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The stories weren't that interesting.

Huge waste of saint potential. The fake saints were still cool, though. I appreciated that all three POV characters were flawed, although that didn't make them interesting to me.

"But in all likelihood, one of the princes took up his mantle months ago. There was, after all, no relief force."
Maybe bring up the possibility of a coup at the beginning instead of the second-to-last page?? Give us readers some explanation for why nobody's tried to rescue the king! Increase the characters' panic as they speculate about why all their messengers failed!

She proceeds to ask Phosyne to leave with her and gets turned down. She comes across the two boys and makes zero efforts to save them from brainwashing or bring them with her--even a failed attempt would've added urgency to the story and made Treila's return feel less pointless. Soon she's back at the secret exit, thinking, "There's no point in staying."

Another example. Early in the story, Treila is hanging out with two boys she's mildly fond of. After the invasion, she escapes the castle, but goes back for reasons including "if she walks away, she will carry with her the weight of everybody she left behind to die."

Also, why is nobody coming to break the siege when the KING is in the castle? The reason should be established early on, or the besieged characters should be desperately speculating about why their army isn't showing up.

Voyne is also the king's guard, but he's a non-entity and she stops caring about him almost immediately. The feudal setting feels fake when the king has no sense of presence and the characters act like he's unimportant!

This would work a lot better if any of the human side characters were fleshed out (pun intended). It's hard to care about a castle descending into delusion and cannibalism when you don't know these people and the POV characters almost never spare a thought for them. Voyne cares about Leodegardis, that's it. This rarely comes up.

Some anachronistic phrases that clashed with the medieval-ish setting:
"feel okay"
"file away for later" (mentally)
"get the fuck out"
"reset the calendar"
"join the club"

I enjoyed the moss POV though.

Why was a professionally published book so full of comma splices?

Using this to stand in for a Yumeno Kyuusaku short story collection titled after this work, because you can't add books yourself anymore and the volunteers are overwhelmed and won't get around to adding it.

Pages: 320
Publication date: 11/25/2023

Hell yes! Fantastic sequel to Shades of Grey, which I just reread in preparation for this one. 15-year publishing gap or no, I'm glad this was written. More quirky color dystopia fun.

Leaves the door open to another book, as major societal issues remain and Jane would never abandon the fight, while reaching a fulfilling conclusion for these specific characters. Good move in case a third book takes another 15 years.

すごくよかった、これ。俊作です。

PROSE (she wrote succinctly, after hearing repeated gongings outside, not from a clock but an anomalous series of sounds, so what was being struck and who struck it?)

This book contains a talking dog that is three inches long and the mother figure to a small girl.

I reread a children's novel from my childhood while I was staying at my parents' house. The only thing I remembered about it, other than the flying, was its premise that only fairies can kiss their own elbow (try it and see).

A lot of the kids' novels from my childhood hold up well on rereading as an adult, even a strange and lesser-known one like this. The prose and characterization are just plain good.

yes I need one vagina dentata on the cover please

This book read like a random series of non sequiturs.

文章力が高いほうで、キャラクターの激しい感情が伝わったくる小説です。それでも読書のスピードがのろくなっちゃって、時間がかかってしまいました。
名前をよく見かけたことがある小池真理子の小説をようやく読んでみて、今後とももっと読みたくなりました。

Tanith Lee, I miss you.

Pros: The author writes evocative descriptions of landscapes and wildlife in excellent prose. It's like you're there among the heath, rain, birdsong, old churches, or whatever place and time the author visited. He has a clear love for birds.

Cons: The author is wildly racist.

Somebody cutting their hand and tempting a starving female tiger to eat with the blood. The Hungry Tigress, in a very different context. Cool.

Hadn't heard of this book or author before, checked it out because it was set among enormous trees. The giant-tree-based worldbuilding did not disappoint; the worldbuilding is this book's major strength.

I wish Octavia Butler could read The Prophet of Corruption.