Bad Bloods: November Rain

By: Shannon A. Thompson

Narrated by: Jonathan Johns

Length: 5 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

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. Back on the streets determined to destroy her kind, Serena is spared by a fellow bad blood named Daniel. His past tragedies are as equally mysterious as her connection to them. Unbeknownst to the two, this connection is the key to winning the election for bad bloods' rights to be seen as human again. But Serena is the only one who can secure Vendona's vote. Now, Daniel must unite with her before all hope is lost and bad bloods are eradicated, even if it means exposing secrets worse than death itself. United or not, a city will fight, rain will fall, and all will be threatened by star-crossed love and political corruption.

©2016 Clean Teen Publishing (P)2017 Shannon A. Thompson

Awesome characters

November Rain is passed in 2089 in a world where some persons aren’t entirely human. They are called bad bloods and in the city of Vendona, they are executed. Our main character Serena is a bad blood who got caught and almost killed. She was helped by a prison guard to escape. Followed by Daniel – our other main character – who is also a bad blood, who helped to save her life on the streets of Vendona.

I really liked this world, it was extremely gripping, realistic and just fantastic. It’s really creative and full of interesting elements. We have persons with different abilities, we have the tense political aspects, a city full of danger and a lot of mysteries. With the additional romance, which I’m excited to see evolve!

The characters are really awesome. I loved to follow both of the main characters, to see the differences in their life, to see them trying to survive and their interactions throughout the novel. They were full of life and personality and I am completely addicted to them. But we also have a lot more characters than those two and they are as special as these ones! They are all very young, with different abilities, personalities and overall stories.

I love how they all merged together. All they have in common being bad bloods, but I felt that it was even more than that. It really felt like family, the way they treated each other, and some of the characters were just a joy to be introduced to.

I loved this story, the only problem I had was that the narrator was quite difficult to enter into - the actual voice. There’s a lot going on, and to understand all the characters and different plots, it’s not easy sometimes, in an audiobook. And this one was definitely not easy for me to grab at first. But after some time I kinda got the hang of it. The voice might not be the best for the story.

Good dystopian, with awesome characters that will enter your heart, and some fantastic elements!

Something was missing.

This was the kind of book that I could take it or leave it because I really felt like something was missing. It's very much a character driven story, which I like, but I also like a bit of world building too. I felt like this was missing a big bit of the world building. We know there is political turmoil going on but we don't know why. We know that there is only two "flocks" of bad bloods left but we don't know why. We also don't know why the two flocks are separate and why they don't really talk. There was too much missing for me to get fully invested in the story,

Character wise, while there are two main ones, Serena or Daniel, we also get to see some of the flocks they belong to. Each chapter of this is told from either Daniel or Serenas POV, which I liked. I also liked thee concept of the story, I just wish there was more depth to it!!

I don't know what else to say about this, because even though I liked it, I just have a lot of negative thoughts about it!! I'm on the fence with regards reading the next in the series because I'd need to make sure the world building is better and we get some answers first!!

The narrator was ok. I did find that he didn't differentiate the characters enough and it was only the fact that the chapters said who was talking that I could follow along. Other than that, he read it ok.

I was voluntarily provided this audiobook for free from the author, narrator, or publisher. This in no way affected nor influenced my thoughts.

Great story

Very interesting. Love the characters, the storyline has an X-men feel to it but is still it’s own uniques story. I was intrigued from the beginning . There are so many characters each with their own unique gift. It does end on a cliff hanger so I can’t wait for the next book. Jonathon Jones did a great job with the narration

What a great book, hooked from the start.

Wow, this book started off crazy and good. Serena is one of two main characters. When we meet her she is about to die, because all bad bloods must die. In a city where humans and bad bloods divide them, humans seeing anyone different as not worthy.
But someone helps Serena escape this death sentence and Serena is not sure why? But after a moment of wondering she leaves.

That's when she is almost caught and runs into Daniel or rather he finds her.
He helps her in the alleyway. Daniel is another of the main characters. This book is told from two points of view. And I love that about this book.
From there things only get better and better.

When Daniel gets Serena to a safe zone he tells her it's okay no one will hurt her there. She doesn't believe him at first. Because why would any one want to help a bad blood out? Daniel explains he is a bad blood as well.
Although every bad blood has unique powers that they can use, Serena absorbs others powers.

Now with Serena back on her side with her make shift family all she can think about his Daniel and how kind he was to her. But the leader of her little family warns her to stay away from him.
Now a lot happens in this book that I don't want to give away spoilers.
But I do want to say this is such a great read for anyone who roots for the under dogs and likes a little bit of love in a book. I think it has a little bit of everything for everyone.

So what are you waiting for? Go pick up a copy of this book today.

