Reviews with content warning for Self harm - Lonely Castle in the Mirror

🔸 12 year old Kokoro is struggling to rejoin her school post a traumatic bullying experience. Her parents are unaware about it and think it is a passing phase where she is making excuses to avoid school. One afternoon, the mirror in Kokoro’s house shines brightly and when touched; Kokoro is transported to a lonely castle. Here she meets the ‘Wolf Queen’ and six other children who are more or less same age as hers and are also not attending regular school. Wolf queen has given all of them a quest to search for a wishing key and whoever finds it can fulfil one of their wish. But there are rules to be followed in the castle - like their departure time from the castle, the things that they can use within the castle, the time they have to find the key etc. The seven kids have got 11 months in hand to find the key but is that enough? And what connection do these 7 kids have with each other that they are in this castle together? And who is Wolf Queen after all? The story unravels how their friendship blossoms, the trauma that each are going through and how their lives are intertwined.

💗 This book is an award winner and tackles very sensitive topics of bullying, self harm, low confidence, death in family etc. It is not easy to discuss about these with children and convey to them to speak aloud when they fear someone/something. Author as well as translator have brought this out quite well. It’s the last 30% which was engrossing and where suddenly all the revelations are made and logic explained. My hitch is that all the action is too late in the game. Major part of the book just deals in Kokoro’s anxiety, depression and helplessness.

💔 I found this book terribly slow. The story dragged a lot and I could not grasp why Kokoro and her friends wasted months & months on idling and playing games. They neither interacted much with each other nor were interested in finding the key which sounded strange. Also, how could Kokoro’s parents not sit beside her or connect with school or friends and check why their daughter was avoiding school so badly. Till 55% of the book, nothing significant happened and I felt like giving up all along.

💫 If you love fantasy, magical realism and can move ahead with trigger warnings; only then go for this one.

Thanks @erewhonbooks and @netgalley for sharing the eRC in exchange of honest review.

Content Warnings

lawsam's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

nini23's review against another edition

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hopeful

3.75

KAGAMI NO KOJŌ by Mizuki Tsujimura was published in Japan in 2017, winning the 2018 Japan Booksellers' Award. Translated by Philip Gabriel, my edition of this English translation Lonely Castle in the Mirror was released by Erewhon Books in 2022.

It's been ages since I've read a YA fantasy book. Lonely Castle in the Mirror tackles an important topic: bullying at school. Japanese schoolchildren and their mental health suffer immensely from this insidious problem. In this story, we start with Kokoro who refuses to go to school or leave her home. Silence, shame and guilt are all wrapped up such that she hasn't told anyone what happened. The mirror in her room starts glowing and becomes a portal to a castle where she meets six other schoolchildren in similar predicaments.

The mystery of the castle, the wish granting key and the wolf queen is well done. I guessed the temporal link between the students but the basis for the castle creation and the group's mutual support did leave me in tears. This book stresses the imperative need to treat these traumatized students with understanding and patience. Everyone has their own private story, they will share it when they're ready and trust has been established. It's also important to have alternatives and Lonely Castle in The Mirror does mention them: a children's counselling centre and alternative School (everyday attendance not required), tutoring centres, private tutors, homeschooling. The story does conclude on a hopeful note and I loved the characters' interconnection in the post-castle sequelae.

For those confused about the emphasis on how the kids address each other and Kokoro's seeming obsession with appellations, here's an article explaining the significance https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2020/10/27/language/friendly-or-familiar-using-chan/

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booksofbells's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring mysterious slow-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? N/A

4.0

A massive gratitude to the publisher and Netgalley for the arc ♥️

This is my first time reading a translated fictional book, and I am happily rated this a solid 4 stars! Definitely went beyond my expectation, slow-paced yet gave me a comfy + heart-tugging feelings all over my body.

Content notice: This book contains depictions of bullying, self-harm, death and dying, and sexual assault.

Blurb:
Seven students avoid attending school by sheltering in their gloomy bedrooms, unwilling to actually confront their family and friends, until they unearth a gateway into another world that provides them with a form of escape from their unhappy lives. They gather in a majestic castle after moving through a glowing mirror, which serves as their playground and sanctuary during school hours. The students are tasked with finding a key tucked away somewhere within the castle that will bestow one wish to whoever finds it. The castle will vanish at this point, along with any memories they may have of their expedition. If they do not leave the castle by 5 p.m. every noon, they will be consumed by the castle's keeper, Wolf Queen.

