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A review by andye_reads
Aurora Rising by Jay Kristoff, Amie Kaufman
3.0
(Audiobook review at the end)
I would say this book was ok, but it didn't leave me with any lasting feelings. Certainly not anything like the way I felt after Illuminae, not that you should have those expectations. I think you'll almost always be let down. It almost felt like a love letter to all the different great sci-fi books/movies the authors liked, which is totally fine. I enjoyed having those feelings of, "Oh, this reminds me of Star Wars. Oh, another LoTR reference." etc. There were even parts that made me think of Illuminae, as if they were fanning their own book, which is great! But overall, there was just something missing for me. I've noticed lately that books that have a lot of POVs are leaving me feeling this way, and I think it's because I need to have one or two characters that I can really focus on. I don't mind a lot of points of view, but I think one or two of them need to really stand out as the Main main characters. Does that make sense? Someone I really care about. And I definitely did not care about Aurora. Maybe that'll change in future books, but I just really thought she was a boring character. Not to mention the romance she got into (see reading progress comments). I thought we were past this whole "If a boy is mean to you it means he likes you, you should go for it" phase. And there are TWO of those in this book.
I did listen to this on audio, which I LOVED with the exception of one narrator. I will never understand why the YA audiobook world seems to be in love with Kim Mai Guest when she sounds like a five year old. If she was reading kid lit, or mg, than I'd be all for it, but her baby voice for YA characters makes me crazy. I also wish they would've just let each narrator read for their own character. They did this a few times in the book and it was great, but then they'd switch back to one narrator reading for all the characters and it wasn't as good. Especially when they were reading Kat's part, who for some reason had an Australian accent even though she literally grew up with all the American accented people, but whatever because I love an Australian accent. But the only one who could pull it off was Kat's narrator, so the others just sounded ridiculous. Overall, though, I really liked it, and was probably the reason I liked the book as much as I did.
I would say this book was ok, but it didn't leave me with any lasting feelings. Certainly not anything like the way I felt after Illuminae, not that you should have those expectations. I think you'll almost always be let down. It almost felt like a love letter to all the different great sci-fi books/movies the authors liked, which is totally fine. I enjoyed having those feelings of, "Oh, this reminds me of Star Wars. Oh, another LoTR reference." etc. There were even parts that made me think of Illuminae, as if they were fanning their own book, which is great! But overall, there was just something missing for me. I've noticed lately that books that have a lot of POVs are leaving me feeling this way, and I think it's because I need to have one or two characters that I can really focus on. I don't mind a lot of points of view, but I think one or two of them need to really stand out as the Main main characters. Does that make sense? Someone I really care about. And I definitely did not care about Aurora. Maybe that'll change in future books, but I just really thought she was a boring character. Not to mention the romance she got into (see reading progress comments). I thought we were past this whole "If a boy is mean to you it means he likes you, you should go for it" phase. And there are TWO of those in this book.
I did listen to this on audio, which I LOVED with the exception of one narrator. I will never understand why the YA audiobook world seems to be in love with Kim Mai Guest when she sounds like a five year old. If she was reading kid lit, or mg, than I'd be all for it, but her baby voice for YA characters makes me crazy. I also wish they would've just let each narrator read for their own character. They did this a few times in the book and it was great, but then they'd switch back to one narrator reading for all the characters and it wasn't as good. Especially when they were reading Kat's part, who for some reason had an Australian accent even though she literally grew up with all the American accented people, but whatever because I love an Australian accent. But the only one who could pull it off was Kat's narrator, so the others just sounded ridiculous. Overall, though, I really liked it, and was probably the reason I liked the book as much as I did.