The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
steffiraquel's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Gore, Bullying, Body horror, and Violence
Minor: Dysphoria, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Kidnapping, and Child abuse
"Because two of my influences were Japanese origin, I decided to lean into this basing Yumi's culture on historical Korea and Painter's on a more modern Japan" I don't really understand and can't help bu feel disappointed...mightyjor's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I’d probably put this at closer to a 4.5 stars, but overall I really loved the story and I don’t think it’s flaws are enough to bring it all the way down to a 4, but it certainly has flaws. Overall I really loved this one.Â
Let’s start with my biggest criticism that I had to really move past before I could really give this 5 stars, and that’s the issue of originality. The nightmare painter aspect of this is brilliant and fun, and both of the worlds of the 2 main characters are crazy and original and beautiful in their own very distinct ways. My issue though is with the overall plot of the story for the first 3/4 or so of the book. It’s incredibly similar to anyone who has consumed a lot of Japanese fantasy, particularly final fantasy games (with huge elements borrowed from 7 and 10), and then there’s the plot of Your Name, a fantastic animated Japanese film that’s one of the best I’ve ever seen which is almost identical to this one a surface level, though I don’t want to pin point the differences because I don’t want to spoil either story. Rest assured, they are VERY similar, and I’m glad Sanderson acknowledged this a bit in the Afterword. My big problem here was that for a large chunk of the story it really felt identical to those and I couldn’t see where it was going. The plot feels a bit aimless for a good chunk of the book, which brings the similarities to other Japanese media to the forefront.Â
The reason I don’t consider this nearly as bad after reading the entire book is for 2 reasons. One, the story of 2 opposite people falling in love and learning from each other despite being opposites is more a tool to be implemented rather than a story that’s copied. Lots of stories use this trope to great effect and saying that this story directly copies something like Your Name ignores all the things that Your Name copied from and made unique to its benefit. There’s no events plagiarized from any of these other stories, more a vibe and a general premise which are fairly standard to anyone working in the romance genre. The second is that the story does eventually break from that mold to deliver an insane final act that really separates itself from these other stories (though it does still recycle some pretty standard anime tropes). I really loved the ending here and appreciated the final exposition dump from Hoid that explained everything for me because I was totally lost for a good chunk of it. In a perfect world, I probably would have understood the story that an exposition dump wasn’t necessary, but I genuinely don’t know how he could have done that while also keeping a trim story, since most of the explanations have to be unraveled after the big twist happens. But yeah, it’s an exposition dump, broken up into three parts, and it’s great but also a bit clunky.Â
The other problems I have with this story are it’s reliance on a few anime tropes I don’t like, first and foremost is the pervy teenage anime kid. It seems like every single woman in this story is described in a way that I know how large or small all of their breasts are. I really don’t need that. There’s also a lot of bathing scenes where characters are blushing and naked and I can almost imagine the giant nosebleed and drool coming off of the anime characters. It’s that sort of thing that makes me really hesitant to recommend this book to people, same reason I don’t really ever recommend anime people, despite mostly liking a lot of what I’ve seen. Just drop the pervy stuff, the book is good enough without it.Â
With all that out of the way, you might think I don’t like this book, but I actually love it. All the characters and twists and turns the story takes are wonderful. I don’t typically like romance in a Sanderson book, but this one is actually pretty great and works really well. Cringy tropes aside, I actually love anime and Japanese story telling, so the scenes and plot of this book were right up my alley. Some of the imagery of the setting here is beautiful as well, and I think this is some of the best prose I’ve seen in a Sanderson book (though admittedly, the descriptive prose comes and goes). It’s also complimented by some truly breathtaking art that I just stared at for lengthy periods of time every time I got to one.Â
I’ll also say that I didn’t predict where the ending was going, even though I thought I had it figured out. Sometimes when that happens I’m disappointed, but the real ending was well thought out and answered a lot of questions I hadn’t considered in my theories. Some of the red herrings were a little annoying though now that I’ve had some time to consider them. There’s still a few things in the story I don’t quite understand, but I’m sure they’ll make sense if I ever get a chance to reread this one.Â
