#new release reviews

[accidentalspaceexplorer]

2023 Book Reviews: New Releases, Part 1

A group of books all released in 2023 - not the biggest part of my reading this year, but enough to warrant a few round-ups.

1. Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire: 4.75/5

Pitch: #8 in a series of novellas exploring portal fantasy tropes and implications

Review: To me, the Wayward Children series definitely feels like it's getting stronger in the latter books, with lots more hints about how the Doors work and what the bigger plot is shaping up to me, and this one was no exception. I loved Antsy's perspective, and I'm really excited that book 9 looks to be centering her again. I also really appreciated the way that Seanan McGuire handled the difficult topics in this one - her author's note was a great way to warn people but also make it clear how far it would go.

2. The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older: 4.5/5

Pitch: SF mystery with sapphic romance set on a colonized Jupiter

Review: This was one of my most anticipated releases this year, and I'm glad I managed to get to it pretty early since I really enjoyed it! A fun mystery, an understated but believable romance, and some fun world-building around living on Jupiter. It also dug into the implications of trying to hold on to the Earth that was lost in a really interesting way that I wasn't expecting.

3. Flowerheart by Catherine Bakewell: 3.5/5

Pitch: YA fantasy romance about a girl who accidentally poisons her father with her out of control magic and her childhood best friend returns to help save him

Review: This was definitely cute, very cottagecore (one of the book's self-professed characteristics), and I enjoyed the main character's story and her journey. However, I wasn't invested in the romance (I just didn't buy it) and I wish the worldbuilding was deeper.

4. Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert: 4/5

Pitch: YA contemporary romance about two former best friends each trying to win a scholarship contest and falling in love instead

Review: This was super cute! Didn't quite steal my whole heart like her adult romances, but it was definitely worth it, and I'd recommend it, especially to those of you who are actually still *young* adults.

5. The Surviving Sky by Kritika H. Rao: 3.5/5

Pitch: a dystopian science fantasy about a group of people living in floating sky cities because of the cataclysmic storms on the surface

Review: There are a lot of really interesting things this book is doing, but ultimately it ended up being confusing instead of revolutionary. I still had a fun time reading it, but I probably won't continue the series.

[bonefall]

I do feel bad for Owen. Clearly this is NOT his forte. #freeowen

I'm guessing Owen has some kind of contract to do all the covers for the "Erin Hunter" books, since he also seems to do the art for Bravelands and Survivors. Which baffles me.

When you look at his portfolio, it seems clear that animals are NOT his strong suit. He mostly designs them as monsters or setpieces, not as characters in their own right. His humans, objects, and backgrounds are excellent, while his animals are quite generic-- So why did they choose this artist to design for their xenofiction series?

The art he does for Percy Jackson and Artemis Fowl is not as jilted and uninspired as his work for any of the Erin Hunter series. He does have a thing for harsh lighting (too harsh for my taste) but the composition is fine and the characters are recognizable. Certainly not "someone tried to unlock your phone" tier. It's strange.

It strikes me like he's not "comfortable" enough with animals to experiment with them, heavily referencing zoomed-in photos and leaving it there. Note how his cats are almost never doing anything, just sitting or standing around looking confused.

Has he ever even drawn a battle cat... battling?

I don't really feel "bad" for him, OR "mad" at him, because we have no idea what's happening behind the scenes, but I WILL say that I feel he is an absolutely awful match for WC. I don't understand what about his portfolio made him look like a good replacement for Wayne McLoughlin, besides some executive recognizing his style from somewhere else.

I hope he is compensated well for his work, but I don't buy hardcovers because of his art and am holding out hope that someone else takes over someday.

[svampira]

aura

[lookingforamandaa]

“stories exist in all worlds. they are immutable. like gold.”

