Aurora Rising

Summary:

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. (Summary and cover courtesy of goodreads.com)

Review:

This book was AMAZING and a real pandemic highlight for me.  Think “Guardians of the Galaxy” meets the best of YA fantasy and you wouldn’t be too far off the mark.  I adored the characters because they had a lot of layers revealed over time, which is something action-packed Young Adult can sometime lack.  I haven’t read a Kaufman and Kristoff book yet to date, but definitely will be going forward.

Yes, some elements were a little predictable, but it was written in a way that never felt tropey to me and definitely has me looking forward to the rest of the series.  The only thing that is devastating is that the series isn’t finished yet!  

Warning: Contains violence and a cliffhanger ending so you are signing up for the series if you start it and enjoy it.

Rating: 5 stars!

Who should read it? Fantasy fans looking for a space epic hybrid.

Want to read the whole series?

• Aurora Burning (Aurora Cycle #2)

• Untitled (Aurora Cycle #3)