Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff Narrator: Kim Mai Guest, Johnathan McClain, Donnabella Mortel, Lincoln Hoppe, Steve West, Erin Spencer
Series: Aurora Cycle #2
Published by Listening Library on May 5, 2020
Genres: Science Fiction Fantasy, Young Adult
Length: 15 hours, 16 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Purchased
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Our heroes are back… kind of. From the bestselling co-authors of the Illuminae Files comes the second book in the epic series about a squad of misfits, losers, and discipline cases who just might be the galaxy’s best hope for survival.
First, the bad news: an ancient evil—you know, your standard consume-all-life-in-the-galaxy deal—is about to be unleashed. The good news? Squad 312 is standing by to save the day. They’ve just got to take care of a few small distractions first.
Like the clan of gremps who’d like to rearrange their favorite faces.
And the cadre of illegit GIA agents with creepy flowers where their eyes used to be, who’ll stop at nothing to get their hands on Auri.
Then there’s Kal’s long-lost sister, who’s not exactly happy to see her baby brother, and has a Syldrathi army at her back. With half the known galaxy on their tails, Squad 312 has never felt so wanted.
When they learn the Hadfield has been found, it’s time to come out of hiding. Two centuries ago, the colony ship vanished, leaving Auri as its sole survivor. Now, its black box might be what saves them. But time is short, and if Auri can’t learn to master her powers as a Trigger, the squad and all their admirers are going to be deader than the Great Ultrasaur of Abraaxis IV.
Shocking revelations, bank heists, mysterious gifts, inappropriately tight bodysuits, and an epic firefight will determine the fate of the Aurora Legion’s most unforgettable heroes—and maybe the rest of the galaxy as well.
Let me just start by saying Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman…you dirty bastards! How could you end the story right there??? How??? It is so cliffy, it is like ending on that time when Jean Luc Picard became borg or the viewers saw Buffy the Vampire slayers tombstone or like 8 different times on LOST. AHHHH!!! I will now wait, oh so not patiently, for the next book.
Moving on.
Aurora Rising was one of my favorite books of 2019 and I called it a bit of a mash up between Firefly, Star Trek and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. There is a great cast of misfits thrown together by circumstance or design, the jury is still out on that one, set to face the largest threat to the galaxy all on their own. Aurora Burning, the second book in The Aurora Cycle picks up just days after all the event in Aurora Rising when our multiple PoV cast is trying desperately to…
- Escape the Ra’haam, then destroy them
- Figure out how Aurora’s power works and find ‘The Weapon of Mass Destruction’
- Find a way off the waystation they ended up on
- Not have a family reunion with Kal’s crazy blood thirsty sister. She isn’t Joffrey cray cray, but close.
- Go on a quest to find a bra that doesn’t feel like a prison.
Well all of those are really important except for #5 I guess, although mankind could really get on that one too sometime just to help out.
Aurora Burning has a fantastic cast and while all of them are great I do have some favorites. In Magellan’s words O captain my captain Tyler Jones HAS BLUE EYES, BLOND SHAGGY HAIR, AND DIMPLES THAT CAN EXPLODE OVARIES AT THIRTY METERS and my other favorite page/ear candy is Kal (narrated by the yummy Steve West), KAL IS AN EXCELLENT BROODER. HONESTLY, HE COULD BROOD AT A PROFESSIONAL LEVEL. HE HAS DREAMY VIOLET EYES, OLIVE SKIN, AND LONG SILVER HAIR. DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON HIS CHEEKBONES.
But don’t think for a second it is all about the boys, because it is not. Scarlet is Tyler’s twin sister who has never met a relationship she couldn’t break in seven weeks and definitely knows how to turn on the flirty charm. Zila, is a genius and pretty funny once she starts to warm up to you. She is also not into tall girls, just in case you were wondering. Add to that Finian who is just as much fun as the other and needs to be in a mechanical suit at all times and Aurora, the girl with all the special gifts and no idea how to use them and you have a lot of cool characters to love and work with.