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

[staryarn]

Limbus company id stories - https://retcons.github.io/limbus-identitylogs/

Limbus company abnormality log - https://limbus-logs.vercel.app

Limbus company story log - https://retcons.github.io/limbus-storylogs/chapters/prologue.html#seven

All of limbus company datamined (as in audio, cgs, character sprites, assets, etc. Up to date as of 4.5)- https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Nk9WWMxEcovs5Ewku5ICT1PbfByNcV_z

Lobotomy corporation and Library of Ruina story (playlist) - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6s9uHSLoU-DA-ngu-dtZ1n_lHQbH70kh&si=SvCr4xv7Kzqi8PF8

[ninja-muse]

Some of you may remember me loving The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams a few years ago. The Bookbinder is its companion novel—same setting, characters in common. It's about a woman who does manual work at Oxford Press but dreams of attending a College, and who gets to have that kind of education and why. It's about the boxes people get put into and the boxes we make for ourselves, about sacrifices and family and women in the First World War. I recommend it just as highly as the last one!

[intruding-stranger-universe]

FLEX X COP EP 3 & 4

So I've seen the latest episodes of flex x cop and i love it. In a mindless sort of way.

Mostly because of how hot Ahn bohyun looks and also rest of the cast is cute.

i like the chemistry between forensic and the other detective is adorable. I SHIP.

the rookie is a cutie and his gf is adorable

main detective's parents are couple goal and again adorable

the murder mysteries are bland and we could figure out who the killer is in 5 mins max. But I'm not watching this for the murder either way so okay.

And yes i'm obsessed with Isoo's brother. Yes I am. I'm just waiting for him to do something shady. Because all his support so far looks really fake, if it's not i'm guessing he is at least a psychopathic killer (serial killer at most)

[droughtofapathy]

"Theatre critic circles are in desperate need of diverse voices, and these old white men cannot be the only arbiters of good and bad in the industry," and "it's not the feminist take you think it is to dismiss a show's negative reviews just because it's men who are raising the valid critiques you yourself see but can and will overlook because you're attached to a show you say is 'written for the girls, gays, etc." are two viewpoints that can coexist.

It might be easy to dismiss a male critic's pan of a show because it's meant for women. That's not feminism. That's gender essentialism. The show may be written for a queer female audience, but should queer women not also demand quality and cohesion in a show's book and score, or must we always be satisfied by the crumbs we are given? We should not be arguing that just because a show is geared towards a female audience, it must be above critique, or that the real and present flaws in the book and score are only important to men, and all women will like it anyway.

As a queer woman of color, had I been a critic, my review would have been mixed to negative just like all those men you dismissed because the problems do not change from a gendered perspective. The book is weak. The score disjointed. The protagonist watered-down. It's like the writers set out to say "it's a queer love story," but didn't do the work to delve any deeper, and hoped to carry the show on that alone. Queer stories deserve to be held to the same high standard as any other show, and boiling it down to "it's queer so you have to like it and critics are homophobic" is a ridiculous, immature, reductive statement.

[zagorudan]

For today's Ultra Retrospective, it's time to talk about Ultraseven. You know, that one.

Spoiler: My favorite part from Ultraseven was when he Ultraseven'd all over the place.

[whilereadingandwalking]

The debut novel from acclaimed short story author Kelly Link, The Book of Love, is an enjoyable slow burn of a fantasy novel (even if it could have burned a little faster). Three teens—Daniel, Laura, and Mo—wake up after being dead for a year. The man they thought was a music teacher and his demonic partner Bogomil tell them that no one will remember they were dead...But the three will have to figure out how to do magic and find a magical key if they want to stay not-dead long enough to reintegrate themselves into their own lives. Only thing is, Laura's sister, Susannah, has something to do with why they're dead, but now she can't remember. Only thing is, a deadly goddess is arriving in town—and she wants to get to the key first.

The book was beautiful and rich, tactile and surreal. The town of Loveside feels real to me, like I could walk there and out to the Cliffs and see Mo's house where his grandmother wrote all those romance novels, like I could walk in her rose garden. The characters feel like real, well-developed people, from rebellious, self-destructive sister Susannah to the owner of the local coffee shop. The magic in the book is made of near-limitless potential, and their discovery of their abilities and the ethereal, web-like nature of the storytelling reminded me of Erin Morgenstern's work. I was deeply invested in finding out how the three died, who was trying to get the key before they did, and who was secretly unreal, because all of the characters felt so deeply realized.

