Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

かがみの孤城 by Mizuki Tsujimura, 辻村深月

21 reviews

moonadjacent's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Found family from a bunch of outcasts has got to be one of my favourite tropes in fiction. The heartfelt sincerity with which the kids come to regard each other is so touching to witness evolve. 

I cried for Rion. It was so heartbreaking for him to lose the chance to wish for his sister to come back home.

My only criticism would be that as much as I loved getting to know each character's backstory, the lead up to each discovery became quite formulaic.

Kokoro runs, touches X, views memory, vows to save friend, rinse, repeat. Sort of like a video game, which, meta!

Apart from that small section, I did enjoy the writing style and pace. 

But I must admit I was quite shocked at how the parents didn't just force the kids to go to school to be honest. Personally, the idea that a child could just not go to school for a year was more fantastical

than being eaten by a wolf in a castle accessible by mirror.

Great story though, really enjoyed how all the puzzle pieces came to fit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Cancer

Minor: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Blood, Mental illness, Death, Fatphobia, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

writteninmagic's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Body shaming, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, and Suicide

emjbarnes's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-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

3.75

This took me a long time to get into, but by the time I got the first real plot twists, I was really attached to the characters. The ending was a huge surprise and is well worth the wait.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Bullying

Moderate: Child death, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Sexual violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

laffi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Rape, Abandonment, Child death, Gaslighting, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Grief, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Violence, Sexual assault, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Alcohol and Alcoholism

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

bethanyellen's review against another edition

hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide and Bullying

Minor: Sexual assault

beth_dieroff's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicide, and Bullying

here_only_for_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

⚠️ TW - Bullying, Self harm, sexual assault, bereavement 

🔸 12 year old Kokoro is struggling to rejoin her school post a traumatic bullying experience. Her parents are unaware about it and think it is a passing phase where she is making excuses to avoid school. One afternoon, the mirror in Kokoro’s house shines brightly and when touched; Kokoro is transported to a lonely castle. Here she meets the ‘Wolf Queen’ and six other children who are more or less same age as hers and are also not attending regular school. Wolf queen has given all of them a quest to search for a wishing key and whoever finds it can fulfil one of their wish. But there are rules to be followed in the castle - like their departure time from the castle, the things that they can use within the castle, the time they have to find the key etc. The seven kids have got 11 months in hand to find the key but is that enough? And what connection do these 7 kids have with each other that they are in this castle together? And who is Wolf Queen after all? The story unravels  how their friendship blossoms, the trauma that each are going through and how their lives are intertwined. 

💗 This book is an award winner and tackles very sensitive topics of bullying, self harm, low confidence, death in family etc. It is not easy to discuss about these with children and convey to them to speak aloud when they fear someone/something. Author as well as translator have brought this out quite well. It’s the last 30% which was engrossing and where suddenly all the revelations are made and logic explained. My hitch is that all the action is too late in the game. Major part of the book just deals in Kokoro’s anxiety, depression and helplessness. 

💔 I found this book terribly slow. The story dragged a lot and I could not grasp why Kokoro and her friends wasted months & months on idling and playing games. They neither interacted much with each other nor were interested in finding the key which sounded strange. Also, how could Kokoro’s parents not sit beside her or connect with school or friends and check why their daughter was avoiding school so badly. Till 55% of the book, nothing significant happened and I felt like giving up all along.

💫 If you love fantasy, magical realism and can move ahead with trigger warnings; only then go for this one. 

Thanks @erewhonbooks and @netgalley for sharing the eRC in exchange of honest review. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual assault, Self harm, Bullying, Death, Grief, and Physical abuse

vneusc's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

lovely story about the hardships of adolescence shared by seven beaten down but hopeful youths with a dash of magical realism. despite crying, it did not particularly resonate with me. i really wish it did. regardless, i definitely enjoyed reading it and finally dragging myself out of my year long reading slump.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Bullying, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Child abuse

catching5tars's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Sexual assault, Cancer, and Suicide