This was the big finale and I am not really disappointed because it was an exiting book, but I am not quite content with the ending. Firstly, the characters where their perfect selves and if you have not fallen in love with every single one of them already, you will now. Saedii was kind of a newcomer in this book and I hold her also close to my heart. In addition to shipping her and Tyler so much that them maybe not ending up together would break my heart! But read this enticing story for yourselfs. Kal and Auri where back together, but I didn't feel this connection as much as I did in the previous books. I still adore Kal, but couldn't grasp where Auris character was going. My new favorite Fin and always will be favorite Scarlet where going on a new adventure together and seeing them together made my heart ache in all the right places. Also Zila shows a new side of heerself, which made her character even more lovable. In conclusion: I don't know how to live my life now that there will be no more Squat 312 in it! This book was full of the most perfect ships, but unfortunately I felt like the authors didn't give them the time they deserved. They had their moments, but they felt small against the battle raging all around them. I actually reread some of them so it felt that they lasted longer. This is also one of the points, why I didn't like this book as much as I had hoped: Battle! All over the galaxy! Sure, it is exinting, but after the 4th battleship attack and chaos after that and escaping just close enough, I was getting a little tired of it. In movies this might be a huge selling point, but it let this book drag on unnecessarily long. The other development I didn't like was the ending. I don't want to spoiler here and I won't, but a little more real drama would have done this book some good. It felt to easy in the end and to forced. As if this was the ending the authors agreed on and then they bended the logic and everything a bit to make that happen. The last 10 pages where a melancholic crying mess though. I had to cry so so hard for all the right reasons and even forgot, why I was not supposed to like this ending... In conclusion, I enjoyed reading this book, but had anticipated more to this big finale.

My rating is somewhere between 3 and 4 stars - I cannot say for sure, because this book felt like two stories in one. One I very much liked, the other I didn't.<br/><br/>Long story short: I had difficulties enjoying the first half of this finale book. Which is very sad, because I had been looking forward to it since I had read and loved Aurora Rising (yes, even before having read Aurora Burning)! It just felt so s l o w. Nothing really happened, the characters had to figure out their new situation, but it felt really repetitive and couldn't hold my attention for a longer period if time. That's why it took me so long (over a month) to read the book. Maybe it's my own fault, because I read the second book so long ago (a bit over a year). I guess I'll never know.<br/><br/>Anyway.<br/><br/>Then, the midpoint arrived, and things got better. Way better. I read the second half in a couple of days, which is very fast considering the weeks I had spent on the first half. Things in the story got crazy, the crew finally figured stuff out and there was one plottwist after the other! I am not sure if I got the ending right, because - without spoilering anything - the events rise to a whole different level. Still, it kind of fit the story, and I even had to spill a few tears.<br/><br/>Looking back, I just wish there hadn't been one-year-breaks between me reading the books, but then I also didn't have the patience to wait until they're all published. Maybe I will reread them in the future and then hopefully can appreciate them/the finale book even more.

I. Loved. This. Book. Okay ich hätte wirklich nicht erwartet, dass DAS passiert. Ich war einfach so unvorbereitet. Aber ich habe es geliebt!