But I do have critiques. As you all know, I strongly believe that few books need to be more than 400 pages. This book, which rings in at 625, was no exception. The beginning was very, very drawn out, and while the character and atmosphere kept me dialed in, I was being to get impatient. And I love long, atmospheric fantasies, so I'm more patient than many readers are. I genuinely believe the first half or so of this book could be cut in half and concentrated down. This pacing leaves room for a lot of eerie moments and strange happenings, but also makes the final climax feel rushed (even though it's actually quite well-placed) and starts to take some of the sting out of big twists.

This is The Book of Love, and there is a lot of love in it—and a lot of queer, kinky love, which I did appreciate. Mo and mysterious immortal Thomas were a hot couple, even if they suffered a bit from instalove. I really liked Daniel and Susannah, but I think the amount of time given to the two young troubled teen lovers and the time given to Susannah's tumultuous and difficult relationship with her more orderly sister Laura should have been switched. But then, I love a good sister story.

Overall, I really enjoyed Link's work, which had the same ethereal, satisfyingly magical feeling as her short stories do; but it could have been a lot shorter, not just for the reader but for the sake of a tightened narrative. Those with the patience will enjoy this slow-burn fantasy with a ton of atmosphere and a heart-warming emotional core.

Content warnings for homophobia and homophobic language, child abuse, grief/death, depression, body horror, miscarriage mention.

[noodlesha]

Sex Education: Season 4 (2023) – Just some thoughts.

Over a span of four days, my housemates and I sat down to watch the final season of sex education; the show had started in 2019 (which feels like a lie, but we move I guess) and was loved by the masses. People really resonated with it as they showcased people dealing with all sorts of different complexities and natures and it was truly wonderful to see so many demographics being represented.

And while I know some of the criticism comes from the fact they favour representation over solid writing, I can understand that sometimes it’s just nice to be seen on a tv show with no ulterior motive and to be frank, this show has some great writing with certain characters. But like most TV shows, it didn’t mean it didn’t have its faults much like this season. But I think the best way to talk about this show is through its characters, which are the driving force of this TV show and it both benefits and fails from it.

The New Characters

When going into it, I was quite sceptical about the new characters, and coming out of it, I think I still am. I enjoyed the representation of ‘The Coven’ or whatever they were called, I think Aisha was written the best out of the three considering she had a broader storyline and I loved how they discussed accessibility for disabled people it was very refreshing. But coming out of the show, I don’t think I felt anything for these characters, and I found myself wishing they had Lily and Ola back.

O felt like a complete waste of a character – it felt like they made her very purposefully antagonistic, and yet when it came time to redeem her character it felt like a last-minute decision. I also think the way they handled her asexuality was very odd and felt quite forced at times, I remember during season one the writers seemed to be suggesting Otis was asexual but then didn’t push through to it, O just seemed like a rehash of that exact thing. There was clearly some stuff left out because O felt very antagonistic back at Otis, but Otis didn’t really do much towards their opposing sex clinics.

Adam (and Michael too)

This storyline became a favourite when the show ended and I didn’t think it would hit me as hard as it did. Adam’s character arc through the show has been very interesting to see, when looking back to last season I was never really a fan of Adam and Eric’s love story but that was the storyline that made me like Adam so I guess there was something to it. I also enjoyed that Adam didn’t go into sixth form and instead followed what his interests were, it’s quite cool to show there are different options rather than just sixth form, then university etc. But I loved the interesting parallels between the son and father, both were coming into their own person which was needed for both of them so they could accept one another and their heart-to-heart at the end was very sweet.

Jackson and Viv

I love the platonic bestie vibes this duo have, it’s so wholesome and I enjoy that the writers never compromised their friendship for a relationship because it’s something you don’t really see that often. I liked the storyline Jackson had surrounding the stigma of cancer in men, it was different and very unexpected but I liked that because it is scary and it weaved very well into his intrigue with his identity. One thing I was a bit confused about was Jackson’s journey with his sexuality; I feel like they slightly breached the topic but there was no clear closure for that storyline which was a big part of his character arc last season, but perhaps I missed something. With Viv, her storyline also quite surprised me; I truly didn’t expect her romance with Beau to take an abusive turn – but in retrospect it’s very interesting to see all the qualities of possessiveness and obsession that Beau had throughout the season. But either way I liked the resolutions in their ending (also loved that Aimee and Viv kind of became a duo), and I’m sad to let them go.

