A review by scarletshore
Giselle by Rikako Akiyoshi

dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

This is my second time reading Akiyoshi Rikako’s work, and my first time experiencing her writing in an Indonesian translation. I have to give kudos to the translator and publisher. I usually don’t enjoy books translated into Indonesian, but they did a great job with this one.

Since the book revolves heavily around ballet, I appreciated the footnotes provided for each ballet term mentioned. It made the reading experience smoother and more informative. The book is slow-paced with long chapters, but despite that, it’s a real page-turner. I found myself thoroughly enjoying it.

The plot twist was completely unpredictable, and the last 50 pages left me shocked multiple times. However, something about the ending irked me. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it felt like something was missing. Initially, I thought the book leaned more towards horror than mystery or thriller, but after finishing it, I realized it’s not a horror story after all. Overall, I loved this book and highly recommend reading it.