The Rush’s Edge
The Rush's Edge by Ginger Smith Published by Angry Robot on November 10, 2020
Genres: Science Fiction
Pages: 328
Format: eARC
Goodreads
With the help of his commanding officer, a genetically engineered ex-soldier fights back against the government that created him and others like him to be expendable slaves.
Halvor Cullen, a genetically-engineered and technology implanted ex-solider, doesn’t see himself as a hero. After getting out of the service, all he’s interested in is chasing the adrenaline rush that his body was designed to crave. Hal knows he won’t live long anyway; vat soldiers like him are designed to die early or will burnt out from relentlessly seeking the rush. His best friend and former CO, Tyce, is determined not to let that happen and distracts him by work salvaging crashed ships in the Edge. But after a new crewmember—hacker-turned-tecker, Vivi—joins their band of misfits, they find a sphere that downloads an alien presence into their ship…
Thank you SO much to Angry Robot for providing me with an eARC via NetGalley! You guys are the best!
Space!!! The final frontier!! Wait, can I say that? Has Star Trek copyrighted that or something? Anyway….the point is…I love space and space adventures! This book was a wonderful found family space adventure, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
There are so many great elements of this story. I already mentioned found family, which is one of the best tropes of all time. But also the morals of genetic engineering, potential corrupt government, sentient robots/AIs, and more. I won’t go into more detail, because you all just need to go read it for yourselves!
Character Relationships
I think science fiction lends itself particularly well to found family stories, or maybe I just have a particular inclination to scifi found family stories haha. This crew is a small but tight-knit group, and I loved reading specifically about the relationship between Hal and Tyce. They start out as soldier and commanding officer respectively when they first meet, and their bond grows over time. The two of them become brothers essentially, and seeing how they help each other in both good and bad times is heartwarming.
Since they are both soldiers, they both deal with their own personal forms of PTSD. I like that the novel didn’t shy away from that – super realistic for former soldiers to have that!!
Beryl, the ship’s medic and mother figure, is in my opinion an underrated character. I want more of her!!! I love older badass ladies, and she was super cool. Also, it was lovely that she acted as somewhat of a mother figure to Hal and Tyce (and then Vivi) but she never coddled them or treated them as anything other than friends and equals.
One possible issue that others may have is that the age of the main characters (minus Beryl) is roughly late 20s, but they definitely felt younger to me (speaking as a 26 year old myself). I didn’t have a huge problem with it, but others might.
Plot Funsies!
I think the author did a great job of weaving in different plot elements into the big overall picture. Through the whole plot, there are undercurrents of issues such as humanity, human rights, trusting governments, xenophobia (to a degree), and so many other things. And it never feels overwhelming! It feels very natural.
She also did an amazing job of planting possible threads to follow up on in a sequel or prequel – yes, this is my not very subtle request to Angry Robot to please let there be another book in this world haha.
So as you can see I loved this one, and I think a lot of you will as well!! I hope you go check it out 🙂
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