The Rains Came Down: A life-affirming fantasy epic

by Julian Shaw

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… In this, his debut novel, Julian Shaw has created a life-affirming and enchanting parallel universe, remarkable for its torrential bursts of action and overwhelming floods of emotion.

________________________________ 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.

Genres: Fantasy, Ebooks

449 pages, ebook

Published July 10, 2023

About the author

Julian Shaw, PhD., is a British author whose work spans Speculative Fiction and Science Fiction. His writing brings together his passion for the vastness of nature, the dirty complexity of society's edges, and the beauty of everyday interpersonal relationships. Julian carries with him his experiences as a frontline firefighter, a university lecturer in Politics and Urban Geography, and a post-graduate researcher of extremist politics.

Reviews

[John Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dead or Dreaming?

The story begins with a train crash and its aftermath, as our main characters, Gareth and Hassan, find themselves transported to a parallel world outside of our reality. They emerge in 'The Meadow', a world existing somewhere between life and death. Into this dystopian landscape, they encounter a society that resembles a brutal and corrupt fascist dictatorship. The citizens of this land are a traumatised and brainwashed people, dependent upon the ingestion of drug like 'marbles'. Society is split into masters and servants, basically believers and non-believers or, if you prefer, guards and slaves

Gareth and Hassan try to escape from their nightmare and find themselves pursued across a vast country, encountering numerous thrills and spills along the way.

I am not a lover of fantasy literature, but this was a compelling story that held my attention through to the end.

[Stefan Bogdanski · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some stories out there that end with the death of their protagonist. But sometimes, that's the starting point. Most of the time, if we're starting with the death of the protagonist, we'll be watching some flashbacks to episodes before that. The Rains Came Down isn't like that - it really uses that death as a starting point, because the story is about what comes after. In more than one sense.

There's actually a famous historical example in literature that could be applied here: Dante Alighieri, who - in his divine comedy - reports about his death (or not death, in Dante's case, it's made to look like he took a wrong turn while strolling around) and his visit to purgatory. Oh, and his visit to the heavens, afterwards, but no one really cares about that part. Dante's description of purgatory and inferno, his 9 circles of hell, on the other hand, have echoed throughout literature and fiction since he wrote them.


That's the 9 circles of hell for you:
tortures - many
rubber ducks - zero

Gareth is not Dante, not even a poet - he's just a young man with social anxiety and a small death problem, trapped in a realm that is not called Purgatory, but Penitence by those who run the place. And the powers that be - whatever they might be - use those freshly dead people to confess their sins, thereby drawing out the darkness from them, collecting it like a resource.

That darkness is used in the creation of glass marbles, because redeeming your sins in Penitence consists not only of confessing, but also of hard labor. And above every glass kiln, there's an inscription:

Sweat is debt. Freedom is earned.

I can't even start to tell you how that did hit me, because it reminded me on one of the darkest hours in modern human history - German concentration camps. I think the photo of the entrance to Auschwitz is world famous (or infamous), portraying the words ARBEIT MACHT FREI (labor sets you free - I like to translate Arbeit in this sentence rather into labor than work, I find the first one a more fitting translation). That sentence over the Auschwitz entrance was a lie, as we all know, and for me, this little piece of information injected a lot of dark foreshadowing into the tale.



That reference was not intended, at least consciously (and I know, because I asked Julian who is a kind soul and did answer me that without spoilering me), but I wanted to let you know anyway before you're reading this fantastic story. Because intented or not, keep that connection in mind. It sets a great tone for what is to come.

*****
This sounds like a great time to mention that there is also an interview with Julian Shaw for your reading pleasure!
*****

This is furthered by the trains from the Department of Onward Transportation and the fact that people who "die" in this afterlife are brought to a place called "the source". I think the way you look at stuff like this can change your reading experience: For me, it created a dark atmosphere, giving off some serious soylent green vibes. It didn't freak out Gareth, but it gave me as the reader the heebie-jeebies. Loved the atmosphere this created.

But all those observations aside, it takes no genius to realize that something in that warehouse, that Penitence, that whole afterlife, doesn't add up. And of course it doesn't - but I won't tell you more here, because spoilers. Duh. I've already said enough.

But there are more references in the text, i.e. Virgil College and even Dante College - Virgil was a poet like Dante, long before him, but Dante meets him in inferno in the divine comedy. (In reality, they lived thirteen centuries apart.) And that being said, Dante's inferno had its own inscription on its entrance: ABANDON HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE. It would have been a fitting quote in context of this story, as well.


Abandon your hope - or, maybe, don't. It's up to you, really.

ulian's world building is kind of dark, gritty, and - to my eye - multilayered. But it's also fascinating, as it contains loads of references, as you've seen. It's all there for you to conquer and explore for yourself, the religious ridicule, the misogynistic mindsets, the divide between the inhabitants of the meadow. You'll have to figure it out for yourself, because Julian does no handholding. Which is great in my opinion, but if you expect a fantasy world where everything is spelled out for you, this story is not for you. If you like to make your own discoveries, you'll love the world of the meadow!

It even has a sacred religious text with a weird name I'm not even remotely able to pronounce - gweirglodd mabinogion - which is probably Welsh for "stories from the meadow". So, yes, theological stuff is abound. Any devout Christian should be warned, though; some of this stuff might hurt their religious feelings.

I wonder if we would be better seeing beauty, not as a state fragile to being slashed, cut, or broken, but instead, more like flowing water?
-- Gareth evokes his philosopher's core

*****

In the end, this story is a journey about many things. It can also be seen as a commentary on society and the injustice within, toxic masculinity, human rights and other stuff. There's something for everyone!

They say, all's well that ends well. On that front, there is the one thing I really have to criticize. Yes, the last sentence of this novel is actually quite a good sentence (as last sentences go), but a little more detail on the "what happened after" would have been nice. Then again, it was a very neat way to bring everything together.

My thanks to Julian Shaw for granting me an arc in exchange for my honest review!

