Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura

17 reviews

clovetra's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

i am irrevocably changed after reading this book. 
this book was so magical in so many ways, and i genuinely think this book will stick with me for life. 
i'll be real, before the last ~100 pages i was expecting this to be a 4-star read. the last 100 pages were easily 5-star pages, but i will say i did experience *some* issues reading this.
for one, some parts of the story are quite confusing and unrealistic. unrealistic is like 99% of this book because kids are travelling into a mirror but from what was established in the universe, some things did not feel practical. 
for example, how kokoro reacts to her education & why she's not going. as someone who lowkey wagged a lot of year 7 in high school, i get her. but like... her reason is so unrealistic for not going! not trying to shame my girl but... idk i couldn't buy into the fact that *that* was what caused her to not go to school.... like idk as a fellow ex-school avoider it felt odd. and this same can apply for all the other students in the castle (minus rion my pookie). yet again not trying to shame non-existant characters or those who have avoided school for those reasons! i just..... don't believe it, which threw me out of the story many times.
also this is such an insane nitpick but i literally could NOT tell the difference between the male characters. by the end i could remember who rion was but..... all the others blended into one. this is such a unique experience because ive never had this happen to me..... like even in [book:Battle Royale|57891] i could somehow remember all the characters. this one? i had no idea who was who & i just prayed i was picturing the right person. 
simply because of those reasons it felt wrong to do a 5 star rating. if i was someone who half-starred books she would defo be a 4.5, but if i compare this with all my other 5-stars, idk this book feels better in the higher end of my 4-star ratings.
ok now let me gush about this book.
THE ENDINGGG????? ohhh the entire last chapter my ass was fucking BAWLING. i did not expect to go into this book crying???? i thought this was just some whimsical coming-of-age story.... i got hoodwinked /lh
i wanted to throw up i was crying that bad with the explanation of the castle.... did not go into that strong enough. like if i know a book is sad i will mentally prepare. i was not prepared!!!!
the character's bonds and friendships were quite beautiful to read, especially seeing each one come out of their shell more and more. 
the reveals were so unexpected but that's because i wasn't looking for them!! i was so comfy i was just reading, missing every sign ever. the plot twists didn't feel cheap but they also were still surprises! like if i actually paid attention and put together pieces i still don't think i would've reached the conclusions but tbh im not mad!! my ass is not good at deducting mysteries so i like the fact it was spelled out to me like i have no brain <3 (i don't have a brain)
anyways i didn't expect to have this book impact me this much. i will say i think it touched me a lot is because ive been in these kid's shoes! bullied, school avoidance, social anxiety, bedrotting (my beloved), horrible family life situations, overachieving, etc. i related a bit too deeply at times tbh, but i think that made me love this story even more!
i don't think im saying anything meaningful in this review but i had a fun time and u know what this book made me cry so in my mind that means the book was fire. 

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crows_in_a_trenchcoat's review against another edition

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dark hopeful reflective sad slow-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? No

5.0


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atalea's review against another edition

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hopeful mysterious sad fast-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? It's complicated

4.5


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kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Sad, hopeful, whimsical, lovely. the movie was lovely but this felt like an arrow to the heart in a very bittersweet, throbbing way. I NEED this in print 

I often struggle with translated literature feeling stilted or distanced from the characters but this was spectacular. 

my one bone to pick is that sometimes the children admitted faults in places where truly their parents should have picked up the slack, but I also think that is realistic to their lives. their parents didn’t know them enough to notice their issues, so the kids blame themselves for “not speaking up” when problems arouse. :( 

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blacksphinx's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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emjbarnes's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-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? It's complicated

3.75

This took me a long time to get into, but by the time I got the first real plot twists, I was really attached to the characters. The ending was a huge surprise and is well worth the wait.

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florecita_lectora's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense 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? No

4.75


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soupsoupsoup's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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risemini's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75


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sarah984's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Very sweet story about a group of teens who are struggling in some aspect of their lives and get drawn into a strange magical world. It moves a little slowly but the way it all comes together at the end is worth it for me.

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