Review: Aurora’s End (The Aurora Cycle #3) by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review. Many thanks to Oneworld Publications and NetGalley for the opportunity.
It was a long, long wait. In book publishing time it was only two and a half years from the first book in the trilogy to the last, but in reader year it’s been a lifetime since Tyler Jones rescued Aurora Jie Lin O’Malley from a 200 year sleep in stasis, in the process missing his opportunity to pick himself a crack squadron. Instead he was presented with a bunch of misfits no-one else wanted to work with. If you don’t know what I am talking about then you need to stop right here and go read the first two books as there are spoilers ahead for books #1 and #2.
For the rest of us, book #2 Aurora Burning ended on a monster cliffhanger, with the intrepid heroes of Squadron 312 split up and left in three separate life-threatening situations. Book #3 starts with a bang as Scarlett, Finian and Zila are flung backwards in time to a point where Terrans and Betraskans are at war. Auri, and Kal are flung forward to a galaxy overwhelmed by the Ra’haam with a only handful of galactic survivors left alive. In the present, Tyler, alone, must to try to save the Aurora Academy from a massive explosion which will kill the rulers of almost every species in the galaxy and leave the defence against the Ra’haam in tatters.
Though the trilogy is named for Aurora (both girl and Academy), she has never dominated the action. Every squad member has been given page time. Every squad member has played an essential role. Even the chirpy, handheld computer Magellan, has had part to play. Aurora herself is a character of contrasts. Small but powerful, young but very old, fragile but wielding immense strength. The girl out of time, chosen among the thousands of passengers on the Hadfield to carry the power of the Eshvaren and save the galaxy but still won’t let a swear word pass her lips. Of all the characters in the squadron, though, I admit, I loved Zila the most. Kaufman and Kristoff managed to take this character from emotionally closed to heart-wrenchingly caring in so few words and details. It was a master class in character development. “I am not feeling nothing.” Five words that broke my heart.
The Aurora Cycle is all about time: time travel, time loops, the girl out of time, even Aurora’s extended timespan in the Echo, but it is also about memory, the pull of the past against the future, the Eshvaren: - long dead beings leaving memories all over the galaxy, Aurora’s memories of her family, the Academy and it’s commemorative statues of the founders and instructions passed from leader to leader, and then there is the Ra’haam. The blue flower that both preserves and destroys all those it touches, which will always be, in my mind, a forget-me-not.
And so to the grand finale. The moment we have been waiting for, the epic conclusion of a three book saga. Sadly, after the monumental cliffhanger to Aurora Burning and the literal race against time, it just felt anti-climactic. I couldn’t quite get to grips with the metaphysical nature of some of the imagery. The losses didn’t feel like deep losses and the wins didn’t feel feel like epic wins. So, though it was a perfectly good ending with all the different story strands neatly tied up in a bow, it just left me feeling a little flat. Having said that, I have thoroughly enjoy this series. I loved the characters, the romances were interesting and I’m sure I will be rereading this series down the line. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
