Aurora Rising (Aurora Cycle, #1)

by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Kim Mai Guest (Narrator), Johnathan McClain (Narrator), Candice Moll (Narrator), Lincoln Hoppe (Narrator), Donnabella Mortel (Narrator), Jonathan Todd Ross (Narrator), Erin Spencer (Narrator), and Steve West (Narrator)

From the New York Times and internationally bestselling authors of the Illuminae Files comes a new science fiction epic . . .

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 tech whiz 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.

NOBODY PANIC.

• ISBN10: 1524780782
• ISBN13: 9781524780784
• Publish Date: 28 June 2019 (first published 7 May 2019)
• Publish Status: Withdrawn
• Imprint: Listening Library
• Edition: Unabridged edition
• Format: Audiobook (CD)
• Duration: 11 hours and 30 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[Emma (SCR)]

I read the Illuminae series last year and I LOVED it. Like literally LOVED IT. So naturally, I have been excited about this book since it was first announced.  I managed to get this beautiful Illumicrate version. It's a real stunner and has matching pink sprayed edges!

This book has multiple POV which if you have read previous reviews you will know I absolutely LOVE. to start with Auri is our link to this new crazy world. She is learning through her uniglass and allowing us to learn what has happened in the 200 odd years since she boarded the Hadfield. This was a great way for us to learn the world. I loved the uniglass pages. They are so typical of these authors who just love to push the boundaries with traditional publishing.  

My favourite characters were Zila and Fin. Zila is super smart but has trouble interacting with others. I already know she gets more book time in the second instalment so I cannot wait for that.  

Fin is a complete ass. He has the biggest chip on his shoulder. He acts like he is very full of himself but I think its all a front. Fin has been through a lot and I think that makes him put up walls and make sarcastic comments to deflect from his real feelings. Amongst all of this Fin is very funny.  

This book has it all. The adventure, the romance, the humour and the pure torturous heartbreak. I cannot wait for book two!

Audio Review

This review was originally posted on Star Crossed Reviews I read the hardback edition of this book last year and I've been dying for the audiobook ever since. With the second book coming out I grabbed myself a copy of the audiobook and had a little re-read. 

I won't go too much into the story on this review because I did that on my review last year when I read the Illumicrate Hardback edition. I really want to focus on the audio in this review. The first Audiobook I really enjoyed was the Illuminae series. If you don't know that series is also written by these to fabulous authors. The main reason I loved it was the full cast. It made me realise how amazing audiobooks are. I have since become a real convert! So when this book was released and the audio wasn't available in the UK I was beyond gutted. I obviously still read the book because well I knew it was going to be amazing but I still held out hope searching day after day for the audio and then come January this year my prayers were answered! 

This book uses a lot of the same cast as Illuminae. I loved a lot of these voices and I have since listened to some books by these narrators just because they were the narrator. I love the voices of Steve West, Lincoln Hoppe, Erin Spencer and Jonathan McClain! If you see a book narrated by any of these then just grab it. You won't be disappointed. The new narrators were also well suited to their characters. I don't know who chooses which narrator is for which character but man they did a fantastic job here! 

A full cast really brings the book alive and if you aren't sure about audiobooks then I would really recommend this as a way to ease you in. It definitely worked for me!

[Stephanie]

This review was originally posted on Once Upon a Chapter






Aurora Rising by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman was a June COYER book club pick and I'd been meaning to get to it. When it was picked for book club it seemed as good a time as any to read it.



Honestly the plot is what dragged this down one star for me. There's a lot of time spent learning all the different species and parts of their cultures in the beginning and in the middle of the story. It almost gets a little overwhelming and I *think* that's the point.



It also felt very stutter stop pacing to me. Hurry up to get to a place to sit and wait, then hurry again. When the action was going though it was fantastic. There were also great plot twists; some of them I saw coming but others I didn't.



I really loved most of the characters. Cat is the one I probably disliked the most. Honestly Tyler was the second. For some reason in this book I've aligned more with Kal, Finian, and Zila then with the other hot shots of the Squad.



I liked Aurora but I didn't see her as a strong character. I could only think of her as someone who lost everything. I'm hoping in the second book she gets more answers about her past and her present.



It was a little slow to start for me and thoroughly confusing at times but I really enjoyed it!

[Brittany]

This isn’t my usual type of read, therefore I really have nothing to compare it to in terms of anything really, but I enjoyed this so much more than I thought I would.

Space stuff isn’t my thing, it grew on me throughout this book but I think that’s the only reason I couldn’t FULLY enjoy it, it’s just not something that normally appeals to me no matter how well it’s done.

That being said, I love the character building in this book, the format of it and the world building is done well, even if it’s not my perfect setting for a book.

The story is intriguing and the different species are interesting enough to keep you entertained while not being too overwhelming and confusing.

[limabean74]

I’m gonna need a few to gather my thought.

[reveriesociety_]

I wasn't crazy about this one. The plot becomes really interesting but only in the last part. I'm not ashamed at all I want to see more of the budding relationship we see between some characters here. I need more of that connection because that's exactly the kind of thing that makes me care about the characters in the first place.

