Thank you so much to the author for my advanced digital copy of The Rush’s Echo! The first book in the duology was published over two years ago by Angry Robot and now we have closure. I was a little worried honestly that there would be a lapse in quality since this one is self-published, but I didn’t see that at all. This is a well-presented and edited ending to the story and I’m glad that it’s out in the world.
Bookish Quick Facts:
- Title: The Rush’s Echo
- Series: Untitled Duology #2
- Author: Ginger Smith
- Publisher & Release: Self, 01/10/23
- Length: 474 pages
- Rate & Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for space opera & soft sci-fi adventure fans
Here’s the synopsis from Am*zon:
TY, HAL, VIVI, AND BERYL JOIN THE OPPOSITION TO PUSH THE COALITION OUT OF THE EDGE ONCE AND FOR ALL.
In this sequel to The Rush’s Edge, Halvor Cullen and the crew of the Loshad return from a lukewarm meeting with the Mudar to an Edge on the verge of war. A vat operative has used every genetically engineered talent and programmed skill she has to infiltrate the heart of the Opposition forces and disrupt their resistance to the Coalition.
In a desperate attempt to stop their enemies, Vivi must confront the specter of her past as the crew petitions the shadowy hacker group Echo to succeed. When the mission goes awry, and they are forced to leave a crewmember behind, the team wonders if their victory against the Coalition will come at all, and if so, at what cost?
My thoughts:
If you click the link in the first paragraph you can see my thoughts on the first book. It’s been 2 years and I didn’t have any trouble getting back into the plot line thankfully. For those that read these back to back, you won’t be bored with recapping either. Smith built on everything in book one and didn’t drop the bar at all on quality!
The characters continued to grow and mature as a team, as a family, and as individuals. As they dealt with old and new trauma there was quite a lot of relationship navigation and continuing themes on what it is to be human and where the VAT soldiers fit in after military service. I think she did a great job tackling PTSD and to a lesser extent addiction and programming.
We also got to see some of the atrocities committed on the soldiers by the Coalition. It gave the characters the highest of stakes and something personal to fight for. The multiple points of view kept the action rolling at all times and there were some pretty exciting scenes. We also got to meet the Mudar race which just added one more layer of depth to the war effort.
Overall I’ve really got nothing bad to say about the conclusion here. I was rooting for the home team characters all the way, even the morally gray ones, and found the last half of the book pretty hard to put down. I think there’s good resolution to all of the major points definitely recommend these books for Space Opera and Military sci-fi fans.
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