Let me start off by saying that previous to Aurora Rising, I had never read a sci-fi book that I liked.
I loved Aurora Rising. LOVED. This beauty of a book kept me up until 3AM as I read the final pages and just
cried my eyes out. Aurora Rising helped me find my squad, Squad 312.

Everything from the writing to the world building was just wow, Every word on every page
was perfectly crafted!

The characters, oh they were all just so magnificent and layered and I adored every single one of them. Aurora herself was brilliant and probably my favorite!

I cannot wait to see where the brilliant authors take this series with the next book!

New universe. New characters. New plot. New villains. Still a space adventure. And the space-tatic author duo, Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman, have done it AGAIN. Aurora Rising blew me out, and the novelty of these authors doing it will never fade away.

If you've loved Illuminae, you'll definitely love Aurora Rising. If Illuminae wasn't your cup of tea, Aurora Rising might!

Set in the future where humans have physically explored universes, met aliens and other species, and discovered wormhole-ish pockets in space called Folds, comes a new group of unlikely heroes and a friendship that will make you want to call your friends at three in the morning. The story started with savior complex of one and went on to the savior (and tbh, survival) complex of many.

While we don't get the visually intriguing and engaging pages like Illuminae's, Aurora Rising still managed to trigger the creative part of my brain while reading. Also yes, this book comes in narrative format with multiple PoV. Each has distinct voice so unless you got stuck in the middle of a conversation, it's not hard to pick apart. The plot is engaging and will keep you guessing. While some twists are not that hard for me to guess, the reasons for them are. The characters are the kind of people you would want to protect, wrap in a burrito-style blanket and stow away before they got hurt. Their friendship is also given a big spotlight which, as aforementioned, makes one want to call their friends at 3AM.

The last pages will keep on your toes and turning the last page made me want to either demand the second book or tell the authors to take their time because my heart needs to heal.

Wow! What an exciting series opener! I must confess that I still haven't read Illuminae by these lovely authors, but I will be soon based on how much I loved this book! If you loved The Disasters by M.K. England, or the Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, this is your next great read!

I typically don't love space-themed adventures, but these authors completely blew me away. This story was fantastic, and I had a hard time putting it down! When I did take reading breaks - because adulting - I found myself constantly thinking about the story! I was quickly endeared to our band of misfits, and all of the the different viewpoints truly enriched the story. I know I can always count on Jay Kristoff for some humor, and this booked really delivered both laughs and moments of deep contemplation. There are several alien species and seeing how they all work/live together was a great commentary on some of the things we are facing in our time. Overall, I loved it, and I cannot wait for more!

Whew, okay. Let’s all breathe. In. Out. And scream “HOLY MOLY SPACE. MAN!”

In the end of 2015, the brilliant Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff brought us Illuminae. In an unrelated, but totally amazing space adventure, this stellar duo will bring us Aurora Rising. It will settle in all of our hearts and become another favorite for science fiction fans everywhere.

Aurora Rising is the book that fantasy readers have always had, but in space. In many variations of a space adventure, I have not seen a premise so fitting for our time in this genre. Science Fiction has made a renewed comeback, and it’s popularity increasing with books of Aurora Rising’s caliber.

Without saying anything too specific to prevent spoilers, Aurora Rising brings an adventure filled with exploration not only in cultural and environmental awareness, but also self-awareness. As a reader, I discovered a whole spectrum of experiences told from different view points.

The band of characters need very little introduction. Once you familiarize yourself with Tyler, Scarlett, Cat, Zilla, Finian, and Aurora, you’ll quickly picture yourself in their footsteps. Fashion yourself to become an Alpha, Ace, Gearhead, Face, Brain, or Tank. I know who I want to be, and when you finish the pages of Aurora Rising, you will also.

Reading the last few words of this book did me in. And I knew I should have been prepared. I’ve read Amie and Jay’s books, together and individually, and still. Nothing prepares you for how awesome their stories are. Nothing prepares you for how invested you become for these characters and their outcomes. And above all? Nothing prepares you for the obsessive craving to have the next book.

