Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - かがみの孤城

Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

かがみの孤城 by Mizuki Tsujimura, 辻村深月

43 reviews

randeerebecca's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad 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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feejae's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

“you’re battling every single day, aren’t you?” such a lighthearted, whimsical, warmth feeling i get when i read this book. it’s a very realistic depiction of mental health and bullying faced by japanese students, and to have them showcase a variety of household backgrounds is insane.

the unexpected plot twist took me off guard, and i was really eager to see if all of them get to meet in person (they didn’t). kokoro was an amazing main character, and the other six kids (fuka being my favourite followed by masamune, ureshino, aki, subaru & rion). the last few chapters were the best in terms of character development as we get to delve deeper into each of the characters’. (although i wasn’t a big fan of having rion’s sister as the Wolf Queen, as i would’ve liked it if Wolf Queen was like the sister’s guardian angel or spirit or something).

my favourite chapter had to be the epilogue, and my heart feels so hollow reading it through as i realised how all 7 of them from the different time frames were all interconnected and how kitajima happened to be akiko and the special connection she had with kokoro makes me wanna cry.

7/10 would recommend this book to people who struggle with mental health everyday 🥹❤️

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moonadjacent's review against another edition

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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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sophiemag's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious fast-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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laurenvoice's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? No

3.5

Lonely Castle in the Mirror had a slow start, but the whole story came together in the final chapter. This story was quite sad, but hopeful at the same time. It is quite hard to put my thoughts into words to describe how I feel after reading this book; however, I know it will stay with me for a long time. I hope Kokoro and her friends will all meet again.

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chapkip's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

WOW. I’m so grateful to have read this book. It’s such a beautiful story with a fun cast of characters and made me cry on multiple occasions. The payoff with each reveal was amazingly executed and I felt like I couldn’t read the last 150-ish pages fast enough. I think this is one of those stories I’ll be thinking about long after putting it down!

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kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Sad, hopeful, whimsical, lovely. the movie was lovely but this felt like an arrow to the heart in a very bittersweet, throbbing way. I NEED this in print

I often struggle with translated literature feeling stilted or distanced from the characters but this was spectacular.

my one bone to pick is that sometimes the children admitted faults in places where truly their parents should have picked up the slack, but I also think that is realistic to their lives. their parents didn’t know them enough to notice their issues, so the kids blame themselves for “not speaking up” when problems arouse. :(

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