Rush by Eve Silver

 

Published: June 11th, 2013

Publisher: Kathleen Tegan Books

Pages: 361

Copy: Edelweiss

Summary: Goodreads

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.

Think Hunger Games, I am Number Four and throw in a touch of City of Bones and you just might begin to get the feel of Rush.  There is a constant feeling of breathlessness throughout the story, so that the reader is never quite sure what is going to happen next.  The action starts right at the beginning and the sequences are bloody and violent, without ever getting too gory.

As for the characters, well I enjoyed them.  They are nice and well rounded and believable.  Jackson is the perfect 'bad guy'.  Dark and mysterious and I absolutely fell in love with him from the get-go.  I wanted to hug him and tell him everything would be ok, but I'd never get near enough.  He's why I thought of City of Bones - he's very Jace like in that way.  Luka was also a great character.  He's also good looking, but he's more of a follower - second-in-command type, not a leader.

Mimi's kind of dropped in at the deep end, and we learn what is going on at the same time as she does.  The sexual tension between Mimi and Jackson is  wonderful, it gave me the shivers. I don't think I really liked Mimi's best friend Carly, though.  Her reactions seemed a little OTT and childish, she's a bit of a drama queen.  Oh, and I loved Mimi's father.  Especially when he is trying to give her the 'birds and the bees' talk - it was priceless! There is a slightly dreamlike feel to the whole story, which added an extra dimension for me - pardon the pun.

I suspect if you are a gamer, or at least interested in gaming you would get even more out of the story than I did, but it did not affect my enjoyment  of Rush one little bit.  Loved it and can't wait for the next one.