Ruby

One thing I really didn’t like this season was Ruby’s storyline; it was just her pining over Otis again and Otis not giving her an inch despite using her to help his campaign. It felt very backwards to me, especially seeing as Otis didn’t even thank her (more on that later because I have so much more to say on Otis); although she found her own confidence at the end and didn’t dance with him, I honestly would’ve preferred if they were just friends, but I can understand the need to have tension and drama to make things more interesting, but I was just left wanting a bit more with her character rather than her problems being purely surface.

Jean (and her sister… and her baby)

I will be honest, it was very odd to see Jean without Jakob (or Sven as my housemates and I referred to him), but truly I kind of didn’t miss him because they introduced a much more compelling duo with her younger sister. Jean’s storyline was quite interesting; to see a woman struggle with post-partum depression on-screen and not be villainised for it was very refreshing and I thought linking it with her fear of being like her own mother was very good. Her sister’s storyline was also very interesting, I liked how different they were and also that they had a very natural sisterly bond, which is something you don’t see among older women anymore in media.

Cal

I really enjoyed that we got more of a look into Cal's life because that was one reason I didn't really connect with Cal last season was because we didn't get a sense of who they are. But this was majorly broached in this season and I was glad because I really enjoyed their character. Their story was wholly centered around their identity and I thought it was very heartwarming that the school charity came together for their top surgery. Two things that I struggled with though were the fact that their attempt to take their own life was very much brushed over and the fact that their and Jackson's storylines didn't really get completed either. But overall, I really enjoyed their character.

Eric

Honestly, he and Aimee are the best characters on this show, and you can’t even change my mind. One thing I was very glad for was that they tabled the whole Eric and Adam relationship and that they recognised that someone shouldn’t be in a relationship with their bully (and because Eric can do so much better, and I say that while loving Adam as a character too). Something that surprised me but in a good way was his relationship with his religion, it’s so interesting to see because you don’t see a lot of this, especially nowadays. And it was nice to see him flourish with friends that understand him and his views on things (OTHER THAN OTIS WHO DOESN’T CARE), and his turmoil of wanting to be baptised but then realising he doesn’t need that to reaffirm his relationship with God. And Ncuti is just SO funny and charming as Eric, he’s going to be a star one day (especially since he’s been in Barbie and Doctor Who) and I genuinely can’t wait to see it.

Aimee and Issac (but mostly Aimee)

Oh god where do I start, Aimee Gibbs is genuinely one of the best TV show characters ever; she is so likable and the journey her character has gone through is amazing. When the show opens with her documenting her recovery, I was immediately struck that she was going to have a fabulous ending to her story. I loved that she was trying different things like art to express her trauma and seeing her have fun with it was just so, so human and I love when media replicates that side of humanity. One thing that was a pleasant surprise was Issac and Aimee’s relationship; now this may be a controversial take, but I was never really an Issac hater… I know, how insane. So, seeing him get fleshed out more and more was really moving; their relationship was something very different and also made so much sense. I wouldn’t have put them together, but the actors had a lot of chemistry and I enjoyed that they uplifted one another but never crossed any barriers of their own agency.

Maeve

Maeve is a very interesting character; now for another controversial take, I was never a big fan of Maeve, it’s nothing I could really pinpoint but she often seemed very abrasive. But on the flip side, I also respected that about her character, that the writers were never afraid to make her spunky and outspoken, and for her to not be punished for that either. Her storyline this season was great, it made me enjoy her character so much more than I thought I would; the way she acted around the death of her mother was so good and felt very real – and I loved how mature the ending of her, and Otis’ love story was as well. Again, I know some people may think differently but I’m glad they didn’t stay together because let’s be honest, the two wouldn’t last a week ESPECIALLY long distance. She got to focus on herself and her career in the end, which was something she wanted since the beginning of this show; and it was incredibly satisfying to see that on screen.

Otis Dickhead

My, my… you know for the literal LEAD of the show, you’d think they’d write a character that’s at the very least tolerable. Because oh my god, now I’ve never liked the way Otis’ character is written, but Jesus Christ I think we’ve hit an all-time low. One thing he does that drives me up the wall is that he never texted anyone back; like when Ruby kept asking him where he was, he didn’t even message or anything and that was before Maeve’s mum passed away, he is just so inept.