Dear reader, we are similar in many ways, and as a result, we fangirl over all things Amie and Jay. Let me tell you that in short, you will love Aurora Rising.

Space exploration? Check. Kick-ass adventure? Check. Crazy and insane shenanigans? Check. Obsessive traits because of said awesome book? DEAD.

*Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.*

“They are not the heroes we deserve. They are just the ones we could find.”

It is the year 2380 and we have discovered that we are in fact, not alone in the universe. So much so, we now have The Aurora Legion- an independent peacekeeping legion tasked with bringing stability and brokering peace in the Milky Way. And that is what our golden boy Tyler Jones, Squad Leader, has been training his whole life to be apart of. On the eve on what is supposed to be the biggest day of his life, he is off calming his nerves when he gets a distress signal and then rushes off to do his hero thing. Which in turn makes him miss the Draft and his picks of the top of the class. Instead, he is now saddled with a bunch of misfits and discipline cases that nobody wanted.

What happens next, well you will just have to read and experience for yourself. But safe to say it encompasses all that we know and have grown to love from these authors. They once again manage to seamlessly blend the hilarity with the action. Hijinks are a-plenty in this one friends (can’t these poor kids catch a break?), what with all the hair-raising flying and space travel, daring heists, things exploding, and the sass! So much sass. The world building is phenomenal and so well-developed, fully immersing you into this interstellar world. The characters are nuanced and fascinating, each with their own quirky personalities and honestly I just wanted to give them all a hug most of the time. Especially Finian and Kal, they might be my favorite of the bunch and there were definitely a few heart squeezing moments involving those two.

A major theme in Aurora Rising is that of found family and finding that place where you fit and belong and I had so much fun watching this dysfunctional unit find their way to each other. The only reason I took off a star is because I found Aurora to be a bit too passive and reactive a MC for me. But that was a really minor thing for me personally. All in all, another thrilling ride from the Kristoff & Kauffman duo and I for one can’t wait to see where they take us next! Highly recommended, especially to fans of The Illuminae Files.

Every now and again I come across a book I like so much I can’t really express how I feel about it with words, just unintelligible fangirl squealing.

Aurora Rising is one of those books.

Poor Tyler Jones - he is indeed a golden boy of the Aurora Academy, but the night before the draft - the event where leader-types like him get to pick who will be in their squad with the Aurora Legion - Tyler, unable to sleep, decides to log some time in the Fold. Now, the Fold is, of course, the folds in space-time that allow for super-fun-and-quick space travel. So… a wormhole. Anyway, whilst cruising around the Fold, Tyler picks up a distress signal from a ship that famously disappeared two hundred years prior. On the ship he discovers a bunch of people dead in their cryopods. Only one is still alive: a girl with a white stripe in her hair. Tyler barely manages to rescue the girl and get back to his ship before a Foldstorm hits.

One problem, though: while he was being Heroic McHeroface, Tyler missed the draft. He, the Academy’s #1 Golden boy didn’t get to pick the cream of the crop. Nope, he’s stuck with the population of the Island of Misfit Toys. His twin sister Scarlett sticks with him, though. So does his childhood best friend and expert pilot, Cat. The rest of the crew…well…

There’s Zila, who is brilliant but not good with people. She’s now the squad’s Brain - the Science Division type who also serves as the ship’s doctor. Yikes.

There’s Finian, a snarktastic tech genius Betraskan (a humanoid alien spices with super pale skin) who relies on an exosuit in order to move around. He’s the squad’s Gearhead.

And there’s Kal, a Syldrathi - another humanoid alien, only these look like elves from Lord of the Rings. Lots of Legolas references thrown around. Kal comes from a specific warrior cabal and has a reputation for getting into fights for funsies. He’s the Tank - the squad muscle / enforcer / bodyguard-type person.

And of course, at first sight they all can’t stand each other. But they’re stuck together as Squad 312, so essentially, they have no choice. Hurray?

