Lonely Castle in the Mirror - A new favorite!!!!

Author: Mizuki Tsujimura, Phillip Gabriel (translator)

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Genres: Fantasy, magical realism, contemporary, mental health

TW: bullying, abuse, attempted sexual harm, depressing thoughts, neglect, terminal illness

This book took me on a whole journey. I did not expect to cry, and most books don't make me cry, but this book did, in the last few pages. This story is so beautiful!!!!!! Did I mention this was translated? And I still found the writing amazing??? Perfect translation omg we're only halfway through January and I already read my first 5-star book?

Book summary:

We start off by following Kokoro, a student who does not and can not go to school. One day, the mirror in her room glows, and upon touching it, she finds herself transported into a castle.

In the castle, she finds 6 other children in the castle. They are told that a key has been hidden in the castle, and whoever finds the key can make a wish.

I wasn't really feeling any of the books I was reading prior to this, but the first few pages of this book made me really intrigued and want to continue reading. As I got deeper into the story, I found myself falling in love with the characters and how they form relationships with one another, as well as discovering the reason behind why each of them do not want to go to school. The premise of the wish from the key was really interesting to read about as well.

I find it really amazing how the author has managed to delve into such serious topics yet make the story so heartwarming and full of hope and lessons at the same time. This is a book that makes me want to re-read it even though I haven't yet finished it at the time because it is so complex and well thought-through that I am sure a re-read will let me understand the story from a different perspective and still enjoy it.

ALSO, did I mention I don't enjoy a lot of magical realism? Yet I gave this book on magical realism 5 stars???? I can't wait to one day get my hands on this book (at a relatively cheaper price because hihi I'm a broke uni kid) and tab it in my re-read :')

Why I said this book took me on a journey was because there were so many twists and turns (and I am proud to say that I guessed one of them and was lowkey sad because I thought that was the main twist but no, boy was I wrong.)

This brings me to the end of my review on this excellent book! If you have read the book and want to know at which part I guessed and which part I cried (SPOILERS BELOW):

I actually guessed that they were in different time periods, but thought I was wrong when Masamune explained his theory on parallel worlds!!

I cried in the last page of the story/ epilogue, when I read about Rion and Kokoro meeting each other in their school and found out that Akiko was actually the kindhearted Ms Kitajima all along who helped most of the characters in the story, including Kokoro, but also Akiko could actually move on and help all of them because Kokoro was the one who saved her like OMG :') I normally hate inception because my brain gets fried trying to think about this but I LOVE THIS SO MUCH.