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Kieli Novels (キーリ ライトノベル) #5
Kieli, Volume 5: The Sunlit Garden Where It Began, Part 1
(Volume 1) A lonely girl. An Undying soldier. An uncommon romance. Kieli is a reclusive girl isolated by her ability to see ghosts. Her only friend is her "roommate," Becca, the precocious spirit of a former student still residing in Kieli's dorm. Everything in Kieli's life changes suddenly when the girls meet the handsome but distant Harvey who, like Kieli, can see ghosts. He also turns out to be one of the legendary Undying, an immortal soldier bred for war now being hunted by the Church. When Kieli joins Harvey on a pilgrimage to lay to rest the spirit of a corporal possessing an old radio, as unlikely as it seems, she feels she may have finally found a place where she belongs in the world. And in Kieli, Harvey may have found a reason to live again.
280 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 15, 2011
Harvey, Kieli, and the Corporal journey to Westerbury, which has had a rumor of a "moving corpse", to locate Beatrix. Slowly it is revealed to Kieli just what happened to Harvey while he was alone in the capital, and an old foe returns to tell her the truth of Harvey's core.
February 19, 2018
Endlich Endlich geht es in Richtung Vergangenheit von Harvey. Außerdem große Emotionen die langsam nicht mehr unterdrückt werden können. Noch dazu das zweit gemeinste Bandende soweit in der Reihe. Ich habe Band 6 sofort in die Hand genommen!
.... sehe gerade das ich noch dazu extrem schnell fertig mit lesen war O_O Spricht sehr für den Band!
.... sehe gerade das ich noch dazu extrem schnell fertig mit lesen war O_O Spricht sehr für den Band!
March 4, 2020
What's chara and plot development? This book sure as heck doesn't know.
What happened here was basically a whole lot of nothing (worse than nothing- It manages to retrocede in quality), even though It has a few hints to very big mysteries in the series, that's not nearly enough to write a whole book about. Imagine a book of filler episodes. This was it.
Like, How can you make the small breadcrumbs of reveals feel so flat? I was so bored and frustrated (emphasis on frustrated) that I didn't even care for The results of 4 books worth of buildup (that led to nothing anyway), I just wanted It to end. And that's ignoring all the glaring issues and cracks the narrative showed.
But more importantly:
WHAT happened to kieli and harvey???? It's like I was reading about very different charas. Which brings me to the worst part of this volume: The "romance" plotline, if you can call It that.
So kieli hits 16 yo and suddenly every adult that comes into contact with the trio wants to bang her or have her date someone? And that's normal somehow? At the same time there's still a lot of remarks of how young she is? One moment her age matters and the next It doesn't at all? It's gross when the weirdos take interest or notice her "curves" (seriously?!), but then there's "OMG, harvey! How are you not dating her yet you're only like a hundred yo and very traumatized! It's totally the best moment and a super good idea". Btw, This happens... A.... LOT. Loads of shitty dialogue overall in this one, let me tell you.
Taboo stuff is something I don't personally mind, but be consistent and try to make It - you know - descent writing, perhaps?
And basically all of their personalities are thrown to the garbage disposal because
And b) Kieli gets a lobotomy or something because she becomes brainless. There's no other explanation. She just lost her f*cking mind, showing complete dumbassery The entire time. Her 13 yo self had more personality and brains.
I'm done.
What happened here was basically a whole lot of nothing (worse than nothing- It manages to retrocede in quality), even though It has a few hints to very big mysteries in the series, that's not nearly enough to write a whole book about. Imagine a book of filler episodes. This was it.
Like, How can you make the small breadcrumbs of reveals feel so flat? I was so bored and frustrated (emphasis on frustrated) that I didn't even care for The results of 4 books worth of buildup (that led to nothing anyway), I just wanted It to end. And that's ignoring all the glaring issues and cracks the narrative showed.
But more importantly:
WHAT happened to kieli and harvey???? It's like I was reading about very different charas. Which brings me to the worst part of this volume: The "romance" plotline, if you can call It that.
So kieli hits 16 yo and suddenly every adult that comes into contact with the trio wants to bang her or have her date someone? And that's normal somehow? At the same time there's still a lot of remarks of how young she is? One moment her age matters and the next It doesn't at all? It's gross when the weirdos take interest or notice her "curves" (seriously?!), but then there's "OMG, harvey! How are you not dating her yet you're only like a hundred yo and very traumatized! It's totally the best moment and a super good idea". Btw, This happens... A.... LOT. Loads of shitty dialogue overall in this one, let me tell you.
