Aurora rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Allen and Unwin, 2019. ISBN: 9781760295738.
(Age: Teens) Highly recommended. What do you get when you trap seven teenagers in space on a dead-end mission way below their capabilities? Chaos.
After a mishap before the Draft resulting in Ty's absence, it seems that Ty's world has ended. Along with his sister as diplomat and his best friend as pilot, Ty is stuck with the biggest misfits in Aurora Academy. And it's only about to get worse. As inter-species tensions rise, their teamwork is about to face its biggest test ever, in the form of a stowaway hiding from the GIA. There's almost nothing special about Aurora O'Malley, unless you count the fact Ty just rescued her from interdimensional space where she'd been frozen for almost two centuries. Auri's presence complicates things and life on ship is about to get that much harder. Unable to return to the academy, the group can only push on into the unknown, discovering secrets no one wanted known and pissing off one of the biggest gangsters in the galaxy.
Kaufman and Kristoff are undoubtedly masters of their art. They present highly visual content and authentic characters with all the complications that come with being teenagers (regardless of species). This is a book that keeps you on your toes and investigates racism, discrimination, and right and wrong in fresh and interesting ways. With the constant name-calling and teasing between the crew the reader really grows to care about these characters and their problems.
Aurora rising is the kind of intelligent and complicated book I would highly recommend to teenagers regardless of an interest in sci-fi. Teacher's tips are available.
Kayla Gaskell