I received this book for free from HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Rush by Eve Silver Series: The Game #1
Published by Katherine Tegen, Katherine Tegen Books on June 11th 2013
Genres: Sci-Fi, YA
Source: HarperCollins
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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..
Every single thing about this book annoyed me. It’s not a terrible book in theory: the premise is interesting and it has a strong heroine, but its execution left me so incredibly irritated.
Rush starts with a bang when we’re immediately lifted into a whirlwind of a plot, one that screams originality and awesomeness up ahead. It was for sure original; awesome, however, it is not. Let’s begin with Jackson, and how his character was used in this book. When Miki is pulled into this strange “game” where she’s told she’s on a mission to rid the earth of aliens before humanity is extinct, Jackson acts as their leader of sorts. It’s obvious that he knows everything we want to know, but all he does is dangle it in front of our faces, keeping his conversations eternally cryptic and secretive, filled with non-answers, though he makes sure to hint regularly at his insider knowledge. No that did not make me “intrigued” or “captivated”, it made me want to cry because it was not possible for me to find this fictional character in real life so that I could stab his know-it-all self in the face. When Miki would ask him questions, it went a little something like: “So who’s on that Committee?” “Committee members.” (actual quote) *twitch*
When we finally do get some answers, mostly in info-dump form at random intervals, they were much too underwhelming for the annoyance I had to suffer through to get them. Firstly, the explanations were kind of weird–the kind of weird that makes you roll your eyes and yawn. Secondly, they’re underdeveloped, as if after all this time they were still hesitant to try to make sense of this whole deal. Thirdly, they contains holes that left me just as annoyed as not getting any answers at all. For instance, there’s no real reason for the whole thing to function like a video game. The hit points, their “health bars”, the lingo, etc. It definitely gave the book somewhat of a unique spin, but to be honest all it did for me was make me unable to take any of it seriously.
Even if you ignore the odd love triangle and sudden insta-love, the romance is bland at best. I guess it’s hard to like a guy who makes me want to shove my foot in his nose, so I didn’t see Miki’s appeal for him at all. Shouldn’t she be as annoyed with him as I am? Bleh! As for the other guy, well, I finished this book not even 24 hours ago and I don’t even remember his name. Lucas? I think? Even his role in the book is disappearing from my memory every minute. He was boring! Wait.. who are we talking about? Oh what about the epic bitch she calls her best friend? Oh.. Mah Gawd! If I have been violent so far in this review, I want to save the good stuff for Carly and slap her silly (which is most satisfying!) This drama queen would get pissed at Miki for growing hair. I could not stand her at all, nor did I find any of this drama necessary to the story. It did not help for character development, it did not help for adding friendship or values to the book; it was just unpleasant.
To end, the book’s “huge” cliffhanger is one I have seen attempted several times, which at this point I see as a fruitless attempt at shock since we all know it will turn out fine by the end of the sequel (if not in the first 30 pages). It’s the clichéd cliffhanger.
I can summarize this book in one word (I’m just that good!):
UGH!
2 Hot Espressos
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selkiereads
Ooh, that just sounds.. painful. Ugh seems like the right word to describe it.
– Ellie at The Selkie Reads Stories
Melanie
Okay, so I’m not really enthused to read Rush now, I have it for review and I’ll be readin it real soon. :/ Such a shims that this had a love triangle AS WELL AS just a glove. This sucks so much I’m not sure if I’ll get bother reading it *sad face*
Shame this didn’t work for you, Giselle. Lovely review, nonetheless! <33
bookittyblog
Poor you girl. If it was me I wouldn’t have finished it. But I’m glad you did because this review made me LOL! 😀
Amy
Ughh!! Now I am so not looking forward to this. I have DNF’d more HC titles this year than any other pub. I am hoping I like this more than you. It’s making me sad that there has been so many blah books this year. I think in the past few months I have DNF’d more books than in all the time I have been blogging.
Sarah Elizabeth
So glad I didn’t get this for review! Something about the blurb put me off and it’s probably a good job! Irritating characters, info dumps, and odd love triangles? No thanks! Thanks for the review!!
Jenea Whittington
Eww. Info dumps are the worst. I was a little curious about this, but something about it just doesn’t sounds like one I will be running out to get. From the sounds of it Ugh, is the right word. 🙁
Jenea @ Books Live Forever
Jac (For Love and Books)
What a bummer, I had such I hopes for this one. But, I’m so glad to have read this and know that it’s just… meh… And not even the romance being good? BLAH!
-Jac @ For Love and Books
Aman
Yikes! What a fail. The guy does sound annoying and even I want to hit him after the committee comment. So stupid! I’m not going to be picking this book up for sure, thought I do like the premises and the cover.
Ashley @ The Bibliophile's Corner
Oh dang. The premise sounded so wonderful. I’m sad that it was…ugh. Lol.
Dani @ Refracted Light
I’m sorry it was so disappointing, but thanks for such an entertaining review. 😉
Suzanne
The premise sounds similar to the anime series Gantz – which also made no sense and beat around the bush until I stopped watching. Don’t think I’ll be reading this one then.
Faith Sullivan
Ah, sorry this one didn’t live up to your expectations 🙁
Bonnie R
Another one that mesmerized me with its beautiful cover. Definitely sounds like I’ll be skipping this one… bummer it was such a disappointment!
Jenni @ Alluring Reads
Oh man, I definitely don’t think I would like this one. Too bad the beginning hed so much promise and kept you sucked in until you were past the point of no return. That’s what Transparent did for me, I was so far in that DNFing was pointless but it was all trickery!
