Review: Gregg Hurwitz – The Rains

The Rains
Gregg Hurwitz

Chance Rain is just a simple farm-boy with a love of science until the asteroids arrive. Then all the adults turn into zombies, and only children are safe – until they turn 18 of course. With a single adult left to guide them, and a Bully-boy to try to control, can the Rain brothers still make it through and come up with a solution to the invasion?

I was glopping through the mud and becoming numb to the spectacle of adults mapping the ground blindly right from the beginning. I could feel the fear sweat running down my spine. Plus, I loved that joke ‘Rain can only go in one direction – down!’. The the two brothers turn out to be the most hardy of all of the child survivors, but they don’t really know why.

What I didn’t understand was Eve and Chance’s relationship. If Eve was that into Chance, why wouldn’t she go on missions with him? And Chance’s relationship with Alex – well, I thought Alex was a bit of a manipulative survivalist. If the two boys in charge of looking after her are in love, of course they will put her needs first. Smart move.

I also don’t understand why they are so special. Wouldn’t there be kids somewhere else that have taken down a Queen? Or some towns that were smart enough to chop down the poisonous vines before they took over? I feel like there have got to be some parts of the world that are still safe such as Australia. No-one cares about Australia, including aliens most of the time.

I really thought that this novel might be a stand alone, but once again, I was disappointed. However, it looks like a duo, and for some reason, the back cover makes me think that the other one is already out. But how could that be when this one was given to me by publishers? Anyway, the conclusion of this one was quite ok, but then there was a cliffhanger introduced right at the end. If you haven’t picked up this novel yet (or even if you have), I’d recommend waiting until you have that second novel.

This was an unexpectedly good dystopian novel that deserves to be given a chance (haha). 4 stars from me.