THE RUSH’S EDGE by Ginger Smith – Review #SciFiMonth

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Rush's Edge by Ginger Smith
Published by Angry Robot on November 10 2020
Genres: Adult, Science fiction
Pages: 328
Format: Finished paperback
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: I enjoyed the well thought out futuristic world and exciting action sequences, but overall the story suffered from a few rookie mistakes.

The Rush’s Edge is a fast-paced space opera debut that had plenty of thrilling moments and lots of action, and I enjoyed parts of it very much. However, I did have several issues with the story that affected my overall reading experience, including awkward writing, stilted dialog and a confusing plot, all of which added up to a book that felt like a debut. 

The story revolves around an ex-military captain named Tyce and his best friend Halvor Cullen, a government “vat” with extraordinary strength and fighting abilities who was created in a laboratory. Now that they are both retired from ACAS—the Armed Services of the Coalition of Allied Systems—they perform salvage operations for profit. One day they interrupt a kidnapping in a bar and decide to take the victim, a tech expert named Vivian Valjean, back to their ship. When Vivi wakes up (having been drugged by her would-be captors), she immediately bonds with Hal and Ty, and when they invite her to join their crew, she happily agrees.

Ty has intel on a possible salvage opportunity on a planet called K-245j, and when they arrive and start to explore, they’re shocked to find what looks like a crashed Mudar ship, Mudars being an alien race that hasn’t been seen in years. Mudar technology is highly sought after, so Ty and his crew grab what pieces they can find as salvage.

But once back on their ship, strange things start happening. The alien artifacts seem to be taking over the ship, but even worse, the crew is being chased by ACAS soldiers who are looking for intel on the K-245j crash site. Ty and his crew find themselves in the middle of a pitched battle, made worse by the fact that Hal has become dangerously unstable…

Readers are going to notice lots of similarities to other science fiction stories, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I got very strong Firefly and Star Trek vibes while reading, and Smith captured the “found family” sensibility that I love in both those TV shows. The author uses lots of familiar sci-fi tropes, like artificially grown soldiers, drugs that enhance strength and endurance, people with tech implants, and rogue AIs. Smith has a knack for writing exciting action scenes, and those were some of the best parts of this story.

I also really enjoyed the friendship between Ty and Hal. As a vat, Hal has a rough life. He was “grown” specifically to serve in the military as a fighter, but because of something called the “rush,” a spike in adrenaline that allows vats to be super fighters, he’s only expected to live to about thirty-five, which is sad for Ty because they are such good friends. Their relationship changes and grows as they face some seemingly unbeatable challenges, but their loyalty to each other helps get them through even the roughest moments.

Although these elements by themselves were strong, they weren’t enough to make this a completely successful story for me. The main issue I had with The Rush’s Edge is a big one: the overall structure is so convoluted that I had a hard time figuring out just what the main plot was. Smith changes gears often and introduces new characters and subplots that don’t always mesh together. For example, in the first half of the story, a mysterious assassin named Scalpel pops up in alternating chapters. We learn that he is hunting Vivi, for some reason, and I was completely invested in this mystery. What did Vivi do that she’s got an assassin on her tail? Did it have something to do with the kidnapping in the beginning of the story? Unfortunately we never find out, which was beyond frustrating. Much later in the book, we meet a vat scientist named Max who discovers the ACAS is developing a diabolic weapon to use against vats. Max is not OK with it, and so a new subplot emerges where Max tries to leave his highly secret government job and stop the ACAS. I didn’t connect with Max at all, so when he is gravely injured during a fight sequence, I realized I just didn’t care whether he lived or died. There’s also a promising story line involving the Mudar AI, and I do love a good rogue AI story, but there was very little tension in this particular subplot and it just didn’t work for me at all. All these fractured plot pieces, while fine by themselves, made for an overall story that felt awkwardly cobbled together.

The story has clear romance elements right from the beginning, as soon as Hal lays eyes on Vivi, and I’m just going to come out and say it: I hated the romance. There was absolutely none of the tension that makes for an engaging romance. Hal becomes a loyal puppy dog as soon as he sees Vivi for the first time, and Vivi is likewise smitten with Hal. Their “romance,” such that it is, proceeds in an oddly chaste manner, which made me uncomfortable for some reason. We get to see shy glances, soft touches, and hugs, and at one point they jump into the shower together, which really caught me off guard. It was like watching twelve year olds fall in love, and not at all the sort of romance you would expect between two adults facing danger on a daily basis.

In the end, The Rush’s Edge was just OK for me. I’ve read so many excellent science fiction books this year, and it’s hard not to compare this book to my favorites. I do think the author has potential, though, and I might be interested in reading her next book.

Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.