Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki’s Conjecture (Novel), Vol. 7 by Mikage Sawamura: review

4.5 stars on Goodreads

Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's conjecture vol.7 by Mikage Sawamura

It’s been well over a year since the previous volume was published, and it’s been a long wait. The collection of short stories titled EX came out a couple of months ago and was delightful, but as they were separate stories from many points of view, it wasn’t quite the same, though it was fun to see the main characters from the outside perspective.

Volume 7 is titled What Sleeps Beneath the Story and it takes place in fall of Naoya’s second year at the university. There are three mysteries. First one is about a missing student. Inspired by one of Takatsuki’s lectures, he’s played a game where one tries to access another world by a lift. A friend of his tries to find him. Naturally, Takatsuki and Naoya have to try the game themselves. The explanation is surprising, sad, and mundane once again.

The second mystery reconnects the two with Tooyama, the architect who suffers from the same problem as Naoya, and for the same reason too, having visited the Obon festival of the dead. They’ve been a bit distant after the events in spring when Takatsuki and Naoya went back and almost died. But now he needs their help. A construction of villas has stalled, because an old woman is defending a marsh where a guardian spirit lives. Again, the story turns out to have a sad and mundane explanation.

The third mystery is about a restaurant selling mermaid meat. Obviously Takatsuki wants to explore. It reconnects them with Sae, the mermaid woman they’ve met a couple of times before, but not since she saved their lives in the land of the dead. Not that Takatsuki remembers it, thanks to the other inside him who took away his memories. This mystery too turned out to be mundane, but a bit gruesome. It also connects them with Hayashibara, a detective from Kenji’s department who was introduced in EX and whom Kenji had hoped to keep away from Takatsuki.

This was a good volume, even if it wasn’t as exciting as the previous one or at all scary. There’s a Halloween party at Takatsuki’s office that once again makes Naoya realise he isn’t as isolated as he intended to be. He reflects the same with Tooyama, who clearly has had to keep himself away from people. And the girl with a crush on him makes an appearance. The previous mention was in EX and was told on Nanba’s point of view, so it was nice to have Naoya’s view. And there was proper interaction with Naoya and the other Takatsuki. Naoya was able to ask him questions that had troubled him, like why it insists that he smells of the underworld. Takatsuki had hoped that Sae would be able to tell him more about the other, but she doesn’t recognise it.

Naoya has become more active in the course of the books, reflecting how he’s coming out of his shell. He’s more natural in his interactions with Takatsuki and in his friendship with Nanba. And he learned a new truth about himself from the other Takatsuki that he was able to accept more easily than he would’ve earlier. And Sae has a warning for him and Takatsuki both about how they should hang onto their humanity lest they lose it.

There was no cliffhanger ending and the mysteries were complete. But I’m definitely eagerly waiting for the next volume to find out where their journey takes them next.

Threads of Red by Julie Wright: review

2.75 stars on Goodreads

Threads of Red by Julie Wright

Threads of Red is based on Red Riding Hood. Red lives in a small farm with her sister and parents. They’re poor, but their mother has plans for Kristell, the younger sister, to marry a rich boy. Kristel doesn’t want to, but their scary mother always gets her way. Kristell’s attempt to flee her fate sets the main story into motion. She’s fatally poisoned, and Red has to go to find a way to heal her from their grandmother who has been ostracised to a cottage deep in scary woods. For some reason, Goldi, Red’s rival for the affections of Carrigan, and Carrigan, follow. On their way there, they face obstacles and uncover a secret plot.

First up, this is not a romance or a love story. It does feature two suitors, one for each sister, but both are wet blankets there to fulfil a role as a prop. One of them finds some backbone, but the other remains a tool till the end. The hated suitor Kristell flees from isn’t shown once.

This is not solely a Red Riding Hood retelling either, although that’s the main element. It’s a mishmash of all classic stories. There’s Goldilocks, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, at least. I’m sure the author was clever, but the elements of those stories sprang out of nowhere, and the plot of the book followed. A treason emerged out of blue with no grounding in the world or backstory, or even a hint that it might be in works. A mildly evil character turned into a supervillain of long making with zero foreshadowing.

This is a story of women: mother, daughter, grandmother, and a frenemy turned BFF. As such, it works ok. It mostly comes alive in the friendship of Red and Goldi, where the author had to actually invent something instead of relying on fairytale elements. The relationship between Red and her mother was too much based on evil stepmother trope to be interesting, the sister was absent for most of the story, and grandmother showed up late.

Mostly though, this was boring. The setup took forever, the story local didn’t come to life at all, the journey through the forest had minor inconveniencies that had nothing to do why the forest would be a forbidden place for decades, and while Red dealt with the main bad, the solution to the story was conducted outside the pages. The suitor was handed to her on a platter when the rival retreated. I’m guessing they live happily ever after, but that’s where the story diverged from its fairytale origins, leaving it for the readers to imagine.

I was about to give the book three stars, but Goodreads introduced quarter stars in time for this review, so it’ll get 2.75 stars where those apply.

I received a free copy from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.