THE RAINS CAME DOWN
BY JULIAN SHAW
Published: 10th July 2023
A world where nature has claimed the streets of London… where ageless people are perilously addicted to sucking marbles… and where the deaths of three men from another world threatens the order of the universe…
When Gareth Edwards dies in a train crash, he emerges in The Meadow, a realm existing somewhere between life and death. Hunted and on the run, he finds refuge with a travelling circus and journeys with them across the splendour of this strange world, where pubs organise rebellions, cave dwellers archive Earth’s disasters – and where a network of monasteries are commissioning expeditions into the Welsh mountains that are too dangerous to speak of.
Gareth joins one of these expeditions, only to find something yet more perilous waiting for him – something with origins that reach beyond this world and into the trauma of his past.
This delightful foray into speculative fantasy is something to be celebrated. Drinking the water could kill you for good, and marbles have replaced food. These and hundreds of other ways in which Gareth’s new works differs from the one which he left so abruptly are described in fascinating detail. Julian Shaw’s vision of The Meadow is fantastical, a tad bonkers, and rather brilliant. He somehow manages to make it a desirable but also fearful place at the same time. The whole story is told with very human emotions, which made it very hard to put down. I read until my eyes were blurry on consecutive nights, as I couldn’t wait to find out how Gareth’s story ended. I’m excited to read more from the author!
*Thanks to Julian Shaw for sending me a paperback of this book; this is my unbiased review.
5 / 5
A thought-provoking and well written fantasy phenomenon!