Monday, January 20, 2025

The Rainfall Market - Fiction Review

Goodreads:  The Rainfall Market by You Yeong-Gwang (Translated by Slin Jung)

Rating: Liked It!  (3.5 Stars)
Source:   Publisher

Description:  On the first day of the monsoon an old ramshackle building appears. This is The Rainfall Market. Inside you will find magical bookstores, hairdressers, perfumeries and anything your heart desires.

But you cannot enter without an invitation.

Serin, who lives in a small flat with her mother and dreams of a bigger, better life, can’t believe her luck when she receives a ticket inviting her to step inside The Rainfall Market.

Once inside she will have the opportunity to swap her life for a new one. A better one.

Accompanied by Isha the cat and followed by a mysterious shadow, Serin tentatively steps inside. There she is told she has just one week to choose the perfect life and find true happiness.

However, there is a catch.

If she doesn’t find her dream life, she'll be trapped inside the market forever . . .

Genre: Fiction - Fantasy

Why I Picked This Book:  I couldn't resist the cover and the premise sounded interesting.

My Impression: This was an interesting read.  Serin is a girl about to come an adult without much hope for the future.  Her sister has runaway and not come back, her mother is working herself into a shadow of who she was, and Serin feels alone.  The Rainfall Market is like an answer to everything she's ever wished for and the day the invitation comes is perhaps the most exciting of her life.

This was a bit of a slower read and there is a bit of repetitiveness as Serin spends time in the Rainfall Market.  While I enjoyed it, I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it in smaller doses - a chapter at a time.  As well, I think this would be more enjoyable in print form - partly because the cover is gorgeous but mostly because there is a guide to the Market at the beginning and it would have been easier to flip back and forth if I had a physical copy of the book.  

This was a nice read with an interesting cast of characters and an endearing main character and sidekick.  I'm also very glad I read the book knowing as little about the story as possible as it was fun to see how the story played out.  

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?  I'm not sure the author is an auto-read just yet but I will be keeping an eye out for future books.

Would I Recommend this Book?  If you like unusual reads with an interesting world of characters this is a good choice though I do recommend reading it a chapter at a time.

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *

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