3.25 stars

I've been really anticipating the US release of this one since I've seen rave reviews of it all year long from UK reviewers, and despite enjoying the book, I think unfortunately it fell a little short of expectations for me. I think this is a great blend of slice of life and portal fantasy, and the characters are all really likeable, but I didn't find myself particularly attached to any of them. As such, it wasn't quite the gut-wrenching read I was hoping for.

I think that the major plot twist is pretty obvious from about the 40% mark, and for me, although I did enjoy how the storylines came together, it didn't really have much of an impact on me because I had already been anticipating them for so long. I do think that if you aren't able to guess it, then the way things play out would be much more impactful.

What I did really love about this book was the exploration of mental health and trauma, and in particular, how loneliness can also be a form of trauma too. I think if you're a fan of the found family trope, you are going to love this. The bond that these seven children form is really beautiful and if the idea of a whimsical, slow-paced portal fantasy about the power of friendship sounds like it might be your cup of tea, I definitely recommend giving this one a go!

I had high expectations of this book, because of some feedback at booktube, so I went into it feeling like this should be 5 stars "incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same" lol, and honestly, it is. I would have loved reading this as a younger age, even tho I love it now... the anxiety never left. Anyway, this is a great mix of low fantasy, mental health rep and friendship. The writing and translation was great as well, very smooth and fast paced. I've been getting myself into the japanese literature world and this is definitely one that I will recomend for those who are doing the same.

This book was whimsical and heartfelt. At first, I had no idea where it was going, but as I kept reading, I became more and more invested in the characters and relationships. Their disappointments became my disappointments, and I was worried and hopeful in equal parts.

I felt like Tsujimura did a wonderful job capturing the essence of a teenage girl's thoughts. I common problem I have with YA is that the narrator seems too mature / the writing style isn't believable for a teenage protagonist. Lonely Castle in the Mirror, however, embodied that feeling perfectly. The mental health challenges and anxieties each student faced were so raw and felt so realistic (even while being in the setting of a magical castle).

Received a free copy from Netgalley.

Thanks to Netgalley + Erewhon Books for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

To be honest, when I first tried reading this book, the first few pages didn't really hook me at all, so it ended up falling to the bottom of my pile, waiting for me to finally get around to reading it. But once I properly started reading, I couldn't stop? There was something so potent about this book and it's use of a portal fantasy as a frame. Because it doesn't feel like a typical portal fantasy at all, but instead the portal fantasy serves as this sort of device to get a close up look at characters feelings.

The prose of it has this lovely sparseness to it, and the passage of time and the emotions felt just resonated so strongly in terms of that odd intimate anguish of children and young teens. It's a book that I know I'm going to end up thinking about a lot, in terms of how it writes emotion and plays with portal fantasy expectations and I am just! So very glad that I ended up reading it because it struck such a resonant note with me.

Erewhon got an absolutely gorgeous cover for this translation, and this is apparently being adapted into an animated movie that comes out this winter. This is a fairly popular (and award winning) YA novel from Japan, and you can see why as you read it - a group of eight middle schoolers are drawn to a sprawling castle through their mirrors, and they have until the end of the school year to find a key that will make their wish come true. It's a pretty quick read, but there's lots of character building, and the ultimate twists that the plot takes are pretty fantastic. Read it before the movie comes out, and enjoy a nice lightly spooky read for October!

Such an interesting concept.

I'll say the same thing I said to ppl when I first read Wicked ,(before it was a major hit) get through the beginning, abandon your ideas of what you THINK you're reading and just enjoy it and let it unfold over you. Unique concept and execution is beautifully done.

CW: bullying, panic attacks

I don’t know if I would have decided to add this book to my tbr if I didn’t have my goal of the year to read more translated works. But the premise also instantly captivated me and I just knew I had to read it. The publisher was very kind enough to send me both an arc and a finished copy closer to the release date and I had a very lovely experience annotating a book for the first time.

On first glance, this is not an easy book to read because we mainly follow Kokoro who has been through some intense bullying experiences at her junior high and is now almost unable to get out of the house or be among people. Her loneliness and being unable to articulate her feelings with her mother and just the sheer sadness permeating through her initially is a very heartbreaking to read. But once she gets into the castle and meets the others, that’s when things start changing a little.

Even though the trajectory is not straightforward because every one of these children has their own issues, it’s heartwarming to see them struggle and open up and understand each other. There are issues in between, they all have setbacks within their dynamics, but they all come to find joy in their friendship. What we mostly get is a slice of life story of each of the kids trying to bond with each other, and some times try to solve the mystery behind the castle.

But what it ultimately is is a tale about the necessity of friendship and support in the lives of young kids. It’s about the loneliness and bullying and so many other issues they can suffer through in their life, but all they need to push through them is someone to listen to them and understand them, and give them the confidence to stand up for themselves. I loved reading this book and my only gripe at the end of it was that I wanted more. I just wanted to know more about what happened to the kids next. I wanted to see them all be happy and thrive, and I can only hope they all are.

