Aurora: Eden, by Amanda Bridgeman
Book Review by SJ Higbee
When I selected this book from the latest releases on Netgalley, I wasn't too concerned that this was Book 5 as I have a long and dishonorable tradition of crashing halfway into an established series while still enjoying the experience. However, with this particular book it was far more of an issue.
In the wake of the tragic events in Centralis, Captain Saul Harris stands with the weight of the world on his shoulders. With the truth of UNFASP revealed, he realizes that he must embrace his ancestry if he is to survive the coming onslaught. But how far will Harris go to protect the future? Will he sacrifice life as he knows it and become a Jumbo? Or can he face the future as a common man? Meanwhile Sergeant Carrie Welles has been left devastated by what has happened. Uncertain of the future ahead, and with her nemesis, Sharley, on the brink of control, she struggles to pick herself up. But she is left surprised when help comes from the unlikeliest of places. As her life veers off in a direction she never expected, Carrie soon understands that she is running a course with a destiny that lies far beyond her control.
Firstly, congratulations to whoever wrote the blurb for managing to avoid spoilers. Given we are now into Book 5 of the story arc and there was a major event in the previous book that knocked most of the protagonists endways, it is a commendable achievement. However with any long-running series, the challenge is to ensure new readers care sufficiently about the characters to want to flounder through the initial stages, so there should be a bonding moment in the opening chapters where that can happen. Unfortunately, Bridgeman doesn't provide such an opportunity. I hung in there, hoping for some space action and expecting to grow attached to the characters as the story progressed.
Overall, the romantic element in the story was well handled, although I do wonder how fans of the series would react to the speed with which Welles recovered from her loss -- I felt that aspect of it was rather rushed. It's always tricky depicting small children in adult adventure books -- they often come across as sickeningly cute or unbelievably precocious. I think Bridgeman gets away with the twins -- just.
The premise is certainly interesting and I liked the sense of foreboding the predicted alien invasion produces, but I wonder if daily life would be a lot different sixty years hence. I haven't been around quite that long, but things have certainly changed in all sorts of ways since my childhood and I didn't feel Bridgeman has paid quite enough attention to that aspect of everyday life set in the near future. That said, it is probably the hardest type of futuristic writing to nail.
None of these issues are deal-breakers, but I do confess to being a little disappointed at the story progression. A particular plot line was well flagged at least a third into the novel, and I waited for the sudden twist, for the unexpected action to come out of nowhere and suddenly whisk the story somewhere else other than where I was predicting it would go. And it didn't. While the book was brought to a satisfactory conclusion with all the loose ends tied up, I came to the end feeling a tad put out that there hadn't been enough surprises. For those of you who haven't followed this series from the start -- don't begin with this book as I get the impression it doesn't do justice to what could be a really entertaining story.
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