The Warbreed are Essentially Romulans

Aurora Burning Book Review

SYNOPSIS

Our heroes are back… kind of. From the bestselling co-authors of the Illuminae Files comes the second book in the epic series about a squad of misfits, losers, and discipline cases who just might be the galaxy’s best hope for survival.

First, the bad news: an ancient evil—you know, your standard consume-all-life-in-the-galaxy deal—is about to be unleashed. The good news? Squad 312 is standing by to save the day. They’ve just got to take care of a few small distractions first.

Like the clan of gremps who’d like to rearrange their favorite faces.

And the cadre of illegit GIA agents with creepy flowers where their eyes used to be, who’ll stop at nothing to get their hands on Auri.

Then there’s Kal’s long-lost sister, who’s not exactly happy to see her baby brother, and has a Syldrathi army at her back. With half the known galaxy on their tails, Squad 312 has never felt so wanted.

When they learn the Hadfield has been found, it’s time to come out of hiding. Two centuries ago, the colony ship vanished, leaving Auri as its sole survivor. Now, its black box might be what saves them. But time is short, and if Auri can’t learn to master her powers as a Trigger, the squad and all their admirers are going to be deader than the Great Ultrasaur of Abraaxis IV.

Shocking revelations, bank heists, mysterious gifts, inappropriately tight bodysuits, and an epic firefight will determine the fate of the Aurora Legion’s most unforgettable heroes—and maybe the rest of the galaxy as well.

REVIEW

I knew going into reading book two in the Aurora Cycle series that a lot of people were raving about it and saying that it was better than the first by a long shot... but, eh? I liked it, don't get me wrong I really did! I just didn't think it was necessarily better than the first.

If you read my review on Aurora Rising than you know that I really enjoyed Finian, Scar and Zila the most as characters. So it is my pleasure to announce Aurora Burning came through for me! The insight that we get as readers into Scar's, and Zila especially, characters, their traumas and general personalities was really good. I enjoyed the sassy jokes that Scar pulled out at the most random moments, and the background we discover about Zila's past and why she is so withdrawn was really good for me.

Again though, I feel like this book really had every chapter as BAM BAM BAM that when it came to the slower part where Aurora was learning her powers, I was completely bored and didn't care about what she was doing at all. I can appreciate a lot needs to happen and that particularly Jay's style of writing is super fast and intense which is why he is so popular with young readers. BUT there needs to be a certain balance because the last third of the book was kind of a drag, despite the big reveal of the Starlayer. Actually the reveal for the starslayer fell flat for me as well. I already guessed who he was and what his deal was pretty much from the beginning so I really needed a more intricate reveal to throw me off or something.

In saying that! I luuuuuurrrvved Kal's sister. She is a badass mother fucker who ain't about to let nobody do nothing without her express permission. She is such a cool character with a really interesting story so far. She makes such a typical but still fresh villain, more on the side of anti-hero, kind of character that I was cheering for more than our squad (woops?) Let's be real for a second, if Jay and Amie turned around and made Saedii the starslayer. THAT would have been a real plot twist people.

I'm still bummed we don't see more of Fin's people and his culture, because this book was definitely more about building Auri and Kal's romance and giving some history to the Syldrathi race. This was all still needed and the fan lapped that shit up. But I just didn't care. I don't know, I think once I found out about the mate bond thing I was like - well there goes the idea of romance in this series (throws book across the bed). THANKFULLY there's some seeding of romance developing between Fin and Scar and another pair that I will not spoil here for anyone who hasn't read it yet. When I read the end part where Fina and Scar are together on the ship looking out at the hole in their ship and then... (we won't talk about that) I was like YES yes yessss. Get it girl! Boyfriend number 365 or whatever, GO. I. am. here. for. it.

Also, the funniest thing about this ending is that the whole time I was just like, "Omg the Warbreed are just like the Romulans!" Think about it, the starslayer destroys the Vulcan planet (Syldrathi cough) and then is trying to destroy another planet because he's sad about his family and then the heroes have to sneak onto the big scary ship with a scary ominous weapon capable of destroying anything. Romulans. Warbreed are Romulans. Change my mind.

Okay, so even though it sounds like after reading this book I READ this book, I actaully enjoyed reading it for the most part. The first half was great! Si Magnifique! Mwah! I am excited to see where the story goes and I will definitely be reading the next book when it comes it comes out. I just hope it doesn't fall flat with the way they bring everything back... because we all know that ending was wack.

Rating - 3.75/5 stars

Authors - Jay Kristoff & Amie Kaufman

Publisher - Allen & Unwin

ISBN 1524720925