At the moment I’d place this far above Secret Project 2, and probably equal to SP1. There are some very high highs and a few lows, but overall I read through this book very fast and enjoyed it immensely.Â
Let’s start with my biggest criticism that I had to really move past before I could really give this 5 stars, and that’s the issue of originality. The nightmare painter aspect of this is brilliant and fun, and both of the worlds of the 2 main characters are crazy and original and beautiful in their own very distinct ways. My issue though is with the overall plot of the story for the first 3/4 or so of the book. It’s incredibly similar to anyone who has consumed a lot of Japanese fantasy, particularly final fantasy games (with huge elements borrowed from 7 and 10), and then there’s the plot of Your Name, a fantastic animated Japanese film that’s one of the best I’ve ever seen which is almost identical to this one a surface level, though I don’t want to pin point the differences because I don’t want to spoil either story. Rest assured, they are VERY similar, and I’m glad Sanderson acknowledged this a bit in the Afterword. My big problem here was that for a large chunk of the story it really felt identical to those and I couldn’t see where it was going. The plot feels a bit aimless for a good chunk of the book, which brings the similarities to other Japanese media to the forefront.Â
The reason I don’t consider this nearly as bad after reading the entire book is for 2 reasons. One, the story of 2 opposite people falling in love and learning from each other despite being opposites is more a tool to be implemented rather than a story that’s copied. Lots of stories use this trope to great effect and saying that this story directly copies something like Your Name ignores all the things that Your Name copied from and made unique to its benefit. There’s no events plagiarized from any of these other stories, more a vibe and a general premise which are fairly standard to anyone working in the romance genre. The second is that the story does eventually break from that mold to deliver an insane final act that really separates itself from these other stories (though it does still recycle some pretty standard anime tropes). I really loved the ending here and appreciated the final exposition dump from Hoid that explained everything for me because I was totally lost for a good chunk of it. In a perfect world, I probably would have understood the story that an exposition dump wasn’t necessary, but I genuinely don’t know how he could have done that while also keeping a trim story, since most of the explanations have to be unraveled after the big twist happens. But yeah, it’s an exposition dump, broken up into three parts, and it’s great but also a bit clunky.Â
The other problems I have with this story are it’s reliance on a few anime tropes I don’t like, first and foremost is the pervy teenage anime kid. It seems like every single woman in this story is described in a way that I know how large or small all of their breasts are. I really don’t need that. There’s also a lot of bathing scenes where characters are blushing and naked and I can almost imagine the giant nosebleed and drool coming off of the anime characters. It’s that sort of thing that makes me really hesitant to recommend this book to people, same reason I don’t really ever recommend anime people, despite mostly liking a lot of what I’ve seen. Just drop the pervy stuff, the book is good enough without it.Â
With all that out of the way, you might think I don’t like this book, but I actually love it. All the characters and twists and turns the story takes are wonderful. I don’t typically like romance in a Sanderson book, but this one is actually pretty great and works really well. Cringy tropes aside, I actually love anime and Japanese story telling, so the scenes and plot of this book were right up my alley. Some of the imagery of the setting here is beautiful as well, and I think this is some of the best prose I’ve seen in a Sanderson book (though admittedly, the descriptive prose comes and goes). It’s also complimented by some truly breathtaking art that I just stared at for lengthy periods of time every time I got to one.Â
I’ll also say that I didn’t predict where the ending was going, even though I thought I had it figured out. Sometimes when that happens I’m disappointed, but the real ending was well thought out and answered a lot of questions I hadn’t considered in my theories. Some of the red herrings were a little annoying though now that I’ve had some time to consider them. There’s still a few things in the story I don’t quite understand, but I’m sure they’ll make sense if I ever get a chance to reread this one.Â
At the moment I’d place this far above Secret Project 2, and probably equal to SP1. There are some very high highs and a few lows, but overall I read through this book very fast and enjoyed it immensely.Â
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Minor: Gore and Sexual content
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