A review by chasinggrace
Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura

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

3.0

It’s difficult for me to rate this book, because for the entirety of it I was (and still am) in some sort of a reading slump. So how I feel about the book might also reflect how disengaged I am from reading right now. 

However, I want to say that this book is definitely YA - something that middle and high schoolers could and should read. Therefore, I didn’t find myself resonating with many of the characters. In addition, you don’t find out a character’s full story until the last 5% of the book, and feel quite disconnected from each of the seven children throughout the story. 

I will say, I enjoyed how the novel concluded. I liked the connection to the fairytale, even if the story isn’t one that I recognize. I also LOVED the connection to Rion’s sister Mio, and I LOVED how Aki became the Free School teacher. Those two points really improved my experience with the book.


I found that I had to force myself to pick up the book, because it was so slow paced. And even though I liked the ending, I was rushing through it just to finish the novel. I’m simply not the target audience for this story and I struggle with how to rate it. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings