Review: After the Red Rain by Barry Lyga, Peter Facinelli, Rob DeFranco

A postapocalyptic novel with a cinematic twist from New York Times bestseller Barry Lyga, actor Peter Facinelli, and producer Robert DeFranco.

On the ruined planet Earth, where 50 billion people are confined to megacities and resources are scarce, Deedra has been handed a bleak and mundane existence by the Magistrate she works so hard for. But one day she comes across a beautiful boy named Rose struggling to cross the river--a boy with a secretive past and special abilities, who is somehow able to find comfort and life from their dying planet.

But just as the two form a bond, it is quickly torn apart after the Magistrate's son is murdered and Rose becomes the prime suspect. Little do Deedra and Rose know how much their relationship will affect the fate of everyone who lives on the planet. ~ Goodreads


Source: ARC from the publisher via BEA15

My thoughts:

After the Red Rain was...fine…

I am, admittedly, completely burned out on the dystopian/post apocalyptic genre – but it’s been almost a year since I’ve read one, so I thought I would see if I’m ready to jump back in. I guess not.

On the plus side, despite the usual bleak dystopian world set up (few resources, territories ruled by different leaders), this was a fairly inventive story. It was a relief to read a YA dystopian that didn’t rely on being sorted into factions or lengthy fight training sequences or silly love triangles.
The hero is quite different from the norm. His name is Rose, and is described as androgynous looking. He’s a very straight forward character. No brooding past, no passive aggressive behavior. But he does have a pretty big secret that provides the big twist for the novel. Deedra, the heroine, is just a girl – no special snowflake status or powers – just a plain old girl, which was also a nice change of pace.

Problem is, I can’t say I cared all that much about what happened. There is plenty of action and a few cool, inventive twists, but the story seems to just be going through the motions and hits all the notes required for the genre but didn’t really dig deep enough to put me on the edge of my seat while reading.

This book wraps up this particular story arc while leaving room open for a sequel. There were a lot of things regarding world building that were left too vague and hopefully would be addressed in a second book, almog with stronger character development.

So yeah – it was fine. I’m not sure how much if this was from my dystopia fatigue or the book itself, so if you still love ALL things dystopian definitely give it a go. I will say - that it has a unique premise, particularly concerning the hero.