And if you’re wondering “but what about the girl with the white stripe in her hair?” - don’t worry, I’m getting there. Her name is Aurora Jae-Lin O’Malley, aka Auri. 200 years ago, she was living on a dying Earth, preparing to make the journey into space to the colony-planet of Octavia. She goes into cryosleep and promptly wakes up two hundred years too late, with the Aurora Academy, and no one has ever heard of Octavia. Plus, there’s something wrong with Auri - two hundred years in the Fold will mess with your brain a bit, but it doesn’t explain why she’s got one white eye, why she can move objects with her mind, and why she starts seeing visions of the future. At first, it looks like the Aurora Academy is going to send Auri back to Earth, but instead she ends up stowing away…with Squad 312, our favorite ragtag bunch of misfits.

Only it very quickly becomes evident that the powers at be want Auri, and they’re willing to kill anyone she comes into contact with. So Auri and Squad 312 end up on the run, and they’re all forced to work together in order to solve the mystery behind Auri’s strange powers. It all seems to have something to do with Octavia: why did the colony get wiped off the map? What happened to the people there? What happened to Auri in the Fold?

Aurora Rising is the first in a planned trilogy, so, of course, we don’t get all the answers right away. There are enough answers to keep us from getting too pissed off, but enough unanswered questions to keep us on our toes waiting for the next book. And holy crap, I cannot wait for the next book. Aurora Rising starts out exciting and just continues to be exciting until the very last page (OK, maybe not the literal last page, those tend to be blank or just have information about the publisher on them, but you get my point). My one big complaint is that the one character I really wanted to get to know - Zila - gets the least amount of time in the limelight. Chapters narrated by her are mostly only a few sentences long - I know this is supposed to illustrate her blunt manner, but I was really looking forward to learning everything about what made her so peculiar. She does get a longer chapter later in the book, but we don’t learn all her secrets. And, I mean, come on, I wanted to know more about Zila, damn it! The rest of the characters are cool, though Tyler is a bit too much the bland leader-type and I had a hard time believing that Scarlett could be 18 and have over fifty ex-boyfriends (maybe they were just hookups and she just refers to them as boyfriends?). Finian’s chapters are fantastic because he is the group’s deadpan snarker - whenever things get intense, Fin’s ready to throw in some much-needed comic relief. Auri’s POV is by far the most compelling, though that may just be my own personal bias talking, because the Fish Out of Temporal Water is one of my favorite tropes ever…but it’s from Auri’s POV that we get all the Legolas references directed at Kal, and it’s just delightful.

In essence: I needed books 2 and 3 of the Aurora Cycle sometime yesterday, please. I need full chapters dedicated entirely to Zila and her history - she’s the one member of Squad 312 we know the least about by the end of Aurora Rising, and I want to know more! Maybe because she strikes me as a fellow girl on the spectrum and I desperately want to see more accurate depictions of autism in girls, something that doesn’t just depict us as straight-up psychopaths. We’re not, we’re really not. Our brains just work differently, OK? Stop judging Zila you guys, gah!

Anyway. I fricking loved this book, from beginning to end. Am I biased because I loved The Illuminae Files and think Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff are both fantastic writers? Yeah, probably.

I was so excited to read this book, the hype was insane and with it selling out online for the sprayed edges I knew it had to be something amazing! I didn’t realize how many perspectives it was going to have going into this, for me personally I don’t do well with this many switches and I did get a little bored at times but I loved aurora and Tyler the most (obviously haha) this book was fantastic. I really enjoyed the different races and how they all existed together. How crazy it would be being in auroras shoes and how she would feel jumping into it all for the first time. Now, it didn’t pass the illuminae files for me rating wise, I don’t think anything can but I would def pick this up and read it again. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review!

