A review by hello_lovely13
Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura

emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.25

For a good portion of this book, I was planning on rating it 3.75, but the last 100 pages turned it around. It wasn't until the ending of the book that I truly realized how deeply I cared about these characters. For most of the book, we don't know much about the outside lives of the children other than Kokoro. Since the focus is on their growing bond together despite their circumstances, and these circumstances contribute to each character's desire to use the castle as an escape and sanctuary, this makes sense. It also makes sense to add to the mystery of the book as well. I typically would prefer the protagonist slowly get to know each character's stories throughout the book, rather than all at once (throughout the book we get to know hints of their outside lives, but the focus is mainly on knowing their personalities and growing their relationships with each other so they can be there for each other), but I didn't mind how this was done at all (though I will admit, I didn't feel overly attached to the characters until a little before I had to say goodbye to them). It definitely packed a punch and had me in tears (particularly Rion's story, which continually made me cry). Masamune reminded me of Neo from I Fell in Love with Hope. Each character came from different circumstances, and I liked how each of them were written. The fact that the search for the key to get the wish wasn't a main focus for a majority of the book didn't bother me too much, but when it became a crucial part of the story in the last third of the book, it held me tight in its grip. Since I like character-centered stories, I liked how the children really came together to form a found family, thus the lack of focus on the hunt for the key didn't bother me much. There are 3 main twists in the story:
(1) the children are all students at the same school, but not at the same time (when they tried to meet up, so I was able to guess they were from different times, rather than the parallel worlds they assumed; (2) the relevance of the story "The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats", rather than "Little Red Riding Hood" (I didn't know the former story, but because of the number of children and the Wolf Queen, I was able question whether there was a connection between the two as soon as the children met for the first time); (3) the Wolf Queen is Rion's dead older sister (I was able to somewhat hypothesize this once Aki was saved and the other children "came back")
. I really liked how the mysteries unfolded, and upon a reread, I think will have a lot of fun finding more of the clues left to solve them. The ending of the story simultaneously broke my heart and healed it.
The fact that Aki was Ms. Kitajima the entire time made me so happy that I couldn't stop crying. Plus, the fact that the other children saving her in the castle became a motivation (even though it was just a phantom memory) for her to want to help others??? Absolutely beautiful!
The writing style is quite simple, and at times the translation does leave a few holes in possible double meanings and clues, but, in regards to the simplicity of the style, since the narrator for the majority of the time is a 12 year old, it makes sense. I only wonder if the style is more lyrical and whimsical in Japanese. Overall, this was such a melancholy book for a majority of the time, but held such a hopeful message (
the fact that Kokoro's mother was so supportive is just one example other than the found family (the fact that she was so supportive made me so happy)
). It touched my heart, and I will be holding the characters close to me for a long time.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings