I can't even find a quote that doesn't make me cringe. DNF 40%

out of all the (still) 4 and 5 star reviews for this book, i can't believe i'm one of those giving it 1 star

READ FOR: [you’re better off reading Skyward if you’re looking for a Sci Fi about a group of teenagers who work together and are like galactic space fighters]

*All of my reviews are as spoiler-free as possible unless states otherwise*

OVERALL: 1.5/5

-7/27/20-
NOTE: I opened up this book to give it another try so I think I can safely say and stand by my claim that after a year... my opinion has not changed.
--

Aurora Rising is practically The Breakfast Club set in space ((not in the good way)).

You have to understand that I tried SO HARD to like this book. And I REALLY wanted to… but…

*screams and falls on the floor*



First of all: this book sounded very appealing to me as I just came from reading another Sci-Fi book. I began this book expecting witty humor, a badass heroine, and interesting space explorations. Spoiler: that did not happen.

I DNFed this at 40%... at that point I was barely interested and I realized that the only reason I was still reading was because I was still waiting for the book to catch my interest. The multi-POV was not working and made everything feel rushed. It was breezing through scenes that I thought would have been great if they merely focused on certain parts more. If they actually described and built up the plot. It's like they tried to copy the writing in Six of Crows but resulted in making scenes pass by before the readers have absorbed what just happened. The witty comebacks and flawless chemistry was not there for me. I was willing to overlook how bland the writing was if the characters were at least compellingly written.

It was easier to read compared to the other Sci-Fi books that I have come across but it just was not what I was looking for. Sci-Fi is a great opportunity for rich world building and this book felt so flat.

Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman were authors that garnered my hype and attention because of The Illuminae Files (which I still plan on reading). This was my first book by this author duo and I was not impressed.


CHARACTERS: ★★☆☆☆
I needed the witty humor and character chemistry that makes a misfit group lovable to the readers. Sadly, The characters are fine and kind of consistent, they’re kind of relatable and they rub me the wrong way. And also can I just talk about HOW CLICHE and STEREOTYPICAL all of them were, *grimace*. I usually would not have seen this as a problem if they actually written well. The common problem of all of these characters: no build up. And they were all trying so hard to be witty but it was just cringey...

Aurora (AKA the resident chosen one)
She was the character that I was most looking forward to getting to know and I have to say was the one I was disappointed by the most. I found her annoying and was one of the most inconsistent characters.

One minute she’s pep talking herself and the next she’s literally on her knees, begging for Tyler to save her. When did the character development happen?? In between chapters??

I don't even know what else to say because... she was just the weakest character for me. Maybe she gets better by the end of the book but not at 40%. I stand by my opinion.

Tyler Jones (AKA the golden boy)
I love you Tyler Jones but I swear every time he came up in one of the other character's POV all they could talk about is how good he looks. Like, okay... I GET IT. I like when characters that look good and all that but saying it once is enough. I would rather read about how good he is at him being the Alpha. His character had so much potential but it was unfortunately wasted because all they could talk about was his dimples.

Scarlett Jones (AKA the princess)
I actually liked her character if in the most basic level. The idea of her character was great and I liked the idea of there being Faces or Diplomats in the squad. Scar was also one of the characters that interested me. However, she was never built up well and even if she intrigued me, I still couldn't get myself to care enough to continue on reading just for her.

Cat (AKA the unrequited love victim)
It's like they were trying too hard when it came to writing Cat. It felt like her character was forced into the story just to create that Star Trio and for there to be an unrequited love aspect. Also, a good 50% of her POVs was about how Tyler didn't like her the way she did because they were just "best friends". I'm usually all for the romance in fantasy but we barely even got to experience their friendship or just meer CHARACTER INTERACTION before we found out that, oh wow, she likes him!

Zila (AKA the weird one)
This girl confuses me. I would have been interested to see if she would have gotten a character development... but... she's just... I don't know what to say.

Exosuit Kid (AKA the nerd)
I CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER HIS NAME. But honestly the character that was the reason there are 2 stars and not 1 star for this specific portion of my review.

Kal (AKA the tall dark [silver] handsome tough guy, the bad boy)
MY BOI KAL <3 I would have loved to know more about him and I was a slightly interested to see what would happen to him in the story. There was something mysterious about him but as usual, and maybe you're tired of hearing me say this, he was so inconsistent.


PLOT: ★★☆☆☆
There was nothing fresh about the plot and I never really like predictable plots unless they are done exceptionally well or just well (i.e. Renegades). My head was threatening to go back to another book slump if I actually continued on to finish the book. I read from another reviewer that the ending was glib and I'm not regretting any decisions I have made as of the moment.


WRITING STYLE: ★☆☆☆☆
I would have liked the writing style of the plot and the way the characters were written more if this was a Contemporary novel (one of the reasons it reminds me of The Breakfast Club). I didn’t think it matched the vibe that I was expecting from the book. Check the 'Characters' portion of this review for more of my feelings about the writing because I feel like you are going to get sick of me being redundant.


WORLD BUILDING: ★★☆☆☆
There was a lot of telling as book reviewers put it. For me, it felt like the world was just thrust upon the readers and everyone was expected to care about everything that was going on right away. I didn't think that the fact that humans have found other alien species were given enough focus. I was not even aware that this was an intergalactic sort of book. I thought everyone was human (Terran) when I was reading the synopsis.

It didn't feel to me that this book was set hundreds of years in the future.


THEMES: ★★★☆☆
AGAIN, more potential for great writing wasted. There were so many chances for political and moral topics to be tackled but they were just blown through. Great themes were merely acknowledged and touched that I'm even sure if the authors were aware that they could have expounded more on certain scenes to make the readers more invested. It honestly would have taken the book to another level if they were able to do it successfully.

PACING: ★☆☆☆☆
To be honest, it's not like nothing happened in the story, it was more like everything was being rushed and the most interesting scenes were not given enough thought. There were so many things that I found inconsistent and I'm just too tired to go back to list them all down. It can be very tricky to pace Sci-Fi books so I was willing to look past it at the beginning but I couldn't handle it in the end.

PAGE TURNER: ★☆☆☆☆
This book could have actually bored me to death if I finished it. The Sci-Fi genre is a chance to create gripping (literally out-of-this-world) stories and it saddens me a lot that this book was not able to live to my Sci-Fi standards.


I'm sorry if this review was a bit rushed, messy, and more of a rant review but I just want to build a bridge and get over this book.

P.S. whoever designed the cover is the true hero

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