Name: Bad Bloods: November Rain
ISBN: 9781634221900

Shannon A. Thompson

Seventeen-year-old Serena isn't human. She is a bad blood, and in the city of Vendona, bad bloods are executed. In the last moments before she faces imminent death, a prison guard aids her escape and sparks a revolt.

Bad Bloods: November Rain

Gretchen Gomez

4.5 stars

I was sent this book from the author herself for an honest review. I wanted to firstly thank the author for sending me this. Second, if you look on Goodreads, it says that it’s a series but it’s technically not. The author told me that this is one big book divided into two parts: November Rain and November Snow. It’s meant to be read together which makes complete sense because after the ending of November Rain I am so left wanting more!!

If you’re into x-men and corrupt government then pick this up!!

When I first started reading this book I was kind of on my tip toes because it just jumped straight into the story of Serena escaping and I was like “what the heck is going on? I don’t even know this world” BUT THE QUESTION GOT ANSWERED!! While reading the book I was asking myself a lot of questions of how things came to be, what happened in this world, why the attack on Bad Bloods, etc. Usually stories like this just get info dump but I liked how the author was just answering each of my questions through dialogue or story telling of a character. I thought that was very well done.

The story is told in the year 2089 through two point of views (I adore more than one point of view because I love being in everyones head): Serena and Daniel which are the main characters in the story.

Oh before I forget, I want to give another thank you to the author for giving every character really simple names rather than extravagant names that some of us readers can’t pronounce half the time.

Currently there’s an election that is about to go on and depending on who wins then things can go either really bad for the Bad Bloods which result in death/extinction or it can rather well but it all depends on who wins. Bad Bloods are already being executed and when Daniel meets Serena, he believes she has the fate to change this corrupt government where the Blooded have to hide and survive on their own. The problem with Serena and Daniel collaborating together is that even within the Bad Bloods, there is separation of groups.

I liked how Shannon touched upon the subject of separation and not coming together as one within a minority group because I feel like that’s something we see in day to day life.

I like how even though we know from the synopsis that Serena and Daniel play a key part to maybe changing what’s going to happen in their world, while reading the story you don’t get the sense of that “person doesn’t know they’re supposed to save the world” trope.

We meet diverse characters who are all younger than 18 years old with very different powers and I loved all of them. They all have such distinct stories about them and I loved how the author touched on their stories briefly. I felt like it added to the story and Serena’s power. I liked that there was a sense of family and protection among the kids although they aren’t related but still have one thing in common.

The writing is awesome and super easy. The story is fast paced and you will fly through November Rain. The plot is easy to understand and once you’re into the story you just get everything that’s going on.

I took a .5 off because I thought dividing one book into two parts wasn’t exactly necessary. I would’ve loved the continuation of the story. So the ending of the story was abrupt in my opinion. Other than that, if you want something fast paced in a urban fantasy futuristic setting that’s not complicated then please pick this up! I am definitely going to read more from this author.

Bad Bloods: November Rain

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