The Rainshadow Orphans by Naomi Ishiguro Review

The first novel in a dazzling fantasy trilogy inspired by Japanese folklore and Studio Ghibli films like Spirited Away, set within a mythical archipelago brimming with dragons and Sun Spirits, high-tech hackers and bubble tea.
 

Life is hard for the inhabitants of Rainshadow City, a place where poverty and corruption are rife and where they are terrorized by an underground criminal organization known as the Lucky Crows.
 

Toshiko, Jun and Mei Kawakami are a family, bonded through loyalty if not blood, who live outside the increasingly corrupt law and who are seeking revenge for the murder of their beloved “aunt” Reiko by the Lucky Crows. Haru is the son of the Emperor, destined to one day rule over the Archipelago and uphold his mother’s ignoble legacy, but he is more interested in making friends with the magical Sun Spirits it seems only he can see. Theo, forced to leave his homeland, is a reluctant foot-soldier for the Lucky Crows. He doesn’t want to be a gangster, but as an illegal immigrant to the city, his choices are severely limited.
 

When Toshiko steals a dragon pearl from the leader of the Crows, it sets them all on a thrilling path which will determine the future of Rainshadow City. Tightly set across two days and peopled with unforgettable characters, The Rainshadow Orphans blends the anime fantasy of works like Pokémon and Studio Ghibli and the anime science fiction of revolutionary cyberpunk like Akira to explore what it means to stand up to corruption and take charge of destiny.

This review is based on a complimentary Advanced Reader Copy provided by Saga Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

An intriguing blend of fantasy and science fiction elements, Naomi Ishiguro’s The Rainshadow Orphans is a unique crossover novel full of Japanese cultural and folklore inspirations. Mixing a variety of concepts across the SFF genre umbrella, this book is an appealing and accessible read that feels like a throwback to YA fantasy novels of the mid 2000’s modernized for current tastes. The start of a planned high fantasy trilogy, though the Rainshadow Orphans is quite lengthy and occasionally drags in places, it’s an appealing start to a series full of great potential.

Set in a fictional island archipelago and primarily taking place in the affluent Rainshadow City and the impoverished Keeper’s Crescent, the Rainshadow Orphans tells the story of young adult characters (plus Haru) caught amid the Royal Emperor Asayo’s revisioning of the island and the illegal gang activities of the Lucky Crows. Presented through multiple POV’s, the story is one that is part fantasy magical object and creature-based, and part futuristic technology-based with light hints of dystopian turmoil. The book covers the events of 48 hours that put the futures of many of the island’s neglected groups at risk as power-hungry groups jockey for control. The story follows three orphaned and adopted Kawakami siblings, Toshiko the scrappy adventurer, Jun the healer and info-gatherer, Mei the tech wizard, the ten year old royal prince Haru, and the undocumented immigrant and unlikely Lucky Crow member Theo. Split across different backgrounds, affiliations, and individual narratives, Ishiguro’s story sees their paths and narratives cross in a book about found family, loyalty, and one’s place in the grand Rainshadow City.

Before getting into the book’s plot, a big highlight of the Rainshadow Orphans is its whimsical nature that the publisher aptly compares to Studio Ghibli movies. While the plot and characters are more straightforward fantasy and scifi faire vs Ghibli’s more relaxed and nature-based narratives, the fantasy visuals and focal sun spirits add a lovely warmth and dreamy, almost nostalgic feel to the reading experience. While Keeper’s Crescent is a rougher and harsh setting fitting for the book’s meatier narrative points and themes, the outskirts of the island and the quieter moments of the story are where the book is at its best. As the sheltered royal heir and one gifted with the heightened ability to see the island’s mythical sun spirits, Haru’s perspective is particularly pretty and magical, easily my favorite character and perspective in the book that matches Ishiguro’s writing style wonderfully. The dreamy feel also extends to Ishiguro’s visuals of the technologically advanced city, the emperor’s opulent palace gardens, and the endless sea that surrounds the island.

In addition to the whimsical feel of its magical beings and scenery, this book also features a unique blend of elements taken from across the SFF umbrella. While the book’s cover and synopsis involving a dragon pearl, magical powers, and mythical sun spirits are distinctively fantasy-based, the Rainshadow Orphans also features a slate of compelling scifi elements as well. There’s a mysterious failed experiment that released a toxic phenomenon on another island, automated service bots, high-tech communication devices, and Mei’s signature hacking abilities and aspirations to create the perfect boba-making robot. The story strings all these fantasy and scifi elements together through a story set around political corruption, poverty, and the neglect of the residents of Keeper’s Crescent, many of which are undocumented migrants who are unable to obtain a citizen pass to the nearby Rainshadow City. The discussions around classism, dependency on undocumented migrant labor, systemic exploitation of the poor, and limitless greed for power and resources are themes highly relevant in the current societal and political climate wrapped within a youthful and creative package.

