Sean McGinty's Rainbow in the Dark is a disquieting and disorienting work of YA techno-magical realism.
It is the story of "you" (aka Rainbow), a teen stranded in a deserted and uncanny video game-like setting. Rainbow has little to no idea who they are or where they came from, aside from the computer code "memories" they receive from blue boxes scattered across the Wilds. Most of these memories are just that: snapshots of Rainbow's life before. Others, however, tell the story of the Eternal God/dess of Teen Depression, a deity who becomes depressed by their own immortality and repeatedly commits suicide. Before Rainbow can make sense of their new surroundings and perplexing memories, they meet Chad01 the Warrior, Owlsy the Scholar and Lark the Mystic, Lost Kids on a quest to find a portal home. The group sets off on a dangerous journey that includes battling Keepers ("junkies") and Night Screamers (who feed on fear), outwitting wizards, saving fuzzies and running from pasts that haunt them in the direction of homes they can't remember.
McGinty (The End of Fun) has created in his sophomore YA work an exciting experiment that challenges accepted ideas about the way novels are written. The book reads like a guided meditation, the second-person perspective and conversational tone inviting readers not just to picture the character and the setting but to inhabit a new frame of consciousness. It is a book with a forceful sense of immediacy, a story that discourages dwelling on past mistakes or fearing the uncertainty of the future and instead prompts readers to focus on and live in the present moment. --Cade Williams, freelance reviewer and staff writer at the Harvard Independent.