Lonely Castle in the Mirror

Here I am with a what I could call an unusual book for me to review. Why is it unusual you say? Despite not being a hardcore fantasy book, this is probably the most fantasy my book choices can get. The name of the book sets up the location: a lonely castle in the mirror. Our protagonist Kokoro is avoiding to go to school at all costs and one day the full length mirror in her room starts to shine almost in the most inviting manner, if lights could speak. As anyone would do, she attempts to touch it and instantly feels this sucking sensation that could take her to the other side of the mirror. Despite not showing much curiosity, she ends up on this mysterious other side, feeling like she is in a weird dream. To her surprise, she is not the only person there and there is a girl wearing this mask that looks like a wolf’s head. Not being able to make any sense out of this, she immediately resorts to running back into her room. Kinda eventful, kinda boring, right? What are we meant to read about if she doesn’t stay to find out more? Well, she goes back the next day to exactly do this which gives us this 350 pages long book.

A very big chunk of this story holds a mystery until the end portion of the book and depending on who is reading, it might make or break the story for you. I wasn’t so black and white about this as I read through the pages. Not knowing what the mystery behind these seven people was getting boring at times but the language of the book somehow kept me going. And I am glad that it did. As you get to the big reveal, if you manage to do so that is, it kind of makes it all worthwhile. I even let out a slight audible “oh”, “aww” to my surprise and amazement. 

If you are someone like me who doesn’t usually read fantasy, I’m not entirely sure if this is the book to start from as there is a risk of leaving it unfinished due to the somewhat longwinded story but if you manage to get through it, I’m sure you’ll want to explore further into the genre.

Talking about this book without mentioning anything about the fact that it’s a piece of Japanese literature would be a blasphemy. I haven’t read many Japanese books, in fact I think I only read Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore but there’s a special place in my heart for the magical realism Japanese authors tend to make plenty of use of. Bringing all of these concepts together to actually talk about what it means to be an adolescent struggling through what most people see as ordinary, everyday life is priceless. At the end of the day, being there for one another is what helps everyone survive and even thrive. It is also pretty satisfying to see how everything is tied all together in a very smart way. And this whole story even comes with a very pretty book cover. Need I say more? Have I convinced you?