RUSH by Eve Silver

Rush
Eve Silver

Rating: A-
Release Date: 06/11/13
Synopsis:
So what’s the game now? This, or the life I used to know?

When Miki Jones is pulled from her life, pulled through time and space into some kind of game—her carefully controlled life spirals into chaos. In the game, she and a team of other teens are sent on missions to eliminate the Drau, terrifying and beautiful alien creatures. There are no practice runs, no training, and no way out. Miki has only the guidance of secretive but maddeningly attractive team leader Jackson Tate, who says the game isn’t really a game, that what Miki and her new teammates do now determines their survival, and the survival of every other person on this planet. She laughs. He doesn’t. And then the game takes a deadly and terrifying turn.

My thoughts on the book:
Rush is a unique and exhilarating read that you won't want to miss. While the world-building is a bit lacking, it is more than made up for by intriguing and easy-to-relate-to characters, a suspenseful plot, and a creative and one-of-a-kind concept. This book was a little slow to start, but I was soon sucked into the world Silver created and couldn't put the book down. I absolutely cannot wait until the sequel. 

Miki was a pretty good heroine, and she definitely had her own, well-developed personality. However, she got on my nerves with her obsessive questions and attempt to control everything constantly. Overall, it wasn't too bad, and most of the time I wanted the answers, too, but sometimes, I just wanted to smack her. I, personally liked Jackson quite a bit. He was a bit different than most YA heroes, and I like that he wasn't super angsty, even though he was damaged. He did some crappy things, and he was extremely evasive, but I understood why after I found out what he was hiding. Luca was okay, but since I was seeing him through Miki's eyes, he wasn't anything to write home about. Carly, Miki's best friend, was obnoxious, but she's a teenager, and teenage girls get overly dramatic and angry over nothing sometimes, so I let it pass. I'll see how I feel about her in the next installment before making any firm decisions on her character. 

The plot was extremely unique and full of suspense. Since there was an air of mystery surrounding everything, I had no idea what would happen next. I had some things figured out fairly early on, but others I didn't see coming. I couldn't put the book down; I was definitely sucked in by the 20% mark and the pages flew by after that. I think that, for the most part, Silver handled the mystery aspect pretty well, but in some ways it did affect the world-building. Since it was difficult to reveal much about the world without also revealing many of Jackson's secrets, I felt like I didn't understand the world at all for a good part of the novel. I still don't fully grasp what's going on. Hopefully it'll be more clearly explained in the sequel. Also, I don't feel that Silver handled the sharing of information in the best way because sit came as dialogue info dumps, due to the fact that Miki had no freaking clue what was going on. I wish that Miki had summarized some of the information for us and that it'd been given little bits at a time more consistently. Also, I hated the cliffhanger at the end. It was a bit overused, which surprised me considering the rest of the novel was so unique. Of course, as you guys know, I just don't like cliffhangers... period.

Overall, I absolutely adored this book. It was a refreshing addition to the sci-fi genre, and I can't wait for the sequel. I'd recommend Rush to anyone who is looking for something different to read.

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