*****

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Read this review on the blog - the layout is better 😃.
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Bonus content (warning, spoiler!): After reading the book, try to reflect about the potential for time paradoxes this setting contains. If someone lives for 100 years in the meadow before going back, that means an older version of that person would appear after their second death during the first iterations time in the meadow.

[Charles Cavendish · Rating 5 out of 5]

What if death was just the start of the journey?

The author was kind enough to give me a copy of their book to review in return for an honest review.

The Rains Came down is wonderful mix of the dystopian and fantasy genres. Increasingly I’m finding that I’m really enjoying those novels which straddle genres, so this was very much up my street.

The story starts with the trauma of a train crash and where in most cases that would be the end of things, its just the start of the journey for our main characters Gareth and Hassan. Our main POV is from Gareth, a shy & socially awkward teenager who struggling to find his place in the world before being killed and flung into a parallel world known as The Meadow. This world has the familiarity and trappings of our world but with some very disturbing differences. For me it was this sense of otherness that has remained with me after reading the book.

Julian has created a truly unsettling world. From the sinister interrogations the new arrivals are subjected to by the authoritarian Distillery to the ruthless suppression of the inhabitants of the Meadow, this not an easy world for many people. Gareth and Hassan initially find themselves at the mercy of the frankly terrifying Distillery, think interrogations, forced labour, oppressive & abusive guards all which combine to create a very unsettling scenario. One for me at least that evokes the one of the darkest periods of modern history during World War Two.

Whilst are some reasonably heavy themes of oppression, corrupt government run throughout the book this is balanced with a sense of hope and selflessness from those who are opposed to what the Distillery is doing. We encounter a raft of characters who are trying to oppose them and that “underground” plays a very important part of the story. I’m hoping we can see more of this in a sequel (hint hint). The question of an afterlife is as old as humanity itself; I really enjoyed the way the book presents a possible world that could be the next step after we leave this one.

The humble Child's toy, the marble, takes on a major significant in The Rains Came Down. Marbles are used as a source of sustenance (in lieu of food & drink) but critically as way for the inhabitants of the Meadow, they allow them to retain a link to their memories and past lives on earth. They also allow the memories of others to be experience through sucking the marbles. I won’t into further detail as I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but the way marbles are used was an intriguing part of the story and one which really makes the book stand out from other offerings.

As a bit of a history nut, I also really enjoy the interludes between chapters, these often had me going down several internet rabbit holes to do further research. I’d certainly encourage anyone who’s interested to do the same.

If it’s not obviously already I would strongly recommend grabbing a copy of The Rains Came Down. Be prepared for a unique story that will stay with you long after you have finished.

[Graham | The Wulvers Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of The Rains Came Down, a story by Julian Shaw, with no expectations and was left latching onto a distinctively dazzling journey that had me rooting for success along the way.

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.

I enjoyed the characters here as each of them were unique but Gareth specifically had an interesting arc that was full of growth. Shaw writes Gareth in a wonderfully personal manner and you can really feel a struggle between his thoughts and actions as things start to unravel and other characters start to form their own opinions. Shaw has created a cast of characters that are vast in number but minutely developed as they each have their own intentions, journeys and personalities - each full of flavour.

I thoroughly enjoyed how Shaw has introduced his own twist on addiction. The marble mechanic, where marbles have a variety of use but implicitly can hold memories and those who ingest them can get the sensation stored there, are a primary plot point. These marbles hold many wonders inside their glass cages and it’s heavily brutal but important how each character reacts and discusses their uses.

The story itself may seem familiar, but Shaw has again created a unique discussion surrounding the afterlife and how conflicted personal beliefs can be. The start of each chapter also unravels the mystery of how others got to where they are and this small part helped form the larger picture.


This is the story of personal evolvement, ethereal perpetuance and a considerate discussion of what lies beyond. As similar it is to others, it is a brilliant imagination of fantasy that has us tethered to the pages.

[Cy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Overall it’s a decent book, but imo the concepts are more interesting than the execution.

Worldbuilding
The book started off strongly, and I was intrigued by the interrogation and the initial setting of the forge. The idea of being sent to a “middle place” when you’re not good enough for heaven and not bad enough for hell is really fascinating to me, because surely a lot of people are just morally neutral. The characters are forced to confess their sins so that they can become good enough to leave, with their emotions and/or memories dripping out of them as coloured sweat and made into marbles. Very cool imagery!

The idea behind marbles begins to get muddled later on though. They’ve been established as a way to store emotions and memories, can be sucked on to experience those emotions or dissected to see the memories, and people can become addicted to them. So far so good. It’s an interesting concept and I can totally believe people would be addicted to strong emotions; many real life addictive drugs cause euphoria after all. But then marbles are introduced that are treated like food, such as coffee marbles. Actual food isn’t mentioned, so I assumed people in this realm didn’t need food, and were just sucking on the memory or taste of food without actually eating. But then people are described as emaciated - specifically becoming so within the realm, not as a result of arriving starved. So which is it? Do they need food or not? Do marbles provide sustenance too? If this is the case, it’s completely brushed over. It made sense for them to capture intangible things like feelings, but nutrients? The cast eat mushrooms and poppy seeds, so they clearly have the ability to eat. Plants and animals both exist in this realm. So why go to the trouble of capturing the taste or memory of a food in a marble rather than just eating it?

Back to the forge, I found that the mystery of the characters’ situation was much more interesting than the explanation behind it. I read quickly through the first few chapters, and started to lose interest when it was revealed that the characters weren’t being interrogated for their own good, but that the so-called agents of god were essentially a corrupt government. That idea on its own is still a fascinating take on the afterlife or purgatory, but the writing just didn’t capture me the way the intro did.

