Review: Aurora's End

Aurora's End by Amie Kaufman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well, gentlefriends, it's been at least a year and a half since K&K delivered one of the most gnarly and notorious cliffhangers in YA history...so where do we go from here? Why, right into a time loop that has too much fun as it repeats itself repeats itself repeats itself (as Sam said in the second Transformers movie), and that's just for starters. Though the balance of the numerous POVs and storylines is truly an unwieldy affair in this third and final book of the cycle, Kaufman and Kristoff remind us all, in the end, that love is all we need if we're to win an interstellar war - and what better representatives of that theme than the squad we love, as out of time as they are? (Even if, yes, they're a bit too hormonal at times, but they're teenagers of various species, so it's to be expected, no?) For all this, and for giving Finian de Karran de Seel, my favorite Unpopular Popular Character bi boy in need of all the love this side of Stiles Stilinski or Eros, the spotlight in all the ways he deserves, I now happily bid this series ave atque vale.

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Review: The Starless Crown

The Starless Crown by James Rollins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While James Rollins is still going to have a new Sigma Force novel coming out in the next few months, he's starting off 2022 with a pretty big bang of a fantasy novel, set in a world of his own design and following an ensemble of characters across all the strata of class you can imagine as they struggle to stave off an impending apocalypse. To the best of my knowledge (and the bookseller who was looking this up at Klindt's in The Dalles when I asked if they had any in stock), this is to be the first of a four part series, for which I commend Rollins for continuing to be one of the most inspired, and inspiring, writers in the business.

Review: Ashes of Gold

Ashes of Gold by J. Elle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

J. Elle debuted last year with a pretty kickass YA fantasy recommended by Sabaa Tahir herself, and this year she concludes the story with another action-packed and highly relevant thriller. With her mission to save Ghizon and take her rightful place in society, Rue's got her work cut out for her every step of the way - but mercifully, she also has some of the strongest allies a girl could hope for. Elle wraps up the storyline pretty neatly, but I still would love to see some more adventures in Ghizon, whichever character they may follow as they spring from Elle's fertile imagination...

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Review: Girls of Fate and Fury

Girls of Fate and Fury by Natasha Ngan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There was a point where I thought Natasha Ngan wasn't going to be able to finish her debut trilogy, in part due to her ongoing real-life health issues, but also due to the folding of the Jimmy Patterson imprint (a real shame given that, with this and other books and authors, it had become quite the house of diverse YA). But after an extra year's delay, Ngan finally gives us the dual-POV trilogy conclusion we've all been waiting for, and it's about as tense and thrilling as you can expect, every page turning with the threat that Lei and Wren won't get the happy ending they deserve. I'm glad Ngan took the time to really work on this one, though, because it is exactly the ending the readers and characters deserve, and at no point is it an easy road to get there. So, to Girls of Paper and Fire, I now declare ave atque vale while waiting to see what Ngan has in the pipeline next...

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