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At the end of Aurora Burning, the second book in the young adult science fiction book series Aurora Cycle, there was a major cliffhanger. Of course, we knew that our intrepid crew of misfits just graduated from the Aurora Academy would manage to get through it because they sure are scrappy.
And that left us with plenty of continued action in this third book, the conclusion to the series. Not to say that our crew doesn’t see loss, but they fight hard and find all kinds of surprising things happen. This book, being the conclusion, of course, brings answers to the big questions and even fills in details about things we didn’t know to question.
The ginormous problem is still saving the galaxy from the Ra-haam, a flowery but scary entity determined to assimilate all life forms it can get its stolen hands on. Aurora finally learns to master the power she was given by the ancient race the Eshvaren but learns it comes at a deep cost. Tyler learns some surprising things about his roots and then manages to both fall for the beautiful but very violent daughter of the very bad guy (who is as big a threat as the Ra-haam) and team up with her to do what’s got to be done.
Every crew member gets to show what they’re made of and use their particular talents in this desperate fight. It’s both humorous and inspiring to see how they do so.
I enjoyed Aurora’s End as much as the others (which include the first, Aurora Rising). I was definitely curious to see how in the world the authors could wrap it up, given the parameters they laid out in the plot. I think it mostly worked. But it did feel like the end of the books a few different times, and then it wasn’t, until it actually was. It stuttered a bit. But I can’t complain too much because, well, so much action, so much fun.
Rated: High. Profanity includes 9 uses of strong language, about 30 instances of moderate profanity, and about 70 uses of mild language. Sexual content includes kissing, making out that proceeds to removal of clothing, and some sex scenes that are largely only mentioned, not containing details. Violence is frequent. There are warrior characters that are very dedicated to violence, and there’s blood and fighting galore, as well as people being taken over individually and as groups by the villain of the books, an alien race that brings them into a collective. This book had the strongest content of them all.