Characters
The characters didn’t have much personality. This is often an issue with a large ensemble cast, but it would’ve been helped by each character at least having a defining trait. Apart from Gareth, Hassan, and possibly Nailah and Milton, the characters are honestly interchangeable. They’re all vaguely nice with an inconsistent sense of justice. Everybody decries the lecherous behaviour of those working for the Distillery (the corrupt government stand-in), but Hassan gets reported for yelling at a woman for rejecting his advances, and the woman is depicted as in the wrong. Hassan also makes some pretty offensive comments about another member of the team, and Gareth asks how Hassan is doing, not the woman he insulted. This is framed as a kind gesture, and is apparently enough to get Gareth the interest of multiple girls. Speaking of which…

I couldn’t tell you the personalities of the main female characters, as their most emphasised traits are related to their physical appearances. I know that Rosalyn is curvaceous, Ashley is boyish-looking, Glenda is tall and Kasiya is brown-skinned, iirc. Gareth gets crushes on two of them, and they both behave exactly the same - giving him a surprise kiss before avoiding him. His chosen partner declares she’ll wait 70 years for him if they return to Earth, despite them barely talking. Maybe in the author’s head they had a richly developed relationship, but it did not translate in the writing.

Sexual Violence
Almost every woman in the book is a victim of extreme sexual violence. This is not an exaggeration - while newly arrived men are directed to work in forges, newly arrived women are made into sex slaves at a place known as the Palace. Ashley, one of the main cast, only avoids this due to being mistaken for a boy. But you could remove the bit about the Palace and not affect the plot at all. The only reason it seems to exist is for two characters to meet and for one to find out that Gareth’s dad was a rapist, which he gets mad at for about a paragraph before the story trudges on.

Was it necessary for character development then? Well, it’s never really delved into, and there’s a sense of detachment from the struggles these women face. On the one hand, I appreciate that there are no graphic descriptions of what they went through. On the other hand, they almost take a backseat to experiences they personally had. Their trauma only serves to upset other people or, as mentioned earlier, put them in the same place as another character that needs to be found. We see Kasiya’s abuse through a memory after she dies, triggering a change of plan for her mother. Cerys skips over most of her time at the Palace to tell Gareth about their rapist dad. If the characters don’t appear to be unaffected, they either kill themselves or become “Flickers”, who have lost their souls and memories. It’s not a very flattering depiction of SA survivors.

I do want to clarify that I don’t think these things were included with bad intentions. The women’s treatment is clearly depicted as wrong and disgusting; I can tell that the author is passionate about these issues in the real world and wants to talk about them. It just missed the mark execution-wise.

Conclusion
The physical manifestation of emotions as colourful liquid being trapped in marbles is an interesting and unique concept, as is a purgatory run by a corrupt celestial government. It’s unfortunate that these ideas were overshadowed by less than well-developed characters and a tendency to tell rather than show.

Thank you to the author for offering me the chance to review a free copy of this book; I appreciate the courage it takes to seek feedback from strangers.

[AndDown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: Julian Shaw provided me with an eARC, but this does not affect my opinion of this book.

Rating 4.5 out of 5 stars (rounded up to 5 stars)

The Rains Came Down by Julian Shaw is a unique and gripping dystopian story about the afterlife. It is a story of personal growth, of found family, of intrigue, and of what lies behind you and in front of you.

Shaw has created a unique world called The Meadows. It is similar to our own world, but different enough to stand on its own. It's a dystopian world where the Distillery has taken over ruling and oppressing those trapped in the afterlife. He is able to create great images in your head with excellent world building. Think George Orwell's 1984, but with enough imagination to stand on its own.

We follow Gareth, a boy of about 17, who struggles to find his place in "our" world. After a tragic accident he finds himself among others in the Meadows. He is captured by the Distillery and forced to work to be free of sin. Later released into a world that is similar to his own, but also reclaimed by nature. Together with Hassan, a man victim of the same accident, he finds out what is going on in this unfriendly world, entangled in a cobweb of intrigue, injustice and oppression. His goal is to find a way back to his world and the expedition begins.

Speaking of characters, you will find a large cast of characters, all well written and fleshed out with some kind of development, but not as deep as in some grim dark character driven novels. But to be fair, they all have some interesting intentions and twists and are by no means bland.

Gareth, our main POV, has a nice arc to develop and you can really get invested in him. You experience his growth as a person, but also get some deeper insights into his past and his inner struggle with himself and the world around him.

All of this is supported by an interesting and unique marble mechanic, where marbles are able to hold your memories and give the one who sucks on them the sensation of any emotion or feeling you can imagine. By cracking them open and sniffing the evaporating mist, you can relive those memories trapped in those glass balls.

Another nice addition to the story were the little snippets at the end of each chapter where you get some information about some real world events/accidents that happened. These snippets bring the story to life and you can find these events throughout the book.

The Rains Came Down was a refreshing take on the dystopian genre, with enough similarities to the classics of the genre, but with everything reimagined. If you like dystopian fantasy and want to be immersed in a fascinating world with a gripping story and well-written characters, give this novel a try.

Estimated release date is July 11, 2023.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everybody had marbles as a kid, right? Here, they are not a game for children.

Without giving too much away, the process of forging marbles is just as odd as understanding that they are crafted and served at social gatherings, each brew with a specific purpose. Some are much stronger than others but all bestow a sense of euphoria. I know it sounds weird but eventually, it seemed completely believable once I got sucked (pun intended) into the plot. The world-building is fantastic and truly unique, and the character development is phenomenal. From the workhouses to the mines and everything in between, it had my curious nature in overdrive. At first, the religious undertones were a bit hard to swallow, but I pressed on as the main character seemed just as sceptical. Please, check trigger warnings on this one before you decide if it's right for you. For me, the commitment paid off in spades. This captivating debut is a thrilling blend of action, mystery, and emotional depth sure to leave you wanting more.

[Andrew Hindle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is told for the most part in the present tense, which I'm honestly going to say is not my favourite tense - but the story was good, so it worked. Awkward late-teen Gareth Edwards dies in a train crash, and is then dragged into a weird afterlife confession chamber and quisition'd. That's where we open. We then flashback to his final moments on the doomed train, which set up his character (and a couple of his co-tagonists, Hassan the Hi-Vis and Albert "The Battered Old Suitcase" Newman) really well and was very engaging. Gareth is a frustratingly incapable and anxious type, which - fair warning - remained a quite painful feature of the story for some time.