Also, the fact that he’s a so-called sex therapist yet he struggles to article his own problems with BASIC problem-solving skills actually amazes me – I admire the writers for being able to write someone SO thick in the head without going braindead themselves, I really do. Okay rant over – Otis’ storyline really felt like a backdrop to everything in the season, the only interesting thing was his and Maeve’s story and that wasn’t even his main dilemma on the season. Overall, his character is shit and I’m so glad I never have to see his face again (sorry Asa Butterfield, love you!).

[parallel-2-anywhere]

World of Wyldrvir A Wholesome TTRPG

Hey! Have you wanted a Tabletop Roleplaying Game about a magical roadtrip through a wild and everchanging landscape with you and your best friends, without the worries of fighting or combat impeding your journey? If so consider checking out World of Wyldrvir! An indie TTRPG made over the quarantine! Wyldrvir is a totally free TTRPG that has been working in a combat free and wholesome Saturday morning cartoon style of world with adorable art and simple roleplay focused storytelling!

Wyldrvir is made with the express purpose of fun, lighthearted escapism into a world where magic is new, everything is ready and ripe to be discovered, and people seek only the best interests of one another. Conflicts will arise, of course, but Worldsoul willing, everything will always work out for the better in the end. In this world where magic is directly linked to nature, and everyone works together to keep the natural world clean and bright. Your characters only goal is to explore!

The game is super simple with only a few basic roles to remember, and a massive ability for customization. You can make your own skills and make them as strange and wonderful as you would like.

At the moment the core book exists both on Itchio and Drivethru RPG. (The Drive Thru version has the chance to purchase the book physically as well!) prices for all versions are all under 20 dollars so you can pick it up painlessly! There is also a pirate themed expansion out as well for more nautical adventures! There are plans for a lot more expansions coming out as well! We have an active Discord server for the project so you can organize one-shots, and a mini podcast so you can hear a group playing it as well! You can check it all out on our Youtube channel!

There is also 2 custom made music tracks for the world! You can listen to those here! There is so much more we can talk about but I am going to point you to the reviews we have received from all these wonderful TTRPG creators!

We hope our paths cross out on the road fellow travelers!

[booksofdelight]

New Books Releasing in November

These are New Books Releasing in November that you Should look out for!

The year is coming to an end but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any major books releasing around this time. Keep reading for new books releasing in November that you should check out! We know how you like to know what books are releasing in the near future and whether you should check them out or not. These books that are releasing in November caught our attention and are books we expect to see…

[richincolor]

Book Review: Where Was Goodbye

Title: Where Was Goodbye?

Author:  Janice Lynn Mather

Genres:  Contemporary

Pages: 304

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Review Copy: ARC by publisher

Availability: Available April 30th

Summary: Karmen is about to start her last year of high school, but it’s only been six weeks since her brother, Julian, died by suicide. How is she supposed to focus on school when huge questions loom: Why is Julian gone? How could she have missed seeing his pain? Could she have helped him?

When a blowup at school gets Karmen sent home for a few weeks, life gets more things between her parents are tenser than ever, her best friend’s acting like a stranger, and her search to understand why Julian died keeps coming up empty.

New friend Pru both baffles and comforts Karmen, and there might finally be something happening with her crush, Isaiah, but does she have time for either, or are they just more distractions? Will she ever understand Julian’s struggle and tragedy? If not, can she love—and live—again?

Review: “Where Was Goodbye” is the first novel I’ve read by Janice Lynn Mather and based on how much I enjoyed this novel, I want to go back and read her first two novels. Where Was Goodbye is a rich story that is full of so many meaningful themes as we journey with Karmen who is trying to make sense of her brother’s suicide. What I feel like this novel does best is show how the variety of ways people respond to grief and how relationships can grow and change based on that grief. 

