Lia

Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.
There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.

REVIEW: I'm one of the few who dislikes this book.

Having heard excellent things about Piranesi, I was looking forward to reading it. This book is riveting and unputdownable. It's a story no one has ever seen before, and the twist is going to be mind-blowing. I found none of those to be true.

For one thing—and please forgive me for this — I don't find endless descriptions of halls, statues, vestibules, tides, fish, and birds exciting. This book is mainly about that! While slowly reading and rereading each description, I could keep track of every hall, statue, vestibule, tide, fish, and bird I encountered for the first thirty pages. As I read, I grew tired and stopped retaining information.

Because I was so confused, I couldn't relate to Piranesi. The other characters were not given names but nicknames or symbols, which I thought did not help at all. Since I didn't finish the book, I can't reveal much about the plot.

Overall, I found the book disappointing and not worth the hype.

I've been avoiding this manga for years. Due to SpyxFamily's popularity, I was afraid I wouldn't like it. However, after finally giving it a chance, I was pleasantly surprised by its unique storyline and captivating characters. It's now one of my favorite series.

The synopsis reveals that all the main characters are exciting and interact in interesting ways. Twilight is a mysterious perfectionist whose skills are so good that no one knows who he actually is. Yor is brilliant, strong, and highly talented, but she tends to be awkward and shy. Anya is the cutest, most outgoing, and kind telepath you will ever meet.

The story plays with well-known tropes, like the fake dating trope, but turns it into a phony family trope. It gets even better when you remember this is an action sci-fi manga full of quality dialogue and good comedic timing. Having three main characters - one a spy, one an assassin, and one a telepathic child - makes everything much more enjoyable. Any situation they're in together is way more interesting.

With each chapter, I found myself becoming more and more intrigued and curious about this borderline-dystopian world. In this issue, you only know what you need to know, and a lot remains mysterious, which is smart since this is only the first issue. As for the main characters, you get snippets of their past and who they are, enough to intrigue you but not enough to spoil any significant epic reveals!

Overall, this manga promises an exciting and engaging read, filled with intriguing characters and a captivating storyline.

This book sparked my interest so much. The story was based on a true story, but one I was unfamiliar with. Before reading this fictionalized version, I decided not to research the case.

Obviously, my rating indicates that I had several problems with the book. The first thing that struck me was how boring it was. As the story progressed, the chapters just dragged on. I almost gave up a few times but kept going, hoping things would improve. That didn't happen to me at all. This is, after all, a book about a murder. What made for a compelling news story didn't translate well into a novel.

Another issue I had was the description of Ruth Malone, the children's mother. Many have mentioned that she teased her hair, wore too much make-up (her lipstick was described as “sticky”), dressed provocatively, smoked, drank, and wore cheap perfume. In my mind, I picture a woman who is garishly made up and cheap-looking. However, she seemed to be viewed differently by men.

She captivated every man she met. There was a mad rush to get to her. Particularly Pete Wonicke, the rookie reporter assigned to her case at a local newspaper. As time passed, I was just like, c'mon, really? Alice Crimmins, the actual murder suspect in the murder of her two children, was actually quite beautiful, as it turned out. It's unclear why the author exaggerated these characteristics so much. In the end, it reduced my belief in Ruth's character.

Even though this is clearly intended to be an examination of slut-shaming and a challenge to feminine ideals, it ends up going nowhere, and neither the characters nor the reader are left changed. I found it to be a travesty of a suspense novel and an opportunity to highlight feminist issues at the same time.

In the end, the novel's potential to challenge slut-shaming and feminine ideals was lost, failing to leave a lasting impact on either the characters or the reader.

Honestly, I put this one on DNF.

It's a challenge to finish this book. I was super excited about it because it was set in Ireland in a bookstore, but there are so many things I don't like.
The writing is not very engaging, almost juvenile. As a result, I wasn't feeling the relationship between the two main characters... The female Lead got information about the author she's working with (the Male Lead's mother) and was told she couldn't tell him. It's already an annoying trope, but almost immediately after she finds out, she's sucking his face. I don't like female leads who can't keep calm in complex situations.
The plot felt predictable, and the characters lacked depth, making it hard to stay invested. Overall, it just wasn't the captivating read I had hoped for.

Saku is a girl who has always felt invisible in life. During late middle school, she nearly fainted on a train and lost her bag; when she woke up, someone had returned it to her. Saku's only clue is a piece of paper with their name and a non-working phone number. She's on a mission to find her savior.

I love this. It's so sweet and cute. Saku's kindness and helpfulness to those around her resonated with me as a legacy to the mysterious person who helped her on a day she needed it. We need a lot more of the story thread about being kind and helpful in this world.

I get why she's so obsessed with finding the person who helped her, but I'm glad she realized in the end that it wasn't worth it. Instead, she focused on spreading kindness and helping others, just like the stranger who had helped her.

It'll be interesting to see how it plays out in the next volume, which I'm sure I'll read. Although I wasn't a fan of the art in this one, I enjoyed the characters and plot.

Overall, Saku's journey of spreading kindness and helping others serves as a heartwarming reminder of the importance of compassion in our lives.