Reviews

I enjoyed reading this book a lot, the atmosphere and themes were amazing and the story had so much potential with the ghost ore that causes rips in space and time and the possibilities with that in the reclamation area. It was a fascinating premise that I was excited to delve into. However, once reading it, I wanted to love it, but there were just so many moving parts, like the parts with Claire and even with the birds, that it didn’t feel cohesive. The author also kept the effects of the ore way too vague, and it left the story feeling incomplete rather than mysterious. Focusing on the decoherences in the Hewitt family and their own realizations about what the ghost ore was doing to them and the earth would have made the book so much better.

lorenaslibrary's review

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adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an advanced reader copy.

“The northern mining town of River Meadows is one of three hotspots in the world producing ghost ore, a new source of energy worth twenty-eight times its weight in gold. It's also linked with slippages of time and space that gradually render the area uninhabitable. After the town is evacuated, the whole region is cordoned off, the new no-go zone wryly nicknamed "the Park."

Three intertwined stories flow from the disaster of River Meadows. Alex Hewitt and his sister, Amery, were among the first to be shipped out of the contaminated town. Now an accomplished game designer, Alex has moved on, but his sister has not, making increasingly dangerous break-ins to save animals trapped in the toxic wasteland. When at last she fails to return from a trip inside the fence, Alex flies to River Meadows to search for her, enlisting her friend, Michio Amano, a mathematician who needs to transcend the known laws of physics if he and Alex are to succeed.”

If the Book of Rain was a short story, it would fit very well with How High We Go in the Dark – speculative fiction, post-apocalyptic, “easy” fantasy, hint of mystery. This also has a sprinkle of Hollow Kingdom (minus the zombies and a funny crow) with its talking birds.

I’m glad Thomas Wharton discussed Alberta’s oil sands in the book through the “ghost ore” and I enjoyed the Canadian references and “decoherences” aka next-level déjà vu. But oh man was this ambitious! I found it hard to follow with multiple POVs, flashbacks, diary entries, and the random drift to stream-of-consciousness writing, and because of these, I highly recommend picking up a physical copy rather than audio. As some reviewers have said, this story really picks up around the 60% mark… which is a little too late in the book lol.

Since I did not quite enjoy this, I’m going to feature a few articles about the “ghost ore” aka Alberta’s oil sands in this post.

1. This is the world's most destructive oil operation—and it's growing by Stephen Leahy (April 2019)

2. Canada’s Tar Sands: Destruction So Vast and Deep It Challenges the Existence of Land and People by Nicholas Kusnetz (November 2021)

3. World of Change: Athabasca Oil Sands (Earth Observatory – NASA)

shighfi's review against another edition

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4.0

More of a 3.5.
Started very strong, but lost me midway through

susanw's review

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4.0

3.5⭐️ not really a four star for me, but better than a three star. GoodReads when will will be able to give half stars!!! It took some time for me really get into the book but once I settled into it I liked it, liked the premise and the sci fi/environmental nature of what was happening. I was a little let down by the ending but it was trying big things and that can be hard to end well.

bibliotequeish's review

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2.0

An odd phenomenon plagues the small mining town of River Meadows, people are losing time. Following a mining accident the town is evacuated and deemed unsafe and dubbed "the Park"

Three stories - Alex is looking for his sister Amery who entered the park and has not been heard from again.
Claire traffics endangered animals.
And the birds who want to save the humans (this part was completely lost on me)

So right off the bat, this book was not reminiscent of Station Eleven at all.
I found the story overly vague and was left with too many questions. We kind of know what has started this societal decline, but the full ramifications are not explained. While this may work for some people, I don't enjoy books like that.
I felt as though the environmental message was lost in a confusing story, and in the end this was not an enjoyable read for me.

samhanson's review

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medium-paced

4.0

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