Aurora Burning

Review originally posted on Geeky Galaxy

The World
Aurora Burning is book 2 in the Aurora Cycle series, so the world is established by now, and Amie and Jay are well aware of this, and don't spare much time for setting the scene, as we don't overly need it. The setting as a whole is largely familiar from the first book. There are new, smaller scale settings, of course, that are thought out and well put together. Again, I'm still really interested in the world at large, fascinated by the politics of things. Honestly, I just need a politics in space book. This world would totally work for that, but I don't think it's quite Jay and Amie's speed!

The Plot
There's a “Stuff You Should Know” section at the very start of Aurora Burning that summarises characters and events of Aurora Rising – I petition for every book that's a sequel to have this because it was so helpful! Also, it's told from the point of view of Magellan, which is pretty awesome.

There's not a moment where this book lets you catch your breath. Not. A. Moment. I'm undecided at this point whether that's a good thing. It's... certainly something. It's got breakneck pace throughout, from the very moment the book begins, there is shooting and excitement. The “downtime” isn't downtime. It's just five minutes of scheming before everything hits the fan. Again.

The ending! The ending! The ending! This book just tore my heart out without a single moment of hesitation. I'd seen other reviews that had mentioned the ending but didn't think too much of it. Heed those of us that say the ending will torture you, and quite possibly anger you, that Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman dared to end a book like that. I've never known a book to end quite like that. TV shows, perhaps. I've never read a book that did it. And I never want to again, not without having the next book lined up and waiting for me. I don't know how to wait for book 3 as I write this. I'm kind-of just sat like ??? looking around the room for the answers. Hint: the room didn't have the answers.

The Characters
Aurora
Aurora is still our main character, surprise surprise! She's affectionately known as Auri throughout most of the book, seeing as the characters are much more familiar with each other than they were when Aurora Rising began. The found family element is much more pronounced due to the fact they've already been through so much together before Aurora Burning even began. Aurora herself goes through a lot in this book, from trying to come to grasps with her recently discovered powers and dealing with the less world-saving things, like relationships with those around her. Reading about her was sweet, and empowering, as she went from an innocent girl, unable to use her power without fear of hurting others, to having confidence in who she was and what she could do.

Kal
Kal was, and remains to be, my favourite character. And let me tell you, he definitely goes through it in this book. He plays a much bigger role in Aurora Burning than he did in Rising. (I mean, his face is on the cover, after all. And isn't it a pretty face and a pretty cover?) My heart wasn't ready for quite the amount Kal goes through in this, and honestly? I love him even more after everything.

Fin
Fin has risen up the ranks to be my second-favourite character. Honestly, I just have a thing for the snark and the occasional heroics, overcoming anything that's put before him. The jokes definitely help though. Speaking of jokes, the comedic aspect is rife throughout this whole book. It's a key element for more than one character, and they all handle it in different ways. Fin goes for the nicknames and the jokes. And it's fun, and brought a smile to my face each time.

Scarlett
Again, Scarlett provides some more comedic relief in the forms of heavy sarcasm and the sporadic innuendo. In fact, her sarcasm is also as perfect as her Syldrathi. I feel like Scarlett was in Aurora Burning a lot, but her part wasn't as meaningful as I expected. Her made side-comments about exes that may have aided her in some way, translates for the others when they didn't bother to learn the languages they probably should've learned, but none of it felt terribly important. I hope there's more for Scarlett because who and what she is can provide more to the world of the Aurora Cycle.

Tyler
Tyler is the Alpha, the squad leader, who honestly had a bit of a stick up his ass in the first book. He's a lot better in this book, more laid back with a better personality than “I'm the leader, listen to how amazing I am and my ideas are fantastic and never wrong.” Ok, so he still thinks his ideas are amazing, but otherwise, he's mellowed a lot in Aurora Burning, and the book is better off for it.

Zila
Zila was the quiet, probably somewhat strange science officer in Aurora Rising. She's still very much that, but she comes out of her shell more, and we learn more about her past. And it's not a happy one, but it also explains why she is who she is. I'm glad we got to see more of her. I just hope that continues into the next book. That particular story isn't over, I'm sure of it.

I 100% recommend pre-ordering Aurora Burning if you haven't already! A) Have you seen the cover? Kal, the orange colours, I love it. At this point, I'm not sure where I've pre-ordered it from or what edition is actually going to arrive for me. I just know when it does, I'm going to ogle the cover for a while because look at it.

This is going to be a wild ride so...
SPOILERS AHEAAAD!

