Red Rain by Aubrey Hansen [nomination]

Red Rain is the premier novel from Aubrey Hansen. The book is a Science Fiction/Mystery set in the year 2148, after the one world government has successfully piled all of the Christian families into internment camps. Anyone with a religion or faith in God was sent to live in one, unless they signed a document of agreement that they will never talk about it again. The story is in the point of view of a seventeen year old Christian girl, Philadelphia. Her father is a scientist.

At first it seemed like this was an average end-times/dystopian plot, but there was something about the way that Ms. Hansen wrote this book... I couldn't stop reading the sample chapter, and then I found out there was an audio book, and listened to the whole thing until three in the morning. Every time you think you know where it's going to go, you don't. And then you get to the middle of the book, and you get blown away. And then you get to the next chapter, and it happens again. She just has a way of putting it that sounds new and gets you trembling near the end, and you love every minute of it. Some complain that the ending was too rushed (probably to leave openings for sequels), but it seemed alright, and the last paragraph was so brilliant, I didn't get it until thirty seconds after I finished reading. The characters develop through to the last page!

Some of you may know I'm the last person to read science fiction. So when I kept hearing about the book, I shrugged it off. WARNING: If you are one of those genre snots like me, do NOT pass up this book because of it. And if you think you're too good for the book because it doesn't have a Lucy Maud Montgomery or Charles Dickens writing style (I.E. flowery), then you are a stick in the mud and I need to give you a frowny face sticker (and you're probably the only person on Amazon that voted it one star). Because the simplistic writing style actually COMPLIMENTS the setting, and the whole thing. You'll be smacking your head.

What I really appreciate about this book is that for the first time in years, even though I thought the plot was predictable, I couldn't guess a single thing that was going to happen. That was more shocking than anything else. Haha. Also, Philly relies on God to get her through hard times in a way that is more satisfying than most Christian fiction books.

And in case your wondering, there ARE a few nit picks or minor plot snags, but they weren't significant enough to remember.

In September of 2011 she self-published the novella, made a snazzy audio book narrated by Grace Pennington (I cannot recommend that ENOUGH, it was so amazing), and has successfully made it big--big enough that many of the blogs I went on had a promotional button for it since it came out. I finally caved in January and 'read' it, and it was totally worth it.

Have you read this book? Post your thoughts and discuss by making a comment.

NOMINATED BY: Jessie V.

Red Rain by Aubrey Hansen

CreateSpace, 2011, Length 94 pages, Age Range 12+ "mild thematic elements and some action-violence" (but I didn't think it was that bad)

Science Fiction (YA/Teen)