My thoughts:
This book revolves around magical realism/fantasy but rooted in a real world. At first, I thought this book is going to be a general fiction but with a hint of fantasy because of the Wolf Queen and the castle these 7 chosen teenagers discovered after passing through a shimmering mirror on their respective bedrooms. However, things are not quite what it seems as the progress took a turn after 60 or 70% I went into the book. I must admit it was a bit bland to read the first 50% of the book as nothing's really going on there expect for the struggles and trauma each character faces in their reality.

But I feel like it was written in that way to make readers fully immersed and understand that being in a distressing condition takes time for someone to digest what is happening to them. Facing things that make you feel upset and traumatizing do have an effect on yourself, it can turn someone cheerful into a person that harboured gloom and darkness in themselves.

I was once a victim of a bullying when I was in my high school, and even though what I went through isn't as much as the characters inside this book experienced, I truly get the hesitancy and the pain they gulped down their throat instead of figuring how to deal with it properly. So, I respect the author for writing a book that deals with this 'normalized' problem especially in schools. Each character is unique, in their own way. After unearting their true story, I realized that these characters are quite the representation of real people in this world.

I thought this book was going nowhere since the book mostly talked about their playtime together in the castle while slowly unravelling the causes that makes them absent from school, but when I get to the most important part of the book (which was towards the end), I realized all these time, the answer is right in front of me. Everything, I literally meant everything, is connected to the boring bits I read in the first half of the book.

It was comforting to read such book that deals with real issues but mixed with fantasy and magic realism in it. It was fun, easy to read, and very eye-opening. Unexpectedly, the author truly had a way to make this story feels so alive. And I like it.

Content Warnings

onthesamepage's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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

4.0

ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A lovely read, but also a heavy one.

This book does an excellent job of portraying just how isolating any kind of abuse can be for the victim, and how difficult it is to talk about. The feelings of shame that the characters feel because they don't go to school lead them to hiding this fact, and the reason behind it, from each other. It isn't until much later that they begin to open up and share their stories, and that's when we really get to see the relationships shine.

The pacing of the last 30% is much faster than the rest of the book, which is mostly a slow discovery of the character dynamics, and Kokoro's specific circumstances. I enjoyed all of it, but I did like the final stretch a bit more, just because more was happening and we were finally finding out what was going on. There are enough hints sprinkled throughout that you can make a decent guess at what's happening before the cast catches on, but I definitely didn't guess all the twists.

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jfield351's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.75

I read this from the 4th-6th of Feb, as part of the Dymocks challenge for book in translation. This was a beautiful book, and like nothing i’ve read before. It was originally written in Japanese and has been translated into english, so sometimes there were extra phrases clarifying cultural cues. It was also such an easy read! Though the chapters are very long, I didn’t feel like I was reading, but more like watching a movie. I will definitely read this book again. The characters were so lifelike, very very well developed. They are so real and portray that age group (13-16 years) very well. There are lots of struggles with mental health, which is so real and devastating to read about. In the beginning I was wondering if certain things would be explained, like why there were

baths and sinks but no water

, or if it would just be about the growing up of the characters. But no, all but one thing (

why the wolf girl was able to do magic

) was explained!! There were actually 3 twists in the book which I was not expecting whatsoever! I had no idea what the ending would be like, if they’d find the key and what wish would they make, but the ending surprised me and was beautiful. It did keep flashing to the past and the present in the same sentence though, which I found a little hard to understand. I also cringed when there was mention of the

adult/minor relationship

, because it was so lifelike and disturbing. I would call this book a soft fantasy rather than hard fantasy, the latter of which i usually prefer, but this was so good. there was a random part in the middle of the book, which was also the prologue, and I feel it made no sense being where it was.

The alternate ending where all the X’s were graveyards was so freaky, that last chapter was so tense and just wow! also the triple twist really made me stunned! because i thought it was also a parallel world, so finding out it was a different time zone was so wonderful. i guessed that someone might be another ones parent or something, but Aki being the teacher was unexpected and so lovely. it really tied it together beautifully. And finally, Rion’s sister being the wolf girl was a tragic yet beautiful ending, a sister just wanting one last wish for her brother. Also the concept of having the dollhouse be the castle, i’d subconsciously guessed at just because I’ve watched a Doctor Who episode like it, was really cool and tied up all the last plot holes. I don’t understand where she got that magic from, but i’ll accept it. i also don’t get why they couldn’t be in last 5pm? why were they eaten by the wolf? because it was time for her to sleep?

. anyways it was beautiful, i’d love to read it again. wonderful story!
After a few weeks I have decided to up it to 5 stars. such a beautiful and clever book.

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