Reviews

The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi

kirkl's review

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

shelbykate's review against another edition

5.0

you know how sometimes people will mention a comp title and then you read it and go ‘….yeah I guess?’ that’s usually how I feel when people tell me something has studio ghibli vibes. it’s never quite exactly right. 

except this book. this exceeded every expectation I had in leaps and bounds. the writing, vibes, storytelling, world building, political intrigue, all of it was VERY ghibli. 

at times it felt middle grade but then as our FMC grew up the ya kicked in more. ALSO if you are someone who needs romance be warned there is literally not a drop in here, WHICH I ACTUALLY LOVED? 

I could see the start of one potential relationship for book 2 but it was a subtle as a fly fart in the wind. a blink and you miss it moment. 

Elin is up there with one of my favorite characters of all time. crossing my fingers there is no character assassinations in book 2!! 

tabathastomes's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing 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? No

4.25

petalpetal's review

adventurous inspiring reflective sad medium-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

5.0

littleredmacks's review

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I will say that the tone that is set in the beginning of the book (high stakes, fast paced) wasn’t the tone that was kept throughout. This was a bit jarring as I wasn’t expecting it. Shortly after the beginning it started turning into a lower stakes fantasy. But then it developed into differences between animals in captivity and in the wild and how their care can change the animal fundamentally. 

 

Overall this story was still very beautiful and I can see why it won awards. 

katieinca's review against another edition

4.0

I found this a bit slow starter for the first 10% because of the dense worldbuilding to absorb, but after that I pretty much tore through it, because the story, and the world, are that compelling. It's YA/young readers-y, and it has that feeling in parts. Like, catering to every kid who loves animals and wants to imagine they’re the BEST ONE at connecting with them. But my favorite character was one of the adults - the beekeeper who takes Elin in near the beginning.
There's another book later with this character, but this was written as a standalone and works well that way, which I appreciate.

lenahe's review against another edition

adventurous sad

3.0

The book began with a nice coming of age vibe, and I was curious to see what would happen to the MC. However, on the second half, it became more serious and I had less hope for a good ending at each turn. Funny enough, I did like the open ending. 
Regardless of the plot, I didn't enjoy the writing style much. There's quite a bit of changes in POV that I'm not sure were necessary. 

dromwald's review against another edition

4.0

Two things surprised me about this book; one, that it was written with young adult readers in mind and two, just how much I enjoyed it. Half way through I wondered why the author hadn't written a sequel but towards the end that choice seemed right. This was not a tale that would have benefited from being drawn out into a series of books. It reads very well as a stand-alone novel. I was left wondering 'what happens next' particularly in terms of some of the characters I had grown to care about but sometimes its good to leave a few questions unanswered.

izzys_internet_bookshelf's review against another edition

4.0

4/5

This is one of the first books I have read that has been translated and I really enjoyed it. I didn't know how I would fair with a book being over 500 pages, but I was never bored with it. The story kept growing and growing to where I wanted to know what would happen next and everything was smoothly tied together. I don't have any complaints for this book other than the fact that I wish we got a little bit more time with the characters that were introduced towards the end of the book. With that, I cannot wait to get my hands on the second book!

spooderalec's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0