Review: Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

It was a must to re-read this before getting to book two. And I am so glad I did. Because I still love this book just as much as when I first read this last year. It is such an excellent story with the best world building. And I so completely adore every single character in this book. And of course, fully in love with every part of space.

I will not be writing a long review this time. Only sharing a little bit about how much I loved this. How badly I loved these characters. And how very much that ending hurt me. So rude. I have adored both authors for years, and I love how well they write together. It is the best. The writing was perfection, which I loved very much.

This book tells the story of the squad of your dreams. Well, your nightmares. It is set far into the future and in space. It is possible to space travel really fast, but only really safe for anyone under age twenty five. So there is an academy of teenagers training to become ready for space missions that the older adults can't do. One of those was Tyler. Nineteen years old. Best out of his class, perfect at pretty much all. He was going to get his dream squad, as he would get first picks. This was not to be. Night before the draft, he couldn't sleep. He went to space to fly. And ended up finding a a ship that had been missing for over two hundred years. With one person still alive. Aurora. Tyler missed out on the draft. And got stuck with pretty much the worst team possible.

And I could not have loved these characters more. Getting to know them all was simply incredible. Tyler was their leader. Scarlett their face. Cat their pilot. Zila their smart medic and more. Finian the one who fixes anything. Kal the fighter to keep them safe. And then there was Aurora. The stowaway. The girl who woke up over two hundred years after she went to sleep. Tyler and Scarlett and Cat already know each other, and would have picked each other already. But the rest of the team is so not the best. Well, not yet.

There is so much I love about this book. I love every part about space. I love the space travel and how everything looks and how different things are. And the plants near the end of the book. Shudders. It was all written so well and I completely loved this world. And hoping we get to see new places in the next two books. Fingers crossed. But mostly I loved these characters. They were very different. And were not the best at working together. But then they got to know each other. I feel like they loved each other as family.

This book is about this team of teenagers going out on a mission. They don't know yet that this mission is to keep Aurora safe, the girl hidden in their cargo. They do not trust this girl at first. Didn't understand why they had to risk everything for her. But secrets and hidden things come to life after some time. And they all grew to care for Aurora. Which made me so happy, because I adored her so. It was heartbreaking to read about Auri having lost her family without being awake. Of her learning to be alone. But not for long.

I simply adored everything about this book. They end up getting captured. By people that should be safe, but aren't. And they end up breaking a whole lot of laws. All to keep Aurora safe. Learning about why they had to keep her safe was all kinds of interesting and exciting. And I cannot wait to learn even more about it all. I just. Sigh. I adored this book so much. I loved getting to know them all. Tyler's still my favorite. And I am so nervous about book two, if he will have changed a lot. And so excited. Oops. It will be so so good.

This book was also all kinds of fun at times. These characters end up working so well together. They steal something from the biggest crime alien. Oh, yeah. This book was filled with different aliens. Which I very much loved. Two of their team are aliens. And I adored them so. There is so much I could write about this book. Yet I have already written enough and not nearly enough at all. But will stop for now. I am simply so glad that I re-read this book right now. Took some time, but so worth it. It's such a great and thrilling story.

Aurora Rising was still everything I wanted it to be. It was still amazing and heartbreaking and so exciting. The ending still killed me the most. Ha. Such an interesting twist and such a creepy villain. I cannot wait to know more about all of it. I will be starting Aurora Burning in a moment. And I simply can't wait. Though I have, of course, peeked. And I know waiting for book three will be even worse. So rude. Yet I still cannot wait. This book was simply so good. And you all need this book in your life too. Right away. Fully worth it.

Goodreads - The Book Depository - Amazon

First review of Aurora Rising - Aurora Rising Blog Tour