The bulk of the story takes over a short span of time, about a week and a half, and boy does Karmen go through a lot. Her family is still deeply grieving her brother Julian’s death, but her father has decided that with her senior year of school starting, the family should be working towards normal. Unfortunately Karmen is clearly not ready and on her second day of school has an incident that sends her home. This sends Karmen on a journey to attempt to get into her brother’s head and figure out why he chose to end his life. I actually felt for Karmen because she was clearly feeling guilty about not figuring out something was wrong with her brother, and this guilt was displayed by decisions that were probably not very healthy. Her relationship with her best friend, Layla, becomes strained as Karmen desperately wants to be treated normally but Layla is that “well-meaning” person whose attempts at comfort actually hurt more. She’s at odds with her father because he thinks she should be back to normal, not realizing how Karmen is forever changed by the death. Karmen’s mother is so mired in her own grief that she is missing the grief of her daughter. All of the usual supports that Karmen would have had fail her and she is left to find her own, and her idea is to learn more about her brother’s inner thoughts. I actually liked this part of the story as I understand how sometimes what you need to heal is answers and even though you may never get the answer you need, the journey itself is healing. Through looking for her brother she learns how much he was loved at the History department he belong to at his university; she learned he had written an article and was published; and learned about who he was to his friends. This search for her brother, knowing him, and accepting the secret parts of him that she didn’t know helped her find her voice to ask for the help she really needed. 

In addition to traveling with Karmen in her journey to find her brother, Mather includes flashbacks throughout the story to moments with Karmen and her brother. I absolutely loved most of those moments because it fleshed out Karmen’s relationship with her brother for the reader, rather than the relationship being told to us. They little jokes they had, the way they mischievously worked together at times, really showed how much Karmen is hurting and made me really connect with her. 

“Where Was Goodbye” is a beautiful novel that is all about relationships and how one act can change everything. It deals with the ones who are left behind and how they move to heal. 

[mariusreviews]

“the path is made of many stones that look all the same. when you trod upon evil, do not rest or look down because goodness is only a step away. the next may bring ruin, the next joy, but these stones are not your destination, they are but your journey to the path’s end.”

| LIGHT BRINGER SPOILER-FREE REVIEW!|

pierce brown has done it again with the sixth book of his red rising saga being as, if not even more brutal, epic and thought provoking than the previous instalments. every time I sit down to read a pierce brown book he has me wanting to throw the book across the room in rage to then feeling a great sense of satisfaction and then everything all over again. there’s just something about his character work and storytelling that demands a verbal or physical reaction and light bringer was no different. It’s a story of hope, redemption, brotherhood and the lies we tell ourselves. set in such a far-away world from reality pierce brown still manages to explore the human spectrum of intricate emotions and complex relationships to such a detailed degree. light bringer strengthens the already intimate connection the reader has to the characters as we follow them on their different journeys to overcome various obstacles in their attempt to heal from everything they’ve been through throughout these six books. the action sequences were groundbreaking as usual and a true testament to pierce browns superb prose leading to a lot of shocking and devastating moments leaving you contemplating for days about what you just read.

my favourite characters continue to be darrow, virginia and cassius who all had incredible moments in this book, alone and with other characters. other than them the honourable diomedes au raa played a huge part in my enjoyment of the book. to evade spoilers all I can say is that he had an incredible arc of shifting alliances and difficult dilemmas, which in my opinion made him seem more human and overall made him a more enjoyable character than in the two previous books.

light bringer was my most anticipated release of the year and It did not disappoint in the slightest. pierce brown managed to exceed the endless amount of expectations I had coming in and once again managed to blow me away. I will never stop recommending this series and especially if you’re a fan of media such as game of thrones or dune. all I have to say is that if you haven’t read the red rising saga yet what are you waiting for?

| 5STARS ***** |

[khunyuki]

There's this new game released yesterday called "Tokyo Debunker" and so far I am loving it <3

Before I start my review, I just want to tell you that this is my first ever review and first ever post in tumblr so pls bear with me🥹.

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Tbh I was surprised when it suddenly installed itself on my phone cuz I forgot I even pre-registered for it. Before the release, I had no idea nor clue about the existence of this game cuz it never showed up to me as an ad nor did it show in any of my social media accounts. I just remember scrolling through google play then seeing it and liking it immediately so I registered for it.

Anyways, when I downloaded it I thought it would be big and that I won't have any space for it since I also have other games to play. And when I started it, I was waiting for the loading screen to show the downloading files etc but didn't see anything of the sort.

