Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
“The person who returns from living abroad isn't the same person who left originally... Your outlook changes. You don't take things for granted that you used to. For instance, I noticed in New York that when one cab cut off another, the driver who got cut off would always yell at the other driver... and I realized this was because Americans assume that the other person intended to do what he did, so they want to teach the person a lesson. But you know, in Japan, people almost never get upset in those situations. Japanese look at other people's mistakes more as something arbitrary, like the weather, I think, not so much as something to get angry about.”
I have owned this ebook for a very long time. I am assuming that it was available for free and I figured I couldn’t go wrong. What is not to like about a free book that is not self-published? (Sorry, I have a few prejudices about self-published books.)
It was a good book to read after my trip to Japan. I believe that I understood the characters and the setting a bit better for my trip. Also, it was a good beach book because I knew that all would work out by the end. I didn’t have to sweat the small stuff as I immersed myself in John Rain’s Tokyo.
If you like good guys who are a bit bad, if you like stories that put you in a world that you might not encounter on your own and you like a bit of mystery, you probably should meet John Rain. Eisler will be happy to introduce you.
I have owned this ebook for a very long time. I am assuming that it was available for free and I figured I couldn’t go wrong. What is not to like about a free book that is not self-published? (Sorry, I have a few prejudices about self-published books.)
It was a good book to read after my trip to Japan. I believe that I understood the characters and the setting a bit better for my trip. Also, it was a good beach book because I knew that all would work out by the end. I didn’t have to sweat the small stuff as I immersed myself in John Rain’s Tokyo.
If you like good guys who are a bit bad, if you like stories that put you in a world that you might not encounter on your own and you like a bit of mystery, you probably should meet John Rain. Eisler will be happy to introduce you.
I think Rain Fall is Barry Eisler's first book and, as such, perhaps deserves a little forgiveness?
I liked the bones of the story but it really felt like Mr Eisler was trying to insert as many action/film noir detective tropes as possible which meant that John Rain just didn't feel like a believable character to me (as much as one can "believe" in these superhuman assassin types). In fact, if you're familiar with the similar character, Court Gentry ([b:The Gray Man|6547865|The Gray Man (Court Gentry, #1)|Mark Greaney|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1335649192s/6547865.jpg|6740331]), I think I actually found him easier to swallow than Rain. My other comparatively minor gripe was a chunk of what appeared to be technobabble toward the end of the book with regards to copy management and lattice reductions that, although somewhat grounded in reality, didn't really make any sense.
Overall I enjoyed the setting and the descriptions of Tokyo and general Japanese minutiae but I never really engaged with the characters. I don't think I'll be following up with the next in the series.
I listened to the Brilliance Audio version, with Brian Nishii narrating. The audio version was excellent and Mr Nishii's obvious grasp of Japanese lent an air of authenticity to the vocalisation of the book. For the most part I was happy with the voices that he chose for the various characters except for Bulfinch and Yamaoto which were both oddly pitched and, initially at least, rather jarring.
I liked the bones of the story but it really felt like Mr Eisler was trying to insert as many action/film noir detective tropes as possible which meant that John Rain just didn't feel like a believable character to me (as much as one can "believe" in these superhuman assassin types). In fact, if you're familiar with the similar character, Court Gentry ([b:The Gray Man|6547865|The Gray Man (Court Gentry, #1)|Mark Greaney|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1335649192s/6547865.jpg|6740331]), I think I actually found him easier to swallow than Rain. My other comparatively minor gripe was a chunk of what appeared to be technobabble toward the end of the book with regards to copy management and lattice reductions that, although somewhat grounded in reality, didn't really make any sense.
Overall I enjoyed the setting and the descriptions of Tokyo and general Japanese minutiae but I never really engaged with the characters. I don't think I'll be following up with the next in the series.
I listened to the Brilliance Audio version, with Brian Nishii narrating. The audio version was excellent and Mr Nishii's obvious grasp of Japanese lent an air of authenticity to the vocalisation of the book. For the most part I was happy with the voices that he chose for the various characters except for Bulfinch and Yamaoto which were both oddly pitched and, initially at least, rather jarring.
The Killer Collective was one of my favorite books that I read last year. It was engaging and with great characters. So when I learned that I could read solo adventures of many of the characters that teamed up in The Killer Collective, I was excited to delve into their backstories. John Rain was someone I was particularly excited to read about, but I found myself disappointed by this book. The story and the pacing weren't very engaging, and the author spent more time offering little tidbits of information on living in Japan than he did crafting a tense thriller. Overall, it felt more like a casual character study than an important, high-stakes event from the character's past. I'll probably read more of the author's work because I do like his writing style and the other characters in The Killer Collective, but I'm not sure I'm going to be revisiting John Rain's escapades in Japan anytime soon.
Eisler writes the most realistic fighting scenes. His description of Tokyo is amazing. I felt I was right there!
Excellent writing and use of vocabulary. I really enjoyed the development of the lead character, John Rain, and the story itself was complicated and held my attention throughout. Looking forward to the next John Rain story.
Some fascinating stuff about Japanese culture and Tokyo in this book so far.
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I'm so glad to be back to reading Barry Eisler's books. I started with Livia Lone and fell in love with his books, but now I'm going back to the beginning, to where it all started, with John Rain. I was not disappointed at all! This is what a thriller and espionage book is supposed to be like in my opinion, always something going on, somethong keeping me on my toes the entire time. I loved all of it. Even though it's plot driven, there is still character development, and even though it feels like it's fast-paced (because it's so action packed and time just flies when you're reading and it's so easy and quick to read) it never feels rushed and everything is fully fleshed out. The author has clearly studied the location where the story takes place and even writes a bunch in Japanese, so he really made an effort to immerse himself into the research and you feel it as you read the story, because it feels authentic. Even the fighting scenes, the martial arts and stuff, and how John felt conflicted being mixed race because of how he had been received. I really appreciated how Barry Eisler handled that. I can't wait to read more!
I bought this book because of the appealing cover and I don't regret reading it. As you can see I gave the book 2 stars but that should be 2.5 stars actually.
I enjoyed reading the book but I did not feel that much symphaty for the main character. He is a complex character who undergoes a character arc but he is a bastard. And in some of his remarks and thoughts I felt a sort of cultural elitarism. But that could be Barry Eisler shining through.
This is the first book in a series but I don't think I'm going to read the next installments in this series.
I enjoyed reading the book but I did not feel that much symphaty for the main character. He is a complex character who undergoes a character arc but he is a bastard. And in some of his remarks and thoughts I felt a sort of cultural elitarism. But that could be Barry Eisler shining through.
This is the first book in a series but I don't think I'm going to read the next installments in this series.
Nice assassin novel. I enjoyed the twists and turns and that I was surprised completely by some of them.
Also nice slice of Japanese life.
Also nice slice of Japanese life.
Rain Fall is a good first book to an action series. John Rain is an interesting character and the book is written well. Looking forward to the next book. This was a low 4 star.