May 2021 READER: Aurora Rising by Kaufman

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

The May 2021 Reader Pick is Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. Please use this thread to post questions, comments, and reviews, at any time.

Official description:
The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch…

A cocky diplomat with a black belt in sarcasm
A sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmates
A smart-ass techwiz with the galaxy’s biggest chip on his shoulder
An alien warrior with anger management issues
A tomboy pilot who’s totally not into him, in case you were wondering

And Ty’s squad isn’t even his biggest problem—that’d be Aurora Jie-Lin O’Malley, the girl he’s just rescued from interdimensional space. Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time and out of her depth. But she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler’s squad of losers, discipline-cases and misfits might just be the last hope for the entire galaxy.

They're not the heroes we deserve. They're just the ones we could find. Nobody panic.

[Bracken Sturgess]

I really liked the premise of this, it felt quite unique to me and I think it was on the knife edge of being supernatural, except you got a sufficient explanation.
I was very intrigued by some of the characters, but some others I could have taken or left. It seemed ambitious to have so many POV, and I think it might have worked better without the separation. I often enjoy a multiple POV book, I’ve just never read one with 7 before.
So whilst I did enjoy it, I wasn’t quite invested to read book 2.

[Andrea]

This is definitely on me “to read” pile!

[Caitlin]

I just finished this today (actually, more like I stayed up way too late yesterday to finish it). >_<

I’d describe the story as “What if Mass Effect was YA”, and while it stuck pretty close to its starting tropes — misfit crew exploring/defending a Star Trek-style universe — I enjoyed how it handled them. I thought the ultimate threat or central mystery, once revealed, was a little standard, but I didn’t see all the twists coming. The humor grated in places, but other lines had me chuckling.

So yeah — it might not win points for originality, but it was a fun “popcorn”book.

So yeH

[Mary]

It was fun. I read the sequel and am awaiting the third book

The multiple points of view might not have been an issue if they were more clearly distinct, but I sometimes had to check who "I" was.

[Ryan]

I didn't have a problem with the multiple first-person perspectives, for me they were distinct enough, though I don't feel that this made it a stronger book, either.

I mostly liked the plot, after the slow beginning, but the conclusion didn't make much sense. I'm not a big fan of the hive-mind trope.

[Taniko]

I enjoyed the plot of this story as it did keep me guessing with some unexpected things tossed in, but did struggle at times with the pov. I was more a fan of Tyler than any other characters.

[Trike]

Caitlin wrote: "I just finished this today (actually, more like I stayed up way too late yesterday to finish it). >_<

I’d describe the story as “What if Mass Effect was YA”, and while it stuck pretty close to it..."

I ultimately found it to be too derivative of Star Trek/Firefly, and the straight-from-Serenity ending didn’t work for me. I have nothing against remixes, but this one needed some original content. Just making the heroine a teenage Ripley from Aliens isn’t enough.