First and foremost, let me start off by saying that, originally, I didn't like the cover. I thought the art was beautiful, don't get me wrong, but I didn't understand why we had to have another face on the cover. I'd originally thought that the cover would be more like the Illuminae trilogy, honestly, because I found those to be very fun to read through and decipher. Then...then I read it and I actually flip flopped on my original feeling because after I read the story and met the characters, it kind of felt right to have this mysterious girl out of time (Aurora Jie-Lin O'Malley) on the cover. I still kind of wish that it included the other members of the cast, but I digress. 

Speaking of cast, this novel follows A TON of characters. Not only do we follow Aurora, but we follow Tyler, his sister Scarlet, his best friend and pilot Cat, a snarky tech named Fin, a sociopath named scientist/medic Zila, and a hot space elf named Kal as they are basically thrown together and have to deal with the after effects of Aurora coming out of cryostasis. I've decided Scarlet and Cat are basically my spirit animals because their sass and snark just resonate with me. Honestly though all of these characters bring MAJOR snark and humor to the overall story, which gave me major Breakfast Club vibes while I was reading. I don't remember if someone said it (they probably did) but honestly this book is basically The Breakfast Club meets Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 1, not 2.). The only complaint, and I can't even call it that because more than likely we'll see more of her in the second book, is that there honestly wasn't enough Zila in this novel. My poor little sociopathic baby needs some love. And I would have liked to get a little more backstory for each of the other crew members, not just Scarlet, Ty, Aurora, and Cat, but like I said, there's always book two!

I don't know if ya'll have noticed, but I'm a bit of a sucker for world building. Amie and Jay in particular are two authors who go into such minute detail in regard to world building that it makes my inner nerd just gush (I swear I was a cartographer in a past life). The world they created in this novel is expansive without feeling overwhelming. Never once did I think "oh there is too much going on" or that I didn't understand some aspect of the world. They make the world building fit seamlessly into the story and it doesn't feel like an info-dump when we meet a new species of alien or learn about a new planet or something. 

You may also have noticed that I'm a stickler for pacing. Usually one of my biggest peeves is that there were things that made the story feel slow, or scenes that could've been taken out because they didn't really add much to the overall story. With this novel I didn't feel that way at all. I felt that all the scenes were deliberate. There was enough action that, at times, it was so hard for me to put this book down and that began at the very start. 

Overall, I have no complaints about this novel. Jay and Amie do such a good job making sure that we get to know each character even though it is such a large cast of characters. They do not make the world building feel like one big info dump, and honestly the pacing of this novel was (in my opinion) perfection. I'd definitely recommend you guys check it out if you're interested in a new sci-fi read, if you've read the Illuminae files (IT IS NOT A SPIN OFF), and if you're a fan of a sassy cast and awesome world-building!

* I was provided an arc by NetGalley in exchange for a review*

I’m not really a sci-fi reader. Or at least I didn’t think I was. This book proved me wrong. A YA sci-fi action packed adventure, this book held my full attention and adoration as it followed squad 312 and their stowaway, Aurora, through the galaxy.

The story is great. It’s intricate and fascinating, and the authors do such an amazing job blending the action with moments of humor and even some elements of mild horror. The characters too were really well thought out, and as the reader I was able to bond with each member of the squad. It is hard leaving them for now, but I can’t wait to see what the next book uncovers.

That was so much fun! It’s not all fun and games. It does get quite serious, like the duo’s other space series. And while it has a little of the Illuminae feel, it’s different enough that you won’t feel like you’re reading the same story over again. (Not that I’d mind...)

I won’t say much about the plot, because I think it’s important to go in knowing as little as possible about what’s happening. I mean, I was utterly clueless, so the reveals were...pretty freaking awesome! These authors have some kind of genius in their creativity, because I’m not sure where these ideas are coming from. I do know that I hope they continue to write together forever.

I loved the diversity of the characters. Every single one was unique and different from the rest of the squad. Yet when put together, they were perfect. They made sense as a group. I’m honestly not sure I can even choose a favorite, because each personality was so great.

There’s plenty of humor in this as well. For as dark as things sometimes got, someone always managed to make a situation less intense. And it was much appreciated.

I won’t compare it to Illuminae because that’s just not fair. I will say that if you loved that series, you’re bound to enjoy this too. It doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, though it’s obvious the story isn’t over and has so much left to tell. I can’t wait for the next installment!

I really liked this and plan to continue the series. It took me a while to keep all the characters straight--their personalities, their origins, etc. I felt like there were also a lot of alien terms and names (proper names, places, events, etc) being thrown at me and at first I thought I'd need to keep track of all of them, but decided not to stress about it. After that, it was much easier to settle into.

"Squad of losers" seems pretty inaccurate, tbh. They're all abnormally good at their jobs (especially considering they're supposed to be teens) but no matter, such is the brand of YA! I enjoyed this. It's a fun sci-fi romp, and I would pass this on to anyone looking for an action space-read. I do not think we needed that many POVs. We could have gotten the story without several of them just fine, and the voice (they're told in first person) often blended together. I prefer Illuminae, but the format and the character of Aidan are what pushed that over the top of typical sci-fi for me. This one didn't have that. Still a good read, but didn't feel particularly remarkable. If you like audiobooks though, I have a feeling this one will be fun, if they get a bunch of narrators. (:

ARC provided by Knopf Books in exchange for an honest review.

This review is going to hurt me, and I feel awful I even feel this way. I want to preface this by saying I really enjoy these authors’ previous works, and I think Amie and Jay are awesome humans who write amazing stories.

But… I was so disappointed by this book. I am trying very hard not to compare this to the Illuminae Files, but it’s hard not to when this is yet another story set in space featuring a group of young cadets.

This book follows six cadets who come together when their squad leader, Tyler, rescues a girl who was cryogenically frozen. Aurora doesn’t understand why she woke up 200 years later than anticipated, because she was supposed to land on a planet called Octavia III. But then we quickly find out Aurora has inherited some strange and deadly powers, so Squad 312 must escape in order to save her and themselves.

Here is Squad 312 at a glance:

Tyler – The Alpha and squad leader. His level of attractiveness and dimples are mentioned so many times it’s going to make you roll your eyes into the back of your skull.

Scarlett – The Face (aka the diplomat) and Tyler’s twin sister. She is described as having firey red hair and just as stunning as her brother.

Cat – The Ace, pilot. She’s tough as nails and loyal to Tyler and Scarlett.

Kal – The Tank, Syldrathi, a Legolas-lookalike according to Aurora, but with darker skin and silver braids. The Syldrathi have a war history with the Terran people.

Finian – The Gearhead, Tech Division. He is Betraskan, so he appears “alien-like”; skin is white and he has to wear contacts which makes his eyes appear all black. He’s bisexual and presents with a disability for muscle weakness, nerve damage, impaired mobility.

Zila – The Brains, Science Division. She is described as having dark brown skin and curly black hair. She’s also very serious and matter-of-fact. I believe she may be on the autism spectrum but this is not my lane so I would love to see others chime in in regards to this.

Aurora – A Cryogenically girl frozen for the last 200 years and was supposed to wake up on Octavia III. She is Asian, described as having short black hair with a white streak, and freckles across her nose. She can do some serious damage but cannot control these new, strange powers.

I think what threw me off from the very beginning was that this was marketed as, “They’re not the heroes we deserve. They’re just the ones we could find.” Maybe it’s just me, but that quote made me assume we were going to be presented with a ragtag team of misfits who are subpar at their jobs but must come together to fight the good fight. When in reality we already have the best-of-the-best Legionnaire, his sister, his best friend, and three other legionnaires who are good at what they do.

So I’m already rolling my eyes at how misleading that was. However, I just could not get past how boring everything was. Part 1 showed us how the squad escaped with Aurora, Part 2 took us to the World Ship where a very long, unnecessarily drawn-out heist took place, and then Part 3 turned into a very bad sci fi movie rip-off.

And usually I can get over a mediocre plot, but when the “action” was putting me to sleep? I just had such a hard time picking this book back up. Also I couldn’t care less about any of the characters. Aside from Kal, everyone was extremely one-dimensional. There’s a cringey “mating bond” that appears between two of the characters, which honestly made me want to DNF right then and there.

