“These days, when I close my eye, I see the women on the mountain. I see the fever in her skin. I see her broken in my arms. I see my bullet in her throat.”

The Rain Heron feels like a story that is trying to have the feeling of folklore fantasy, like a story that would be passed thru generations on how someone’s actions can impact their environment and influence events in the future. Unfortunately I think Robbie Arnott’s story completely misses the mark in that regard and comes across as a boring retelling of the invader helping the natives story that has been told for decades across multiple mediums

One do the first things that becomes apparent when reading this book is the formatting that Arnott choose to go with, especially with how he decides to organize the dialogue and conversations between characters. They do not have quotations and are broken across lines, other times characters will just monologue across multiple pages. For me this made it extremely hard to follow, to the point that I was more focused on following who was talking instead of understanding what they were talking about.

Which makes me sad because the strongest part of this book is the descriptions and vivid language that is used. This story has some of the most detail I have seen in a novel this year. Describing how Harker’s infection spreads thru her body, to describing the world around them, Arnott does a great job of trying to make you be there through the page.

Part II is the strongest section of “The Rain Heron” by a mile. Every other part is pale in comparison. I wish we would dive more into what happened to this world. Why was there a coup? Who led the coup? Is the war still happening? If those questions were raised or answered, then I completely missed them.

There is strong potential here, but except for Part II, nothing real lives up to it. There will be people who connect with “The Rain Heron” more than me, but besides enjoying the flowery language that was used, I will never think about this book again.

The Rain Heron - Likewise Book Reviews

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