Review by Hillary: Rush by Eve Silver

Title: Rush 
Author: Eve Silver
Series: The Game #1
Paperback > 361 pages
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Released: June 11th 2013
Genre: YA > Science Fiction > Fantasy > Romance

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. 

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Rush was a mind-blowing, original science fiction story to read, possibly replacing my favorite sci-fi read. Half of Miki’s life has been about hiding behind a façade. Miki hides her emotions about her mother’s passing, hides how she feels about her father’s personal issues, and hides how recent events are turning her life upside down; making her keep secrets from those she cares about most. But however much she tries to keep a front about what she’s really feeling behind the scenes, Miki’s closest friend—Carly—manages to be able to sense how much Miki is keeping closed lip. Miki tries to balance out both parts of her life, the real world life and the game life, but ends up jeopardizing her friendship with Carly. In the process of trying to stay out of too much danger, Miki manages to fall hard for someone who puts up a front as well and makes new friends in the most unlikely of places.

“You asked me what I like. I’m answering your question,” he clarifies, and the smile he offers is truly savage, dark and edgy and full of promise. “You, Miki. I like you.” (288)

Miki never expected her life to go topsy-turvy one afternoon while hanging out with her group of friends. It’s apparent something will occur because of how she starts hearing a male voice—Jackson—in her head calling her name. Miki instantly goes on alert mode and watches her surroundings, only seeing her friends on the ground near her talking amongst themselves and a guy who used to be her childhood friend named Luka running laps around the track field. When Miki looks around again, she notices a little girl in the middle of the street bent over something. In that moment the voice convinces her she needs to save the girl before she’s hit by a car and that’s when Miki’s normal life changes to a dangerous and crazy one. I’m positive when I say that I instantly took a liking to Miki and Luka from the start. However, when Jackson was introduced not too long after, I didn’t warm up to him that quickly. It took a really long time for me to really care about his character and by the time I did I felt like I knew why he was so closed-off. In reality, Jackson wasn’t that different from Miki and I think that’s what drew them together.

I want to go to him. I want to run from him, from this place, from the tangled mess my life has become. I don’t know what to think, how to feel. I’m angry and hurt. Betrayed. Appalled. Part of me hates him for what he’s consigned me to. Part of me only knows that his pain hurts me, too. (331)

When I started reading Rush, the details of how Miki materializes in a game reality really boggled my mind, but as the story kept going I managed to accept the ‘rules’ of this journey Miki was embarking on. I thought it was amazing how Eve Silver managed to balance out the world building of this story. As a reader, it was super helpful to learn about the game and the rules that went along with that world. It was also insightful to see what happened when Miki wasn’t in the game, but was in her real teenage life that included obstacles she had to endure as well. Then there were the interactions between the characters that made them seem a lot more real and a lot more relatable. After reading about a quarter of the book, the pacing started speeding along and all I could do was enjoy the ride and be fully absorbed in the events that surrounded Miki. One thing that put a damper in the story was Carly’s attitude. I just couldn’t handle the way she instantly got upset over Miki being secretive over stuff she wouldn’t tell her about. Carly pretty much stayed the same way throughout the last half of the story, but I’m hoping she’ll be more forgiving in book two. Then there is Miki’s dad. That man, he definitely needs to listen to his daughter a lot more. If only he realized how much reason Miki has for her age.

My whole world is falling into tiny little broken pieces and I don’t know how to put it back together, how to fix it. How to control this out-of-control spin. (252)

Overall, Rush by Eve Silver was an extraordinary story to read set in a one-of-a-kind science fiction world. It did start out semi-confusing, but as I kept on reading it became easier to comprehend what exactly was going on and what everything meant. As the game continued, the danger built to the point where I was afraid something terrible would happen to Miki or her comrades. Miki had to learn the hard way to deal with so much, but in the end she turned out to be much braver and stronger as a character. The turn of events at the end of the story practically left me speechless and holding my breath and I wanted to yell out in frustration. The secrets and questions created in the story end up being revealed to Miki, becoming quite shocking revelations that I didn’t expect as reasons for why Miki was part of the game in the first place. It made me reconsider what I thought about one character in particular. Then there’s the fact that even more questions and secrets were brought up by the end of Rush. I need to know what happens in Push, you guys!

4.5 - Totally Awesome! I loved it, would read again.