3.5. The message is heavy-handed, and I wanted more details about how the world worked. But this ends up being an emotional gut-punch of a book despite its back of world-building, and while I anticipated one of the twists the second was a shock to me. Mizuki Tsujimura also illustrates the importance of mental health (particularly the mental health of schoolchildren, which--as she points out--is suffering in Japan) in an effective way.

This was just an alright book.
I always want to give a book that is translated a bit of a break, but the message in this book was very heavy-handed.
This book touches on bullying and how to cope with it, along with family. This book is also set in Japan, so there might be a little bit of a cultural disconnect for me. The main issue the MC faces is bullying from classmates, and she hasn't seemed to talk to her mother about it. And I feel like had she said anything to an adult then her situation wouldn't have been as bad as it was.

I really enjoyed this book!

Different and captivating this book was unputdownable!

It was executed beautifully and I am excited to read more from this author.

This book surprised me with the tough topics it handles in a fantastical way. While the translation did lead to some dialogue feeling harsh or choppy, I still found myself rooting the kids on. I had a lot of fun reading this and cheering the kids on. Each of their stories was unique and each of them was relevant and pulled on my heartstrings. This was really enjoyable. I wish I had gotten a bit more context on how the entire world even managed to work, but the ending tied things up beautifully.

AS CAWPILE:
Characters: 7 | Atmosphere: 9 | Writing: 6 | Plot: 7 | Intrigue: 7 | Logic: 4 | Enjoyment: 7
Total: 6.71 / 3 Stars

Trigger Warnings: Bullying, attempted sexual assault, mental health

After an incident involving a group of kids from her school, Kokoro hasn’t been going to school and spends most days in her room. One day, the mirror in her room begins to glow and sparkle. When she goes to touch it, she’s pulled into the mirror and into a castle with six other children around her age. A girl calling herself the Wolf Queen greets them and delivers a message: They have until March 30 of the following year to find a key that will unlock the wishing room. Whoever gets the key gets one wish granted. But once the key is found and used, access and memories to the castle will be wiped for everyone. As the children hang out more and more, their desire to find the wishing key dims as their friendships blossoms.

Lonely Castle in the Mirror is, at some points, slow, but I never found it unnecessarily pace. We definitely get a slow burn the first half/three fourths of the book, but I found it to be that way so you get to know the characters a lot more and to care about them. It always takes me a little bit longer to get into translated Japanese books than it does books first written in English - but as soon as I do, I can’t put it down. And, I wouldn’t change anything about it.

Now, it did feel like it took awhile for the children to even start trying to look for the key, and then when they did, it wasn’t rushed. Which, I totally get - they found a perfect place to be themselves and not feel the pressures of everyday, normal life. Also, I would sometimes forget how old the kids were and when I would hear what their wish would be, it would sometimes make me giggle, because they would be such kid wishes.

This book really dives into mental illness and the psychological wellbeing of children in Japan, despite living in relatively prosperous economic circumstances. Each of the children have different experiences with bullying and mental health and I felt like Mizuki Tsujimura did a wonderful job at handling each character differently. It would also get me a bit that you would see how the children were acting even around their peers they were comfortable with, and then what they were battling internally as well.

I knew one of the twists in the book, but the second one I didn’t really see coming and it made me cry so much.

Overall, this is a beautiful book that will teach you many lessons about mental health, life, and friendship. I will be highly recommending this book for many.

*Thank you Doubleday and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

I read this book straight through in two sittings. It felt very current focusing on tackling bullying and children's mental health issues. The author tackled the topics in an emotional but sensitive way exploring sensitive issues carefully and mixing them with fantasy. This should be promoted in school libraries.

Lonely Castle in the Mirror was a coming of age tale that I didn't know I needed to experience. Set in Tokyo, this story does a good job of covering friendship, mental illness and growing up.
I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. All of these opinions are my own.

This was fantastic! As much as I loved the previous cover, this one is just too gorgeous. The writing feels dreamlike and managed to hook me from the first page - a mark of a good book. Once I started, I couldn't put it down, and the moment I finished I wanted to reread it. A must-read for studio Ghibli fans (or anyone with a heart). Characters were fleshed out and the plot was intriguing and compelling. The ending ties up everything perfectly in a satisfying yet unexpected way. Read this!

Thank you to NetGalley and Erewhon Books for providing an eARC to review!

This book has clearly made an impact in Japan, and the note at the end about the low psychological wellbeing of children in Japan despite relatively good economic conditions, reaffirmed how books can help start discussions about otherwise difficult topics. I think the way this book weaves in content about childhood bullying and mental illness, with a magical castle full of wolf people, was well done and I liked especially that in Kokoro's case we had adults who immediately believed her and defended her. I feel the things I've read in the past lean much more the other way with parents brushing off their children's concerns, and I think Tsujimura has done a great job of showing how essential parents and teachers are to making children feel safe talking about things that have happened to them at school.

