Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff- a Book Review

Note: This review is spoiler free (spoilers are all marked and have warnings)!
Book: Aurora Rising
Author: Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Genre: Sci-Fi
Age: For readers 14 and up 
Rating: 3/5 Stars

The more I think about this book, the more I hate it. The romance sucks, the characters are not great and the plot is forgettable. Seriously. It’s only been two months since I read this book and I already forgot 90% of it’s plot. Good thing I made notes while reading or this review would have been a big, fat blank page 😬

What I didn’t like: 

1. Relationships: I literally rolled my eyes at every attempt at romance in this book. Also most of this section is not a spoiler since the romantic pairings are made obvious from the first time everyone meets.

• Aurora and Kal (Mild Spoilers): Ew. Ew. Ew. I hate this ship from the bottom of my heart. 

Please allow me to present my case:

• It grows from a “mating bond” and I immediately went 🤢 

          Great. SJM: ✨ but in space ✨

• Aurora asked Kal to stop calling her Beshmai (which means mate) and to give her some space. AND WHAT DID HE DO? He continued to call her Beshmai and try to force her into liking him (page 424 or 421 are examples). I found this really creepy of him because they’re literally strangers and he’s calling this random girl he met a week ago his soulmate. Then he proceeds to call her that, even when she’s made it clear she’s uncomfortable.
• It’s the most forced thing EVER: This is why I hate mating relationships. One second she    hates him and then the other she’s like “I feel safe next to him”. I’m not joking when I say that she could be mad at him, and then the next page she’s acting like he’s the next best thing since sliced bread. The mating bond is obviously forcing her to feel this way because no sane person would be attracted to someone who is constantly overstepping his boundaries (cough cough KAL 😡 ) 
• For all these reasons….. I HATE THIS SHIP!!!
• Finian and Scarlet: I knew that Finian and Scarlet would end up together and I was rooting for them. But I expected them to get together in the middle of the second book after more development… not all of a sudden in the first book.
• Cat and Ty: Eh. What do I even say about them? They were just boring. Also it was completely one sided.

2. The bazillion POVS: There are 7 POVS in this book and all of them sound the exact same. I found myself checking the start of a chapter multiple times to see whose POV it was. I can’t tell you how many times I thought I was reading Cat’s pov but it turned out to be Scarlet or Finian. There is no distinction between the characters or povs. They’re all extra snarky and witty to cover up the fact that the authors forgot to give them genuine character development. ALL the characters are supposedly snarky and witty (besides my girl Zila) and it’s so hard to differentiate between their povs. 
3. It’s confusing: There were parts of this book where I went “What. Just. Happened.” not because I was shocked or a plot twist happened but because I genuinely couldn’t comprehend what was written on the page. Idk if I’m just dumb or if the pacing went wayyyyyy too fast in the action parts, giving no time for the reader to comprehend what happened. 
SPOILERS UNDERLINED: I don’t get what happened when Aurora saw Rahamm's existence and then there was a mental war between Cat and Auri? And what were those memory demonstration scenes? 
4 . Unrealistic: If these are the academy’s last picks for the draft, why is Zila so smart? She should have been picked wayyy before. Realistically this situation doesn’t make any sense because we’re supposed to believe this team is the last ranked in the school (except for Tyler). But it’s the opposite and everyone on the team is apparently a prodigy. 🤨
The tagline for this book is: “They’re not the heroes we deserve. They’re just the ones we could find.” But everyone in this book is amazing at what they do, super smart, super pretty, etc. 
5. Kal: Ugh I hate this character. Not only because he was super pushy in his relationship with Aurora but because he is boring and I just don’t get his purpose in this book other than to be the romantic interest. 

What I liked:
Nothing. Ok fine, I did like some things but I completely forgot what I liked. This book was just not memorable in the slightest. Maybe the second book is more likeable. Someone will have to tell me if Aurora Burning is better because I for sure, am not reading the second book to find out for myself. 

I guess the book was entertaining at times but mostly it just frustrated me. But hey, I’m in the minority here since most people loved this book. Don’t let me stop you from reading this but keep in mind that it might be a huge letdown.

Read my Spoiler Free Review for Shadow and Bone

Read My Review for A court of silver flames