFFHANGERS, PEOPLE. I honestly couldn’t even tell you the last time I read a book that ended with me furiously trying to swipe left on my Kindle over and over and over to no avail, praying that my Kindle was just frozen and that I didn’t just read the end of the book and am stuck wondering, WAITING to see what happens for over a year. Sigh.

I’ve seen a few reviews already that have said they loved this one even more than the first. While I’m not sure I can quite agree with that, they were at least on an equal level. Getting to know everyone just that little bit more (especially more on Zila’s past) was great. There were a LOT of twisty parts, especially towards the end that just left me reeling. There are things that we end the book not knowing that will drive you BONKERS. Basically a good word to describe this book is ~frantic~. They’re all in a rush to not get killed, to learn more about Auri’s powers, to find the Weapon, to save the galaxy—you know, real important things.

Aside from ALL THAT though, even just seeing them grow is a family unit made my heart swell. They are all affected from the situation with Cat, understandably, and none of them really want to take this connection they all have for granted in any way. We see certain romantic relationships grow which made me so happy and I’m hoping that we’ll see more…*cries*…of that..*sniffles*…in the next book. I really don’t want to give ANYTHING away, just know that this was the sequel that I had been looking for and I will be counting down the mother-custard-ing days until that last book is out.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s for the chance to read an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.♥

Aurora Rising (The Aurora Cycle #1)
by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:

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.

They're not the heroes we deserve. They're just the ones we could find. Nobody panic.

Review:

You know you’ve read an exceptionally good book when you relish the idea of writing your review as soon as you’re done because you want to impress upon everyone the exact emotions you were feeling as soon as you’ve reached the last page. Guys. I know we’re only a quarter of the way through 2019 but I’ve read some damn good books so far. This….is one of the best. As much as I loved Finale this might honestly have been better. I’ve wanted to get my hands on this book since it was first announced. I loved the Starbound trilogy by Kaufman and Spooner and also ate up The Illuminae Files which was by the same two authors who also crafted this gem of a book. In both series, I loved their take on the distant future and their incredibly addicting writing. The characters were unforgettable and there was always at least one relationship that had me swooning and dying for more. Based on ALL of that, THIS BOOK LIVED UP TO EVERYTHING I HOPED AND DREAMED IT WOULD BE.

Premise wise this book is about Tyler—a star squad leader who is about to get his dream cadet picks at the Aurora Academy and spend his life doing good and keeping peace in the ‘Way….until the complete opposite happens…kind of;

It’s about Scarlett, who only joined the Academy to stick with her twin brother, Tyler, and who is the mother hen of the group while also having killer wit and sarcasm;

It’s about Cat, Ace pilot, tomboy, not-so-secretly in love with her best friend who might also happen to be squad leader;

It’s about Kal, hot Legolas lookalike alien who has anger problems and may be the new love of my life;

It’s about Zila, trigger happy, very quiet, possible sociopath but also possibly there is a lot more to her than meets the eye and I’m interested to learn more???;

It’s about Finian, ALSO SUPER SARCASTIC, alien, techie boy who loves giving his squad shit whenever possible about whatever possible;

And finally, it’s about Aurora, or Auri, who was stuck in cryo-freeze on a missing ship for the past two hundred years and finds out she was the only one who survived and that she now has confusing new powers when she wakes up.

AGAIN, this is another one that’s been likened to SOC but other than the fact that it’s a group of misfits, it’s entirely its own thing. Each character has POV chapters but they never felt disjointed. I knew exactly who each one was immediately and loved each one immediately. What I’m trying to say is that Squad 312 is my new ~squad~ and I would die for each and every one of them. *sobs*.

This book was intense in a way that I had forgotten sci-fi could be. I don’t read a ton of it but when I do it strikes me that same way every time. I mean there’s the magnitude of Auri waking up TWO HUNDRED YEARS after she was put into cryo-sleep, knowing that life as she knew it is completely different and everyone that she had ever known and loved is dead. There’s the fact that a character dies and the incident ripped my fucking heart out and stomped all over it and I was sitting there crying in my car trying to hide it so my husband wouldn’t ask and then make it worse hahaha. I guess I’ve been reading too many romances or something. But I took it hard. HARD I TELL YOU. And the mystery of the story itself was one of the most gripping that I have read in a long time. I am dying for the next few books. Dying to see how certain characters grieve and heal. Dying to see how certain relationships blossom. And most importantly, dying to see how the universe is saved from sure destruction.

Do yourself all a favor and pick this book up when it comes out. I give it my highest of recommendations.

HUGE thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Books for Young Readers for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.♥