Synopsis:
It begins with a butterfly in chains.
Since the dawn of time, life has been comfortable and predictable. The gods have wrested pockets of Creation from Chaos, formed civilizations, and built entire realities. Now, the nature of Creation is changing and the Divine are losing their divinity.
Rosemary, daughter of the God of Creation, can no longer deny this when a strange delegation from Dawnland braves the paths through Chaos and survives. Come to negotiate trade and protection agreements with the Divine of Meadowsweet, it is the butterfly woman who so captivates Rosemary. The weight of her sorrow, the heaviness of her secrets.
For the soul is a battleground. Clouds are massing along the horizon, and Rosemary…
She must survive the storm.
Review:
Thank you Sarah for sending me a copy of The Necessity of Rain for review!
Oh, what a truly stunning book. I’ve read nearly all of Sarah’s books and The Necessity of Rain really shows off her gorgeous writing and heart-breaking stories. Sarah has this incredible way of breaking your heart, and then patching it back up in a way that makes you feel so satisfied.
Set in a fantasy world of Gods, Chaos and pockets of Creation you’ll find yourself completely wrapped up in the story that Sarah lays out before you. Following three main characters you’ll experience their loss, love and found families, I found it impossible to put this one down. As the book switches between past and present you end up completely wrapped up in their journeys. Sarah navigates complex family relationships and love with such tenderness and beauty, it’s really one of the highlights of the book for me.
The main theme of The Necessity of Rain is loss and grief. Sarah takes this story of Gods and their Arbours, areas they’ve created, and uses it to explore loss and grief and the healing process. I think this’ll be something I return to when I need to read about these topics. Watching the Gods fade and how the citizens of their Arbours deal with this knowledge is magical. I can’t say more for fear of ruining the experience of reading this, but it’s truly stunning.
As always Sarah has managed to break my heart and put it back together, and I love her for that.
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