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The Blue
This is the final book in the Rain Trilogy!
This is the Omnibus Edition and includes all 5 parts.
With Ernest gone, and an ice-filled sea of mist and fog, Russell and Tanner have started to let their last hopes of finding the Resilience slip away. And food and fuel and ammo are almost gone. But there's something worse out there. Something is stalking them.
The long struggle for survival begins its last chapter, with the great movement across the pack, with the last friends to ever know. A final quest toward the blue.
This is the Omnibus Edition and includes all 5 parts.
With Ernest gone, and an ice-filled sea of mist and fog, Russell and Tanner have started to let their last hopes of finding the Resilience slip away. And food and fuel and ammo are almost gone. But there's something worse out there. Something is stalking them.
The long struggle for survival begins its last chapter, with the great movement across the pack, with the last friends to ever know. A final quest toward the blue.
- GenresScience Fiction
414 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 24, 2014
18 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
About the author
Joseph A. Turkot
49 books110 followersJoseph Turkot is the author of eight novels and many short stories. He began writing as an independent author, and The Rain is his first release with Blackstone Publishing. He lives in South Jersey, and when not writing, he dreams of the day when he’ll be able to open an animal sanctuary.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 21, 2016
I may have enjoyed this a bit more had I read it right after book 2...unfortunately this hadn't been written at the time, which was well over two years ago.
So no beating around the bush on this one - what a crappy ending. Even after everything Tanner has gone through (and us right along with her), maybe she is supposed to completely change who she is at the very end. Maybe she was supposed to shed all of her morals and become everything she (we) hated. Maybe that was the author's plan. If so, it was a shitty plan. And just in case I'm giving something away...
I won't tell you not to read this series. For the most part, it was fairly good and now that you've been made aware that the ending doesn't quite fit, you would be prepared - I was not.
So no beating around the bush on this one - what a crappy ending. Even after everything Tanner has gone through (and us right along with her), maybe she is supposed to completely change who she is at the very end. Maybe she was supposed to shed all of her morals and become everything she (we) hated. Maybe that was the author's plan. If so, it was a shitty plan. And just in case I'm giving something away...
I won't tell you not to read this series. For the most part, it was fairly good and now that you've been made aware that the ending doesn't quite fit, you would be prepared - I was not.
April 13, 2015
Well. The trilogy ends.
And this is the worst of them all. A person with almost no clothes, no food and no means to heat survives in the cold and on a frozen sea for days... and then manages to... well. I'll leave that to anyone up for reading this.
It's really not especially good. Or well written. Though it was a good concept, and the first book had promise. But no thanks.
And this is the worst of them all. A person with almost no clothes, no food and no means to heat survives in the cold and on a frozen sea for days... and then manages to... well. I'll leave that to anyone up for reading this.
It's really not especially good. Or well written. Though it was a good concept, and the first book had promise. But no thanks.
March 14, 2015
Loved the entire series, but this final installment wasn't quite as good as the previous two, in my opinion. Perhaps I was just getting as fatigued as Tanner by this point, but some of the action just seemed way too implausible at this point, and the ending extremely rushed and not really satisfying. Not to spoil anything but there's a twist at the end I just couldn't buy, and too much left hanging (seriously, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.)
September 16, 2025
So to the last book in the series and as with the others, Turkot works the ebbs and flows of suspense and relief very well. Things go from worse to worse with minor successes to alleviate the distress of it all. The structure fits very neatly into the categories set out in the book about structuring your novel I read last year with the turning point happening around the time they reach the plane.
This feels like a trashy novel because of the large print, basic cover and, obviously, the subject matter but I think the writing is better than those characteristics suggest. As an experiment I've made a quick comparison with Cormac McArthy's The Road and where the use of language is concerned there isn't too much between them. Turkot does slip into cliches occasionally with things like, 'all of the sudden' (one of his favourites) and 'like a tonne of bricks' but that doesn't define all the writing. On a side note, I think it should be 'all of a sudden' and that did annoy me a bit. Beside those things the language appears to be similar, allowing for the different narrative voices. The Road is more introspective while The Blue, and prequels, is more action based.
I would have liked to have seen a bit more emotion around Russell's death, I think this was underplayed. It's possible that it was intentional to show her hardening into the character she becomes at the end but if that was the case that could have been better presented.
There is a massive coincidence at the very end of the novel and I've read some other reviewers criticising the end but I'm ok with it. I think the story needed a happy ending after all she had been through and that coincidence also created a nice circularity to Tanner's journey. And it wasn't as if she just waltzes back into civilisation and all is fine, she's clearly extremely traumatised and at the very limits of her sanity.
You could probably also question the reality of her surviving for as long as she did out on the ice like that and question various other narrative devices to get her to her final destination but I decided not to do that and enjoy the ride instead.
All in all I thought it was an enjoyable ending to the trilogy. Unremittingly intense, which is what I wanted from the story. I'd like to give it 3.5 stars but as that's not possible I've had to choose three. I started with four but writing my review has made me realise that's a bit high.
This feels like a trashy novel because of the large print, basic cover and, obviously, the subject matter but I think the writing is better than those characteristics suggest. As an experiment I've made a quick comparison with Cormac McArthy's The Road and where the use of language is concerned there isn't too much between them. Turkot does slip into cliches occasionally with things like, 'all of the sudden' (one of his favourites) and 'like a tonne of bricks' but that doesn't define all the writing. On a side note, I think it should be 'all of a sudden' and that did annoy me a bit. Beside those things the language appears to be similar, allowing for the different narrative voices. The Road is more introspective while The Blue, and prequels, is more action based.