Mel@Thedailyprophecy
Oh boy, this sounds like a DNF book. I don’t think I could stand to finish it. I hate it when characters are acting that way and add the odd romance with a love-triangle and insta-love and I’m done. Goodreads status now on *lost-interest*
Savannah Bookswithbite
Too bad! I had such high hopes for this book. Love triangles right now I can’t stand.
Ariella Blake
Ya.. I don’t think I want to read this now. You made it sound so stupid. Seriously, if I read it, I guarantee you I will want to kill Jackson. I would be like, “Grrrr… Can I kill him please? Pretty please?” I hate non-answers and cannot stand them for my life. Great review, I’ll definitely pass this one on.
-Ariella @ Secrets of Lost Words
Christianna Marks
Dang, this one was something I was looking forward to, but now I’m just not sure. I think all of the things that pissed you off would annoy me as well. I don’t see me and this book being friends, that’s for sure! Great review once again!
Maja (The Nocturnal Library)
Ah, yes, I’m sorry this didn’t work for you, Giselle. I actually quite liked it, especially towards the end, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t aware of the flaws. Quite the contrary. The love triangles… two of them.. or a rectangle, whatever, bothered me too, and while I really liked Jackson, I’m not a fan of instalove. But it pulled me in quickly and i felt compelled to read on, so I counted that as a plus.
Great review!
Jennifer Bielman
Bland romance and info-dumps. Yeah…no. Definitely no for me. Not even the interesting premise will make me pick this one up. To bad though. Better luck next time.
MarvelousCatoReviews
OH MAN. That sounded like a really terrible experience. I think I may still pick this up since it does sound intriguing…but maybe I’ll wait until it gets to a Half-Price Books, haha.
Also, the “shove my foot up his nose” comment made me laugh out loud. I love when you get violent, haha.
Jen (A Reading Daydreamer)
Oh man, what is up with all of these awful reviews for books with awesome covers and premises?! Everything in this book is exactly what I hate in a book: info-dumps, insta-love, bitchy “best friends”, and predictable outcomes. LOL “she would get pissed at Miki for growing hair”. I’m probably not going to read this one, thanks for your honest review!
Shooting Stars Mag
Yeah, this one just doesn’t seem like a good fit for me. I’m pretty sure I’d want to smack the love interest too. He sounds really annoying and too full of himself. I’d also hate the little teasers of info…especially since we’re not on a search for knowledge with everyone else. Someone already knows and just won’t tell us! LOL
Anyway, sorry this was a bummer.
Lyn Kaye
It is like death by clones right now. I read the description and thought “this sounds just like 3 other books that have been released this year”. Skipping.
Wendy
That’s too bad this one was no good for you! I dislike triangles and hate insta-love so I’m making a note to myself to skip this one!
kimbacaffeinate
Ugh sounds right, great review Giselle and kudos to you for not throwing this against the wall and being done with it!
Faye M.
Huhuhu that’s really sad, Giselle! I was looking forward to this one A LOT. 😐 But it’s making me hesitant now… I even had someone from Harper send me a physical ARC of this 😐 uh-oh. I’ll still try it out, though, for kicks!
Faye @ The Social Potato Reviews
Micheline D
Sigh. Boooo, I’m kind of bummed that this one sounds so lame now but also not really surprised. I was excited about this one from the start ( I even featured it on my WoW a few weeks back), but in the back of my mind I thought it could easily go both ways…and it seems the way it went was downhill – and fast! Sorry you had to suffer through that anyways but you did get a pretty epic review out of it 😉
Lauren Elizabeth
Ok, this made me giggle quite loudly ” it made me want to cry because it was not possible for me to find this fictional character in real life so that I could stab his know-it-all self in the face.” 😀
This sounds so disappointing! It sounds like this plot is clunky and either too cryptic or too much infodump (I hate infodump with a passion). Add in a love triangle, instalove and a cliffy, and I’m steering well clear of this. I already have an ARC I requested, but I’m thinking it’s not worth the time now. UGH indeed. Thanks for your honest review! It made me laugh 🙂
Nereyda @Mostly YA Book Obsessed
I got carried away and got most of the summer Harper Teen ARC’s but now I only want to read like 3 out of them. The reviews I have seen on them have not been good and I don’t want to waste my time on them. In my defense, I blame the pretty covers. They tricked me!
PS, so excited you’re reading Gameboard of the Gods. Adult Richelle Mead is the best! I haven’t read this one yet but her adult Succubus Blues series is one of my top 3 favorite series EVER! Hope this one is good too…
Heather
I’ll definitely steer away from this one!
Candace
Well I guess I’m not going to rush into reading this one! I have a copy on my shelf but maybe I’ll just give it away cause it’s not appealing to me at all!
Jenn Renee
bummer you didn’t like this one. It sounded so good. great review.
Megan K.
I’m currently reading this one right now, and I have to agree that it’s nothing spectacular. I haven’t reached that far in to read about the horrid romance and the cliffie. The plot development is going kind of slow and strangely, though, so eh. Not really liking this much right now! Looks like there isn’t much to enjoy further on as well, but I’ll continue reading and see how it’ll go. Great review, chickie! Sorry this didn’t work out for you.
Alexa Y.
Oh dear! I was sort of interested in reading this one, but your review has made me wary. The concept sounded really great! I’m worried about the execution now though, especially because it sounds like I might just find the book frustrating.