Discover Lonely Castle In The Mirror Generated By Mizuki Tsujimura Offered As EPub

was honestly perfect, I wouldn't change a single thing about it, Absolutely a new favorite book ever,

“How awesome it would be if one of them spotted her, and she could introduce them to her mother as my friend, “

I CRIED YALL, There are few books that i can claim i fullon bawled while reading that I couldnt see the pages anymore, but this is one of them,

The story is built around these children that find that they can enter their mirrors and be transported to a place with a castle, However, there are rules entering this place because of course, something like that cant last forever,

This is the kind of portal magic/magical realism that leaves a lot to be explained and focuses a lot more on the characters themselves, It is in that Japanese style of writing that is a little straight to the point and sometimes the writing felt off but I feel that has to do more with the translation than the actual writing since this was originally written in Japanese.
Don't get me wrong though because i did love the writing aside from the pacing, it made the story feel that much more raw and real, that you cannot help but see either parts of you or your friends in them.
Thats how it was for me at least,

I do have reservations about some parts of the story and how it all ties together but in the end, the character developments and relationships just hit a little deeper than I thought it did that I couldnt help but feel the emotions by the end.
I buddy read this and we both agree that, no matter how slow u initially find it, u get to a certain point in this book and just cannot help but marathon it to the end.


My favorite part is how the story so successfully highlights the unique friendship built over friends you meet when you are “young” and are just starting to figure out your place in the world.
Part of the characters interactions, as they are mostly middle school aged, is how complicated these friendships can be to navigate at times but also the unlikely friends and memories you make when youre “forced” to spend a certain amount of time with people in school or some place else.


I also found out that the author wrote this book because of the lack of mental health rep/discussion in Japan and so mental health topics especially of children are very prominent in this story which is something I really loved.
I probably should mention that there are trigger warnings for child abuse and bullying but they arent explicit nor graphic,

It truly is a little too perfect for people who love magical realism animes like Makato Shinkais Your Name, This felt very nostalgic to me and reminded me a lot of being back in grade school/ high school, Its not that long of a story but it certainly is the kind that sticks with you for a while, The longer the time Ive spent away from this book, the more my appreciation for it grows, And I feel thats one of the best things about finding a good book that resonates within you,

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content warnings Anxiety, Bullying, Child Abuse not explicit, Depression

buddy reading with Kacie finally ltMy first book of the year, and perhaps the greatest book I have ever read.


There is something about little Kokoro that speaks to little Sivan I dont think words could begin to depict the feeling of tightness in my chest, but I am so touched.
I would usually finish a book like this in a matter of hours, but Ive tried to prolong it as long as physically possible despite wanting to read on so badly !!!

A bunch of children all together, all troubled, all scared with only each other to rely on theres such a quaint sense of melancholy intertwined into every page that is so impactful.
The book is over, but I dont think these feelings will leave me for a very long time,

This book explores mental health so delicately, and it describes it in such an intimate way that Ive never really come across before, I loved it, I loved it so so SO MUCH and its times like this I wish I was more articulate, to throughly explain to you all how incredible this was

This is my new favourite book.
I will always cherish this story, I mean that sincerely A lovely story about mental health, the struggles of adolescence, and being there for one another, The last/of the book with all the character and plot developments was the best part, While the writing didnt resonate with me personally, I still really dig it when storylines piece together in a smart way and things that are meant to be finally click in place.
I'm just going to say it: I fucking cried,

I just finished reading this book and I'm honestly at a loss of what to write, The ending hit me in the back of the head with no warning because it was NOT what I expected

at all, Frick. I feel sad. It's honestly a beautiful way to end this story, but damn, Tsujimura, just. AAAAHH. The ending is so good, It's sooo good.

Basic premise is you have a first year middle schooler named Kokoro Anzai who, after her first month in school, is no longer capable of going back due to bullying.
She even fears going outside because her bullies or more like bullY there's the ring leader who hates Kokoro's guts purely because she's jealous or going through her own shit in life and wants a easy target to go after, yeah fuck her are after her and even go as far as to HER HOUSE to further harass her.
It gets to the point Kokoro is literally scared she will die and hence why she cannot bring herself to go outside unless she is with an adult.
She hyperventilates when she is alone in public, Her parents don't know the reason why she refuses to go to school, and they are at a loss of what to do, They sometimes get frustrated when Kokoro makes excuses like, oh my stomach hurts, just so she can avoid going to school, Even having Kokoro attend a "free school", which is where students who cannot attend school regularly go to, doesn't help, Kokoro does what she can to avoid going, but it's not because she enjoys staying home/,

