May 9, 2021
This is my first review so please bear that in mind. Thank you.
To start off, the storytelling and plot. To get down to the nitty gritty details, the plot is nothing short of engaging and absolutely nothing happens for no reason. I can say that for a fact and yet you still forget and get surprised at some of the unexpected moments. Now, the storytelling is something special that I’ve never seen before in any sort of media I’ve consumed. Particularly in the first book, how it handled the concept and flow of time was truly mind-bending. The other books also explore supernatural phenomena just
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as well and in a unique way with clear defined rules as to how they work. However, one thing to note is that in the first book, the very special way that it tells the story in regards to the flow of time is structured in a way that is not the usual format of chapters but instead number of turns of repeats instead, so one may find it more difficult to get adjusted to this as a lot of people like to read a bit, finish a chapter and bookmark that chapter. Another thing was that the 2nd book as well was sort of lacklustre compared to the rest of series, although the idea of the plot in itself was interesting, but I’m singling it out because it felt like it didn’t fit as much into the bigger picture of the series as a whole where almost all the other volumes were strongly woven and interlinked.
Story: 10/10
Next, is just a separate thing I want to address. The main theme of the series. Wishes. I’ve learnt a lot from this series and what I believe a particularly more definitive understanding of the concept of a wish and the similarities and differences with a goal. The series really went ball deep with this theme and how some of the most amazing aspects of humans is like the flip side of a coin and can also be the darkest parts of human nature. It would turn what seemed to be innocent and noble intentions into something entirely twisted.
There are quite a few illustrations inside each book, and all them are fantastic and I think have a distinctive art style and are spot on with who they portray. A small thing though, the art style does differ across the books but I didn’t really mind as they all portrayed the characters nicely.
Art: 8/10
Finally, the characters. The main character, is quite particularly unique in the sense that he’s so normal. I really don’t exaggerate it when he’s just your average Joe. But the fact that he’s so normal and has an abnormal obsession with maintaining the status quo is what really makes him special. At the start you’re led to believe the series focuses its narrative on solely the perspective of one character, but that’s not the case. Almost every character introduced serves as an individual person and feels like that the story could revolve around almost any one of them which it later does in a way. I honestly didn’t think I would get so emotionally attached to the characters and the relationships between each of them. Like, for one thing it’s a book, I don’t know I just think it’s odd to get more so attached to characters described by words than say a TV show or a movie. But by the final 7th book it completely shattered that belief. I cried. And this was completely different to other times that I have cried when watching something sad where a few tears pricked my eyes and happened to trickle down my face. I went all in, fully balling my eyes out, waterfall gushing and wailing. I find it hard to believe anything could illicit such strong emotions within me again.
Characters: 10/10
This series is chock full of despair and soul and mind crushing stuff so I understand that this won’t be for everyone. But I do hope I managed to at least sell one person on this utterly amazing series.
Overall Enjoyment: 10/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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