Books: Blood & Rain: The Incredible Voyage of the One-Armed People

Reading ‘Blood and Rain’ is like reading Garcia Marquez crossed with Charles Dickens — an eerie, surrealist fairytale adventure that’s peppered with darkly funny Victorian characters. From the opening sequence to the headlong rush of a finale, the book’s crazy, unbelievable premise manages to captivate, entertain, and even seem plausible by the end of the work — a testament to the narrative vision of the author.

It’s a highly stylized piece of fiction, with dialogue that can at times seem somewhat stilted and unnatural. Yet this only adds, I think, to the book’s overall charm and sly sense of humour. If a man in the village of Lamport can make his name through travelling by ‘simpleton’, it’s only natural that his descendants live to tell the tale in language that is likewise ridiculous and overblown.

Keeping the logic of such a world intact is a difficult thing to do, and the author of ‘Blood and Rain’ manages it very well. This is definitely not your average run-of-the-mill tale, and I was mightily impressed with how well the author maintained the book’s inherent sense of craziness. There are no slip-ups in this work, no moments where the struggle between a ‘real’ world and the fantasy world of the novella come into play. Once you’re in, you’re in all the way.

In conclusion, definitely a wild and crazy read. It’s a work that also manages, like Marquez, to be strangely hypnotic. I look forward to more works from this author — can’t wait to see what will come up next!

Maybe I’m missing something here, but this novella left me wanting more. It definitely has potential, and I’ll echo what other reviewers have said in pointing out the uniqueness of the tale, but I felt it was too unpolished in too many areas. The dialogue is awkward and fabricated, and while there were some nice splashes of humour throughout, in many cases the humour goes too far over the top to really be funny. It’s as if the author ran along with a private joke for a hundred some-odd pages. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I don’t think it would hurt to make the work a little more accessible to its audience.

I also think the work could have benefited from a more thorough editorial overhaul — too many repetitions and careless use of adverbs/adjectives throughout. They overwhelm the story.

Having said that, there is a great deal working in this piece. Most of what I struggled with seem to be the usual first-time publication issues — perhaps future works by this author will be more polished and accessible.

Well, I must admit that this was definitely different than what I had anticipated, yet it kept my interest throughout its duration…

I think the author was quite successful in blending the genres of literature. The novel effectively unfolds in all of its tongue-in-cheek splendor, and the reader can still sense particular themes underneath the satire – the pressure to conform to a group identity; swallow-and-follow propaganda; the powerlust that overtakes many leaders, etc…

I felt that the work needs to be edited a bit more thoroughly as spelling and grammatical errors appeared throughout, which detracts from the work as a whole. I also thought the pacing could have been a bit tighter – as it currently stands, the novel unfolds like a roller coaster – up then down then up and down, over and over again (this is especially prominent from the scene where all of the villagers are having their arms removed until the late night conversation before the fire).

I thought the addition of the illustrations was an excellent choice – they are marvelous images and really bring the story to life…

I found the novel enjoyable and lighthearted and thought the author did a credible job of creating his characters and telling their story…

(Aside: if the reader likes this work, I would suggest Terry Pratchett’s Jingo for similar themes, though perhaps not quite so many bloodied limbs, lol)