Anyway, we skip back to the awful Hell Gareth and his associates have ended up in, where they are forced to toil in a giant furnace sort of thing smelting sand and then making ... *checks notes* ... marbles, while suffering regular visits to the quisitioning booth where they are quisition'd over and over again about their deepest and grossest secrets until they sweat coloured goo out of their faces. The goo ends up in the marbles. The whole place is just a big weird marble factory. Strap in, it gets weirder.

Each chapter ended on a historic accident report which illustrated how people were arriving in this strange afterlife, sometimes providing back-story to side-characters in a way that was very interesting.

Gareth's tribulations continue, in the face of weirdly old school soul-judgement and castigation of his uncleanliness. This sets the scene for the painfully old school everything-in-the-book, to be honest. I found myself wondering if the dominant ideology of the afterlife was a statement on (or a reflection of) our shifting social values and the takeover of fascist conservative views, the emergence of the incel and tradwife phenomena, and hard work and admission of shame being a passage out of damnation.

Well, if that was what was going on, it was certainly harrowing to read. Most people who die just go straight on to the big mystical wherever, but sometimes they wind up being diverted into this odd pocket-purgatory where men go to the marble factory to make marbles and sweat out marble emotions, and women ... are basically just used as sex toys and psychologically broken until they have nothing left but subservience. And Gareth does nothing. I mean, I get how awkward and passive and useless and afraid he is, and the situation is hopeless, but Jesus.

Still, eventually the broader vista opens up (literally) and we discover that there is far more to the world of post-death and pre-eternity than we initially saw. Gareth and his friends begin a journey of discovery and revelation, crossing the length and breadth of the human experience and exotic psychological metaphysics that seems to meld Heart of Darkness with Foucault's Pendulum - and not to The Rains Came Down's immediate and crushingly embarrassing detriment!

As you can imagine from a story which deals with such strange and intensely inwards-facing themes, and does so in a relentlessly surreal way, there was a lot I was left wondering. Like, the marbles started out coded as a kind of designer drug but then seemed to be basically the only thing anyone consumed at all? Yet, they weren't solely produced in the factories from what I could tell? Water was bad, but the animals drank it? What was with the animals anyway? What was the deal with any of it? Don't get me wrong, I was pleased to be left with more questions than answers, and at the same time I was left knowing I had read a very satisfying story ... but man, it was overwhelming.

So, yeah, it was maybe not clear enough from the outset what the marbles really were, how they worked, the range of things they could do and why. Yes, I wanted an infodump. Unlike me, I know! But it was fine. This was the better way to tell the story.

And yes, Gareth's passivity was excruciating. I won't spoil whether it gets a pay-off at the end of his arc, mainly because I'm still trying to figure that out myself. But prepare yourself to read a sizeable lump of story with a painfully useless main character. There's a through-plot of Gareth's parents and life experiences that felt almost surplus to the plot, but I'm very glad it was there. It was a solid through-plot.

Sex-o-meter

Women who die and wind up in this purgatory dimension get to be whores or tradwives (and did I mention Gareth does nothing?). Gareth's male gazeyness is pretty uncomfortable, but by design, I think. Hassan is also kind of a douche about women, and everything else actually, but that's not explicitly sexual, it's just giving the sex-o-meter an extra ping. The Distillery guys, not to mention the Princes, are rapey and disgusting and it's unpleasant to read, although not graphic. You know what's happening though, without getting any description of it. I guess it's left to our own nasty minds to fill in the gaps. As far as the properly named protagonist-adjacent characters go, though, it's rather genteel. They are meant to be the good guys, after all. The book's clocking in at seven and a half flustered face-fannings per hour, and one-sixth of a female agency.

Gore-o-meter

Considering that they start the book at death and just keep mistreating people thereafter, yeah, it's pretty nasty. It features a train load of festering death-zombies, and ... to be honest I'm still not entirely certain of the mechanics of getting hurt or killed in the quasi-afterlife, but it happens, and there is also heavy water which sends you shambling on to the proper-hereafter in a fairly chilling way. Two gobbets out of a possible five.

WTF-o-meter

Yep, this is a big one. I was ultimately left with no idea what was going on, and it was right that I felt that way. Was the Meadow a real afterlife / mid-afterlife, or some kind of Doctor Who sciencey wiencey scam? Was this really a science fiction story, or a surrealist fantasy with occasional technobabble? One for the philosophers there. The WTF-o-meter is giving it four and a half subspace vacuoles out of a possible Sto'Vo'Kor.

My Final Verdict

The ideology at work in the Distillery and elsewhere in the Meadow is pretty despicable. Shaw lost some points for not calling the fascists "Pond Scum" which would have been very easy to do. As previously noted, the story and the storytelling had notes of Umberto Eco, and that right there is some pretty high praise in this reader's eyes. Pretty damn good. Four stars!

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

'The Rains Came Down' by Julian Shaw is an amazing debut novel and is highly recommended.

The story begins when Gareth, his sister Cerys and their mum are on a train ride and a terrible crash happens. Gareth dies in the train crash and is introduced into The Meadow, which is a form of afterlife.

No description of how the afterlife is described will do this story justice. The environment that is described and the societies that exist are like something out f a JRR Tolkien novel.

There are amazing characters in this book and you really feel invested in what happen to them.

What I particularly loved was the links made to real life disasters made throughout the book and the tributes made to the poor souls that lost their lives.

This book really is compulsive reading and is so well written. It is amazing that it is a debut novel and I really hope more stories come out of this land.

Thank you so much to the author for allowing me to read this book in return for a review.

[Chiara Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

"May the seas warm, and the clouds form... And may the rain fall, filling the rivers of Love"

This is a book that will remain with me for some time and I hope to see it adapted for the screen!

As I finished it yesterday, I was left staring vacantly for some time, trying to process everything I've been through alongside the characters! And that ending just had my head spin! So so good!

It's difficult to summarise this story as there is so much that I'm afraid of doing it a disservice, so I won't even try it, but just know that is a dystopian story with adventure, emotions, philosophy and a lot of soul! It really is a contemporary epic poem very skilfully written! I kept wanting to read it and was so engrossed in it, even more so as I didn't know how it was going to end given that it kept going in unexpected directions!!

