Aurora's End: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

We meet again!

I’ve reached the end. It’s always so bittersweet. I love series/sagas/duologies and what have you. But good god, once it’s done, I feel pretty hollow. Here we go :)

Brief Synopsis:

The end is nigh for Squad 312. They’ve fought, they’ve lost, they’ve persevered. Despite being a band of miscreants hell-bent against the destruction a lot of forces that are a lot older and stronger than them want desperately, they just won’t stop fighting. However, it has had dire consequences this time.

Time.

Aurora, our seemingly-destined hero, ends up on The Weapon with Kal and his father, the awful Starslayer, in a time that the Ra’haam actually won and things seem pretty hopeless. They actually run into an adult Tyler Jones that’s scarred up, and drinks, and swears, and is just nothing like the Tyler Jones that we know and love and I really don’t want him anymore. I want the heroic, young Ty. I’ll take him back now, thanks.

Scarlett, Finian and Zila find themselves blasted into the past and facing a dark storm, a fighter that’s living in the war still against Berkastrans (sorry, Fin) and not only are they stuck in the past, but they’re also stuck in a time loop where they keep dying over and over again and time is running out (is anyone else getting vibes from Supernatural when Dean kept dying or just me?)

Now, we have Ty. Ty was taken captive by Sadeii’s ship after saving her ass, but he soon finds out that there’s a much more interesting reason as to why. (SPOILER INCOMING) Saedii is beginning to feel the Pull for Ty. Which, let’s be honest, I totally saw this coming, didn’t you guys? But it still makes for some juicy scenes and I have to try to forgive her because she can really be a hag when she wants to be. Anyway, I digress.

Saedii isn’t disbelieving of what Tyler tells her when he dishes about all that’s going on, but she also tells Tyler that even though her murderous, POS father is missing, the Unbroken Syldrathi are still her priority, so they part ways. Now Tyler is on his own and trying his hardest to warn the Aurora Legion against the destruction that he foresaw.

It’s all starting to look pretty damn grim for Squad 312, right?

Things really just get grimmer from here for a long time, and I was starting to get really discouraged and feel like I was going to be as depressed as I was the first time I read Mockingjay. However, this IS Squad 312, y’all, and they just don’t give up. Ty purposefully gets himself caught so that he can end up back at the Aurora Academy, where he very badly wants to warn them against what’s to come, including a giant explosion. Unfortunately, when he’s there, he’s reunited with Ra’haam Cat, and it’s just so dang sad.

Aurora refuses to give up even though she’s battling Kal’s garbage excuse of a father, using her power to get stronger and using the help of older Tyler and his squad to attempt to make repairs to The Weapon and get back to their actual time to try and set things right once and for all. And finally, though the time loop keeps getting shorter and shorter for Zila, Fin and Scar, they’re working to find a way through it, dying again and again just to wake up where they started from.

In the loop, they find Nari Kim, who ends up being SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT to the story than they could’ve guessed (because of course) and she also just ends up becoming crazy important to Zila. Our stoic Zila is finally feeling. Poor thing.

At the literal second that everything seems too hopeless to be able to turn around from, they find a way. Sacrifices are made once again, but connections are made again as well.

At the last battle with the Ra’haam, the squad is finally reunited. Auri is going to do the hero thing and sacrifice herself for everyone else, but is the squad really just going to let her go? They’re a family, after all.

My Rating:

10/10. I’ve been saying this about book so much lately but GUYS. This series ripped my heart out in the best way. I didn’t like how (SPOILER) in the very end, Aurora unites with the Ra’haam briefly and starts to… understand it? It/they shouldn’t have gotten a redemption. Loved, loved, loved the rest though.

Favorite Quote(s):

“I can taste the sound around me, metallic on the back of my tongue, hearing touch and feeling scent as everything I am and was and will ever be rips itself apart and together and together.”

“Love should never ask you to give up the things that make you different. The truths that can only be told about you, and nobody else.”

My overall take on the series:

OH. MY. GOD (Janice from Friends voice) you guys. I can sing so many praises about this series. There’s a ton of action, there’s loss, there’s heartbreak, revelations. And there’s these characters that you just can’t help but fall in love with and root for. They’re funny, but they’re not one-dimensional, and they all grow so much within the course of the story. I love Squad 312.

Check out my Goodreads (Traci Bishop) to see what I’m currently reading and to see a good chunk of the books I have already read. My Instagram can be found on the home page and I will share whenever a new post is up as well!

Until next time <3