ARC #Review: THE RAINS by Gregg Hurwitz

THE RAINS

Author: Gregg Hurwitz
Series: N/A
Source: ARC
Publisher: Tor Teen
Publication Date: October 18, 2016
Rating: 2/5 stars

Summary:
In one terrifying night, the peaceful community of Creek’s Cause turns into a war zone. No one under the age of eighteen is safe. Chance Rain and his older brother, Patrick, have already fended off multiple attacks from infected adults by the time they arrive at the school where other young survivors are hiding. Most of the kids they know have been dragged away by once-trusted adults who are now ferocious, inhuman beings. The parasite that transformed them takes hold after people turn eighteen—and Patrick’s birthday is only a few weeks away. 

Determined to save Patrick’s life and the lives of the remaining kids, the brothers embark on a mission to uncover the truth about the parasites—and what they find is horrifying.

Battling an enemy not of this earth, Chance and Patrick become humanity’s only hope for salvation.

Purchase:

Amazon | Chapters | TBD

Disclaimer: I traded for an ARC of this with Adyranna!

Wow. This didn't take me long and while I don't quite want my "precious reading time back" but it's feeling a bit like I want my precious reading time back. I only get so much time to read a week and I read this one today (well yesterday now) because I was like "this is a week overdue and I SHOULD LIKE IT so I will read it" but then I read it and blah. I don't have anything to say other than it was just blah. 

I was really looking forward to something like a zombie novel (since it reads that way and the main blurb talks about a "REIMAGINED ZOMBIE NOVEL") but it was actually an alien invasion novel! And by now you're thinking, "but Jamie, you fucking LOVE aliens" and that is very true, I fucking love aliens. Evan Walker is forever my problematic favourite alien and David is a loveable purple alien that I need in my life. But this story was just so uninspired that I was very sad. 

The characters were meh and nothing special. The fact that Chase and his brother, Patrick, were both special snowflakes but Chase thought he was "lesser" and was so in love with Patrick's girlfriend and Patrick was like "YOU ARE THE MOST SPECIAL" and "IT'S CHILL YOU LOVE MY GIRLFRIEND" was just Too Much™ for me. It just felt so gross and icky and I couldn't handle it. The biggest issue for me was that Patrick and his girlfriend, Alex (who is another special snowflake), do this thing where Alex says "would you climb mountains for me" and Patrick replies "no mountain could stand in my way" or something like that and they do it three times, I think? but then when Chase is going to find Alex, he does it in his head about her and I'm like ???? BUDDY THAT IS YOUR BROTHER'S GIRLFRIEND. THAT'S NOT OKAY. And of course, there is a girl that loves Chase too but he sees her as a friend and that is just So Confusing™, but ya know, whatever.

The plot itself was stupid as fuck. It took the birthday/age idea from GONE by Michael Grant, the Host thing from, wow, a multitude of alien invasion books, and so many other things from other places that all I could think about where these other books while reading this one, whether or not I liked those original books. There were also plot holes that I just couldn't ignore and I am so over the idea that ONE PERSON CAN SAVE THE WORLD. Life isn't Die Hard now matter how much Jake Peralta wants it to be. 

I think if this had something, even just one thing, be more original, I would have liked it more. Instead, we got a tired plot, lackluster characters, and a weird romance that made me want to turn into one of the infected aliens instead of having to read any more of this book. Oh and don't worry, this will most likely be a trilogy. YAY! I mostly rated this 2 stars because there were dogs. But as an FYI, one of the dogs dies so caution on that if you don't like when animals are harmed.