The Color of Rain Review

The color of Rain by Cori McCarthy is an intense, thrilling, and exciting read! I could not put this book down, well I was forced to, but still! It wasn’t by choice!Overall I rate this book 4.3/5. 

Warning: Prostitution and violence is a major theme in this book, with an emphasis on the prostitution part. 

Though the plot may seem to an outsider like wtf? or just plain weird, this book was a thoroughly edgy, interesting read. The book begins with Rain, being the only remaining redhead; Lo, her prostitute friend; and her touched, younger brother. On Earthcity, it is almost like a post apocalypse, kind of, setting where the people gradually become touched, or in other words infected with a mysterious, mind numbing disease. Those touched are captured by cops/bounty-like hunters for money, and no one knows where they are taken to. Being reduced to selling herself in order to gain enough money to take her and her brother to the edge, where she’s heard rumors that the edge can cure the touched, she sells herself to the cocky, devilish Johnny. Little does she know what she has fully agreed to.

When I bought this book, I wasn’t expecting all of the fucked up things that are contained within these pages. However, it was all of those things that made it an interesting and an attention stealing book. It makes you appreciate the kind of life you may have, after comparing it to Rain’s. At first I was thinking that this was a love-hate romance between Rain and her buyer, Johnny. That misconception quickly vanished when it was revealed that Johnny was also a pimp, and with a very disturbing, violent, sick, deeply psychotic personality, and to only add to all the power he possesses as being the captain of the space ship. 

This book is filled with so much action and so much thrill that it’s easy to get swept up in the story. The author does a good job at transitioning from event to event, and I, for the most part, liked Rain’s character. She is a very mentally strong and smart girl, even more so having a bunch of disadvantages. 

To conclude, I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy some scifi or something really edgy, but also keep in mind the mature themes. Though there is a lot of prostitution, this book is not really pornographic or soft-core/hard-core erotic. For similar reads, I recommend Grave Mercy by R.L. LaFevers, and Delirium by Lauren Oliver.