Aurora Burning

April 1, 2020
Aurora Legion Squad 312 is back in this sequel to Aurora Rising (2019), and this time they're on the run from...pretty much everyone in the galaxy. Having been framed for the massacre at the end of the first book, the remaining members of Squad 312 (of various humanoid races, led by Tyler Jones, a blond-haired, blue-eyed human) now have a bounty on their heads. Besides staying alive, the squad's main mission is keeping their stowaway, Aurora Jie-Lin O'Malley, safe so she can learn to harness her supernatural powers and fulfill her destiny. She may be the one person who can stop the evil race of Ra'haam from destroying the galaxy. They are aided only by a cache of objects mysteriously planted in a safe box years before they even met. Their greatest obstacle, however, is the Unbroken--a warrior faction of the Syldrathi race who threaten a galaxywide war. As with many sophomore installments, this volume is heavy on exposition and plot development but still features nonstop action, romance, and a few satisfying surprises. Darker in tone and more violent than the first, there is less of the charming humor that characterized the previous book but still lots of feels. Warning: the cliffhanger ending may prove extremely frustrating for impatient readers. As before, the cast is diverse in skin tone. A thrilling space epic that will fly off the shelves. (Science fiction. 14-18)

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May 1, 2020
Grades 9-12 When Tyler Jones and his spaceship full of misfit cadets stumbled across the Hadfield, a long-lost colony ship, and Aurora Jie-Lin O'Malley, its only survivor, frozen in cryo-sleep in Aurora Rising (2019), they thought they'd solved a two-century-old puzzle and pulled a girl out of time. They didn't think they would awaken an ancient evil?one that's already cost them one member of their crew?or earn the enmity of the whole galaxy. In this sequel, they're already on the run when they stumble across a group of warrior Syldrathi that includes Kal's sister, a broody combat strategist who's not particularly happy to see him. It seems like time may be up for this squad, until the Hadfield mysteriously reappears, Auri's strange powers start to grow, and a set of coincidences puts them on a course that seems almost predetermined. Kaufman and Kristoff have settled into their characters' distinct voices, including that of the cheerful uniglass, which provides backstory and insight into the galaxy's rules. A positively explosive cliff-hanger end will have readers on the hook for book three.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Kaufman and Kristoff already have one NYT best-selling series together under their belts (The Illuminae Files), and the Aurora Cycle is catnip for the sf audience. Series fans are already eager.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)