When you are submerged into the darkness of the endless space–filled with exhilaration and the fear of its presence as you glide into the sea of nothingness–you can’t but have to awe at its glory and beauty. As you travel along the mythical 3-story-journey with the main characters of the Aurora Cycle, Squad 312 of the Aurora Legion, anyone will be deeply immersed in the series and into the uniqueness of the heroes of the universe.

The series takes place in the year 2380, where humanity has faced galactic wars, alliances, and the establishment of the Aurora Legion; the intergalactic peacekeepers. It all started when Tyler Jones (an Alpha, or squad leader, who is top of his year and has killer dimples) couldn’t sleep the night before an important ceremony called the draft because of his roommate snoring. So he gets his hands on a spaceship and launches himself into the dark space where he rescues the only survivor named Aurora O’Malley from the Hadfield–a Terran exploration vessel that was lost in the rift. This results in Tyler missing his draft and having his squad made up with smart delinquents (excluding his sister Scarlett and best friend Cat). Yet, things go more downhill during their first mission where Aurora claims their commander has ordered her to sneak along with them instead of staying at their base, and a group of hostile Syldrathi (called the Unbroken) coming towards them in a fleet of warships that aren’t willing to talk things out. Fortunately, the Terran GIA saved them, but they soon understood that these people weren’t here to save them, but to kill them and break the universal peace that was formed by consuming every living organism into the Ra’haam; a multitude of organisms that actually comprise a single being which tried to consume the entire universe in the past. Eventually, they escaped from these infiltrated GIAs, and were officially reported to have gone rogue and were to be hunted down by law-enforcers and bounty hunters all over the galaxy. Now, as they try to get a step closer in saving the entire galaxy from the Ra’haam with Auri’s visions that were hints for what to do for the Squad to save everyone.

As the story progresses and major character development forms, along with loss and gain of characters, the story fuses these features in conveying the theme of the book: Love is most special when it is genuine. There are many hints of developments from our heroes that explain the theme, but the most significant is from Zila Madran, as she is the embodiment of this theme as they show it with their whole life. Initially, Zila was depicted as the psychopathic girl who shot her roommate multiple times with a futuristic taser. Likewise, to her depiction, she surely seems to lack emotion as whenever it was her chapter, it was significantly shorter than the others. In addition, she also seemed to lack empathy during the first book (Aurora Rising) as she shot Auri with the futuristic taser without warning in which Tyler responds: “Your problem is that you know how everything works except other people.”. Yet, as the book progresses, Zila falls in love with her squad to state at the end of the series (Aurora’s End) as she explicitly states “‘I have found my family here,’ Zila says, ‘though I will always miss the family I left behind. I hope each of you finds such happiness, over the course of your lives,’” indicating that not only did her personality changed, but her love toward her friends has grew to an indescribable level. Yet, her love towards her friends is special as her love for her friends is unique and genuine. In addition, the theme is most clear as the author uses Auri to express it as she later tells Ra’haam “These stories are about the way each of these people lived and loved… But each of their journeys was their own.”. Hence, explaining to the Ra’haam who believed that everyone will be loved if they become one with them to acknowledge that love is most special when it is genuine.

Here are the following reasons why you should read this series. First, it was a thrill to read this book; not a song, but an absolute banger. The twists the book will present to you are something neither that I’ve seen before nor could expect. The stories will drag you along the journey, making you want to keep reading and wishing it didn’t end. In addition, the story will have multiple heartbreaking or heartwarming moments that you will–no joke–have an emotional rollercoaster; you will cry, you will smile, and you will absolutely laugh as you read this book. Second, I love how this book has chapters where it shifts into other perspectives like the book Wonder by R. J. Palacio. This feature makes you more hooked into the characters and become more interested in these people, and when you think you know everything about these characters, you don’t as the authors present dramatic backstories, that are more dramatic than Korean breakfast drama, to keep you interested. Finally, I have to point out that this review wouldn’t have been possible as the whole 3-book-journey itself is one enormous book. The book gradually conveys the story and links it to the last book, where it makes clear the theme and ends the character development just like what a true end would do.