The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch.

And Ty’s squad isn’t even his biggest problem—that’d be Aurora Jie-Lin O’Malley, the girl he’s just rescued from interdimensional space. Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time and out of her depth. But she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler’s squad of losers, discipline-cases and misfits might just be the last hope for the entire galaxy.

“I’m gonna miss the draft” That’s the one thing running through Tyler Jones’ head as he is running out of oxygen on a ship about to be ripped apart, saving a girl who it seems is the only survivor of a ship that mysteriously went missing 220 year ago.

When they finally make it back to Aurora Station and out of quarantine, Tyler learns the draft is in fact over and braces himself to learn which dregs he will be stuck with. Luckily his sister and best friend, both loyal to a fault turned down other draft options adamant that the only ‘Alpha’ they will answer too is Tyler himself, the rest of the crew aren’t quite as optimistic. Everyone, get ready to meet Squad 312.

Tyler – The ‘Alpha.’ Had he made the draft his unblemished record would have meant he had the pick of the best and brightest to serve under his command. However, his ‘heroic’ nature see’s him left with the dregs of Aurora Station…well most of them anyway.

Scarlet– The ‘Face.’ She the diplomat, the person the Alpha and her twin Tyler send in to make contact with other races, or to diffuse situations. Though ‘diplomatic’ isn’t the first word that comes to mind for most people when they meet her. Sassy, sarcastic and super hot, Scartlet uses her looks as much as her mouth to get herself and the squad out of many a situation.

Cat – The ‘Ace.’ She earned the nickname zero for not failing a single flight test, Cat had the pick of Alphas but chose to stay loyal to her best friend’s one of which she is ‘absolutely not in love with’.

Zila – The ‘Brain.’ A flawless academic record, paired with 32 official reprimands in the last 2 years make for an uncertain team mate. She doesn’t really say a lot, and when she does its not necessarily what you want to hear.

Fin – The ‘Gearhead.’ A member of the alien race the Betraskan’s, as sarcastic as he is smart. He’s the tech expert with top marks in mechanics and engineering, if it’s broke he’ll fix it. Due to an illness as a child he has to wear an exosuit to control the gravity around him.

Kal – The ‘Tank.’ Kal is a Syldrathi, and a member of the Warbreed Cabal, the group intent on ruling the galaxy. A specialist in martial arts, and trained to fight under varied gravity and planetary conditions, he’s who the Alpha sends in to kick some ass.

The most unlikely group in history, and yet they might be just who we need to save the galaxy.

I don’t think there’s much to say other than holy fuck this book was awesome! I literally read it in 8 hours, yes I was at work, and yes my manager wasn’t overly impressed. I was hooked from the first chapter and loved reading from all the crews POV’s, although Scarlet has to be my favourite. So yes guys, the answer is it totally lives up to the hype!

Aurora’s POV is so interesting and an super important to the overall plot, but one of the things I loved is how you see her story-line unfold, not just through her POV, but the other members of Squad 312. She’s way more important than anyone at Aurora Station or Squad 312 realise, and by the time they do it might already be too late.

Jay and Amie’s writing is spectacular, you knew exactly which POV you were reading without having to flip back to the chapter title, and it totally kept you guessing the whole way through. There were so many plot twists, I felt dizzy… but in a good kind of buzzing drunk dizzy! There was so much of this book I didn’t see coming, especially the ending, which I feel will take me a while to forgive them for.

I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t picked up the Illuminae files yet, but it’s been significantly moved up my TBR after finishing this, and at least all the books are out so I don’t have to wait a whole year to read the next one. This is Sci-Fi at its best guys and its one of the easiest 5* read I’ve ever given. If you’ve not pre-ordered this book yet then what the hell are you waiting for!