Just wow! I devoured this book in no time at all and really loved the way it played out! The ending was heartbreaking, rewarding and so thoughtful, the characters really progressed and changed throughout this book and it will leave deep impressions with me for some time to come. Not perfect but absolutely brilliant none the less!

I enjoyed the first book the most and the second one was still enjoyable, but THIS! felt like an anime filler episode.
There was just so much blah blah in it and the dialogue didn't interest me either. Characters and the conversations between then felt incredibly forced funny and cheesy.
What a bummer...

Jay and Amie I hate you two so much as everytime I think you can't hurt me you find away.

Amazing book, it took me a while with the 3 different time lines but once I got my head around it. I fell in love again with squad 312 as I always do.

Great end to an amazing series. Despite being off YA lately, the pace, quirkiness and characterisation of this series kept me hooked. Zilla was badass. And the conclusion was very satisfying. Brilliant series.

I don't know why I'm always so apprehensive going into a finale book written by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kauffman.. I guess I always keep thinking, "How are they going to top the last book off? How could everything possibly wrap up?"
But I end up in happy, bittersweet tears. Every. Single. Time. The type of tears that you know are going to cause a book hang over.

There are so many moving and interlocking parts to this story and it all comes together so flawlessly. In both the mechanics of the plot but also the emotion behind it.

You pretty much spend the entirety of this book on the edge of your seat as things heat up closer to the conclusion.

There were a few tropes within this book that I'm generally not a huge fan of, namely, groundhog day time travel and our main characters being separated for quite a large chunk of the book. However, I think they were written in such a clever way here that it didn't feel frustrating or repetitive for me while reading.

I think the last few chapters of this book had some amazing messages and the image of Squad 312 sitting around a table connected by their threads definitely pulled on my own heartstrings.

Give this series a go if you like mystery mixed with space adventure mixed with a lot of things blowing up. Some great found family and a plethora of sarcastic humour.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this eArc.

This was an amazing conclusion to the series. Loved everything about it, laughed at their humour and banter, barely held back the tears, but always enjoyed every word of this magic! Sad that it ends, but really what a book it is to end it on!

If you haven't met squad 312, you are missing out!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

After the tortuous cliffhanger of the last book, it felt like such a long wait for this one! Using elements of time travel to wrap up the storyline makes it quite convoluted, and while the authors' grasp of the narrative and how it all fits together is impressive, it does feel slightly like a cop out. However, the characters still feel likeable and the story is enjoyable, especially the ending.

From GoodReads:

There is a lot going on in this book but I managed to keep up.

It's a time travelling, mind bending, action packed, love filled, sassy rollercoaster of an ending to this trilogy.

I think this series is a great introduction to the sci-fi genre as it's expansive without being overwhelming. The plot is high stakes and fast-paced, especially in this final instalment. And the characters are the heart of the story. You'll definitely find someone in squad 312 who resonated with you for whatever reason. Highly recommended.

When you get the third book in a series that ended on the cliff-hanger that book two left us in you bet you read it in one sitting.

Aurora's End is the final book in the Aurora Cycle series by Amie Kuaffman and Jay Kristoff, this duo brought us the Illuminae Files and you bet that I squealed when I got approved for this arc.

Book three picks off where book two ended, in space, everyone separated and some the characters having just been blown apart in space. Yes this evil duo ended book two with everyone blown up.

I really enjoy Amie Kauffman's and Jay Kristoff's writing, they bring out so many emotions in one book. I honestly cringed, laughed, cursed them both and wanted to keep on reading and find out if my favourites characters survived till the end of the book.

It was definitely a good way to end the series, it wasn't on par with the first two books but it 100% answered questions I had from books one and two. The books chapters were split up into the characters and what each of them are doing in this book. As I mentioned earlier my heart was in my throat several times and I know these two authors definitely ramp up the tension and the not knowing what is going to happen.

The book I felt was exactly what this series needed. We did have a kinda happy ending, there was a little bit of loss in the book, a hell of a lot of smooching from characters, fighting, growing up and finding the right path.

This was a really enjoyable series.

