The Rain Review

The Rain by Virginia Bergin  

“It was kind of impossible to get your head round it; how something so ordinary could… how they were saying it could do that, make someone sick.”  

The start of the novel is when 15 year old Ruby is at a friend’s party when the friend’s parents rush them in and blabber about “the rain.” Of course they all think the parents are crazy until Ruby’s boyfriend, Casper retrieves his stuff from the rain and his skin starts to peel and itch like crazy and he starts to bleed. And that’s how everything kick starts. It’s a good start and it sets the pace of the book.

The characters in the book were all relatable; Ruby is a teen left all alone so she’s prone to be selfish and annoying, Darius the nerd who is a know it all, the step father who’s stuck with a child who doesn’t like him and Princess a little girl who doesn’t speak because of what she went through.

The adventure that Ruby goes through is very interesting and exciting. After she’s left all alone she just can’t stay at home and die of thirst and hunger so she sets off to London to be with her Dad. Along the way she meets Darius and Princess and they become her companions alongside random dogs and cats.  I really enjoyed the plotline of the story. It was basically how Ruby survives from the contaminated water, she doesn’t have to fight zombies or vampires or even aliens it’s something as simple as water. Throughout the novel she meets various different characters and each help her/hind her from reaching her destination or surviving against the rain.

Though Ruby can be annoying and I mean seriously this girl needs to get her priorities straight; she goes straight for the makeup and clothes/shoes she can’t run in. However it’s understandable; everything’s free so you go for the stuff you couldn’t afford before. However she does change and her character does develop and all the minor characters were likable especially Darius and Princess.

The story of how the rain gets contaminated is interesting. Ruby’s stepdad has always been arguing with Ruby about their differences; one thing they disagree is on the asteroid. Ruby’s stepdad has always thought that the asteroid which hit earth (or did it miss) was important. And it is the rocks from the asteroid clogged up the atmosphere which affected the cloud and the deadly bacteria from the rocks then goes into the rock. It’s interesting to how unexpected the attack was; after nine years the asteroid’s finally comes into effect.

The romance – I can’t be the only one who was waiting for Ruby and Darius to get together. Yet I sort of knew they weren’t going to get together because of Casper and Saskia. Hopefully in the sequel they’ll be together, there’s just something about them.

On the topic of Saskia, her character wasn’t explored and the mystery for her character wasn’t explained. And then she randomly pops up near the end.

I really liked the ending, her writing the story and going through this entire journey to find her father only to find out that it might have been better if she stayed at home.

★★★★☆