At the heart of it there is the timeless existential conundrum of what is our consciousness and are we made of our memories? What are we without them? But likewise, depending on the memories, these can save us or break us, losing ourselves forever!
But as I said there is so much more in this book! I loved the evolution of the characters and the depiction of the parallel dimension, especially the fact that it felt real, with its flaws, pain and evil, like our world, where humans are always the same, putting themselves at the top of the chain, abusing anyone, fellow humans and animals alike just because they choose to.. Choice, open mindedness and integrity were also an underlying thread which I really appreciated!

I hope I was able to convey how much I enjoyed this book and how much I felt part of it. I really think you should read it!! As I ploughed through the pages I really wished I had a marble to suck on so to imprint on it the memory and emotions I felt when reading this book for the first time!

Thank you to Julian Shaw for the opportunity to read it and this is my honest review.

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gareth his sister Charis and his mom are heading to London for the trial to find out what actually happened to rose drink water The train crashes in the first thing he realizes is he is standing in front of the door with some type of minister sitting behind it telling him he must pay pennants and the devulge all the things that made him a horrible person on earth. After his interrogation he goes to a room with three beds that he will share with Hassan and Albert two guys he remembers from the train they all make best friends in hope for the day they’ll be released from the hot sweaty work at the kiln but one morning Garrett wakes up and Albert is gone. When they are released from their hard labor they are sent to the meadow where they have two universities at Marvin University they meet the professor who will be their friend, but when they’re sent to visit the Darwin university. This is where they meet James, this is like the Republican University and they start partaking in marbles something everyone in this alternate universe does weather to get high and feel euphoric all the way to just feeling stable and at ease, they have marble’s for every situation and Hassan is a big fan. while they’re at the Darwin university someone reports them as devil worshipers and evil dwellers this is when the book really starts they will meet a nice lady who runs an Inn and offers them safety and then they will join the circus. Gareth and Hassan stick together on the journey. Gareth will find old and new friends ,he may even solve a mystery but will he ever see his sister again? This book was so good at the beginning of each chapter the author tells about a historic event where multiple lives were taken these are true events in a nice addition to the book. I love this book and had a feeling I would it was one of my most anticipated books this year and I absolutely loved it. If you love books about alternate world this truly is a great one we learned about the well-wishers who just like Christians believe they’re going to heaven they believe they can get back to earth and they even have stories to go along with it the author has a great imagination and has done wonders with it in this book and it is one I highly recommend! Please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review s

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Julian for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. 

Gareth dies in a train accident and finds himself stuck in an alternate world between life and death ruled by The Distillery. The Distillery demands payment for earthy sins and takes this in the form of memories and feelings inserted into marbles. When he has paid his debt Gareth is transferred to The Meadow. A strange land not unlike Earth but with the ever present danger of ‘moving on’ to the source. It would be difficult to have a book about the afterlife and not have some mention of religion. I’m not religious but understood its importance to the story especially with an overarching theme of what happens after death. 

I would say this was a coming of age story but at the start of the novel Gareth dies..... but this makes for a very unique reading experience. Gareth himself was quite naïve but his curiosity and kindness did endear him to me and I did feel invested in what was going to happen to him. 

This is a fabulous debut fantasy novel in a wonderous world of marbles and water. Some aspects of the world mirror our own earth and I really liked the mix of people\architecture from different eras. At the start of each chapter there is a short paragraph describing a real life tragedy where people lost their lives. I loved these little interjections as I like a little Google whilst I'm reading. 

I really enjoyed my journey in the Meadow and its definitely a book that keeps you thinking long after you turn the last page. Pick this one up if you enjoy a mix of fantasy, dystopian, sci-fi and a bit of magic. Just be aware that you may never look at marbles in the same way again! 

[Natasha Alford · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a book! Just suppose death is the beginning of a journey!! A dark, unusual and dystopian story unlike any I have read before!
This story took me back to childhood memories albeit in a totally unorthodox way and had me dreaming about marbles!
If you are thinking of reading this book definitely give it a go!

[Tami Wylie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Rains Came Down is a fantastic debut novel from Julian Shaw! Have you ever wondered what happens when you die? This story is the brilliant, unique tale of Gareth and Hassan, two ordinary people who die in a train crash. They find themselves in an alternate universe called the Meadow, living amidst a strange otherworldly society that survives by sucking on marbles that act as food and drugs. I found this concept utterly amazing as I read about their journey to survive in the Meadow and reach the ultimate goal of returning to their previous lives on earth. This book is very well written and the action is fast paced and heart pounding at times as well. The characters are dynamic and strong, taking you on their journey with them. This book is a mixture of different genres, having elements of sci-fi, dystopian and others, but it works amazingly! I really enjoyed being among the first to get to read this book and will be looking forward to more books from this author!

[Sarah Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book, which has lots of the things I most like in a novel, a dystopian setting, a parallel universe, and a great journey story.
I was quickly invested in this book, which has a fantastic set up of the alternative world . The narrator is involved in a serious train accident and find himself in a state of limbo in an alternative world. Initially he finds himself in a prison camp with other men from the accident, and he must work stoking fires. We learn that these fires are used to make marbles which contain memories obtained from the prison inmates of their life in the real world.
Once made, these marbles can be used to replicate feelings and emotions when they are sucked. Some marbles contain pleasurable emotions and people become addicted to imbibing too many marbles. The picture of poor marble addicted people paddling down a dirty alleyway,,was a very strong one. Other marbles are used in the place of food and drink instead of having a strong coffee would have a coffee flavoured marble.
I loved the idea of being able to bank your memories in the marbles

I liked the little vignettes between chapters of disasters which had led to mass casualties. I suspect these are real incidents, although I didn’t google them. We meet some of the victims of these incidents as a story progresses
I articulate enjoyed the fact that the alternative universe is setting same physical, place that people died so that there is, for example, an old London pub which burnt down and is replicated in the new universe . London in the parallel universe is very different to our London, and I found this highly visual and inventive.
The author manages to mix reality with magic in fantasy in a highly effective way, so that it very quickly becomes totally normal that people filling their mouth with marbles rather than food or water.