While the book has a lot of different character perspectives and storylines meaning there’s something appealing for almost every reader, my main critique with the Rainshadow Orphans is that it sometimes feels like the story has too many narrative elements going on that don’t necessarily complement each other well. While I can see many readers enjoying the blend of fantasy with scifi flair and Ishiguro’s use of techy concepts powered by fantasy-based origins, I often felt like the book was trying to do a lot with different storylines and ideas but spread too thinly. Plot threads revolving around automated bots, machine vs living beings, and the very concept of the sun spirits come and go throughout the story which feels like it lacks cohesion and follow through on its individually interesting moving pieces. While far from being poorly written, the lack of focus results in the overall story feeling rather surface level in its development and lacking strong hooks to keep the reader engaged; there’s no real indication of what the story’s purpose or direction is until almost a third of the way in. Additionally, due to the expansive lore and ideas for the series, I frequently felt like the story’s pacing and plot were getting dragged down by the extensive world-building that sometimes felt like it was straying off-topic or taking too long to get to the point. To Ishiguro’s credit, I found the world-building presented was well-done and elaborate but questioned the relevancy of such extensive backstories that resulted in a kind of start and stop kind of build. In theory, all the book’s ideas and themes are quite compelling, but when put together, I found I appreciated the book conceptually far more than I did subjectively which brought down my overall reading experiences and score for the book. I also found the story to be quite simple and juvenile from a character writing and plot perspective. While not specifically marketed as a YA or adult novel, the characterizations, prose, and storytelling felt quite simplistic to me. Particularly the villains’ motivations left a lot to be desired and overall, the story felt very YA despite the visual violence, themes, and world-building suggesting more mature literary aspirations.

Narratively, the events of the book take place over 48 hours which sounds like the setup for an exciting SFF fusion kickstarted by the Kawakami siblings’ infiltration heist and ending with a violent and dramatic clash of forces. This may also be an unpopular opinion, but clocking in at 640 pages, I felt like this book was probably about 200 pages too long. I believe Ishiguro’s intent was to fully develop and flesh out all three of the siblings, Haru, and Theo individually with their different skills and backgrounds. While I found Toshiko and Haru’s perspective consistently interesting and tonally distinctive, I often felt like Jun’s perspective was unnecessary and didn’t add much to the book’s narrative or storyline and Mei’s perspective to be the opposite where it’s so briefly used, the content could’ve been rephrased or incorporated into either Toshiko, Haru, or Theo’s chapters. The excess detailing is most noticeable when the book introduces certain backstories or lore in one POV and then recaps the same information again in another POV. The resident healer and pseudo family figure to the siblings Aunty Maile is an integral part of the story, but Toshiko and Jun’s lengthy introductions, backstories, and memories of Aunty Maile while contextually different felt repetitive and unnecessarily duplicated. The story also has sections of compelling action and developments such as the early heist, Toshiko’s conflict with the Lucky Crows, or her introduction to Theo, but then would go for lengthy sections of slow development with little progression. I personally would’ve preferred the story to be snappier or more focused especially considering it’s not a standalone book that has to cover every detail and connection in one go. Additionally, the whimsical and Ghibli-like feel that I loved about the book and consider its best element to be wonderful when they would occur, but often felt completely lost and absent for most of the read. I likely would’ve preferred if the story was just Toshiko and Haru’s perspectives only with brief snapshots into Theo’s eyes rather than the book’s ensemble approach that felt bloated to me.

A unique blend of SFF ideas, an expansive high fantasy world, and a loving nod to Japanese culture and mythology, the Rainshadow Orphans has a lot of great appealing selling points. The conceptual vision of Rainshadow City and the sun spirits captures that special Studio Ghibli feel and it’s clear that Ishiguro has great ideas in store for future entries in the series. In particular, this is a great SFF book for readers looking for a safe and pleasant YA story with some unique twists and flavor. Unfortunately, the sluggish pacing, heavy world-building, and general overwritten feel for me prevented the book from living up to its full potential and was a bit of a disappointment. Additionally the book’s marketing comparing it to Pokemon (aside from being whimsical, there’s nothing in common between them and the sun spirits), cyberpunk Akira (the aesthetic is all wrong and the cyberpunk elements nowhere near as prominent to warrant the reference) , and anime in general feels like a poor comparison and setting up the prospective readers for disappointment; I frankly think that the only thing those titles and this book have in common are having Japanese inspirations and the marketing failing to understand what the anime style or medium is. My personal gripes with the marketing aside, the Rainshadow Orphans is a confidently written start to what looks like to be a promising new trilogy series.

Note: The ARC edition this review is based off of had excessive use of dashes in the middle of words that should not have hyphens. This formatting issue was not included in my review and rating given this is an unpublished version that has not been finalized, however this may be taken into consideration if the issue is not corrected when the book is published.