I loved this series and love Jay Kristoff's works so I had high expectations for this last book in the series.
I had high expectations but somehow I felt disappointed even if the story is compelling and well written.
There was a sense of deja vue, of something already seen/read and the story fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Okay, in all honesty, I am a Kaufman-Kristoff super fan. I admit it. There is basically an entire shelf on my bookshelf that is filled with everything that either one of them has written. I even love them so much that I file their books together instead of in actual alphabetical order. Which is a big thing for me. I mean, I have a whole bunch of Victor Kelleher and some Brigid Kemmerer, and a few early Stephen King’s that are out of order so that Jay and Amie can hang out together. My OCD does not approve, but what can you do. So, with this little caveat out of the way, here comes the actual review!
Firstly, the non spoilerey bit for anyone who hasn’t read the first two, which you should go out and buy right now. I’ll wait. A few centuries into the future, humanity is doing pretty well. They’ve managed to colonise new planets, build fancy space stations, and okay, they may have just gotten out of a war with an alien race known as the Syldrathi who not only look like super-hot elves, but have an entire caste devoted to war and violence. But it’s all good. Sort of. Human’s and their allies, the Betraskan’s have started what is basically a college for space Legionnaires. In this college, teams are created from individuals following a whole range of specialist learning tracks, from engineering, to medical, to leadership, to martial arts, which of course are all given super cute nicknames from Aces (the pilot’s) to Faces (the PR, ambassador type person). Normally squads are carefully chosen and put together by their captains, only this one was a little…different. Tyler, was off doing something foolish and heroic (more about that later) and ended up with his twin sister and BFF who refused to join any squad but his, and then the dregs, outcasts, and last choices that nobody else wanted. Including the first Syldrathi to join the academy since the war ended. Meet Squad 312, they’re “not the heroes we wanted, they’re just the ones we could find”.

Okay, so remember that stupidly heroic thing that Tyler was off doing? He rescued a girl of course. One who had been floating around in space in cryo-sleep. For over two hundred years. And if you think that this is not the beginning of a heck of a lot of trouble, then you have not been paying attention!
Okay. Now onto the spoilery parts.

Do not continue if you haven’t read the first two books.

Last Warning.

Are you Sure?

Really Sure?

At the end of Aurora Burning, everything had fallen apart. Cat is Dead, Tyler is captured and on the run with Kal’s sexy and murderous sister, Kal has just been outed as being the son of the freaking Starslayer who is locked in combat with Auri, and Zila, Fin, and Scarlett just put steered their ship into the path of the Eshvaren ship and exploded. Except….
While a Kaufman-Kristoff book is guaranteed to give you all of the feelings, even they are not mean enough to kill of half the squad in one go. Instead of Fin and Scarlett going out in an explosive kiss, something completely strange and amazing happens, and suddenly they are all in a completely different part of space. As Zila puts it, she is “extremely surprised to discover I am still alive”. You and me both Z. The thing is, nobody else knows that they’re still alive. And they still have to save earth and humanity from the Starslayer. Oh, and the universe from the Ra’haam.
Things that I freaking love about these books.
The Ra’haam are freaking scary. A fungus that wants to eat the whole universe and take over every living being is not something that I’d like to meet. And yet surprisingly scientifically sound. Fungal Mycelium do actually form networks. Star Trek Discovery even has a mycelial network which they use to transport their ship. If you’re a fan of body horror and historical speculative fiction you should absolutely check out Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia which I know is a bit spoilery to recommend right now, but you’ll thank me.
The relationships between the characters are just so well written. I love the friendships. I love Tyler and Scarlett’s twin bond. I absolutely ship Kal and Auri and the way that she refused the Eshvaren’s not quite suggestion that she should cut herself off from all of her connections to other people. Although that was of course before discovering how many lies our Kaliis Idraban Gilwraeth has been telling. I love the way Zila is gradually allowing herself to begin to feel, and to hope, and to be connected to other people.
I love the incredible world building. From the Betraskin family groups that even Betraskin’s sometimes have trouble understanding, to the civil war amongst the Syldrathi castes. I love how many little secrets have been buried into the books from the beginning, and how they come out at exactly the most dramatic moments.
I absolutely adore the fact that there is a “previously on” introduction to the book. Author’s, take note. This is the way to make sure that the reader is up to date and not have to have the characters doing any exposition heavy lifting.
And because this is a Kaufman-Kristoff book, I absolutely love that absolutely perfect yet painful twist at the end.
An absolute 5 star ending to a 5 star series. Amie, Jay, You got me, I cried.

