Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura

67 reviews

errie's review against another edition

emotional mysterious

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Confinement, and Mental illness

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

florecita_lectora's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Bullying, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, and Sexual violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

ckreads28's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

This book!!! Now while I normally don't like a slow paced book in summer, I adore books with back story, throw in mystery, feels, magical realism, mental health representation, with retellings and you have my heart!

There are themes that you will want to be careful of but with the rate of bullying increasing with social media now. I think this is something that is so important to read. 

The plot twists were ones that I got a feeling about but couldn't even guess until the last moment. Now as this was a translation to english as always there were some flaws but not enough to jerk you out. I will be shoving this book on everyone and getting my own copies soon. I cannot wait for the movie adaptation and am so glad this book was written!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Violence, and Sexual assault

soupsoupsoup's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Terminal illness, and Child death

Minor: Car accident and Death of parent

catwhisperer's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Child death, Fatphobia, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Gaslighting, and Mental illness

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

this is def a mindboggling case of "what the hell went wrong???" i should be all over lonely castle in the mirror but im simply not, despite its fantastical elements and supposedly high emotional impact of friendship and empathy. 

ultimately it boils down to a few things. first, the writing: nothing wrong w/ sparse language normally, but im not a fan of how tsujimura uses it in the novel. it feels like sth's missing, and the overuse of short sentences and the start of new line breaks rly irritate me, as more often than not there's literally no reason for that and it cheapens the impact of moments that truly warrant it. i dislike the translation thats riddled w/ typos, frequent awkward phrasing, and inadequate copyediting as well.

the book feels too long for me too; some scenes could def be cut out or shortened. the first half is hair-wringingly slow and i almost dropped the book. i also feel a puzzling disconnection w/ the characters. we spend so much time in kokoro's head and only learn abt the others at the story's climax. moreover, the scenes we see of the young ppl who spend time in the castle dont rly do much, often theyre repetitive and dont further the characterization. each of them keeps up such high walls over themselves it's hard to connect to them - tho it doesnt render one immune to their plight - thus what we see of them is an incomplete picture that doesnt fill itself in until the very end, and thats way too long of a wait. 

as a result of said disconnection, this story has little emotional payoff for me despite the huge potential. this book def has very relevant and important themes, and each piece of the puzzle comes tgt nicely in the end, w/ the last scenes of rion + the wolf queen, him + kokoro, and her w/ aki being well-plotted and a lil touching. the problem is, i wouldve been touched so so so much more if only what precedes those scenes thru much of the book were better. it's like what shouldve resulted in a beautifully flowing fountain turns out to merely be a few measly drops of water from a tap.

tldr: im not surprised this book's liked by many, but its deficient execution leaves me unsatisfied and bemoaning over its wasted potential.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Bullying

Moderate: Chronic illness and Mental illness

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Sexual harassment, and Suicide attempt

bibliomikee's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, and Mental illness

Moderate: Child death

sarah984's review

emotional hopeful reflective slow-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

5.0

Very sweet story about a group of teens who are struggling in some aspect of their lives and get drawn into a strange magical world. It moves a little slowly but the way it all comes together at the end is worth it for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Terminal illness, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Sexual assault, Cancer, Child death, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

andatherrin's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Bullying, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Sexual harassment, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Pedophilia

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Mental illness

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Violence, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Alcohol, Abandonment, Grief, Sexual assault, Blood, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Cancer, Pregnancy, Car accident, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts