The Aurora Cycle #3

This is the third and final book in a series. There will be no spoilers for this book, but there may be some for the previous ones. If you want to read my review for book one, click here.

Aurora’s End by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Publication Date: November 9, 2021

Summary from NetGalley:

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 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.

ARC provided by Random House Children’s via NetGalley for an honest review.

Confession:

It is always so hard to review a final book in a series, especially when they are so good and exactly what you were hoping for out of the finale. I will try really hard not to spoil anything, but if you have loved the first two books, then this one will leave you breathless.

This book starts off right were book two leaves off, but it does take a while to learn what has happened to everyone. Squad 312 spends most of the book apart from each other, but even though they are apart, everyone has each other in their hearts and in their thoughts hoping that they have survived beyond the odds. I loved the character developments of everyone, and the budding romances were done so well. And even though it was hard to say goodbye to the characters in this book, they all ended up were they needed to be.

I really enjoyed the multiple plots, with the group being split up the way they were, it would have been easy to lose track of what each group was going through. But the authors did a great job of keeping it a cohesive whole, even with some of the sciencey stuff getting a bit complex. The ending was perfect and I just loved how Auri figured out how to take care of the Ra’haam. It just fit the whole theme of the book so well.

I did have a few minor dislikes and issues. I missed Magellan’s interludes between the chapters, like we got in the first and most of the second books. He does make a quick, short comeback in this book, but none of those interludes. I also wasn’t a fan of the relationship that developed between Tyler and Saedii, it was just a tad too violent, although they did grow on me by the end of the book. The ending also had some rough sections, that I am hoping get smoothed out in the final edit.

I really enjoyed this book and thought it was the perfect ending for this series. It went in directions I was expecting, but it still threw in a few surprises. I am sure this is a series I will return to whenever I am in the mood for a story about found family, friendship and lots of snarky yet loveable characters.