Aurora's End by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff is the much anticipated conclusion to the Aurora Cycle, an epic space opera featuring the members of Squad 312. As readers of the previous books no doubt remember, the authors left us on something of a cliff hanger and this book picks up right where Aurora Burning left off. To say too much about the story would be a disservice to the book as it is a page turning thrill ride that is designed to have the reader on the edge of their seat, but more than that it is a book that will pull on the reader's heart strings as the characters they have bonded with over the rest of the series face triumph and heartbreak in equal proportions.
I was expecting plenty of humour and lots of witty banter, and I was certainly not disappointed. I am in awe of how cleverly the authors were able to bring the threads of the story together so deftly to give an immensely satisfying conclusion, it really was a wonderful balancing act. I'm sad to be saying goodbye to the Squad, but it really was a wonderfully fun filled journey.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

After the cliffhanger we were left with at the end of Aurora Burning, I didn't know how all the characters were going to get out of everything and how the story would tie up at the end but I was not left disappointed!
Picking up where we left off, we follow again three stories with your characters trying to save the universe. I laughed and I cried and I was left with a feeling of happiness at the end so another great ending for me!

To say I was unexcited about revisiting this series is like saying I’d be unexcited to try and castrate an angry panther with my bare hands. I, contrary to basically the entire twitter sphere, just don’t enjoy this series. Watching it and its cast of one dimensional caricatures go about pilfering the collective science fiction canon with kleptomaniacal glee like it’s the middle aisle of Aldi, all the while ceaselessly narrating about how banging their tits are, just doesn’t fill me with glee. It doesn’t really fill me with anything at all.
That said, at least this book isn’t insulting. At least it has a fucking ending, even if it is anticlimactic and trite. At least this one doesn’t end in the middle of a paragraph.

Before we proceed further, squad, I’m going to throw up a spoiler warning here. If you want a quick and spoiler free review it’s this. Two stars, don’t bother if you aren’t invested in the series, but at least it isn’t the slap across the nipples that the second book was.

So, the story starts with our characters scattered about space and time each fighting their way through their own well trod science fiction cliche. Zila, Fin and Scarlette are trapped in a time loop, and considering how smart Zila and Fin are supposed to be it takes them bloody ages to figure it out. Have you two never watched an episode of Stargate? Or Star Trek? Pretty much any of the Treks. They all had time loops in them. Did Andromeda? Probably. It’s a while since I watched Andromeda.
Aurora and her space elf squeeze and his dad are in the future, riding the ship with the big glowing weapon made by Mass Effect’s Precursors. It’s a future where the moldy Borg Collective won and civilisation is hanging on by its fingernails. Running from last stand to last stand, putting off the inevitable total defeat and consumption into the compost friendly Borg. Did you ever watch that X Men film? Days Of Future Past I think it was. Well it’s that.
What’s Tyler up to? Shagging another space elf, mostly, because this is an Aurora book, and someone is always being horny in an Aurora book, usually in a wildly inappropriate circumstance. While he’s not shagging he’s trying to stop Aurora Academy getting blown up. Uniting the free races of the galaxy to go and blow up a Borg planet. Watching the free races of the galaxy fail at blowing up a Borg planet.
The problem with books with multiple threads like this is that more often than not one of them becomes your favourite and the others feel like a slog. Well none of these felt like my favourite, and they all felt like a slog. At the end of almost every chapter I put my phone back down and did something else for ten minutes before I could psyche myself up to read some more, because it was just a chore. I didn’t like being in the characters’ heads because their narration was annoying and vapid, and as a Sci Fi nerd I’d seen it all before and done more competently.