This is a very story lead novel and moves along ata fast rate keeping me enthralled throughout. I read the novel in one sitting
The novel is highly visual, and I think it would make would make a great film or TV series. I suspect the rights will be taken up quickly.
The has a clear easily read prose style, and the book was a very enjoyable read.
I loved the ending of the book which tied up the story line in a highly satisfactory way.
I was sent an early copy of the novel to read by the author having seen the details of the novel on Twitter I felt it I might well enjoy it and was very pleased when I did
Recommend this novel for lovers of dystopian literature those who enjoy a skilful mix of magic and reality. If you enjoyed Station 11 by Emily St John Mantel or The bone Clocks by David Nichols then I think this will be a book for you.
The novel is released in the UK on the 11th July 2023

[Perri Corbett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where to begin with this book? Firstly a great thank you to Julien Shaw for the free copy. The story was spellbinding, the characters believable, the good ones were likable, the bad ones suitably detestable. The religeous aspect was acceptable (even for an atheist like me) seeing as the story is set in a world somewhere between life and death. Like every good adventure, there is a quest - to find the Source and collect the pure water. I look forward to returning to the Meadow for further adventures.

[Emma book blogger Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you @jshaw_autho for letting me read and review your book.
I like Julian Shaw's writing style it is very easy to get into and it’s easy to get absorbed into his writing. The Rain Came Down is an enjoyable read. I do like the character Garath and have enjoyed following his journey in purgatory. This is a brilliant science fiction that takes you to another world which Is brilliant. Jullian Shaw is very descriptive and I could visualise everything he has written in my mind. The Rain came down has a fantastic plot and great characters. If you enjoy Sci-fi, you will love this. 5 stars. The Rain come down is a different type of genre from what I normally read but thoroughly enjoyed this and will be reading more from Jullian Shaw in the future.

[Bookish Coffee UK · Rating 5 out of 5]

BEST READ EVER!!

I have literally been obsessed with this book, the concept of the story line blew my mind many Many times..
I really enjoyed the true bits of history within this book, I thought that was a really nice touch.

The whole thing with the marbles I will not be forgetting and kept looking at my sons like eeek..😆

I also loved the characters throughout and felt they all had brough something special to the story line.
Also enjoyed the different twist of what happens when we pass on, I liked that concept.

I went through every emotion in this story, literally every emotion, to throwing my kindle like no he didnt, to crying on it, to laughing so hard my neighbours asked whats so funny.

Its so hard to say everything I loved about this story without giving it away, so please buy this on release day and read it so I talk about it! BestReadEver!

5/5 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
I would give more tbh! This is a definite must read!

[Linda Fallows · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so good! The writing style is a cross between JRR Tolkien, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Set in the afterlife, but in a Britain that is still fairly recognisable. The characters are really well written, and the story is wonderfully imagined.And there are marbles!

[Katies_cosy_reading_corner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, good heavens gracious, this literally blew my socks off! This book is amazing, it's totally intriguing and interesting. I was hooked from the get-go and totally lost my blooming marbles!

Thank you, J.Shaw, for sending me this beautiful book! I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but I really do appreciate a good quality feeling book. This by no means influences my review for this story 😊

This novel is the perfect mix of dystopian and fantasy, which is not a usual pick for me. However, I'm so very pleased I went on this tremendous journey.

The characters came to life. This is narration at its best. They were totally unique with their own back story; it was an emotional roller coaster at times. I couldn't help but root for sucession and triumph of the expedition.

This book was a mixture of long and shorter chapters. Hidden between each chapter was historical events of natural disasters. I couldn't help googling these events and find out more! Which are then sneakily mixed within the story. I just loved this quirky addition. 

This story is mesmerising with fantastical ideas and theories about a parallel universe beyond death. It is thriling, fast-paced, and action-packed. There are some scenes of human torture but written very sensitively. It has a tragic begging and a highly curious ending. I really didn't want this story to end.

💬"The rains come down, and the floods came up."

💬"Every marble is a risk. Try not to lose your marbles. "

💬"It's OK, professor. I can handle my marbles. "

I would highly recommend this book! I can't wait for the next one.

[Anna Mullin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gareth is in a train crash which results in his death only he’s not dead as we know it. His death brings him to the meadow but it’s not as pleasant as it sounds. Hunted and on the run he finds friends in unlikely places and even joins an expedition into the Welsh Mountains.

I don’t want to say too much as this is the kind of book you need to experience for yourself. You are taken on such an amazing and detailed adventure. Although this book is a work of dystopian fiction each chapter begins with real life disasters that have happened throughout the years…yes I googled each one to check.

My only criticism however, without spoilers is that I would have liked the last two chapters to have lasted a bit longer.

If you love Dystopian reads or fancy something new then I would recommend this book.

Finally -May the rain fall, filling the rivers of love.

[Sakura_ lostinbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

So where to start…when people die they end up in the meadow, somewhere between life and death. There’s no drugs to get addicted to but there’s marbles. That people suck on to get a “high”. They also have a core memory marble that they need to keep safe! (Made me think a bit of inside out 🙈🤣). Loved this idea or being able to review a favourite memory though 🧡. Anyway they have to go on an expedition to make it back home, to the point that they “died”. But what if you fall in love and are from different times? 😱 I was right there with the characters, hoping that they found a way back together!
Also was intrigued to read the different real life disasters at the beginning of each chapter!
Don’t want to give too much away, but definitely worth a read 🤍

[Simon Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating read; so many different aspects from historical data to spiritual to thriller. A very entertaining read that I would thoroughly recommend.

