This book is made for a very specific audience: if you love ragtag teams of misfits who are tasked with saving the universe, this book is for you. There were actually a lot of parallels between this book and other similarly themed stories. You can't miss the similarities between Aurora and Steve Rogers, nor the similarities between the Ra'haam and Ego from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. In general, this book is very reminiscent of the GOTG gang, but the stories and characters are still different enough that the story was fresh and intriguing.
Rating: ★★★★☆
I feel the vastness around me, how small I am, one tiny mote of animated carbon and water among an ocean of infinity.
While some of the plot points may have been recycled, I think the general structure of the story is unique. I rarely read multi-POV YA fantasy/sci-fi books that don't have the love interests as the main girl character with the main boy character. It was refreshing to ship Aurora with Kal, who is super cool, but not the main boy character Tyler, who I thought Aurora would end up with after the intro. Speaking of Kal, I'm a big fan. I'm not always into the big brooding manly-man type (note: Matthias from Six of Crows), but Kal was pretty swoonworthy. I like that his romance with Aurora was a sparse, cautious kind of instalove.
As for the other characters, I liked Tyler and Aurora more than I usually like main characters in fantasy/sci-fi series. I thought their reactions made a lot of sense for their characters' backstories. I really loved Scarlett and Finian, and I wish we have gotten more of them, and of their undeniably blooming romance. I don't think Zila was a necessary asset, but it was still kinda cool to see her little socially awkward tidbits. It's almost like reading as an outsider to the group. Cat was half annoying and half cool, in all honesty SPOILER I didn't think she was the right choice to die, I think it wasn't the most effective death and that they spent too much time of her dying professing her love for Tyler when they didn't touch much on it in the rest of the novel. It might've been better if she and Tyler had eventually gotten together, but as it was it just felt unfinished. Which, in all fairness, may have been intentional; it just wasn't satisfying to me. END SPOILER I do have to note that the constant POV-switching was hard to keep up with at times. If the characters had had more distinctive voices I might not have been looking back at the chapter heading every time to see who was talking. Tyler, Scar, and Cat were really similar and only by context (like their positions) would you be able to pick them out. Still, I liked that the story was in so many viewpoints because it showed how ALL of the squad was caught up in this new war, not just Aurora, even though she is the "main" character.
Overall, this is a solid new YA sci-fi series. I thought the world building was set at an appropriate pace, and I love the detail in the wars and worlds and species. I will definitely be picking up the sequel in May (if I can remember the events of this book by then).
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