Hello I have opinions about this book
WARNING: HEAVY SPOILERS FOR BOTH AURORA CYCLE BOOKS, DUH
Ok I’ll preface this by saying I adore the Illuminae files (especially Gemina, Nik Malikov stole my heart) so I know these authors do good books and write great characters which, for the most part, apply to these two. First, the characters in order of least favourite to favourite (plus commentary)
Aurora: yeah look, I’m usually all over my OP characters with flaws but she’s so ✨whiny✨ (which is fair considering but I’m not patient) at first her relationship with Kal was cute and I’m usually all over that insta love trope but this time it didn’t sit that well with me? It was just too perfect and had no problems and then there was the whole “ohhh your father is that star slayer man? Gtfo you’re dead to me” which was overly dramatic and had me rolling my eyes bc they all overreacted (except for Scarlett I think she had actual reason to be mad bc of Ty) also Aurora please just fucking swear it bothers me so much
Kal: in the first book I was all over this I loved him then come book two and this man’s whole ass character is literally just him simping over Aurora which is boring. That being said I still love his character design 😔👌🏻👌🏻
Cat: (yo idk about y’all who actually read the book but the narrator for Cat was trying to do british or something and coming off as fake Australian) (and I’d know, I’m fucking Australian) but in all honesty I didn’t like her character that much she was kinda annoying especially when they had us going that she’d betrayed them. I only liked her when she “died”, I won’t lie, I cried but mostly bc of Tyler. The whole fucking Ra’hamm thing was not what I expected but honesty it shouldn’t surprise me that much after reading Gemina...
Zila: first book she was kinda just there doing nothing much but in the second book we get that backstory and character development and I love her my tiny gay trigger happy genius pls cherish and protect her and someone hug her please
Tyler: first book ty was like ok cool whatever you’re hot and a goody two shoes aww cute I love you and Scar’s relationship I’m jealous and he doesn’t swear until he does bc cat’s dying and I’m crying over it and then book two we get sassy Tyler and we also get him being traumatised by Cat which was not ok at all I didn’t like that my poor son give him a break.
Saedii: I like her about the same as I like Ty, probably a bit less, mostly because her and Ty are the chaotic duo we absolutely needed and they had me cracking up so hard like snorting laughing and wow she’s great I need them together for two-way emotional healing (like hell she fucking flew away and left him I ain’t even worried)
Scarlett: she’s hot, sarcastic and tall so I can kinda relate? Also short red hair? Doesn’t try that hard? Relies on natural talent? I think I just like her because she reminds me of me but that’s beside the point I just adore the Jones twins a lot and also her looking after Fin and respecting him bc if you didn’t guess by now he’s my favourite.
✨Fin✨: someone get my baby back to the Zero and let him curl up in some zero gravity PLEASE. I like these books for the characters and their relationships and Fin and Scarlett are my favourite pair I love them a lot. He always takes it upon himself to cheer everyone else up despite never expecting it back and I love that he lets Scarlett help him and how smart and sarcastic he is and idk he’s just my favourite if anything happens to my son I will cry. Also, disaster bisexual king. Pls let them have their kisssssssss.
One thing I don’t love about these books is how predictable they are for me, here’s the shit I guessed and the shit that caught me by surprise
- I knew straight the fuck away her dad wasn’t gone and was alive or something and when Princeps was unmasking itself I literally said out loud “and surprising no one, it’s her father”
-it was also really obvious that Kal’s father was the star slayer man to me after his sister was introduced or maybe before then idk just obvi
- the weapon was obviously the one he used to kill the sun like ✨duh✨ and they were all so surprised too
- the whole Scar and Ty being half Syldrathi surprised and delighted me
- literally the whole Ra’hamm collective mind infection plant kinda blindsided me a little but I think it’s cool looking forward to seeing how it ends
I could’ve sworn I had more things but it’s late so I’ll probably add to this later.
I’m excited for whatever time travel shenanigans they get into in the third book bc we all know they’re coming fuckin aye!!
Overall very enjoyable series, the plot is fine but the characters are great I love most of the dynamics and despite thinking their whole schtick is kinda cringe I hope we see Aurora and Kal’s relationship fixed too (as well as more Tyler/Saedii content PLEASE)