[Gene Dark · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was refreshing to read something that isn't a clone of GoT or ACOTAR...something entirely original. The Rains Came Down made me think of 'The Great Divorce' by C. S. Lewis (though that has a Christian bias and this doesn’t, so it's more as if you crossed TGD with 'His Dark Materials' by Philip Pullman) and of 'Air Raid' by John Varley, in which time-travellers took people who were about to die in plane crashes - who would never be seen again - and used them to repopulate a world. I am a fan of metaphysical science fiction rooted in British culture. … the setting is clever, the book is well-written (both the bleakness of the cities and the lushness of nature vividly evoked) and I cared about both Gareth and Hassan, who were both well-drawn and sympathetic characters.

A few chapters in, it struck me that the descriptions of all the people who had died in different eras (from Tudor to Victorian to WW1) were from a time previous to Gareth's 'death' in the present day. When I realised this, I began trying to work out why: are Gareth and Hassan going to change things before the real time future happens? Does the progression of time in the Meadow parallel time on earth? It must do, otherwise their actions would not affect this. Since there are no ‘future deaths’ (at least, none that I was aware of) time in the Meadow does not appear quantum - in which every time and every possibility is 'present' simultaneously - it is linear.

There were some dark touches - the worst would not have been out of place in 'The Handmaid's Tale', plus I found Thermocline Mist satisfyingly creepy. As I understand it, thermocline is a temperature gradient, so when the unfortunate souls are sprayed with Thermocline Mist, are they becoming ghosts because they are cold? It’s quite a spooky idea, given ghosts are seen as white and insubstantial … the opposite of warmth. The Drifters are zombies in the original Haitian sense: not a threat to others but imprisoned within themselves and prevented from moving on. It’s one of the old human fears, so hits home.

The idea of the connection between body, mind, spirit - the opposite of fragmentation - being the key to salvation is like a modern atheist version of Thomas Aquinas’ ‘Theology of the body’ and contrasts with the viewpoint of heaven/enlightenment as purely spiritual… I don’t see how it can be, given all my ideas of a purely spiritual realm turn out to be from sci-fi… essentially cyberspace. Less than real, rather than more.

Descriptions of the rain pouring through distant Openings were filmic and made me reminisce about the Fade Rifts in Dragon Age Inquisition! I really liked ‘just because an authority tells you to stop loving, doesn’t mean you do'… in DAI the player was given the choice between making someone ‘more human’ or ‘more spirit’ - which involved them forgetting everything, over and over - it was beyond me how so many players saw this as a ‘good’ outcome! Kim-Joy’s words here echo my thoughts on that part of the game quest. Remembering is essential. Feeling a connection with other humans is essential. There is nothing ‘spiritual’ about forgetfulness. There were parts towards the end that made me remember 'The Wounded Sky' by Diane Duane, "notice each other, people. It's nice not to have to see 'through a glass, darkly'".

The connection between love and water was evocative too… the closest I have come to that was the concept of the ‘Waters of the Fade’ in Dragon Age and the ‘Water of Life’ in Dune. But 'The Rains Came Down' is unique and distinct from either.

The ending was poignant - I really appreciate how the author wrote according to the rules he’d set. Of course it would have to be like that! Having answers that are not pat elevates the story and has ensured it will stay in my mind. I have already recommended it to my best friend and would recommend it to everyone who likes to think and to be surprised.

[Felipe P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely an interesting read. Not quite what I like to read but it kept me intrigued most of the time.


Positives:

The style and prose are captivating. I think this is the novel's greatest strength, because while I don't like all of its elements, the style keeps me interested. It is very well written. The descriptions are beautiful and effective, and the dialogue is believable and reflects each character's personality.


The mythology is plentiful, mysterious, and interesting. While I'm not a big fan of so many new concepts throughout the book, I know many other readers will be. The world you created is fascinating and with potential for many great stories.


The secondary characters are wonderful, especially those that belong to the circus. All the secondary characters that appear in about 30-40% are iconic, well formed, with clear personalities and exciting backgrounds.


Negative:

Of course this is all my opinion.

I felt the novel lacked plot for a long time. The main characters went back and forth but without giving me a feeling of progress or advancement in the story, they just went from here to there plus there was no clear direction, goal, desire. 


Gareth, the main character, is very passive for a protagonist. He doesn't make any decisions or cause the plot to develop. He just has things happen to him and does what the others tell him to do. 

While I understand that we can identify as readers with a character who is passive because, for example, I am kind of passive and quiet myself, we also want to see in the character a reflection of who we want to be, a character who takes action and control of his own story, which Gareth does not do at all. He hasn't made a single decision on his own and the only time I liked him was when he yelled at Hassan, otherwise I didn't like him at all. And I also understand that he is the compass of morality but it's too obvious. The problems are portrayed in black and white: sexism is bad, being a good person is good. It doesn't show how complicated the reality of ethics is.

 I think the sin that Gareth actually suffers from is that he is uninteresting. Virtually all of the other characters, the secondary characters, are more interesting than the main character, but I failed to connect with any of them because they are in only a portion of the book. Gareth is the only character that appears in the whole story and he is the least interesting of them all.


Hassan, who is the only character besides Gareth to appear in the entire book, is unbearable. In the beginning he was just a somewhat annoying character, but the more the story progressed, the more insufferable he became. I realize he was written for that purpose, but I don't understand why. Every time I thought Hassan was going to die or get out of the story, I would get excited about it, but then he would be rescued and still be a horrible human being, and it made me bitter to read.

So Gareth is a passive character who seems to have no effect on the plot, and Hassan is an obnoxious guy who I can't tolerate and don't want to read about.

[Dawn Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is not very often that a book comes along and renders me speechless with it's beauty, and even more, this book offers much more than beauty, the story line is incredibly immersive and I don't think I have ever ready anything quite like this. The raw talent that Julian possesses flows from each and every page, not at one point did I feel stuck or bored, it truly gripped my soul.