[A Darker Shade of Rosie]

- I am definitely no audiobook connoisseur, but over the past year, I’ve listened to more audiobooks than I’ve ever listened to in my life. (Okay, that’s still not many.) They’ve mostly been Harry Potter audiobooks, since I’m trying to re-read the series with my ears, but then I decided to take a chance on the Aurora Rising audiobook because someone said it was amazing. Best. Decision. Ever.

- Each narrator brings their character to life. The number one thing that made me fall in love with the audio version of Aurora Rising was the narrators. The story is sublime in itself, but the characters are what made me love the start of this series – a ragtag assortment of misfits who bicker constantly, but end up being an amazing team – and each narrator really nailed it with the characters’ voices.

- It was easy to listen to when I felt like I had no time. If you don’t know this about me, I work 9 hours a day with a half hour commute there and back, all to come back home with one-and-a-half year-old. Spare time is a hot commodity. READ MORE!

[blog & instagram & twitter]

[Chelsea]

I'm not generally a sci-fi person but Jay and Amie always do it so well!

I was iffy at first with all the perspectives but once I got the hang of it I really loved it. I liked how they had this team of misfits and they worked together great but there were still some bumps in the road. It made it feel more realistic! I'm also super interested in seeing what else happens with this series. There's so much universe to explore and so many secrets floating around!

[bestmessever]

This was a roller coaster ride. When it comes to space operas this particular writing duo seems to do no wrong.

The plot was entertaining the whole way through, there was never a dull moment. I really love the way Amie Kaufman and Jay write together, you get a very similar vibe to The Illuminae Files but it is without a doubt it's own story. I love how intelligent this book is, sometimes the reader doesn't know what the characters are planning until after the fact and that makes the book ridiculously fun to read. 

The characters in this book were so real they flew off the page. I thoroughly enjoyed Fin, he was such a chaotic bi boy and I really loved him. Scarlett and Tyler were an incredible duo and their family loyalty to each other was so strong. Cat had my whole heart and soul from the moment she was introduced to the very end of the book. 

Kal was by far the character that kept me thinking about his background and motivations. I am excited to read more about everyone in the next book in the series.

[Charli G.]

When Aurora Rising first came out, I wasn’t planning to read it. I’ve had a lot of trouble getting into the Illuminae series and thought this might be the same way, since it is from the same authors. Boy am I glad I decided to give it a try.

The characters in this book are easy to love or hate. Squad 312 are an amazing group of characters. My favorites are Kal and Aurora1), but I really like Cat, Tyler, and Scarlett as well. Finian took some getting used to and I didn’t really like him until the very end of the book, but he finally grew on me. Princeps is an annoying jerk and honestly, I sincerely hope that the rest of the series ends with him getting his butt kicked.

I loved the descriptions of some of the alien species that Terrans2) have come in contact with by the time the story takes place. I love that the alien species here weren’t generic aliens or ones who were taken straight from Star Trek.

The writing style here is perfect. A lot of times I can tell where one author left off and the other picked up, but with Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, I honestly couldn’t tell when one stopped and the other started. Their writing styles are that seamless. For that I am so thankful because I’ll be honest, being able to tell when one author stopped and the other took over is one of my pet peeves with multiple author books.

The story line was innovative and wasn’t a regurgitation of something I’ve read a thousand times before – nor was it just and expanded version of an old Star Trek TNG book. I can’t wait for the next book in the series to come out and I’m kind of sad because I know it’ll probably be at least a year before it does. But then again, that just means I get to re-read this one!

This book was amazing and kept me so interested that I had to give it 5 stars. I didn’t want to put it down.

I seem to be one of the only people who did not mind that there were seven point of views in this book. Because honestly, the number of POVs was not the problem, they were just all the same. Every character talked the same, they literally had no thoughts, except for Aurora, and they had no traits that made them unique. Also, Scarlet’s only quality seem to be flirting, because that is all she does in 500 pages. She deserved better. Every time she did something nice, it got turned around in a romantic flirty way and it frustrated me such much.
At the beginning I loved this book. I was hyped, I thought the world was interesting, the plot with Aurora was interesting, and was excited to explore the squad. We didn’t get any of that. There was a mention that someone of the squad was a sociopath, but that is never seen or addressed again. The fact that three people of the squad knew each other for years and was like family was told, but you wouldn’t notice it if you read only the dialogue. It was not as if there were more conversations between them nor did they talk more familiarly with each other.
Aurora’s storyline started of interesting, but was quickly foreshadowed which made the book have zero plot twists. I had expected more of these authors.
I still think that the world is interesting, even though it is never fully explored. The invaded world Octavia is unfortunately not something I was excited about and felt like a cheap movie plot.
Also, the talking device felt just like a cheap scifi must have that was there without any reason at all.
Also, how the ... did that rich guy suddenly appear in a restricted space area and just conveniently attack those spaceships? This was probably the tenth time that our squad just had immense luck without any explanation at all.

It was enjoyable, and maybe I would pick up the sequel if my library buys it, but it feels as if they made the book more bland because “YA”.