Review: Aurora by David Koepp

In Aurora, Illinois, Aubrey Wheeler is just trying to get by after her semi-criminal ex-husband split, leaving behind his unruly teenage son.

Then the lights go out–not just in Aurora but across the globe. A solar storm has knocked out power almost everywhere. Suddenly, all problems are local, very local, and Aubrey must assume the mantle of fierce protector of her suburban neighborhood.

Across the country lives Aubrey’s estranged brother, Thom. A fantastically wealthy, neurotically over-prepared Silicon Valley CEO, he plans to ride out the crisis in a gilded desert bunker he built for maximum comfort and security.

But the complicated history between the siblings is far from over, and what feels like the end of the world is just the beginning of several long-overdue reckonings–which not everyone will survive . . .

Aurora by David Koepp. Narrated by Rupert Friend. Published by Harper Collins, 2022. Total run time of 9 hours and 6 minutes.

Dude, I was a HUGE fan of the author’s previous book, Cold Storage. I mean. WOW. When I saw he had a new book out, I could wait to add it to my TBR pile.

Now, I try really hard NOT to compare an authors books to each other (unless it’s a series), each story is thier own world. BUT, it was really hard not to compare Cold Storage and Aurora.

D: Aurora was…. just not what I was wanting or expecting. I hate to say it, but I was not a fan at all. The plot blurb sounded perfect for me and every exciting, but, yeah… I really miss judged the genre of this one!

Where Cold Storage was straight up GLORIOUS horror, Aurora was more of a character driven family drama. 😮 WHA-?? Ok…. not what I wanted to read about, and not what I was thinking this story was going to be about after reading the book blurb. Did I miss something or was the PR people miss promoting this one as something it wasn’t? I don’t know.

The plot sounded like more of a post apocalyptic, crazy, the world has gone to hell, free for all sort of thing. But this story had so little action. I mean… For what happened to cause the cluster fluff in the first place, I don’t know… again, just felt too…. I don’t know….too slow burn? This was the most anti climatic, hopeful post apoc story I’ve ever read.

Ok, ok, so that isn’t a terrible thing exactly. Aurora just felt like a very safe Sally version of community coming together during a pandemic…. and that…. just wasn’t for me. D:

I found myself disliking almost everyone. EVERYBODY was just sooooo annoying. I couldn’t even enjoy rooting against these characters… There were so bland and annoying, I kinda just wanted them to die. D: Is that too much? I just wanted the story to end without me having to DNF another book. >.<

I especially hated everything to do with Thom’s side of the story. I know he was supposed to be unlikable but UUUUUGGGGGGGGH. I get his purpose, but I wish it had just focused on Aubrey OR Thom. With both stories going it was just too much. It was also a little too on the nose for the overall moral of the story.

TOO. MUCH. FAMILY. DRAMA. LLAMA. Not enough OTHER drama! Very little action. It felt like Aurora was so busy trying to do a family drama, that we just miss out on any sort of character depth. All development happens just about off page only. What an odd choice! You hardly see the community develop, it just sorta happens between chapters or time jumps. For a character driven story, there just really isn’t much to the all the characters.

I don’t necessarily think this is a bad book. I just think Aurora is a bad fit for me. I also feel like all the PR blurbs were a little misleading. I don’t like nor care about the family drama genre. This was just a very bad pick for me. I loved Cold Storage so much, though, I would def. try this author again……. but maybe double check the plot and genre first. 😀