Sep 18, 2025
Really nice to see some proper vulnerability from Charlotte. No 15 year old girl could balance the weight of the world on her shoulders and *not* be overwhelmed, after all. Also like the decision to keep Suzuki out of it. Throughout the story he’s felt far more like an uncontrollable force of nature than a character, which is very refreshing compared to the stock-standard of this genre.
I put my thoughts so far in message in the contest novel recs channel of the HF discord if you’d like to hear more of what I have to say about it, though I will write a proper review once the story is marked finished. But in short, I think this is the best story I’ve read this contest and possibly one of the best I’ve read on the whole site. I was worried the unusual framing device would make it run out of steam and be hard to follow, but it’s been the complete opposite, it’s kept my attention far better than any others this contest