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wrenl's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts
clovetra's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Suicide attempt
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Blood, and Death of parent
sophiemag's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
fast-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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Terminal illness, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Sexual assault
laurenvoice's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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
3.5
Lonely Castle in the Mirror had a slow start, but the whole story came together in the final chapter. This story was quite sad, but hopeful at the same time. It is quite hard to put my thoughts into words to describe how I feel after reading this book; however, I know it will stay with me for a long time. I hope Kokoro and her friends will all meet again.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Grief
chapkip's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
WOW. I’m so grateful to have read this book. It’s such a beautiful story with a fun cast of characters and made me cry on multiple occasions. The payoff with each reveal was amazingly executed and I felt like I couldn’t read the last 150-ish pages fast enough. I think this is one of those stories I’ll be thinking about long after putting it down!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Terminal illness
Minor: Sexual assault
ari_af's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse
kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition
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. :(
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. :(
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
brekaboujie's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I feel that reading this book as a trabslation has potentially resulted in me rating it lower than I would have done if I could read it in its original language. It is such a culturally specific book, and the setting is something I know so little about and is so far from my own experience that I found it difficult to empathise with the characters and the plot line. It was all just so BIZARRE but treated very seriously: the intense bullying, the lack of trusted adult figures which meant the bullying was never dealt with, the (to me) extreme reactions to teasing that was so just... stupid and ignorable (feels mean to say, but Kokoro reacted to everything so intensely and extremely it didn't feel realistic to me which then meant a huge section of the plot was a bit muddled in my head), and the mirror and magical land which just... no one questioned despite it being plopped in a world that didn't have any magic elsewhere.
I think a lot of my lack of enjoyment and issues immersing myself came from the translation choices, so I won't comment hugely on the way it was written as it may be totally different in the original version. However, I did fully think for about half the book that the mirror world was an intense hallucination / delusion and that Kokoro was very unwell. It allowed me to ignore some of the weird aspects so then when it wasn't that everything just felt very odd.
I did enjoy the twists, but I wish there had been better lead up to the ending sequences.It felt like a big genre twist at the end with the thriller chase sequence vibes, which was fun but again, very odd. Going through everyone's trauma was a bizarre choice as it completely messed up the pacing for me. I also CANNOT TELL YOU how frustrated I was that it took them that long to realise that they were in the same world but from different timelines. It was SO EASY to check and when they went straight to alternate universes I almost ripped my hair out !!!!!!!!!
Overall, I feel like I missed out on a lot by reading an English translation so this is a hesitant 3 stars. The premise was interesting, but it really didn't work for me.
I think a lot of my lack of enjoyment and issues immersing myself came from the translation choices, so I won't comment hugely on the way it was written as it may be totally different in the original version. However, I did fully think for about half the book that the mirror world was an intense hallucination / delusion and that Kokoro was very unwell. It allowed me to ignore some of the weird aspects so then when it wasn't that everything just felt very odd.
I did enjoy the twists, but I wish there had been better lead up to the ending sequences.
Overall, I feel like I missed out on a lot by reading an English translation so this is a hesitant 3 stars. The premise was interesting, but it really didn't work for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Child death and Death
Minor: Child abuse and Violence
ellaisntreading's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
i was not expecting to cry at the end omg
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Cancer, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt
gingervandorsten's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-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
4.0
This was lovely. Forgiving and gentle and really touching. I enjoyed it more and more the further I got into it, I think, and the book holds up so well when you see it as a whole story even though I wasn’t particularly into it for the first maybe 2/3rds of the story. But altogether this is a great book and the story is really well-crafted.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Child abuse