Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch…

A cocky diplomat with a black belt in sarcasm
A sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmates
A smart-ass techwiz with the galaxy’s biggest chip on his shoulder
An alien warrior with anger management issues
A tomboy pilot who’s totally not into him, in case you were wondering

And Ty’s squad isn’t even his biggest problem—that’d be Aurora Jie-Lin O’Malley, the girl he’s just rescued from interdimensional space. Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time and out of her depth. But she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler’s squad of losers, discipline-cases, and misfits might just be the last hope for the entire galaxy. (Goodreads)

First, let me say that this is not written the same way the Illuminae Files is.  There are no swirls of words or anything like that.  It does, however, jump POV, which for me can sometimes be irritating, but this time it was done so well I couldn’t complain one bit!  Each character had their own voice so I always knew whose POV I was reading.  

Another writing trick that Kaufman and Kristoff used, was having a character who also needed to catch up on the current state of affairs, so they were able to give us over 200 years of history in a way that was extremely engaging.  

The characters are wonderful and diverse and I just love them! There is enough sass and snark to really make it enjoyable for me.  There is also a broody character, a damsel, and a hero.  This book has something for everyone.  The story is wonderful and I am already counting down the days for the sequel! 

Overall Rating: 5