The Rain by Virginia Bergin

The Rain by Virigina Bergin
Series: The Rain #1
Publisher: Macmillan
Publication Date: July 17th 2014
Source: Macmillan [Netgalley]

One minute sixteen-year-old Ruby Morris is having her first proper snog with Caspar McCloud in a hot tub, and the next she's being bundled inside the house, dripping wet, cold and in her underwear. Not cool. As she and Caspar shiver in the kitchen, it starts to rain. They turn on the radio to hear panicked voices -- 'It's in the rain... it's in the rain...'

That was two weeks ago, and now Ruby is totally alone. People weren't prepared for the rain, got caught out in it, didn't realize that you couldn't drink water from the taps either. Even a drip of rain would infect your blood, and eat you from the inside out. Ruby knows she has to get to London to find her dad, but she just doesn't know where to start ...After rescuing all the neighbourhood dogs, Ruby sets off on a journey that will take her the length of the country -- surviving in the only way she knows how.

I'd been dying to read The Rain ever since I heard about it last year, so when it popped up on Netgalley the other week I jumped at the chance to get it. I was really excited for it, but unfortunately, I really didn't enjoy it.

The Rain follows sixteen year old Ruby who was having her first proper snog when her and her friends are quickly shepherded inside. It starts to rain and an emergency broadcast comes over the radio alerting everyone that there's something deadly in the rain.

Honestly, the main let down of this book for me was the main character. Ruby has lost her family and friends to the rain. She's all alone. And what does Ruby think the most important thing to do would be? Dye her hair and put on fake tan instead of trying to survive. I didn't know whether to laugh at her or bang my head against a wall. I was completely at a loss to understand her. No one in their right mind would be more obsessed with their appearance than trying to survive. She also came across as extremely childish. I had a hard time believing she was sixteen most of the time. I also couldn't believe her stupidity. It's a miracle she lived until the end of the book. 

I was actually quite interested in The Rain to begin with. The whole idea that all water is undrinkable because it's been contaminated with this space bug was pretty interesting. It was also super gory when someone did get trapped in the rain or accidentally drank contaminated water. But as soon as Ruby was on her own, I started to get a bit bored. I was getting even more annoyed with Ruby and her reluctance to survive - even when she was offered help! Ruby has no idea if her father is alive and she's decided that she's going to drive to London to find out. So she ends up in a car with Darius Spratt and BBK (a young girl Darius found who doesn't speak). At least Darius had some sense and was trying his hardest to survive and protect himself - which only earned him mocking from Ruby. Honestly, if I were Darius, I would've kicked Ruby to the curb a long time ago considering she was nothing but horrible to him (and only nice when it suited her - which was hardly ever). So they all journeyed off to London. Ruby almost died more than once because she doesn't think about anything. They had a couple of run ins with people who would do anything for uncontaminated water, and eventually ran into the army. Ruby decided she wasn't going with them and left Darius to continue to London to find her father. 

Towards the end I started to fall asleep. In all honesty, I did fall asleep... more than once. It just started to get so boring and Ruby was really grating on my nerves, so I started skimming to get to the end and find out whether she found her dad or not. The ending was terrible. After Ruby going on a huge journey to find her dad, she ends up back where she started. It was completely pointless.

Overall, The Rain was a huge let down for me. I couldn't stand the main character, the storyline was boring and made me fall asleep. I'm not even the slightest bit interested in the second book. I don't think I could stand hearing from Ruby again.