Customer Reviews

The Rainy Season

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Blaylock's books in the last few years have slowly taken on a different tone and direction . . . all for the better, I say. Gone are the goofy scenarios with almost ridiculously comedic characters and bizarre fantasy situations that just happened to be set in a world we all might happen to recognize . . . those were darn entertaining but I think Blaylock would have undermined himself had he continued to write in that style. Instead he evolved and grew to the point where he's at now, writing a sort of "fantastic realism" where engagingly real people interact just barely with a world they barely understand and come into contact with things that don't make a whole lot of sense. The "magic" stuff is kept as far into the background as possible and the focus is squarely on people and how they treat each other and what makes them tick and what separates a "good" decision from a "bad" decision. In this novel, Phil Ainsworth winds up with custody of his niece after her mother dies but along the way becomes embroiled in an ongoing scenario a century old that might have something to do with the odd well on his land. The plot is gripping but not all that frightening, it's more tense than anything else and it's fascinating to watch people undone by simple obsessions and the lengths that those obsessions will drive them . . . by the end you're just reading rapidly, watching as they people circle each other and close in, ready to collide in something you know is going to be ugly. Blaylock evokes both the mystique and the wonder at the heart of magic while bringing to life a little corner of California. Night Relics is probably still his best book, the psychology cuts much deeper there, the characters have slightly more depth and the evil just a teensy bit more frightening but you would have a hard time going wrong here and it's really not that bad a place to start with him. I'll be looking forward to seeing what he does next.

It's a nice change to read a ghost story that mixes in a healthy dose of the magical and mysterious, instead of the bloody splatter kind of jump-out-and-get-you horror that seems so pervasive these days. Blaylock is a master of the eerie and moody chill, rather than the cheap thrill. He writes about haunted houses so evocatively that you long to visit them, to savor the charged atmosphere for yourself. Add to this a convoluted plot full of many disparate elements that couldn't possibly go together, but somehow do, and you have one of his best novels since The Paper Grail.

If you read this book, you will believe that Blaylock has been touched by magic at some point in his life, to describe it in words so evocatively.

It's an unusually rainy winter in southern California, with water brimming the usually dry well on Phil Ainsworth's property, when he learns of the death of his sister and accepts guardianship of her orphaned daughter, Betsy. What he has yet to learn is that rain awakens strange forces in a landscape that hides scars of loss, twisted love, greed, and human sacrifice. Unknowingly, Phil is bringing Betsy into the heart of a supernatural struggle for memories trapped in crystal -- and in this conflict, those who play for love are almost as cruel as those who play for greed.

In this beautifully written book, Blaylock has created believable characters -- notably including a believable 10-year-old, a feat beyond most authors of adult-oriented fiction -- and expressed truths of the heart in evocative symbols. That's what I think a fantasy should do, and that's why Blaylock is one of my favorite authors.

I've read through other reviews of The Rainy Season, and I thought I'd add some comments.

I think you may've been missing the direction Blaylock's apparently been taking in his writing in books leading up to and including Rainy Season. I think it helps to look at one of his prime influences in understanding this: Charles Dickens. Much as Dickens did, Blaylock is writing social commentary and exploring morality in his characters and their stories.

This trend is most easily seen in the profiles of his villeins over the span of his books. His earlier works contained very two-dimensional, almost-vaudevillean bad guys. The Dwarf, Dr. Frosticos, et al. Increasingly, Blaylock has examined what it is that causes a character to turn out "evil". His stories became, in part, a questioning of what it was in a person's background which caused them to turn out as they did. Further, his protagonist may be confronted by similar/same temptations toward unethical decisions as the villeins. The main character inevitably identifies what it is which is wrong with the behavior/decisions in question, and finally chooses good over evil.

In so doing, the main character highlights the contrast between himself and the villein, and seems to prove that people have the innate ability to improve their own characters. In the case of Rainy Season, one could postulate that one of the main moral questions being asked is: would you murder a stranger in order to save the life of a loved-one? If your ethics have slid to where the answer of this question is yes, the question extends, too: how many people would you murder for your own selfish love?

