tristesse's reviews
52 reviews

The hardest thing in life is probably parting. It's so easy to grasp the concept of all mortals must die in the end, but when you are the one being left behind, it makes the whole acceptance thing almost impossible. So what if a remembrance meal gives you an opportunity to talk with a deceased one more time? 
I am familiar with a remembrance meal, it has been a family tradition of mine for a long time. Giving it a hopeful tone into the story makes even more intriguing and I end up loving it more once I get through the second half of the book. I can't wait to read more work of the author. 

Thank you John Murray Press for the ARC! 

 The Lantern of Lost Memories is an amusing book to read. Have you ever heard the saying of "your life flashes before your eyes just before you die"? Well, this is an immensely interesting take from it.

For quite some time, Hirasaka has been tasked to run this photo studio, a staging post that must be passed before a recently deceased person moves to the afterlife. His task is pretty simple, guiding them.

The book follows three people as they are suddenly awoken in Hirasaka's place, confusion etched across their visage. A few frightened, which is to be tolerated. It is precisely why Hirasaka is there to greet those people the moment they reopen their eyes. I find it comforting to imagine after a horrifying death we would be met with such a kind and loving creature to help us figure out the next step.

You see, one is inclined to enter a denial stage, especially if one is tied by an intense emotions to the world of the living still (like resentment, regret, and more often than not yearning—be it towards someone or material possessions). When it occurs, their soul is trapped, therefore they are unable to go anywhere at all. Hirasaka ensures things will go according to plans. Upon achieving that, he helps them arranging their own lantern filled with pictures, one for every year, until the moment they take their last breath.

We get to learn about the lives these three people led before they met their end, but nothing much about Hirasaka. It piques my curiosity that I cam scarcely put the book down in order to discover things quicker. Finally, the unexpected connection comes as a surprise to me, I will not elaborate further for it will take an element of fun from placing the puzzle pieces altogether yourself.

This was a pleasant read. I enjoyed every second spent reading it. Highly recommended.

My sincerest gratitude to Pan Macmillan for granting me an ARC in exchange of honest review. 

 

The Night Ends With Fire is an amusing Mulan retelling, sprinkled with splendid twists here and there, that makes it so entertaining to read. Instead of willingly returning to her destiny of confinement pre-war, our main character, Hai Meilin, yearns to lead─to rule as a general, for she has tasted the sweet taste of freedom and learnt that she wields a power so great it feels impossibly wrong to sit back and watch men decide how she should navigate the course of her life.

When the Three Kingdoms are declared to be at war and his father refuses to partake, his eldest daughter takes the matters into her own hands and enlists in her father's place, faking an identity to be a boy named Hai Ren. Her initial resolution was simple, escape her abusive soon-to-be husband, and be granted a few more months to live. It is no longer so simple then, once the sea dragon spirit consistently calls out for her, demanding to be heard. How is it so wrong wanting to break free from restrictive gender boundaries of the society?

This was such a good page-turner, I ended up loving it more than I thought I would. I resonate with her unending greed and desires, her longing to belong. Some parts frustrated me and the ending left me craving for more, I can't wait to read the second book.

Thank you Hodderscape for granting me the eARC of this book in exchange for honest review. 

The Invisible Hotel is an eerie, nightmarish tale that is surprisingly close to so many people. If you have only read the first half of the book, you would disagree. I, too, would if I didn't complete the book to the very end. Let's start from the beginning.
This book follows Yewon, the youngest daughter from a family that has lived all their lives in Dalbit. Yewon, like any other stepping into adulthood, feels lost. She is desperate to escape her house, to abandon the bones that are calling out to her from the inside of her bathroom without looking back. She had plans, had been making them with her father who likes to travel. Yewon was meant to leave, yet she is what's left with her mother, and the bones. Her dad gone, her brother in the millitary, her sister moved out. To make it worse, she has been having these dreams─trapped inside a hotel she has no idea of, which oddly enough, she has the key to one of the rooms.

When I started this book, I failed to make the connection between the recurring dreams and what has been happening in Yewon's reality. I thought it made no sense that she found herself in a place she had never been. But we soon learned about the war that is still happening between the North and South. About the hotel's significance during the war. About how, no matter how many years have passed, the war stays with us. We can't escape it.

I find these passages haunting,

Everywhere, in whatever continent you find yourself to be, there is always war and violence happening somewhere. What comes to mind usually is, the war is distant. It could never reach here. The ignorance, not realizing how it could occur anywhere, how it takes and and keep taking─stealing the lives of people from their dearest ones. I can't stop thinking about it.
There is this part of the book where

Yewon is checking the bathroom of her potential new apartment with her sister and all she could see is bones. The remnants of war.

And it is so impactful I had to sit and stare at the screen for a few moments to process everything.

I understand this book could be confusing, boring even, to some. I agree there are a few unclear passages that I find it difficult to tell visions and reality apart from each other, but God, this has been an utterly haunting tale. I think this story will stick with me for a while.

I come to understand the meaning of the bones nearing the end of the book and I think it was very brilliant to put it that way. Strange, but really, it holds an importance.

It feels like having a bad romance movie in the form of writing. Her male characters are repetitive.