Book Review: 'The Rain' by Virginia Bergin

Title: The Rain
Author: Virginia Bergin
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Date Published: 2014
Number of Pages: 384

Plot: It's in the rain... and just one drop will kill you. Two weeks after the first deadly rainfall our main character Ruby has to trek across the country to find her dad. The water is infected and the last of the drinkable water is running out.

Thoughts: I really wanted to like this book. I really wanted to like our main character Ruby. When I first heard about this novel, about the plot I thought it was going to be great! An epic survival adventure. I love apocalyptic stories, 'The Walking Dead' 'I Am Legend.' But this book was not that. There was no epic tale. There was no epic anything. Our main character Ruby spends more time thinking about how many boys she can kiss and how many sparkly dresses she can pack on her journey across the country. When she is meant to be searching for clean water to drink, she instead goes shoe shopping. I was disappointed by this story. I'm so used to reading about strong female characters - Rose, Tris, Katniss, etc, etc that Ruby made me cringe. I get that she was meant to be 'normal' teenage girl, trying to survive the only way she knows how, but that way was wearing heels and thinking about the beautiful Casper McCloud. Not about surviving the deadly rain.

I feel that this story could have been so much better if Ruby was a bit more... badass I guess. If she stopped acting like a silly teenage girl started acting like this shit was serious!

 Needless to say, I didn't enjoy this book. I had to force myself to finish it. There was many times I'd turn on my e-reader and think "Why am I forcing myself to read this?"

I don't like writing reviews like this because I know the author worked really hard on this novel but that's my opinion. If you've read this book, did you like it? and if so are you going to pick up the second installment 'The Storm'? It's due to be released February 26th 2015. I for one will not be picking up the sequel.

2/5 stars for 'The Rain' by Virginia Bergin.