First Impression

I honestly thought that it was a normal visual novel game like the Ikemen series but it wasn't. The opening story was comic-like with voices included (including the MC) and damnn that was engaging. The smooth flow of images unlike any other game where you only get CGs, you can easily visualize the scene because they are literally showing it to you! Not to mention the translation, it was really easy to understand and there's no typos so far.

Story-telling

I love it so much! As I said earlier, it is really engaging and it catches your attention. The transition of normal visual text to comics then back was perfect for showing what actually needs to be shown. Tbh, it would be a lot better to see it and experience it for yourself.

Tutorial and Settings

Tutorial is kinda useless. It just showed you the basics of where and how you progress then that's it. It doesn't elaborate on how to do battles. There is no guide that has in-depth explanation of how to defeat your enemies efficiently since you can just skip it.

Gameplay

So far it is like an idle game where the character cards you have will do the farming for you, you just need to click click click. This kind of thing is certainly unique to me as usually it would be long-ass lessons that uses SP or LP, or missions that you have to wait hours for a single drop. Compared to those, this is fast and efficient.

If you're an F2P player like me, vising the shop isn't the most ideal since it is expensive and usually need a lot of irl money for it. Though in Special shop, there are free summons everyday but that's that. Also you can hatch an egg there.

There's also guilds you have to join immediately but it doesn't require much participation cuz you just have to do the activities once then you're done.

The cases are important, you have to clear it in order to read the latest chapters. It's like the battle system of the game but you can just skip it for free. However, you can be stuck at a level even if your card levels are high or your overall stats. I think it's because of incompatibility with your elements though i'm not sure. Tbh I don't understand how it works i just wing it. The only good thing about this is that you are not alone and a lot of people will be stuck at the same level as you🥲.

Gacha

Gacha in this game is the worst. It's just money-grubbing at this point. First of all, they do not even give you pre-registration rewards, just immediately daily log-in. There's no free single pull or free 10 tickets giveaways. Codes are also non-existent. The free gifts are just for EXP and not related to gacha at all. The only guaranteed SSR is for when you buy gems.

As an F2P casual gamer, this is just plain horror. While I don't usually do gacha even in other games, this kind of thing just isn't right! I once heard from the global chat that someone did 500 pulls just to get a single SSR. Like how is that even possible??? The pity system is also non-existent that it's crazy!!!

Gem farming is also hard cuz you only get gems from the bonus cases, occasionally from the guild, 10 gems every episode of the story, and from permanent tasks. It's just impossible even if you spend your gems wisely.

Although I got lucky and used up all of my luck by getting SSR Kaito on my first 10 pull🥲

Characters

This is probably the part where the most obvious duplicating original works happens. As some reviews might have already said, it's a copycat of Twisted Wonderland or Harry Potter (I could agree to some point but I am not that angry or exaggerating about it). This game certainly has it's own charm if you choose to ignore those and just enjoy playing.

Prime example of uncanny resemblance to characters we know is the guy above ^^^^. Kaito Fuji's looks are certainly deceiving. I didn't choose him at first because he wasn't my type nor did I think his personally would be that interesting. His mannerisms reminds me of Ace (Twisted Wonderland) and mostly Zenitsu (Kimetsu no Yaiba), especially when you hear his voice. Lucas, the guy beside him, reminds me of Deuce (Twisted Wonderland) and Hiiro Amagi (Ensemble Stars) and you really can't unsee it.

To some people, they might be irked by the resemblance and obvious plagiarism but personally, I think it's all part of the charm. Seeing those sides of them like that just like having the same dynamics as Adeuce made me like them even more. Because they are not all that, they have their own personality and stories which I like too.

Conclusion

This game can certainly do a lot more work and I believe it has potential as long as it is aimed for the player's enjoyment rather than just for their money. The story is really good while the gacha is trash. The battle is kinda frustrating but you can skip it. The characters have their own personalities too. The rest are so-so.

Personally, I play this game because I love the story and I don't usually gamble with gacha so it's just fine for me. If you do not want to download it and play, that is totally fine as well.

I just wanted to share with you my thoughts: of what I like and dislike about this game ^_^

Thank you for reading until the end💕