I chose you because you were the most useless human whose story I had the displeasure of reading.
The Rainfall Market is a coming of age, magic realism novel by Korean author You Yeong-Gwang. It is an affirming and transformative magical adventure, that explores grief, loneliness, and friendship. A young girl called Serin has a dream of having a better life after suffering loss, poverty and discouraging comments regarding her activities that are not generally deemed as ‘feminine’. This leads her to follow a rumour about a special place that can provide you with your dream life. After being invited to the Rainfall Market, Serin finds herself on an adventure where she meets incredibly eccentric characters, and is joined by a special little cat called Issha.
He can’t be reborn until he’s received enough love from a human, which he unfortunately seems to have a hard time absorbing because he was so cruelly abandoned in his past life.
Serin is our protagonist who we can’t help be feel deep empathy from the beginning of the novel. Serin’s character is constantly revealed as she meets the numerous fascinating humanoid-creatures. These creatures have accentuated features and fun personalities, which are the opposite to the tragic backgrounds of Serin and Issha. The relationship between Serin and these colourful characters was nicely developed, earning these strangers trust and friendship, especially between Serin and Issha the cat. Though, the characters were great I was still left feeling that I would have liked more development. It felt as though whilst there was a good amount of scene setting and world building, the amount of characters met along the way had an impact on character building.The world building is enchanting – a visual of beauty and dilapidation, with a variety of imposing weather and fantastical buildings, fauna and flora. You creates a balance of hope and anxiety during Serin’s time at the Rainfall Market,
The writing style is easy and fast paced, and I honestly didn’t see the climax coming, though some of the smaller story arcs were predictable, nonetheless enjoyable. There was maybe a little hint of a sequel, which I would welcome. The plot and storyline were intriguing, stimulated by the apprehension of time, creating an anxiety as you proceed along the journey with Serin and Issa, especially as it escalates, encouraging you turn another page, and then another, and then another.
This was my first ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) via Net Galley, and as an avid reader of translated literature and Asian Literature, it was fantastic to have the opportunity to read The Rainfall Market before it’s launch was both an honour and nerve-wracking as I feared I wouldn’t enjoy it and would feel bad, but it really was an enjoyable contemporary fantasy.
