After the Red Rain
by Barry Lyga, Peter Facinelli, and Robert DeFranco
I received an ARC of this book at BEA, and I was immediately drawn in. In fact, it was the first book I wanted to read of the many I had picked up while at BEA. The cover is the first clue that you are entering a post-apocalyptic world. The "cracked" letters and burning pile of debris let you know that this won't be a pretty picture. Indeed, that was certainly the case.
The prologue was creepy and a bit confusing, alluding to an earlier time frame, but it's connection doesn't become apparent until much later in the text. The today of the novel is a terrible potential future: humankind is impoverished, resources are scant, especially "natural" food, and people have been subjugated to the territorial magistrates, overlords who control work and the meager rations.
As is common in post-apocalyptic novels, one person stretches the rules to suit her own purposes. Deedra is an explorer who pushes the boundaries of acceptability in order to scavenge for items and food to supplement her rationed-near-starvation diet. While exploring, she encounters an almost perfect boy named Rose. Immediately, I assumed I would be reading a transgender tale of some sort, but that notion was quickly dispelled and much later replaced with the notion of transhuman.
Deedra's reaction to Rose and her subsequent actions propel the plot at a reckless speed that kept me rooted to turning pages without stopping. I felt her character had real truth. Hers was the outlook of a person who had been told this is the way it is and always has been. Yet in a world where history is a reflection of frequently edited wikis on the net, history is no longer fact, but a human construct of varying, and often conflicting, opinions. Deedra's hopelessness and despair reflect this mentality but seem to grasp for something more.
Stock characters abound, but they play their roles well and serve the overall plotline perfectly. My curiosity about this new world had me intrigued, but the later efforts at world building seemed stagnant and redundant. The strengths of this novel are its interesting observations about human nature in a post-apocalyptic world and its frenetic pace that keeps the reader engaged in the thrilling story. Some vocabulary is a bit high for most middle schoolers and even high schoolers, but overall it is a genuinely readable novel, enjoyable even for adults.
My final take? Go ahead and get it. It's worth the read!