The main character is Gareth Edwards, Gareth is a typical teenage boy going through the passage of becoming an adult with all it's anxiety inducing flaws, however, this all changes when Gareth is in a terrible accident and is sucked into a world very much like our own, except very much different all at the same time. Gareth arrives at The Meadow, where he is punished for having the typical mortal sins each of us have, Gareth is forced to painfully witness his own guilty sins in order for him to survive this new place he has ended up in. Following Gareth on his journey is incredible, you witness Gareth grow into an impressive young man whilst simultaneously physically he hasn't aged a day, however, The Meadow, just like Earth is plagued with traitors and a government with a hidden agenda. Gareth soon finds himself on the run as he has stumbled across someone who is incredibly powerful which The Distillery cannot let loose. On his journey, Gareth meets many wonderful characters, each of whom play an important role in his treacherous task to find a way back to Earth, if that is even at all possible.
Whilst all of this is going on, Gareth realised that his sister Cerys is also in The Meadow, where she has faced unspeakable horrors that the darkest part of society have in Earth and seemingly in the afterlife too. Gareth is eager to meet up with his sister, to re-join his earthly body side by side with his sister, but it is a merciless adventure which he needs to seek in order to find his sister again.

I absolutely loved the uniqueness of the marbles included in this storyline, it's an incredible part of the story which I have grown to treasure, I must admit, I wouldn't mind trying a sailors mist marble myself! Each little part of the story was very thought out and executed superbly, there are many twists to meander which play a vital part of the ending of the story. I found all the different theories of the afterlife that The Meadows have very interesting, some of which were extremely parallel to the ones we have today, this story really gets you thinking about what the afterlife could hold for any of us.

If you love a story about adventure, companionship and secrets I would highly recommend this one to you. It's by far the best book I have read this year and I would be very surprised if anything is able to beat it. This book had me laughing in parts and then in tears in other chapters, it really is a whirlwind of emotions and I'm so glad to say that I still have my marbles intact after the journey.

[Sarah Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very pleased to be given the opportunity to read an ARC of the debut novel from Julian Shaw – The Rains Came Down (on Booksprout)

The story begins with Gareth, who dies in a tragic accident whilst on a train journey with his mother and sister, Cerys. When Gareth wakes up following the accident a group of men in dark robes take him to the workhouse. The work is arduous and takes its toll on all the people who are there. But Gareth, along with some of his fellow train passengers, are able to stay ‘alive’ until it has been decided that they have atoned, after which they are allowed to move into the Meadow.

The Meadow is a a parallel universe whose inhabitants have all died in tragic accidents on Earth – but that is the only way in which it can be called the same as Earth.

For some the meadow is a nicer place than it is for others and this is down to a group known as ‘The Leaders’. Many people end up staying in the Meadow as they are not ready to ‘move on’, so they create a life of sorts for themselves there within communities that contain friendships and alliances.

As Gareth continues on his journey within this world he makes a decision to join the ‘rebels’ who are trying to find a way back to Earth, and at the same find answers as to what happened to his sister Cerys.

The world that Julian has created felt very much like purgatory to me but in some ways similar to our planet as it is now – a corrupt group of ‘leaders’ who are only trying to make gains for themselves and do not care about the needs of the people that they are supposed to be leading.

The pace of the story was just right and I didn’t feel like I was slogging through the book at any point (as you sometimes can). I especially liked the details between the chapters of the different accidents as it allowed me learn more about the characters and they felt like they had a lot more substance to them.

This was a really good read for me and I feel like there is a lot more to be learnt and explored within the world that Julian has created

[Fiona Houston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to be send an ARC copy of this book, and I'm so glad I was!
This isn't a genre I would usually choose to read, and so it's unlikely I would have come across this book if browsing at a store - and what a shame that would have turned out to be!!!

Julian Shaw has such an imagination!? The world he creates is so rich and detailed; eerily similar to our own, The Meadow is a dystopian land that holds a mirror up to our own lives. If you've listened to the interview with Julian, you will know that the representation of masculinity is key to his novel - he handles this so well! His depictions of male and female relationships and expressions of toxic masculinity are not done in an obvious force-it-down-your-throat way. The characters are subtly flawed and grapple with multiple demons over the course of the novel. I also love that, despite the protagonist (Gareth) being male, it's the strength and courage of the female characters that ultimately saves the day, and the boys would all be lost without them!

For me, though, what stands out more is Julian's portrayal of privilege and power. Just like in our own world, those at the bottom of society are scorned and suffer for addiction to the very same substances (in Julian's world, marbles are the 'drug' of choice) that are enjoyed and indulged in by those at the top of the hierarchy.

I think that's what I love most about this book - it's got a gripping story and I got completely lost in Julian's world, but more than that it made me reflect on our own society and the unfairness that is baked right in. What more could you want: a great read that also makes you think!!

[John Whitman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, and I'd give it 4.5 stars if I could. The book is well written, and I liked each individual part. The opening scene is a great example of my mixed feelings between 4 and 5 stars -- the opening idea is a bit of a cliche, but it's well written enough that you can forgive it and get involved in the action and description anyway. I feel like that fluctuation between "good" and "very good" continues throughout. There are times when the author has a lot to describe about the world they are in, The Meadow, that slows the story down, but each section is well-written enough that you find yourself continuing. I just wished some parts had moved on a bit faster.

The main character, Gareth, has depth and history -- in fact, the story's structure is about Gareth and others dealing with their pasts. His story arc is reflected in the arc of his companion, Hassan. It's too grandiose a comparison to say that Hassan and Gareth are Dante and Virgil (actually, I'm thinking of Allen and Benny from the Niven/Pournelle novel "Inferno"), but read the book and you'll get why the comparison comes to mind. Memory and story play a huge role in the journey from the metaphysical to...well, you can read and find out.

I would definitely recommend reading this book, especially if you enjoy an alternative take on the soul's relationship to the body, and a person's relationship to their past.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is 100% one of my favourite books of the year so far. It is not my usual style but I was very intrigued when I saw other reviews and it did not disappoint. The story is packed with emotion, thrills and unexpected twists and you can't help but fall in love with all of the characters. I will never look at a marble the same way again! ...#Don'tloseyourmarbles

"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... In this, his debut novel, Julian Shaw has created a life-affirming and enchanting parallel universe, remarkable for its torrential bursts of action and overwhelming floods of emotion.

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."