Aurora Rising

This review could be a very long drawn-out sigh. Why? Because I don't really know what to say. In Aurora Rising I've counted at least five instances of wanting to groan, roll my eyes, throw the book against a wall, and never touch it again.

But I didn't. In its second half I came to quite enjoy it.

Ironically the worst and the best thing about Aurora Rising are the characters. The squad, consisting of 6 members + “the mystery girl” Aurora, is all you're going to get in terms of, well, actual characters. The rest, including the villain/antagonist, have the depth of a puddle.

The leader, also known as Alpha (a title which makes my skin crawl) is pretty much a Gary Stu (that the name?). Tyler has blond hair, blue eyes, broad shoulders, he doesn't drink or curse, and he is very white and very straight. Yippie.

Tyler's got his squad. First is Scarlett, his sister. Scar's roommate Cat is there too. Genuinely, I had trouble telling these two apart at times! The book jumps from POV to POV every chapter and it's beyond unnecessary and annoying. There's 7 characters each with a few chapters of their own but written in such a way it's hard to tell whose perspective you're reading.

Then there's Legolas... I mean Kal. An elf... sorry, a Syldrathi (Sindarin called. It's not upset; it's laughing at how stupid this is.) Kal imprints on Aurora because he's a true alien of a warrior race blah blah. It's creepy.

Can't forget Zila! She is that character in stories that is a walking computer. She's got a gajillion IQ points in her big brain and can make Einstein-level calculation on the fly. Also she gets the shortest “chapters” (literally like 40 words... yeah, I've got no clue).

Then there's Aurora/Auri. She's great and fun. Got nothing snarky or bad to say about her.

And, drumroll please, the best for last is Finian. He carries the whole book being the character with depth but also a unique personality (compared to the rest of them). I love him and his snarky attitude. Also, there are some hints that he could be bisexual which, as a bi guy myself, I'd appreciate if it were given just a bit more than “haha, this guy hot:3 anyway...”.

There really needed to be only 3+1 characters. Scarlett and Cat blend into one so make them one character and add Zila because she gets so little character development... well I'd call it character stagnation. Kal is needed because of the plot. Tyler is as boring as a typical videogame white cishet lead, and so on.

So characters are a huge mixed bag but the plot was quite interesting. Not something I couldn't let go but it was fine, cool, fun and all.

Worldbuilding was a thing, I guess. There are pages after each chapter from a what's meant to be a encyclopedia articles but it's boring when read out of context. Besides that the worldbuilding has a lot of sci-fi babble that could be omitted (and the time given to character development).

And the final insult to injury is that in this group of SEVEN PEOPLE there are not one, not two, but THREE completely heterosexual pairings. Not only Aurora salivates at Tyler from the start, she also likes big muscle Kal. Finian, who could be a nice bi rep, likes Scarlett. Cat and Tyler are a thing too.

I don't like to be one of the “this MUST have XYZ rep” but with such a huge cast of characters it's glaringly obvious the authors chose not to include LGBT rep just because.

There's a second book. It's coming in January. I'll read it but I don't have much hope.

PS.: Authors, please stop referencing Lord of the Rings. Auri calls Kal Legolas and it's just... ugh.