First off; I LOVED Aurora Rising. In fact I can't stop thinking about it (or this sequel) and I think it might be a new time favorite. I loved the writint, the characters, the pacing, the plot.
(The only thing I didn't like were the amount of genitalia related jokes m throughout the book/books, like seriously what? Tho the characters are teens and it can be excused)

And I absolutely loved Aurora Burning too, but here comes the but...
BUT....
What the fuck was that one chapter?
I'm gonna spoil it because I tagged it and you should look away right now if you haven't read this one yet.
Kal's father is revealed to BE the Starslayer. Yes that one who destroyed a star. Who murdered billions of his own people. And yes Kal lied to his squad by saying his father died. But he LOVES AND DEFENDED HIS SQUADMATES FOR TWO ENTIRE BOOKS.
Just for them to be incredibly angry with him and call him a ‘betrayer' and after they dump him on some star they call it a ‘betrayal' whilst Kal literally didn't do anything.
Yes he lied and yes you can be hurt about it, but Kaliis is literally not evil and they are all pretending he is and it REALLY threw me off.
There was no reason for this big of a reaction and I guessed its just for plot reasons and drama and I was right.
Because almost literally the next chapter SAEDII (you know the DAUGHTER of the Starslayer, someone who had been actively TRYING TO KILL squad 312) is suddenly friends with Tyler.
Tyler Jones who actively kills Kal a ‘betrayer' for not telling the squad his father is a massmurder decides it's totally okay for him to become ‘friends' with his sister Saedii without calling himself a hypocrite.


In the last 200/100 pages it is revealed to us the Starslayer is a Trigger too, like Aurora, which (once again) makes me question the Eshvaren and their well ‘goodness'
Why did they allow him to use a weapon like that? Why is there no safety question in use? But alas, it's interesting and brings up new information:
- the Eshvaren have created every race to find a solution for the Ra'haam.

Oh and then everyone is about to die in the last chapter and the book ends so whoops.
I loved the book and I will love every ounce of the third book (please give us a release date) but the chapter with “Kal's betrayal” made me SO mad.
So that's why its a 4/5.

A good, well written adventure that feels far more serious and adult (ie. grown up) than book 1.

Book 1 of the series felt like it was trying to merge the more whimsical side of Pratchett with a rather serious space adventure. It did quite a good job and the obviously intentional chuckles allowed me to ignore quite how unlikely “Legolas-in-space” actually is.

Book 2 still had humour, but it became more and more along the lines of wry banter. Some events (and flashbacks) are really not-funny and well written. The seemingly impossible nature of actual elves-in-space is actually called out and addressed as a plot point, character development happens hard and the stakes are raised to chilling levels both on a personal and civilisational level.

On top of all of that, towards the end of the book the narrative style and the actual text on the page starts to change in dramatic and experimental ways - to very good effect. I was impressed.

Most of this book was a good solid 3 Stars: I liked it.

The ending of the book changed dramatically enough that I kind-of want to give that 5 stars just for the sheer guts of the author to experiment in multiple ways of telling a story (they actually change the text on the page!) and as the icing on the cake it really worked for me.

On balance I'm sticking to the 3 stars- the ending was amazing, but it was only a tiny portion of the book. That said, I'm really looking forward to seeing how things develop in the third book.

“We the legionWe the lightBurning bright against the night.”

Goodreads needs to make a 10 stars rating for books like this one. And it should be illegal for authors to release books like this one without having the next book released too. I just can't. I CAN'T.

My opinion on this book WITHOUT SPOILERS :

It was AMAZING. Purely amazing. Such a well written book, I loved the development of the characters. I loved the plot. I loved everything that happened, even if some things broke my heart into tiny little pieces. If you liked Aurora Rising, you should definitely read this NOW. Trust me, you won't regret it. But bring some tissues with you, YOU WILL NEED THEM.

Spoiler


WHAT THE HELL? I mean I was shocked to find out the fact that Kal is the Starslayer's son. I'm telling you I WASN'T EXPECTING THIS. And Tyler and Scar to have Syldrathi blood? WOW. This book has some amazing plot twists, some heartbreaking ones.
When Kal left, I really felt like he took a piece of my heart with him. HOWWWWWWW could you do this to us, Amie and Jay????
I am just... shocked. The last chapter broke my heart. I was crying SO HARD I couldn't see the words and I struggled while reading it. I want to know what happens. I am still hoping that Squad 312 is going to be united in the next book and that they're all going to be ok. If not, I WILL SCREAM AND CRY AND GLFHJFGHLDFD.

Can't even say I really “finished” this book. I skimmed and straight up skipped many chapters because... well because I didn't care about any of the characters except for Tyler? His chapters with Saedii were very good, almost enough to convince me that... she's basically Kal, more ruthless, but same quips and chemistry with Tyler. So, there is Kal and Tyler romance. Just with the girl version of Kal.

Again, the nonsense with Aurora is very unnecessary. It's like shoving in romance that doesn't need to have romance. Shoving in opposite sex couples in a book with TWO gay characters yet no pay-off. I get it. They don't have to be in gay relationships to /be gay/. But it would be nice to see SOME kind of same-sex relationships in this book.

Also, all the plot-twists and such, I was not surprised by any of them. Mildly maybe in regards to Tyler and Scar, but... yeah. The plot is a mess.