Kokoro wants to be normal like everyone else, but she can't overcome this intense fear of being bullied, One day, while she's home on a school day just like usual, and her parents are at work, the mirror in her room lights up suddenly, Surprised, she walks closer to the beam of light radiating from it, and she then gets transported into a completely different world, Before her is a castle and a little girl dressed in frills with a wolf mask, Frightened as all hell, she runs away back to her own world, but curiosity got the best of her and she decided to return back the next morning through the mirror in her room.
There she meetsother middle schoolers just like her, with their own personal problems, and they are to be part of this "game" where they have from April of the current year to the following Marchth to find the key to a hidden room in this lone castle that connects to the mirror in their home.
There are rules they have to absolutely abide to, because if they do not, not only do one "player" gets killed, but they all do, The castle is open to them via their mirror fromampm JST and they are allowed to go in and out as they wish, but they must leave bypm or face a death penalty.
Easy right Sure, so long as, . There can be only one winner, Whoever opens the door to the hidden room will have any wish granted, Kokoro's wish To have her bully killed so she can finally live her life in peace,

In the beginning, the fantasy element was kind of weird because the story starts out with Kokoro's turmoil of not being able to go to school because of her social phobia generated by the bullying at school.
Then all of a sudden, magic, Seemed random and out of no where, and yes I knew there was a fantasy element to this story judging from the cover illustration, but still, When you're first reading the story, it doesn't seem that way at all,

Aside from the amazing ending and hella plot twist, this Lonely Castle in the Mirror's biggest highlights were a the mystery and how it left you guessing for majority of the book and just when you thought you had the answer, HAHA NOT EVEN b the character themselves.
You know a lot about Kokoro because hello, you're reading this in her pov, but you are introduced toother main characters and in the beginning you know nothing about them.
You don't know what they are saying is true or not and you just gotta roll with what ya got, Later on you find out, oh what A said about himself is actually not true, huuuuh, However, people say all sorts of shit to other people for whatever reason, so I liked how that was added because fact: some people lie,

The characters truly make this story, and each and every one of them have their own story and struggles and fears and hopes, It was nice piecing the puzzle together to make sense of their behaviors, statements, and opinions, They all have their own hurdles to face in the "outside" world but at least here in this "solitary castle" they have each other and it's just, It's utterly fantastic seeing these group of kids go from awkwardness to arguments to understanding to appreciation to close friends, What they built wasn't easy but they built it over time to create this strong, unwavering bond, They are all so different from each other: the cliche of jocks, musician, gamer, reader, prep, etc but in the end, they become inseparable, Think Breakfast Club it's so heartwarming.

Despite what I said above, this book was far from perfect throughout, Some parts not related to fantasy, like Kokoro's home life, just didn't seem realistic at all, Some situations either with Kokoro or the other kids seemed absurd or out of place, The scenes in the end were both slow at certain places then ridiculously fast in other places and it didn't have that smooth transition as I would have liked.
By the end I was thankful for the fast pace to be honest, Some characters were fleshed out more than others: I know a lot about Fuuka but I feel hella unsatisfied with how Subaru's and Masamune's background stories were written and they are my favorite characters along with Rion.
I wished Tsujimura equally wrote about the otherkids, instead of giving one kid more screen time than the other, It was aggravating and even after finishing, I still have questions about some of the kids :/

Regardless of my feels of what annoyed me about this book, and feeling somewhat unsatisfied while reading this, when I reached the lastpages baby.
That's when shit got serious, I feel both satisfied and sad at the ending, What convinced me to buy this book in the first place was because someone from twitter, who seemingly had balls of steel apparently, actually bawled her eyes out after reading this.
She just kept tweeting and tweeting and eventually I was like GOD DAMN WOMAN OK I GET IT and I ended up getting my own copy,

I did not bawl my eyes out,
But I teared up quite often throughout this book,
Then I reached the end,
And. And I.
I got punched in the feels,
I did more than "teared up" but I just want to say I did not BAWL!
I cried, . that I did.
Mainly because of the plot twist and the sadness I got from it,

AAAH SUCH A GOOD ENDING,

Now I'm going to have to find fanfics of my favorite pairings because um, I NEEDS.

Yeah, pick this book up, Usually I read BL novels but sometimes I read nonBL too and this was a nice change, I wanted feels, I got feels, I definitely see this becoming an anime in the future, If anything, read it for the ending, If there's ever a doujin/side story/sequel to this can someone pleeease let me know TT

Until the next time!,