I would have liked to have seen a bit more emotion around Russell's death, I think this was underplayed. It's possible that it was intentional to show her hardening into the character she becomes at the end but if that was the case that could have been better presented.
There is a massive coincidence at the very end of the novel and I've read some other reviewers criticising the end but I'm ok with it. I think the story needed a happy ending after all she had been through and that coincidence also created a nice circularity to Tanner's journey. And it wasn't as if she just waltzes back into civilisation and all is fine, she's clearly extremely traumatised and at the very limits of her sanity.
You could probably also question the reality of her surviving for as long as she did out on the ice like that and question various other narrative devices to get her to her final destination but I decided not to do that and enjoy the ride instead.
All in all I thought it was an enjoyable ending to the trilogy. Unremittingly intense, which is what I wanted from the story. I'd like to give it 3.5 stars but as that's not possible I've had to choose three. I started with four but writing my review has made me realise that's a bit high.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 30, 2015
Wow, what a an adventure saga for Tanner. The constant rain, then snow and ice, then the blue sky she has never seen in her 16 years of life. She has to defend herself from a seal and then from bad men who want to use her. I love this story and am anxious to read more of the author's books. He writes very well, keeps you hanging in there when you should be doing other things.
This is one of my all time favorite stories of survival in a post apocalyptic world. It is my favorite genre but this one is something totally different than what I have read before. There are no zombies, just people who are so desperate they want to eat you, called Face Eaters. They are not superhuman, they can be killed like any other human. But they are desperate and scary. The seal, Spot is quite scary too, desperate and hungry as well.
Tanner talks about the veneer that is civilized living, the one we all live in because we can, because there is abundant shelter, food and water. The veneer slips when all that goes away and we are left with just surviving and what we will do to accomplish that.
A very good story. If you haven't found these yet, get started. You will get pulled in too. Isn't that what we all want from a good story?
This is one of my all time favorite stories of survival in a post apocalyptic world. It is my favorite genre but this one is something totally different than what I have read before. There are no zombies, just people who are so desperate they want to eat you, called Face Eaters. They are not superhuman, they can be killed like any other human. But they are desperate and scary. The seal, Spot is quite scary too, desperate and hungry as well.
Tanner talks about the veneer that is civilized living, the one we all live in because we can, because there is abundant shelter, food and water. The veneer slips when all that goes away and we are left with just surviving and what we will do to accomplish that.
A very good story. If you haven't found these yet, get started. You will get pulled in too. Isn't that what we all want from a good story?
September 11, 2014
Wow. I read the entire trilogy, The Rain, The Snow, and The Blue in less than a week. It was compelling. The characters are easy to care about, there's lots of action -- occasionally highly improbable, especially in The Blue, but that's okay -- and thought-provoking ideas and dialogue about how thin the veneer of civilization can be.
One very small quibble -- I understand that self-published books often (VERY often) need more editing, and while this one is better than many in that regard, I had a hard time getting past one issue. The phrase "all of the sudden" is used about nine thousand times. That fact that it was used so many times is one thing, but what really got to me is that I believe the phrase should be "all of a sudden" instead. It's probably acceptable either way, but that phrase took me out of the action every single time I read it.
One very small quibble -- I understand that self-published books often (VERY often) need more editing, and while this one is better than many in that regard, I had a hard time getting past one issue. The phrase "all of the sudden" is used about nine thousand times. That fact that it was used so many times is one thing, but what really got to me is that I believe the phrase should be "all of a sudden" instead. It's probably acceptable either way, but that phrase took me out of the action every single time I read it.
July 11, 2016
I struggled through this final installment of the Rain trilogy. I ended up skimming parts. The ending did not feel final or like much was tied up.
I feel like I was really impressed with the first one and these final two were harder and more frustrating over all to read. The story seemed pretty well thought out but the execution wasn't so great.
These worked for me as "in-between" reads but I'm not sure that I would recommend them. If this is a genre that you are into, maybe give it a try. The concept is interesting.
I feel like I was really impressed with the first one and these final two were harder and more frustrating over all to read. The story seemed pretty well thought out but the execution wasn't so great.
These worked for me as "in-between" reads but I'm not sure that I would recommend them. If this is a genre that you are into, maybe give it a try. The concept is interesting.
September 9, 2014
Fantastic! I couldn't put this book down. What did I love about this series? I loved the rollercoaster of emotions the characters go through, their struggle for survival and the moral choices the characters have to make. I willed each character to survive and carried on reading until the end. Now I am left wishing there was more to read, absolutely brilliant! :-)
July 29, 2014
I was hooked throughout this whole book. Reading about Tanner and Russell again was fantastic. Any book that has me hooked and up half the night reading, like this one has, deserves 5 stars. I've gone through many emotions when reading this series and I would whole heartily recommend it to anybody.
April 18, 2015
Good read
Was an awesome series. I just wish wish was a fourth book so see life return and Tanners struggle returning to society.
Was an awesome series. I just wish wish was a fourth book so see life return and Tanners struggle returning to society.
May 28, 2015
Please see my review for the first in this series. All is explained there.
January 2, 2016
Excellent. Thought-provoking. Real jeopardy for main characters.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews