The Rainfall Market by You Yeong-Gwang
The Rainfall Market
by You Yeong-Gwang
Fantasy | Contemporary
206 Pages
Released June 2023
Rating: ★★ 1/2
Goodreads
Content Warnings
I love a good feel-good cozy story and when I first heard about this book (and saw it’s spectacular cover), it sounded like something I would adore. However, it failed to fully live up to my expectations.
This book follows Serin, who has thus far lived a difficult life. When Serin comes across a book that instructs her how to get a ticket to the legendary Rainfall Market, she follows it, never thinking she could actually be picked - until a mysterious letter arrives one day with the coveted ticket inside.
This book’s premise sounded so intriguing. A mysterious market that grants wishes? It sounded very folklore-y and promising. Unfortunately, it feels like there was something lost in translation.
For starters, the writing feels rather juvenile. While this book felt like it was marketed as adult, it’s really quite childish overall.
Serin seems like she is supposed to be older but acts quite young and naive. It’s a bit strange, as many characters that have grown up struggling are usually quite hardy and resilient but Serin comes across as unconfident, wishy-washy and in some cases quite self-centered - all qualities that would make more sense in a younger protagonist (a twelve-year-old, for example). In fact, almost all the characters feel quite one-dimensional and child like.
The plot also feels underdeveloped and formulaic. Each chapter goes through the same motions - a new character is introduced with an issue that they struggle to resolve. Serin then accidentally-but-quite-easily resolve the issue, resulting in a magical orb that is supposed to give her the life she’s always wanted. But then Serin quickly realizes that the orb-life is not what she wants before moving on to the next location/new character/different dream-life. This meant that the story became rather predictable and a bit boring after the first couple chapters.
While I understand the point of a cozy book is low stakes, this was really low stakes. So between the juvenile main character, the super low stakes and the overall message the author tries to put out with this book, I really think it is better suited for a much younger audience.
The one highlight for me was Issha the cat. Unbothered and always hungry. A role-model we can all live up to (I kid, I kid, but I really did like the cat).
Finally, after some investigation, Dokaebi (the mythical creatures referenced in this book) seem to be not very accurate? I was hoping to be immersed in Korean culture but I don’t think I fully got that out of this novel.
Overall, it was ok. I think if you go into this story knowing that it is low-stakes with an immature protagonist, you’ll set yourself up for better expectations than what I had.