Here’s the thing: Even though Illuminae isn’t my favorite series of all time, the friendships in those books were palpable. You felt connected to them. But in Aurora Rising? There were SO MANY POV’S that I couldn’t even keep track of who to care about. Every single squad member had their own POV (that’s SEVEN!) and they were all told in first person. Sorry, not a fan of trying to figure out whose POV I left off on if I had to put the book down in the middle of a chapter.

I know this book has already received a lot of early praise, so take my opinions with a grain of salt. I just can’t get over how messy everything was, how bland the characters were, and how much I just wanted everything to be over.

Rating: 4 stars!
Received an e-book via NetGalley for an honest review.

This isn’t my first trip around the sun with Kaufman and Kristoff for I loved their Illuminae series, and I’m truly am happy to say I’m glad they got together again for another book collaboration; however, this wasn’t a five-star read that I had initially anticipated.

Essentially, Aurora Rising is another Sci-Fi adventure that follows the story of star pupil Tyler Jones who 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. But Tyler’s squad isn't even his biggest problem as that'd be Aurora Jie-Lin O'Malley, the girl he's just rescued from interdimensional space. Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries.

The plot of the story is truly fantastic. It definitely has a sense of familiarity, (Sleeping Beauty plus Star Trek inspirations? Yes, put me on board too Captain) and adding elements of an adventurous heist while (trying to) balance a crew unique character dynamic. Yet, that actually became one of my issues— the characters.

The story is told in each of their POVs, so a total of 7: Tyler, Aurora, Scarlett, Kallis “Kal,” Finian, Cat, and Zila. I normally don’t like stories with a heavy amount of POVs, but sometimes it can work for me. Unfortunately for this story, a lot of the characters seemed to blend together or seemed unimportant for the progression of the plot. There was a few plot twist towards the end where I could reason as to why they had all of their POVs, but it still wasn’t strong enough for me to genuinely enjoy them all. I will say I really loved Auri (Aurora), Tyler, and Kal’s POV the most, and think most of the story could’ve been carried through them. Also, the crew’s representation was pretty good, but I did expect more from their dynamics as well.

The writing and pace of Aurora Rising was really my favorite part of it all. I wasn’t expecting modern references and jokes, and because of that it’s what truly kept my rating high. I giggled every time they swore “Holy Cake” and laughed at any Middle-Earth reference because who doesn’t love a good Tolkien joke? Kaufman and Kristoff definitely kept the quirky YA fantasy elements to this, but without drowning it in overbearing cliches. They had some concepts that were fresh and new, and they kept it well-paced into the novel letting it develop nicely over time.

In the end though, this book was just — good. I would say I did enjoy the premise, but afterwards it didn’t leave craving for more (as I did for illuminae especially). I would say if you are wanting a YA sci-Fi to comfortably read because you are in the mood for such a genre: this could be for you.

Aurora Rising is like if you took Star Wars, Stranger Things, and Six of Crows, stuffed 'em in a blender and made a media smoothie. The end result is a purpley galactic concoction that is tons of fun.

With an ensemble cast of 7 (7!!!) characters, there's a LOT going on. We have golden boy Tyler Jones and his twin sister who is the Nina of the group, Scarlett. There's Cat, the pilot and Tyler's bestie, an elvish alien Kal, super genius Zila, alien Finian, and our Sleeping Beauty/Eleven, Aurora. Because of the amount of first person POVs, I had a hard time connecting to all the characters.


My favorites were Kal and Zila 100%. I only wish we'd been able to spend more time with each character to really understand them and their past, as well as see the team grow together and mesh like family. Though I was a little disappointed with the underdeveloped aspects of the team's relationships, I did LOVE both these characters and will keep reading just for them. Kal was a precious elfy stoic soft boi and Zila was the smartest most hilarious robotic girl ever. I LOVE them!! The story was exciting and energetic at a breakneck pace, with the kind of intergalactic spaceiness perfect for Star Wars fans. The only flaw I might point out is how... stark some of the similarities are to Stranger Things. It might have been intentional homage, but it felt a little too close for comfort.