Taboo stuff is something I don't personally mind, but be consistent and try to make It - you know - descent writing, perhaps?
And basically all of their personalities are thrown to the garbage disposal because
And b) Kieli gets a lobotomy or something because she becomes brainless. There's no other explanation. She just lost her f*cking mind, showing complete dumbassery The entire time. Her 13 yo self had more personality and brains.
I'm done.
May 17, 2026
The Kieli Novels are something really special and it's only fair to review all of it as one overall story, as its narrative beautifully flows into each other and its conclusion flawlessly.
It's a complex and heartfelt story that broaches subjects such as grief, abandonment, betrayal, PTSD, the horrors of war and overall how to retain your humanity when it's pushed to its limit.
Kieli is a young orphan who is able to see and converse with the dead. She seeks solace in her relationships with them and shuns the living. Which really isn't hard to understand why when her experience with people is complicated and unpleasant.
She does try throughout the story to build connections with people and her experiences shape who she ultimately becomes at the end.
Harvey is such a complex character and I could not help but love him. He is an undead soldier that yearns to flee his dark past. His background story was horrific and my heart bled for him till the end. He tried so hard to retain his humanity despite everything the world threw at him. I needed him to find peace.
He is so protective of Kieli and is desperate for her to try to explore the world and live as normal a life as possible. There are times he comes across as a young boy with precocious silliness and other times as a wisen old man in need of a nap.
Corporal is the sarcastic and heartfelt middle ground that holds the whole dynamic together. He's sweet and honest and I loved him.
Overall this is a book series I need to read again and soon.
It's a complex and heartfelt story that broaches subjects such as grief, abandonment, betrayal, PTSD, the horrors of war and overall how to retain your humanity when it's pushed to its limit.
Kieli is a young orphan who is able to see and converse with the dead. She seeks solace in her relationships with them and shuns the living. Which really isn't hard to understand why when her experience with people is complicated and unpleasant.
She does try throughout the story to build connections with people and her experiences shape who she ultimately becomes at the end.
Harvey is such a complex character and I could not help but love him. He is an undead soldier that yearns to flee his dark past. His background story was horrific and my heart bled for him till the end. He tried so hard to retain his humanity despite everything the world threw at him. I needed him to find peace.
He is so protective of Kieli and is desperate for her to try to explore the world and live as normal a life as possible. There are times he comes across as a young boy with precocious silliness and other times as a wisen old man in need of a nap.
Corporal is the sarcastic and heartfelt middle ground that holds the whole dynamic together. He's sweet and honest and I loved him.
Overall this is a book series I need to read again and soon.
October 6, 2018
I absolutely hate authors that develop their characters over a series... and then go back to writing about them as they did on the first book. In this volume it felt even worse as we have just had a 2 year time skip, everybody was older and wiser on volume 4... scrap all that for volume 5...
The supernatural part takes a back seat to some really pointless stories that setup the scenario for this longer story. There are some moderately good horror moments but you don't actually feel they are going to have any impact on the overall story.
There were some interesting points to it, but it just had this childish vibe I couldn't get beyond. What a downturn for a series :S Apparently volumes 5 and 6 are super rare and hard to find under the 100s of $. I guess it's because most of the people who bought them burned them, threw them in the bin or shredded them in protest! :D
The supernatural part takes a back seat to some really pointless stories that setup the scenario for this longer story. There are some moderately good horror moments but you don't actually feel they are going to have any impact on the overall story.
There were some interesting points to it, but it just had this childish vibe I couldn't get beyond. What a downturn for a series :S Apparently volumes 5 and 6 are super rare and hard to find under the 100s of $. I guess it's because most of the people who bought them burned them, threw them in the bin or shredded them in protest! :D
September 30, 2014
This has been the best so far. We get backstory that explains so much about the characters' personalities and motives. They are often still quite irritating, but.....
April 18, 2014
The end is just *.*
May 17, 2014
Four books left!
November 17, 2023
I liked this one much better then book 4. However, she had better not be dead. I'm a bit confused as I start reading book 6.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews