Aurora rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Allen and Unwin, 2019. ISBN: 9781760295738.
(Age: Teens) Highly recommended. What do you get when you trap seven
teenagers in space on a dead-end mission way below their
capabilities? Chaos.
After a mishap before the Draft resulting in Ty's absence, it seems
that Ty's world has ended. Along with his sister as diplomat and his
best friend as pilot, Ty is stuck with the biggest misfits in Aurora
Academy. And it's only about to get worse. As inter-species tensions
rise, their teamwork is about to face its biggest test ever, in the
form of a stowaway hiding from the GIA. There's almost nothing
special about Aurora O'Malley, unless you count the fact Ty just
rescued her from interdimensional space where she'd been frozen for
almost two centuries. Auri's presence complicates things and life
on ship is about to get that much harder. Unable to return to the
academy, the group can only push on into the unknown, discovering
secrets no one wanted known and pissing off one of the biggest
gangsters in the galaxy.
Kaufman and Kristoff are undoubtedly masters of their art. They
present highly visual content and authentic characters with all the
complications that come with being teenagers (regardless of
species). This is a book that keeps you on your toes and
investigates racism, discrimination, and right and wrong in fresh
and interesting ways. With the constant name-calling and teasing
between the crew the reader really grows to care about these
characters and their problems.
Aurora rising is the kind of intelligent and complicated book
I would highly recommend to teenagers regardless of an interest in
sci-fi. Teacher's
tips are available.
Kayla Gaskell