However, this is otherwise a super fun space romp that has all the hilarity and voice of Jay and Amie's famous Illuminae trilogy. It's an easy read and keeps you on your toes. If you're a fan of their style, you're sure to love this!


ARC was provided by Random House via Netgalley for an honest review. Thank you 💖

AURORA RISING was a great start to an epic science fiction series. It begins at Aurora Academy and deals with a squad of graduates.

The Alpha of the squad is Tyler Jones. He was very near the top of his class and should have had his pick of other squad members. Except he was off rescuing Aurora Jie-Lin O'Malley who was the sole survivor of the colony ship that was taking her to Octavia where she was going to be a cartographer. Her ship was lost in the Fold and she is 200 years out of her time.

Tyler's new squad has a lot of the dregs of the Academy. He does have his sister Scarlett for his diplomat. She wasn't going to let her brother attend the Academy without her but she wasn't really interested in doing well there either. And he has Cat for his pilot. She is the best in the Academy is fiercely loyal to Tyler. She also might have more than a small crush on him.

But his science and medical specialist Zila Madran might be a sociopath. She's brilliant but not a people person and tends to use her disruptor to solve a lot of her problems. And his new Tech is Finian de Karran de Seel, a Betraskan, who is isolated from his family, wears an exoskeleton because of weak muscles, and has a well-honed sense of sarcasm. Finally, his combat specialist is Kaliis Idraban Gilwraeth, a Syldrathi member of the Warbreed Cabal, and one of the few Syldrathi at the Academy since the war with them ended just a short while ago.

Their first mission seems in keeping with a squad made up from the leftovers. They are sent to bring medical supplies to an almost abandoned space station currently housing a small number of Syldrathi refugees. The first problem is that they won't let Kal come aboard because many members of his caste are still fighting against the Terrans. But a bigger problem is that they have a stowaway. Aurora was told by the Academy leaders to stow away on their ship. And now the Terran Defense Forces and the Global Intelligence Agency want Auri and are willing to kill anyone who gets in their way.

Auri has come out of the Fold with psychic powers and visions. Worst of all, her past seems to have been erased. She's told the planet she was going to never existed and never had a colony. Untangling all the lies and figuring out her new powers and her purpose keeps all the kids busy for the rest of the book.

I liked the characters who were all unique individuals. I liked the worldbuilding. I liked the action and pace of the story. The only thing I didn't like was that this is book one of a series and now I have to wait to find out what happens next.

This book brought me out of a reading slump. I loved Aurora Legion 312 with every fiber of my being and would probably die for each and every one of them. The banter between this motley crew had me laughing throughout my entire read. I’ve preordered my copy already and can’t wait to read it a second time.

I liked this book allot, but i need to say that i expected so much more out of this duo 'cause i read Illuminae trilogy and i loved it. It was a great sci fi book that is set in the future and its plot is set in space and with an amazing plot twist.. I loved the world that they build and i find that the book had so much fast actions scenes. So if you like a great sci fi book set in space and a book whit great characters this book is definitely for you.

Like i said the plot was very good, but i didn't mesh with the writing style, and i found that some parts of the book were very sad and sometimes it was too fast. The characters were build up very well, but every character has the first person and sometimes i was forgetting who's perspective it was. So i had some problems whit it. And i expected so much more but in Illuminae we couldn't see their writing style, and that was the biggest problem in this book.

Overall i gave it 4.25/5 stars. And i recommended to everyone that likes fantasy or sci fi.

I really enjoyed the characters and character development in this book. I don't think I liked it quite as much as illuminae but am glad that I read it and am intrigued to see what happens next. There was good world-building. I still get annoyed by teenagers pulling off heists and outsmarting adults with more experience, but I realize that it's a thing that happens a lot in YA. I really enjoyed the ending.