With such a great message I was hoping to enjoy this a bit more, but I felt the middle just dragged for me. We're introduced to this castle and this group of kids who are all skipping school, but I felt we didn't get any real insight into their characters or situation until the very end, which meant I didn't super care about any of the characters until this point. Which is disappointing cause I found the ending exceptional and found their stories really interesting! They each had had very different experiences with bullying/abuse which I think could have added more to their interactions if we had seen this earlier. I could understand that kids - and especially those who have had bad experience with kids their age previously - may not necessarily follow the quest set out before them or immediately be having deep conversations but I feel there were some conversations that just went nowhere or a lot of content where people were just waiting around for each other in the castle.

I also thought there were points where the translation felt a bit clunky. There were some parts that I found myself having to read over a couple of times before I understood what was going on, and in some cases it was an 'accept and move on' situation. I think this was especially present in dialogue/conversations between characters, which pulled me out of the story. There were some places though, like when Kokoro explains what happened to her or the last 60 pages, where I was fully immersed and really cared for the characters, so I think more a case of fine-tuning than a complete overhaul.

Overall a story with a really great message that has allowed for some really important conversations, but just didn't fully engage me up until the end.

[3.5 stars rounded up]
Seven teens in Tokyo- each avoiding high school for reasons of their own- find themselves thrown together, when a portal in their mirrors leads them all to an enchanted castle. There, under the watchful eye of a mysterious Wolf Queen, the group must solve a fairytale-esque challenge if they want their wishes to come true.
Now I know everyone and their wife is recommending this novel as a "Studio Ghibli type read". But. This is a really slow read, so if you are looking for short quick chapters and lots of action, pick up something else. For the first 200 ish pages the characters- despite finding themselves in a magical world, do NOTHING except eat cookies and play video games in a room of the castle. And except for one of the girls in the group, every character- including the MC Kokoro, whose POV we follow- are boring as hell. I can totally see why it wouldn't be for everyone.
That being said, this is a really well done depiction of harassment, school bullying and teen mental health. As someone who was bullied in school and college, the depiction of the groupism, bullying and the herd mentality was so realistically done that it felt like seeing scenes from my own life- the stomachaches, the panic attacks, the way parents think you are exaggerating, the way the bullies live their lives and are actually popular and always play the victim (*cough my uni*). I appreciate that the author took her time and didn't magically solve the problems of the group through the power of friendship.
As a fantasy read, this was quite predictable, I could tell where this was going from miles away. The twists didn't surprise me. But it was still satisfying watching the characters piece things together and decipher the mystery behind the castle. The third act of the book is the strongest, and I just wish the same pacing and sense of tension had permeated the first two acts.
[I was given an ARC by @netgalley in exchange of an honest review]

A whirlwind of emotions amongst a beautiful and well executed story. Lonely Castle in the Mirror was unlike anything I ever read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Erewohn Books for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. This was such a sad and also heartwarming book.

I felt for the characters, their struggles, the fears, the questions, their needs for affection and friends, their pure hearts that are wounded by their life. In an essence, its a coming of age story for these characters, of them facing their fears, found companions in this Castle in the Mirror, their only solace from the real world, a safe haven.

Highlighting various topics such as bullying, mental health, children's welfare, parents responsibilites in taking care of their child and societal issues, this book gave us an insight of various situations that needed to be looked at & not ignored. Personally, I felt the middle part can get pretty lengthy and draggy though there are reveals that worked well in here, I felt this book can be shortened down. However, the ending was quite good.

Definitely a read that will teach you many lessons you can relate to in life.

Lonely Castle in the Mirror is a touching magical realism story about mental health and friendships.

The thought of returning to school makes Kokoro sick to her stomach. One day when she’s lounging at home, she suddenly looks up at her mirror and notices it is glowing. She presses her hand to it, and the next instant, she’s in a castle straight out of a fairytale, greeted by a young girl in a pink lace-trim dress wearing a wolf’s mask.

This Wolf Queen informs Kokoro and the other six group members that they will have nearly a year to hunt for a key to unlock the Wishing Room. The person who finds it will be allowed to enter and have their wish granted. The castle is open from 9-5; if anyone overstays their visit, they’ll promptly be eaten by a wolf.

This character-driven novel follows Kokoro’s perspective. It’s split into a month per chapter in the lead-up to their deadline. I think young adult and adult readers would both enjoy this novel. It touches on the effects of bullying and abuse.

Knowing the terms the Wolf Queen set out, I thought there would be more scenes of the teens actively searching for the key, but there were not that many.

There were some odd phrases that I initially thought were due to the translation, but they made a lot more sense by the end.

I’ve seen this book floating around for a while and pre-ordered it almost a year ago, but the publication date kept getting pushed back in Canada. So, when I saw it on Netgalley, I requested it immediately. And I’m so glad I did. This book is so cozy and felt like its own fairytale.

If more of this author’s works become translated, I will most definitely read them.

Thank you to Erewhon Books for providing me with an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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