Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
There are three short stories in this book, all connected to the original Ring books before it.
Coffin in the Sky gives a perspective of Mai Takano from book 2 as she gives birth to Sadako. I found this story to be a little drawn out, but creepy nonetheless. Although a little unnecessary overall.
Lemon Heart is a nice little prequel story of Sadako before she was murdered. It was nice to see more of the human and maybe even loving side of Sadako. It added depth to her character, which was nice to see.
Happy Birthday really is just the final end to the original Trilogy. This one was a little dry, reiterated a lot of things from the third book, but it felt like a fitting end. Essentially could have been an Epilogue for Loop.
Obviously would recommend to anyone who enjoyed all the previous books. Not perfect, but a nice book to read to round the original Trilogy out.
Coffin in the Sky gives a perspective of Mai Takano from book 2 as she gives birth to Sadako. I found this story to be a little drawn out, but creepy nonetheless. Although a little unnecessary overall.
Lemon Heart is a nice little prequel story of Sadako before she was murdered. It was nice to see more of the human and maybe even loving side of Sadako. It added depth to her character, which was nice to see.
Happy Birthday really is just the final end to the original Trilogy. This one was a little dry, reiterated a lot of things from the third book, but it felt like a fitting end. Essentially could have been an Epilogue for Loop.
Obviously would recommend to anyone who enjoyed all the previous books. Not perfect, but a nice book to read to round the original Trilogy out.
Despite loving the other Ring novels I had been passing on this one out of dislike for the film version, which I thought ruined the mystery of Sadako by giving us her "origin story." But recently I took another look at it and saw that it was in fact three stories, only one of which was connected to the film, and decided to finally read it.
They are really supplemental stories that won't make any sense unless you've read the previous books (nor would there be any point reading them.) In "Coffin in the Sky" we learn the details of what happened to Mai after the death of her mentor Ryuji, from her own perspective. "Lemon Heart" takes us back to 1966 when Sadako Yamamura was an aspiring actress in a live theatre troupe. This is from the point of view of her supposed lover. Sadako's uncanny ability to imprint her thoughts onto recording media is in evidence here, prior to the era of VHS. "Happy Birthday" concerns the Loop project from the third novel and the race to eradicate the virus that is devastating the world.
While I suppose I don't mind having completed the run, I am ambivalent about the stories themselves. They feel unnecessary to me. Mai's awful experience could have been left to our imaginations, Loop didn't really need an epilogue, and I still feel the same about doing away with Sadako's mysterious quality.
I'd suggest skipping it and going straight on to S. If you do read it, do so shortly after finishing Loop, so you don't forget who the characters are like I did!
They are really supplemental stories that won't make any sense unless you've read the previous books (nor would there be any point reading them.) In "Coffin in the Sky" we learn the details of what happened to Mai after the death of her mentor Ryuji, from her own perspective. "Lemon Heart" takes us back to 1966 when Sadako Yamamura was an aspiring actress in a live theatre troupe. This is from the point of view of her supposed lover. Sadako's uncanny ability to imprint her thoughts onto recording media is in evidence here, prior to the era of VHS. "Happy Birthday" concerns the Loop project from the third novel and the race to eradicate the virus that is devastating the world.
While I suppose I don't mind having completed the run, I am ambivalent about the stories themselves. They feel unnecessary to me. Mai's awful experience could have been left to our imaginations, Loop didn't really need an epilogue, and I still feel the same about doing away with Sadako's mysterious quality.
I'd suggest skipping it and going straight on to S. If you do read it, do so shortly after finishing Loop, so you don't forget who the characters are like I did!
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Birthday is three short stories. The first, Coffin in the Sky, is about Mai Takano death from the Spiral novel. The second story is, Lemon Heart about Sadako's time in the theatre troupe. Sadako is an important character in the Ring trilogy. Lastly, is Happy Birthday about Reiko Sugiura from Loop novel. Each story has a unique perspective on birth and rebirth.
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
dark
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Easy to read as the rest of the series, but kinda seems like fan service/a bit unnecessary… pretty predictable and sorta ruins the mystique.
Basically three shorts, one corresponding to each previous Ring novel, from different perspectives. There's some creepy stuff but ultimately little is added to the greater narrative.
It's a nice addition to fill up the little details inside and after the original trilogy.
he still can’t write women in a way that makes any sense at all but I’ll be damned if I don’t eat it all up anyways!
It was well written for the most part, but sort of felt extraneous. The first story just reiterated a story we already knew, but from a different characters perspective. The second story filled in a gap from Sadako's history, which was fine but sort of dragged on a little for me.
The final story was probably the most interesting, and functions as a sort of epilogue to Loop, filling in what happened after the ending. But in some ways this actually left me pretty unsatisfied, especially what felt like a big expository paragraph with some very unsubtle writing about how important diversity is. Maybe that was a translation issue, but it just felt very hamfisted.
I think I would have enjoyed these if the stories were a little shorter and functioned as real snapshots, but as it was it felt too long for what little they had to offer in the way of plot.
The final story was probably the most interesting, and functions as a sort of epilogue to Loop, filling in what happened after the ending. But in some ways this actually left me pretty unsatisfied, especially what felt like a big expository paragraph with some very unsubtle writing about how important diversity is. Maybe that was a translation issue, but it just felt very hamfisted.
I think I would have enjoyed these if the stories were a little shorter and functioned as real snapshots, but as it was it felt too long for what little they had to offer in the way of plot.