Awesome set-up for next book

In Bad Bloods: November Rain, readers jump in with main character Serena at the end of a year she's spent in a Bad Bloods detention camp. Readers get the gist of the horrors there, and I get why we needed to move forward from there, but OH HEY, PREQUEL material right here. I really want to know more about that world. Really, I want to know more about all the world in this book as it was a little foggy around the edges for me. This may be more a result of my reading with my ears than the author's actual world-building and writing.

Speaking of reading with my ears -- the audio book narrator, Jonathan Johns, has a delightful voice and pacing. He handled well the wide range of ages (from light hearted children to gruffer old men) and did an excellent job voicing the emotions of the characters. My only issue was that the story is told from alternating points of view, and I had some trouble distinguishing between the two main characters. Fortunately, readers are told who's narrating at the start of each chapter, but if you are not a careful listener, you will be confused.

"Like a flame that already flickered away, put out by the streets and only smoke remained. Daniel was a ghost of a person. I simply hadn't seen it before."

Author Shannon Thompson has some great sentences in the story, and she makes use of figurative language without overdoing it, so I think there is a lot to enjoy if you read this book in print, too. In her writing, Thompson has some interesting parallels between fictitious Vendona and the real world we live in. Many of the leaders in Serena's world focus on what makes us different from each other instead of what we have in common. The upcoming elections literally mean life and death to some of the citizens, and because of what makes them different, they are targeted by the government.

The end of this story. . .ARRRGH. It leaves me with more questions than answers. Instead, what readers get is an abrupt, cliffhanger ending. It's actually a short listen at just five hours, so I would have greatly appreciated just one resolution in the mix. But, on a positive note, the ending leaves a whole lot of potential for the next installment in this duology, November Snow, to be incredibly good. The book is out now but I am going to hold off for the audio book (which I hope is in production now).

Thank you to Audiobookworm Productions and Clean Teen Publishing for providing me a free audio download in exchange for my honest opinion – the only kind I give.

A good setup for a superhero story

The Bad Bloods are like underground superheroes that haven’t been accepted by society yet. Each Bad Blood has one or more powers and as a group have been deemed undesirable by government and society. There are camps where Bad Bloods are sent to and eventually executed. This made the book feel like a near future scifi tale and also like a war time history story at the same time.

It’s a decent start to a series. Serena, Daniel, Calhoun, and Robert all get solid set ups for their characters. I was left with plenty of questions about the world building though. Serena doesn’t talk about her time in the Bad Bloods camp where she spent approximately 1 year. So I wonder quite a bit about what goes on behind those fences and walls and also why she was kept alive that long if all Bad Bloods are to be executed. The big bad nemesis of the story remains pretty far removed from the action and faceless. At first this intrigued me but then I was just frustrated at the lack of info as the book neared it’s end.

Then there’s these Flocks, which are basically Bad Bloods living and hiding together as large adopted families trying to pass as regular citizens. This was also a bit vague. I get that the kids have to keep their noise to a minimum and that most Bad Bloods can’t find legal work unless they obtained some fake IDs. Still, there were all sorts of questions about how so many living together keep the neighbors from asking questions and such.

Calhoun was the most interesting character for me. He’s a surrogate father for Daniel and he doesn’t have any superpowers himself. Yet he assists these Bad Bloods, putting his own life on the line. He has a history that’s hinted at and I really hope we get to know more about him in the next book in the series.

Serena and Daniel and Robert – a triangle. It might turn into a love triangle and it might not. I don’t really care for love triangles myself but I know it can up the drama for a book. So there’s this big election coming up and the outcome will have significant effect on the Bad Blood community. Somehow Serena is key in this election. Once again, it’s all just penciled in; there’s no details as to how or why. So, once again, this initially intrigued me but then just left me frustrated by the end of the book as we get nothing more.

Also, since Serena has this nebulous uber power, both Robert and Daniel are wanting her to side with one of them and not the other. I didn’t really care for this aspect as it turned Serena into an object to be won or taken instead of keeping her a character with personal motives. I hope the second book is more about Serena and what she wants. Also, as she’s the only main female character, I need her to be a whole character to stay interested in her. There’s plenty of minor female characters, but so far Serena is the only plot-relevant female in a cast of male characters getting important stuff done.

The book does end on a big fat cliff hanger with nothing resolved and just a jumble of questions. I am intrigued but also frustrated because Book 2 is not in audiobook format yet. There’s lots of potential here for this tale to be an awesome story and I really hope Book 2 does that for me. As a side note, I want Daniel’s aspartame addiction (which gives him speedy healing and needed nutrition – awesome!) 3.5/5 stars.

Narration: Jonathan Johns made a really good Daniel and an excellent Calhoun. I adored his performance of Calhoun. He also does little kid voices really well. However, his female character voices need some femininity. The ladies sounded like soft spoken males and that sometimes made it difficult to keep track of whose head I was in with the switching POV. Also, there were a few repeated sentences here and there. On the other hand, he really carried off the character emotions quite well and there were a variety of emotions, both subtle and stark, in this story. 4/5 stars.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Clean Teen Publishing. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Lack of world building

In the year 2089 bad bloods are hunted and killed in the electric chair. They live in groups called flocks, but from the initial four, only two remain: the Northern and the Southern flocks. Serena is one of these bad bloods who, helped by a stranger, gets to escape the electric chair. She will be decisive in the future of all the bad bloods.

The premises of this book were really interesting. Young people with special powers, chased and outcasted by the society. We have two main characters in this story: Serena and Daniel. Both are strong willed, courageous, and strong. And they put their flocks’ well-being over their own.

There are quite a great amount of secondary characters, which totally blended into each other for me. We got some brief information about each one, but not enough to make them distinguishable.

The book is written in first person, with alternating POV. Each chapter is narrated from the point of view of either Serena or Daniel, and it is mentioned which one at the beginning of the chapter, something that helped.

It is a character driven story, something I usually enjoy, but I missed some world building. We are in the year 2089, but we have no information about the technology available to the regular people or the bad bloods. We also don’t know how the city of Vendona is, whether people live in houses or large buildings. We essentially know nothing apart from the fact that there is political tension due to the bad bloods. Even this ‘war’ between flocks is not even explained. It is clear that it is an important fact in the story, but I have no idea why. Somebody would think that it would be useful to join each other, or at least try not to kill each other.

Unfortunately all this questions are not answered, because the book is in fact just half of the story. It is not that the book ends on a cliffhanger, it is just that it feels unfinished, like if the book was divided in two.

Jonathan Johns delivered a wonderful narration, subtle but also loaded with emotion. His characters’ interpretations were masterful, and his tone kept my attention throughout the book. It would have been perfect if the book was not written with changing POV. This book would have benefited from dual narration, since one of the characters is male and the other is female. Somehow it was confusing having both parts narrated by the same person, and I had to pay extra attention to know who was talking. It was good that the chapters started with the character’s name, but if I paused my player in the middle of a chapter, whenever I came back it took me some time to realize who was talking.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Clean Teen Publishing. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

This was an okay story.

I received a free copy of this story for an honest review.

Let me state that I take issue when an author or publishing company, depending on who chooses the narrator, decides to go with a male narrator when the main character is female or vice versa. Yes, in this case, the story was divided between the main characters, but Serena was the Main main character. Needless to say, I wasn't really a fan of this story. There were areas that just didn't make sense to me. Otherwise, this story didn't hold my attention which was surprising given what it was about.

I'm on the fence with this narrator. While he had a lovely voice, I'm not sure it's the right one for narrating. For example, there were times when his accent came across too strong and I was unable to understand what he was saying. Additionally, because his male and female voices were so similar there were many times when I wasn't even sure which character much less which main character (Robert, Daniel, or Serena) was speaking.

Questions/Comments:

Prior to really meeting...I don't remember her name...but the girl who had the premonitions in Daniel's flock, the reader is repeatedly told that she isn't always able to decipher her own visions. Yet, when she has a vision of Daniel and Serena and is unable to fully understand what it means Daniel is surprised.

When Serena goes home after being saved by Daniel and Calhoun, why doesn't she end up telling Robert, who wants to kill Daniel, that he was a bad blood like them? At this point, Serena doesn't know that Robert and Daniel know each other. Instead, she lets Robert go off, albeit she does follow him for a while, yet, ends up turning back for some random reason.

Why was Serena surprised that the other kids knew about Daniel's powers when she had dinner with them?

Fabulous Dystopian with an X-Men Twist

Once upon a time, people simply told stories instead of reading them. I think that is part of the allure for me. I have previously read through Thompson's Bad Bloods November Rain and going through a second time in audible format ties in a lot I may have overlooked. A brilliant story starting out paired along with a hypnotic voice to narrate the tale.

Interesting start to a series

The story was a pretty good except the ending which is a huge cliffhanger like it ended in the middle of a sentence type cliffhanger. The world building was good but I wanted a bit more and thought maybe we would get to that in the coming books but I’ll be honest if I had any clue on that ending I would have waited till this series is done before reading.

That being said I am curious, I do plan to read the next book I need to know how this story ends up. I am curious to see what other powers everyone has and if the flocks can be friends instead of enemies and of course will the outcome of the election change the way the Bad Bloods have to live. This has a bit of an X-men feel a little Miss Peregrine and of course they are hunted by the government for their Bad Blood hence the name. I found the different groups interesting and really, really want to know what the deal is with Daniel and Robert and more back story on everyone.

The story was told from 2 different perspectives and they were hard to tell apart, if this story is going to continue being told from Daniel and Serena’s perspective I would suggest adding a female narrator for her chapters. I did like Jonathan Johns narration for the most part I just didn’t feel there was enough difference between the two perspectives.

I do look forward to the next book in this series.

I received this book from the narrator for a fair and honest review.

3 Stars

“AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY”