The Rainfall Market
Author: You Yeong-Gwang
Translated by: Slin Jung
Reviewer: Jen
Rating: D
What I’m Talking About:
The Rainfall Market is a simple, predictable tale of a young girl who wishes for a better life. Serin is excited that she receives a ticket to the Rainfall Market, a magical place where she can exchange her life for a better one. Yet as she navigates the mysterious land and befriends the Dokkaebi, she begins to see that there are downsides to every perfect life. She is a victim of “the grass is always greener,” but is granted the ability to learn and grow rather than continue to chase unfulfilling dreams.
Marketed as a “Korean best seller,” with plenty of praise, I thought the book sounded exciting and interesting, however I quickly discovered two things:
- The back cover blurb doesn’t mention age, but the main character is school-aged, and the story is shared through the lens of a young person/child.
- The writing style and vocabulary is fairly simplistic. This could be due to the translation, which I cannot verify. It reminds me of watching an English-dubbed anime where you can tell it’s not as good as the original.
The entire story and reading experience hits at a middle grade level, which was a big disappointment for me.
The story is uplifting but entirely predictable. Serin discovers her self-worth, finds confidence, and learns the value of friendship and love. As she searches for a better life, she is shown the downsides of each desire, i.e. to have a high-power job you have to work endless hours and will probably sacrifice a personal life. And as she collects each Orb that contains a new life, she helps and befriends the Dokkaebi, learning that by being herself, she is “good enough.”
Overall, the translated writing is too simple and filled with oddities and contradictions like in Chapter 15, which opens with “Haku [a young Dokkaebi] was not difficult to find.” Then two paragraphs later “Finding a young Dokkaebi here would be like finding a needle in a haystack.” There are countless examples of either ill-fitted translations or (what feels to this reader like) poor subplot developments.
In the end, I would recommend The Rainfall Market to fans of middle grade stories. It would be a great book to share in an elementary classroom setting. However, if you are looking for an adult fantasy, you should look elsewhere.
My Rating: D Not A Big Fan
Jen
About the Book:
If you could swap your life for a better one, which would you choose?
On the outskirts of Rainbow Town, there is an old, abandoned house. They say that if you send a letter detailing your misfortunes there, you could receive a ticket. If you bring this ticket to the house on the first day of the rainy season, you’ll be granted entrance into the mysterious Rainfall Market—where you can choose to completely change your life.
No one is more surprised than Serin when she receives a ticket. Lonely and with no real prospects for a future, Serin ventures to the market, determined to create a better life for herself.
There, she meets a magical cat companion named Issha and they search through bookstores, perfumeries, and fantastical realms while Serin tries to determine what her perfect life will look like.
The catch? Serin only has one week to find her happiness or be doomed to vanish into the market forever.
And all the while, a shadow follows quietly behind them…
Release Date: January 21, 2025
Publisher: Ace
Series: Standalone
Genre: Fantasy, Magic Realism, Young Adult
Format(s): paperback (224 pages), e-book, audiobook
Book Source: Publisher / NetGalley
Purchase Info:
Amazon (affiliate link)