This book was jam packed with action, adventure, running, a dragon and space fights. There wasn’t a lot of down time except for one sorta long part where Aurora explores what she is and how to get a hold of it. There is also a little time for love in that section. Robin needs her little time for lovin’ in her books most of the time. So, what I’m saying is something for almost everyone. Also, there is a little mystery happening that hasn’t quite been answered yet, but I bet it is going to blow my mind when it plays out completely.
The one big downer for me was the cliff hanger since now I have to wait a year to see what happened and I’m a little sad at my 312 team for how they treated a certain member when the big reveal came out. But had to happen so bygones.
If you want an exciting fast paced space drama this might be exactly what you are looking for. I love the dialogue in the book it has some of the best banter out there.
“Saedii sits there in the aftermath of my confession. I expect her to laugh. To call me a liar and a lunatic, to react the way any normal person might when you tell them that an ancient plant-being that lost a war against a race of ancient psychics is set to wake up after a million-year dirt-nap and nom down on the entire galaxy.”
“Poor baby,” she coos. “Madam Badass really did a number on the boys, huh?”
“I mean, I can always adopt,” he whimpers.”
Narration:
Each PoV has its own narrator so there are 6 plus the voice of Magellan (computer Siri of the future). Steve West is one of my favorite narrators ever and does the very broody Kal so fantastically. All the narrators seem perfect for their chapters and made the book so much fun with a lot of fantastic dialogue and inner commentary going on. I listened at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip:
About Steve West
A London native, Steve began his career by winning the Stage & Television Today acting scholarship at the age of 17 (after ironically believing that he had bombed the audition!). What followed took him through one of London’s top drama conservatories, onto the West End stage in ABBA’s musical phenomenon Mamma Mia! and then to working opposite the likes of Chucky the killer doll and Don Draper in TV’s Mad Men.
Having moved to the States in 2009 he earned a place as a highly respected and award winning voice over artist working across commercials, films, documentary, audiobooks and video games. He starred as Galahad in Sony’s epic motion capture release The Order 1886 which took over 2 years to film and employed the most up-to-date filming and audio techniques in the field.
Versatile in a multitude of ways from acting to singing to dancing to dying 100’s of different ways in a sound booth he continues to enjoy work both on stage, screen and behind a mic. Check out his latest news on the home page, join the conversation on Facebook and twitter and even head back to the 1800s and ‘be’ Steve/Galahad on the PS4!
About Amie Kaufman
Amie Kaufman is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of young adult fiction. Her multi-award winning work is slated for publication in over 30 countries, and is in development for film and TV. Raised in Australia and occasionally Ireland, Amie has degrees in history, literature, law and conflict resolution. She lives in Melbourne with her husband, their rescue dog, and an extremely large personal library.
About Jay Kristoff
Jay Kristoff is the #1 international, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of THE NEVERNIGHT CHRONICLE, THE ILLUMINAE FILES and THE LOTUS WAR. He is the winner of five Aurealis Awards, an ABIA, has over half a million books in print and is published in over thirty five countries, most of which he has never visited. He is as surprised about all of this as you are. He is 6’7 and has approximately 12,000 days to live.
He does not believe in happy endings.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- Robin Audio20
fabulous review. i think i would really enjoy this one too….except for the cliffy 🙂
I had a lot of fun with this book and the cliffy, well I’ll make it. Sometimes they are fun in a slow torture kind of way.
Glad to see your high rating, Robin. I’m hoping to listen to this soon since things left off at a pretty exciting place in the first book.
It totally did. I hope you get to it soon, I had a great time with the team.
Never heard of the book or the author before but not going to lie, that book cover caught my attention and now I’m hooked. I recognized the art style immediately; it’s the artists from SJM’s books, right?
Oof, I’m really excited now hahaha. Great review!
I don’t know a ton about cover artists but they might be the same. I like the covers for both series and also see some similarities.