ARC Review: The Rift Uprising

Title: The Rift Uprising

Author: Amy S. Foster
Release Date: October 4, 2016
Source: ARC from Harper Voyager

Synopsis:

The first book in the fast-paced action-adventure, The Rift Uprising trilogy—an enthralling mix of speculative fiction and military thriller—in which a young soldier comes to question the monsters she’s trained to fight against . . . and the monsters she fights for
Seventeen-year-old Ryn Whittaker is a Citadel: an elite, enhanced soldier specially chosen to guard a Rift, a mysterious and dangerous portal to alternate Earths scientists cannot control or close. Trained from the age of fourteen, Ryn can run faster, jump farther, and fight better than a Navy SEAL—which is good when you’re not sure if a laser-wielding Neanderthal or an axe-wielding Viking is trying to make it through the Rift and into her world.
But the teenager’s military conditioning and education have not prepared her for the boy who crosses through—a confused young man, seemingly lost and alone. Because while there’s an immediate physical attraction, it’s his intelligence and curiosity that throws Ryn off balance. The stranger asks disturbing questions about the Rift that Ryn herself has never considered—questions that lead her to wonder if everything about her life and what she’s been told these past six years has been a lie. Are the Rifts as dangerous as her leaders say? Should her people really try to close them . . . or learn how to travel through them?

My Review:

The Rift Uprising was an interesting take on genetically enhanced soldiers but with the twist of these soldiers being teenagers.

I was very intrigued by the synopsis, which is why I requested to review it. Though, the actual execution of the book was slightly boring. I couldn’t bring myself to become interested in the story line or the characters.

Ryn was your typical solider. She was the team leader of her group of four Citadel soldiers. The three other soldiers in her group were her best friends and you could see the connection between them. They were all very different, but they worked well together and I liked their dynamic.

What I didn’t like was the insta-romance of this book that didn’t make sense. As soon as Ryn meets a boy who comes through the Rift, she is instantly enamored and obsessed with him. It was very weird and slightly uncomfortable. I couldn’t wrap my head around this type of instant romance.

Sure, I read a lot of romance books where there is an instant romance between the two main couples, but I can follow along with those when the book is a romance and that is the books sole intention. But, this was instant obsession that didn’t make sense after the two-minute interaction they had.

Though, Ezra was quite an interesting character. He was a child prodigy and genius. I really liked him, but he was just as obsessed with Ryn as she was with him. But, some of the things he did just didn’t make sense.

I wish there was more explanation in this book. Most of the normalities of this world were not explained and just assumed to be known. I still have no idea how the Rift works or why it came to be. It was probably explained, but it didn’t connect in my brain and I can’t remember it.

All in all, this book could’ve been much better. I liked the idea of this book, but the execution could’ve been done better.