That’s what this review boils down to. I didn’t like the characters, and what they were doing was a GCSE drama class’s reenactment of a Stargate SG1 episode. I finished the book to write this review, and it was a waste of time because I don’t feel enough about the book to write a good review. I mean, I’ve managed to spend almost six hundred words saying I feel nothing for this book, which I suppose is an achievement, but not one of note. A lot like Aurora Burning itself.
Two stars. Don’t bother.

Happy belated book birthday for this bad boy 🙌🏻 The Aurora cycle trilogy has wrapped up and with a bang 🤯

I was extremely lucky to receive an e-arc of this one from @netgalley which I absolutely devoured.

No spoilers but this one picks right where Aurora Burning left off which if you know you know..

I'm not sure of it's because. So used to their writing or that the books flowed so well but there were a few reveals that I did see coming. But in a satisfying way so that was cool.

It's always hard to complete a series when the characters are so well loved. This one was done beautifully. There were certainly bittersweet moments and the squad is tested and pushed to their limits but in the end this was the perfect ending to a fantastic sci fi trilogy.

An absolutely phenomenal finale to a truly outstanding series - I am totally in awe of this phenomenal author duo yet again!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Let me preface this review by saying that I'm so, so sad to be saying goodbye to Squad 312. Especially my sarky little shit, Finnian.

After the cliffhanger of Aurora Burning, Book 3 picks right back up where we left our Squad 312, and my GOODNESS. What a ride! Aurora's End was jam-packed with timey-wimey space action, found family banter, and filled to the brim with emotions.
Aurora's End truly is an end - as it neatly ties off all the loose ends and has a very satisfying conclusion.

Goodbye Squad 312, I'll see you in the stars.

P.S. Hats off to AK and JK for co-writing this in an international pandemic and national lock-downs.

I did have to read the first two books in the Aurora Cycle again, to make sure I remembered all the important information, but 'Aurora's End' does offer a quick recap of the characters and plot, which is very helpful. I wish more series books would do this.

When we left Squad 312 at the end of 'Aurora Burning', they were all in imminent danger of death. Fin, Scarlet and Zila were in the process of 'Plan B' - ramming the giant galactic weapon to stop it from destroying Terra's sun, Kal and Auri were inside the galactic weapon, fighting the terrifying Starslayer, and Tyler was a prisoner of the evil GIA AKA Ra'haam together with Kal's aggressive sister, Saedii.

I can't say too much about what happens next, without plot spoilers, but the fate of the galaxy is in the hands of our intrepid heroes and it's a wild, nail-biting, heart-stopping ride. There have been hints at time travel in the previous books, and time travel does often serve as convenient get-out-of-jail free card for plot holes, but in this case the time travel element is the DNA of the entire plot and all of the clues, the mantlepiece guns, and the cigarillo cases pay off in such a satisfying way I was able to thoroughly suspend disbelief.

The final clash of Auri and the Ra'haam lost me a little bit, but the conclusion of this epic, thrilling series was wonderfully wrapped up, with all of the heartstring tugging and sarcastic quips you would expect from this brilliant author duo. Absolutely loved it!

“Know no fear, my friends. Know no regret. The end is no ending. And death no defeat”
Incredible! It’s a bittersweet moment to say goodbye to Squad 312 but what a crescendo it was!
In typical Kristoff & Kaufman style there is plenty of heartbreak and soul crushing moments before they reward you with elevated highs and tender character moments. What I particularly love about this series is no member of Squad 312 is obsolete. Each is a crucial part of the team and each has their own important role to play in this war on a galactic scale. I loved being rewarded with the answers to the mysterious of their gifts form the vault and enjoyed seeing how they were important at the crucial moments.
This book in particular really emphasises the destructive and all consuming nature of the Ra’haam and keeps you guessing at every confrontation.
I was surprised to find that some of my favourite character moments came from side bars tees such as Saedii and her father Caersan. Both surprised me in ways I wasn’t expecting and gave me a whole new insight into their family and the Unbroken. One of the strengths of the genre is the incredibly detailed and diverse races that can be created and I would love to know more about them all. I hope that they may consider revisiting this universe again or prehaps even republished in graphic novel form.
I can’t stop recommending this series to people and I really hope more people get to experience the highs and lows of the Aurora academy.
“I will see you in the stars!”