The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: Aurora’s End

Series: Aurora Cycle #3

Author: Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Genre: Young Adult, Sci-Fi, Romance, Found Family

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Is this the end?
What happens when you ask a bunch of losers, discipline cases, and misfits to save the galaxy from an ancient evil? The ancient evil wins, of course.
Wait. . . . Not. So. Fast.
When we last saw Squad 312, they were working together seamlessly (aka, freaking out) as an intergalactic battle raged and an ancient superweapon threatened to obliterate Earth. Everything went horribly wrong, naturally.
But as it turns out, not all endings are endings, and the team has one last chance to rewrite theirs. Maybe two. It’s complicated.
Cue Zila, Fin, and Scarlett (and MAGELLAN!): making friends, making enemies, and making history? Sure, no problem.
Cue Tyler, Kal, and Auri: uniting with two of the galaxy’s most hated villains? Um, okay. That, too.
Actually saving the galaxy, though?
Now that will take a miracle. -summary from Goodreads

SO. FREAKING. GOOD! I don’t know if I’ll ever recover from this ending. Aurora’s End was absolutely amazing and that ending was everything!

*Spoilers to follow

It did take me a while to get into this book. My favorite thing about this series was the group and their interactions with each other. That was largely missing through the majority of the book. It took me awhile to get used to that, but it did add to the story- made it more serious.

Zila, Finian, and Scarlet were thrown back in time and caught in a time loop. This was done in a really unique way and comes full circle with things from the first two books.

I love Zila so much, and on one hand I was so happy she found her happy ending and on the other hand I will remain devastated forever for how her story ended. I actually really liked the emotional reactions the other characters had to her storyline- it really showed how much they cared for her, even the characters who didn’t have a lot of on-page interactions with her.

Scarlet went through some nice character development this book. She matured a little and stepped outside her comfort zone more in this book than in the other two.

I still adore Finian! He is the best and I love him! Scarlet and Finian finally got together, and it was adorable. I love how well they complement each other, and how they work together. The only thing I didn’t love was that Finian didn’t get that many chapters.

Still love Kal with all of my heart! He really didn’t get a lot of chapters this book. But I also feel like his personal story was mostly wrapped up, and now his focus was Aurora and saving the galaxy. I did like how he interacted with everything and the emotion he showed.

Kal and Aurora jumped forward in time, by 27 years, and I will say it was awful. The state of the universe was so sad, and Tyler was there and it was devastating. I think the perspective of Kal and Aurora of this time, really drove home the destructive nature of the Ra’hamm. When they were describing Tyler was the saddest parts for me.

Aurora was a good character. She was very focused on saving the galaxy, and to do that she had to be more in tune with her powers. I think that caused her to feel distant from the reader and the other characters in a way. Her power is mental, so she is often more on the mental realm than the physical. This does allow for some really emotional revelations.

One of my absolute favorite parts of the book was Kal trying to convince Aurora that she didn’t have to die to save the galaxy. Throughout the course of the book, he keeps saying that dying in war is easier than living in peace. She really fought against this, and she realized towards the end of the book, that this might be true. I thought this was such an interesting and unique way of looking at survivor’s guilt.

Tyler’s story was so engaging. This book had a lot of Tyler chapters! The majority of the story was told from Tyler’s perspective, which makes sense since he is the only one in the current time. I was engrossed with his story and really loved how it was all done. He really wanted to do what was right. One of the best parts of his story was his relationship with Saedii. This is truly enemies to lovers. They really challenge each other and push each other to be better. I think their relationship was surprising, but I am happy with the development.

All of the characters were operating on the assumption they were the last ones of Squad 312 left. It really was sad but also inspiring. They all fought to do what was best for the galaxy, not just themselves. It also showed how strong of a bond they all had.

This book also had such a good exploration of what it is to be loved. To be loved is to never be alone. You are always connected to the people around you, and you remain an individual. One of the big storylines was how family and love is what matters. That’s all that really matters.

This is teen book! Both the previous books had innuendoes and bad language. The last book had a fade to black scene. This book had more bad language and a fade to black scene, though there was more set-up and talking about it after. Nothing too terrible, but definitely for older teens.

Aurora’s End was an emotional ending to a fabulous sci-fi trilogy with romance, action, time travel, and family!

Quotes:

“‘Even were you to perish today, the atoms of your body would remain. Over eons, those particles would break apart and coalesce, become incorporated into other beings, other planetary bodies. Drawn into collapsing stars and scattered again by a supernovae. And the last, when the great black hole at the heart of this galaxy draws everything back into its arms, all things shall be reunited. Thus, thus we do not say goodbye when we part… I shall see you in the stars.’”

“Live for tonight. Tomorrow we die.”

“Maybe heart was all we ever had, maybe love was always the flame we used to hold back the dark.”

“‘Imagine what we could have made, if only you had loved us.’”

“‘Know no fear, my friends. Know no regret. The end is no ending. And death is no defeat. I will see you in the stars.’”

“‘It’s not about the sum of the rainbow’s parts, I tell them, though it’s beautiful together. It’s about every shade within it, each of them beautiful on their own. These stories are about the way each of these people lived and loved, sometimes wisely and well, sometimes foolishly, sometimes in dark and terrible ways. But each of their journeys was their own. Love should never ask you to give up the things that make you different. The truths that can only be told about you, and nobody else.‘”

“I see the wild, unpredictable beauty of a life lived alone- but never entirely alone.”