Perhaps Blaylock has become more serious in this vein of social commentary through his stories, and many of you reading his newer works are disappointed that he isn't still writing the identical themes as before. It is obvious to me that he isn't doing this style in a hack effort to try to make quick money (as his friend, Dean Koontz, seems to do). The quality of the writing is quite high in these stories, and there remain amusing glimmers of his previous eccentric styles (influenced much by Victorian styles of phrasing and idiom usage as found in Dickensian works). Though Blaylock once sadly confided to me that "comedy doesn't pay very well, and takes twice as much effort to write...", the marketing trends of publishing really are not his prime influence here. If you read Blaylock's works in chronological order over time, you may find as I have that the main character in most of his stories is virtually the same man, though the name may change and the exterior traits may seem different. When reading in chrono order, you find that you're witnessing the development of a person's character: that person is in many ways the character of Jim Blaylock himself.

I think there are some true gems in Rainy Season, if you have an ear and contextual appreciation for them. If you're only looking for the style of his earlier works, don't read this.

I've been following Blaylock since his first book. He coninues to grow and improve, and The Rainy Season is wonderful. The dust jacket copy incorrectly portrays this book as more conventional than it is. Blaylock has an optimistic, skewed, and hilarious view of humanity. Around the fantastical plot revolve nicely drawn, sympathetic characters whom I really cared about. Typically of Blaylock, the villains are as real and as understandable as the good guys, just wildly misguided. Read it!

When I bought this I was expecting it to be more "creepy" than it turned out to be. I am glad I did buy it though, since it turned out to be a delightful surprise. I thought this book had a great storyline & was well written. Even though the book was a fantasy it didn't seem totally "out there." The characters were sympathetic & believable. Blaylock even gives the villains a humanistic side. This book has a little fantasy, mystery, suspense, & warmth all rolled up together.

When Phil Ainsworth's sister dies, he becomes the guardian of her ten-year-old daughter Betsy. She comes to live with him in his mother's home-- a big old house full of the sense of the past. Betsy and Phil become caught up in a story that began long ago as lurkers appear by the well on the property, and strange little trinkets seem to take on a life of their own.

_The Rainy Season_ is an affecting and atmospheric novel which succeeds in carrying a mood of sadness and history from beginning to end. This is my second Blaylock, and he's clearly a talented writer-- I think 'evocative' captures his writing best as a word, regardless of how the tone differs from book to book. I have had a problem with both of his books so far in that I found them both a bit slight-- I'm not able to easily define why-- somehow lacking in contours or contrasts. Still definitely worth reading if you're a fan of the more gentle variety of ghost story.

I bought this book to check out how good my Writing professor (at Univeristy of California - Irvine), James Blaylock, was at writing. Wow. I'm a fantasy/sci-fi reader for the most part and his writings have kept me from sleeping, not only from content but also because its so good I can't put it down. As a Writing professor he's quite good, a cowboy if you will. Never had so much fun reading a book or going to english class.

I've been a fan of JPB since "Land of Dreams," and it is disheartening to see his work go steadily downhill since the release of "Night Relics." Blaylock has always been a master of quirkiness, making the mundane seem magical. However, his plots have become formulaic; the situation is always neatly tied up with a gun and a stroke of bad luck suddenly befalling the villian. I became disappointed midway through this novel because I could tell exactly the direction he was taking me; his last four novels have seemed contrived, tired almost. I miss the days when Blaylock discussed the probability of civiling water dogs and ghosts haunted an orphanage attic or the hero thwarts the villian with a wooden penny nailed to the floor. Borrow this one from the library and save your money for origami lessons.

I picked this book up at a discount book store because it sounded interesting. It was so well-written that at times I almost thought crystals and the ceremonies that produced them were fact :-). For those who found this book trite--lighten up. I loved it!