Because of Itsuki and Sayaka's relationship, GRIP is really compelling. Their dynamic is so interesting on many levels—a woman who committed suicide, accompanied by someone whose wife committed suicide and failed to save both his wife and her...already, that's fire stuff. Add Sayaka's guilt for causing Itsuki's death, Itsuki seeing his wife in her, and Sayaka also being close to someone who died, and that adds another layer. And not only that—they have chemistry, straight-up. Their conversations are a treat. Itsuki's more open, friendly personality bounces well off of Sayaka's more guarded, prickly one, without it ever coming off like Sayaka genuinely dislikes him. And their relationship is developed really well, forming a strong core for the plot.

Not only that, but Itsuki is just plain likeable. It's fun to follow him as the protagonist throughout, and refreshing to see a somewhat older MC (his maturity comes across well). He's kind, as well as being an active character whose motivations are clearly reflected in his actions. I love characters who try their best to do good.

All that said, there's two reasons why the title of this review is critical and and why I only gave 4 stars.

1) The prose can be shaky. Taking from 2 random chapters— "Darkness surrounded Sayaka in every direction, drifting in memories like water". Sayaka is drifting, but the sentence is framed like the darkness is drifting—it's a dangler. "In an instant, Stahl's maul suddenly shifted and extended". "Suddenly" means the same as "in an instant", so why are both there? Not to mention, they both slow down the sentence while trying to convey the idea of it being fast.

It's not that those 2 sentences ruin it, but rather, that they're an example of a wider pattern. I feel like, the novel generally didn't have a strong flow or rhythmic sense and was written awkwardly (with a few exceptions like one of my favorite chapters "The Precipice of Dawn"). Within that, the action scenes are probably the worst written and the dialogue is the best written.

2) The side character sections feel boring.

I was interested by them at first because they were new and interesting. However, they didn't have the same development, heart, and narrative arc. Characters felt either not fleshed out enough to matter—Reathe, the kids— or fleshed out to a level that was confusing—the two married women. Basically, whenever Itsuki and Sayaka weren't on page, I wasn't really enjoying reading.

Overall, I think it's a good novel, but its hype/popularity is probably by chance, rather than from being one of the best entries on this site.