Cue Tyler, Kal and Auri joining forces with two of the galaxy’s most hated villains? Um, okay, yeah. That too. I Choose to Stay: Near the end of Aurora's End, Zila decides to stay in the past to ensure the success of the mission. She ends up being the secret third founder of the Aurora Legion, alongside her future wife, Nari Kim. Saedii and Kal were often used as pawns by their father against their mother, but their mother tried her best to prevent them from becoming the monsters Caersan was grooming them to be. Unlike her brother, Saedii was not very close to her mother and instead preferred her father's attentions. When Laeleth decided to flee Caersan, Saedii rebuffed her mother's pleas to come with her. Laeleth then departed with Kal, and the siblings were separated for some time afterward. I won’t say too much about the story but it was a fitting ending to this series and I cannot wait to see what these two authors bring next. Delivery Guy Infiltration: Part of the Sempiternity heist involves Kal and Zila disguising themselves as a couple of fast-food delivery guys.

Aurora’s End - Star Crossed Reviews Review: Aurora’s End - Star Crossed Reviews

Extra-Dimensional Shortcut: The Fold, known as the Void to the Syldrathi. Its human name comes from the fact that it "folds" space to make distances much shorter. The Baroness: Saedii, Kal's older sister, is an Unbroken Templar who tortures and murders people for fairly minor slights, or even for fun, and who fervently believes in both Archon Caersan and his mission. Auri thinks that Syldrathi look like the elves from The Lord of the Rings, and therefore chooses to call Kal "Elrond" and "Legolas".Massive Numbered Siblings: Betraskan families are extremely large. It's normal for people to have over one hundred siblings. Fin will nerd out about mechanical stuff to Auri, and even though Auri has no clue what he's talking about, she'll still nod along and try to match his enthusiasm Wanted!" Poster: The Terran government sends out alerts claiming that Auri is a dangerous fugitive and promising a reward. MacGuffin: The Eshvaren statue that Auri brings them to Sempiternity to steal. The diamond embedded inside it contains a map of the Ra'haam's spread and current incubation planets. Orwellian Retcon: The Octavia III colony was wiped from history, with the planet being listed as dangerous and off-limits, and historical records claiming the Hadfield was always headed to Lei Gong III, a completely different planet.

Aurora’s End by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – The Unseen Aurora’s End by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – The Unseen

Telekinesis: Generally considered to be fictional in-universe. However, Auri possesses it as part of her Trigger powers. Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: The six streams of cadets and legionnaires of the Aurora Legion are denoted by different-coloured stripes on their blue-grey uniforms: blue for Alphas, yellow for Faces, white for Aces, purple for Gearheads, red for Tanks and green for Brains. Fake Defector: During the heist on the World Ship, Cat plays this role as part of the plan, pretending to take up the offer from a squad of GIA agents who try to turn her. Belligerent Sexual Tension: Tyler spends much of the second half of the second book trapped in a detention cell with Saedii, Kal's older sister and an Unbroken Templar. They snark at each other a lot, but there is a clear undercurrent of attraction. In book 3 they have sex and Tyler discovers she's pulled to him, the same way Kal is to Auri. The other three characters also have some major and moving character arcs, especially Aurora and Kal, who are trapped in a future where the Ra’haam won, and everything has been infected by them. This is a particularly dark storyline, and these two protagonists go through a lot, especially as they keep witnessing all manner of death and destruction around them. Their arc is further complicated by Caersan, Kal’s father, who has similar powers to Auri and used them to destroy Kal’s home planet. This results in some major emotional moments, as Auri and Kal are forced to work with an unrepentant Caersan, while also trying to work out their own complex emotions. Finally, I must highlight the great development at occurred with Tyler, the team’s leader, who, after spending two novels turning Squad 312 into the ultimate team and family, ends up by himself, forced to face literal ghosts from his past with none of his established support. Tyler really suffers in this book, and you must feel sorry for everything he goes through, even if he does start a passionate, if exceedingly violent relationship with a warrior alien princess. All of these character arcs are really impressive, and you will be moved by everything these fantastic heroes go through, especially as not all of them will come out of it in one piece.

Tropes present in this series:

Unspoken Plan Guarantee: When Squad 312 needs to steal an Eshvaren statue from crime lord Casseldon Bianchi on Sempiternity, the plan, which involves using the GIA agents who tried to turn Cat against the rest of the group and relies on them deliberately getting caught, is not explained until after it's been carried out, albeit with a few hiccups. Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: Scarlett Jones has around 50 or so ex-boyfriends. Every one of them mentioned includes a pro and con, with the con indicated to be the reason she dumped the boy in question. Really Gets Around: Scarlett has had at least fifty different boyfriends, and none of those relationships lasted longer than seven weeks. Until she falls for Fin. In the epilogue, a year after the main events of the trilogy, they are still together.

Aurora Cycle (Literature) - TV Tropes Aurora Cycle (Literature) - TV Tropes

First Auri, and then the other members of Squad 312, have dreams of blue snow falling on their homeworlds. The "snow" is actually Ra'haam pollen. Hive Mind: The Ra'haam, as it is indicated that all 22 planets where it's incubating are effectively the same entity, as are the people it controls. The Eshvaren intelligence in Auri outright calls it a gestalt. Tyler and Scarlett's father used to say that they were almost telepathically close as kids and invented their own language. Their mom was a Syldrathi waywalker and one of their abilities is to read another Syldrathi's thoughts. They were literally telephathically close. Touched by Vorlons: During her time in the Fold, Auri was modified by a device left behind by the Eshvaren to become the Trigger for a Weapon they created to use against the Ra'haam.Botanical Abomination: The Ra'haam, a thing that controls people by implanting plant-like growths in them, and wants to devour all life in the galaxy. And it's waking up from its million-year dormancy... We Will Spend Credits in the Future: "Credits" are the main form of currency, which are contained on small credit chips. There is a brief explanation in the second book that credits are the de facto galactic currency, specifically created by a band of trade speculators (the Dominion) who recognised that there was no standard unit of trade and created its own, buying the currency of any known species and converting the currency to credits, taking a small fee for the trouble. Saedii hates Terrans, Waywalkers and peace-seekers. Her be'shmai is half-Terran, half Syldrathi Waywalker and a peace-seeker. Futhermore, before they fall in love, a running gag is that she constantly knees Tyler in the balls when she's pissed off. She will later give birth to his daughter.