Aurora Rising
Article and photo by Sarah Gerovac
Hamilton’s book club, A Novel Idea, recently finished reading Aurora Rising, our second-to-last book this year. This story, co-written by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, is a fun, fast paced science fiction novel set hundreds of years in the future. In 2019, it won the Aurealis Award for the best science fiction novel as well as the best young adult novel, and it’s a part of a trilogy, followed by Aurora Burning and Aurora’s End.
The story follows a team of outcasts from space-school Aurora Academy who are forced together after becoming left over at the Draft where alliances among the students are picked. Tyler Jones, top of his class, is stuck with his team of losers after he misses the Draft and loses out on the top picks when he gets stuck rescuing Aurora from cryo sleep where she’s been frozen for hundreds of years.
However, it quickly becomes apparent that the team members, although odd, are completely competent and actually quite skilled at what they do. Each team includes a leader, the Alpha; a diplomat, the Face; a pilot, the Ace; a science and medical informant, the Brain; a mechanic, the Gearhead; and a combat specialist, the Tank. Respectively, the roles on this team are filled by the highly regarded Tyler, his talkative and fiery sister Scarlett, the talented and sarcastic Cat, a borderline sociopath named Zila, half-robot Fin, and a hot-headed alien named Kal.
When Aurora, having recently been rescued by Tyler and still confused about having been frozen for so many years, sneaks onto the new team’s first mission (a routine trip to deliver supplies to an alien population in need), their mission quickly morphs into an escape from all the authorities in the galaxy. The story’s constant twists and turns, as well as shifts between points of view of each character, leave the reader constantly wondering what will happen next. The tale is fast-paced and easy to read in a single sitting, although it has an unfortunately unsatisfying ending as a result of its place as the first in a trilogy.
Although fairly easy to read and containing excitement geared toward the enjoyment of younger adults, it still manages to incorporate incredible descriptions, particularly when depicting specific landscapes and scenery. Referencing such a description, club advisor Mrs. Gorski stated that one of her favorite scenes in the book, “was the description of the planet with the vines moving and the creepy chimpanzee… I think they did a good job trying to paint that picture where you could visualize that.”
Another interesting aspect of the book was that the narrative point of view shifted between chapters from character to character. Personally, I don’t particularly like when books do this, especially with large numbers of characters that don’t necessarily have unique voices. For example, sometimes I had trouble distinguishing between Tyler, Scarlett, Cat, and Aurora, and I felt like only Zila and Kal had very specific voices. On the other hand, other members of the book club really enjoyed this shifting narrative, and I understand the importance of it in being able to create character development and move the plot forward more quickly.
For example, member Madison Versh stated, “I liked how it jumped from character to character… multiple perspectives… you see how all the characters are feeling.” Additionally, Mrs. Gorski stated, “If it was all from Aurora's perspective I think it would be harder to see that character development.” Some of the differing voices could have been a mechanism to write the piece more fluidly because the book had two authors who were writing it together. Also, the point of view aspect of the book allows more opportunity to expand the character depth and give more attention to specific characters in the rest of the trilogy. Member Rayanna Parnitzke stated, “I did not really understand why they didn’t give Zila a bigger part but they probably do in the other books,” on one of the characters who did not get much attention in this particular book, and on the separation of all the characters, she noted, “I guess part of that too is they had the two authors and might have split up characters.”
Ultimately, this book is certainly a fun, entertaining piece to read, and overall, the club would recommend it. Versh stated, “I’m not the biggest fan of sci fi in general, so I thought it was really good for a sci fi book.” So, if you do happen to be a fan of science fiction, you would probably enjoy this book even more. If you’re looking for a few hours of entertainment with spaceships, aliens, and traveling through the galaxies, this is a book for you.
