Feb 10, 2025
Nearing the middle of this book, I'm sort of at a loss as to where it is headed, what the point is, and what are we, as readers, meant to understand.
Aurora, as a protagonist, feels very passive to her own character. She seems to be animated by nothing but a vague sense of desire, which we're led to believe is her flaw: her love is something artificial, mandated. My understanding was that the story would be challenging this flaw, but I haven't seen any such thing. If anything, thus far it feels like Aurora's development has come as a result of the plot succouring it, not from anything internal to her. She has yet to even mention, let alone begin to ponder the depth of her feelings and her inability to 'woo' Marygold. Her reflections, really, sound very one-note and targeted towards Marygold, which make them feel very hollow and repetitive. Her anxiety, if it can even be called that, comes across as very muted, not unlike most emotions in this story. It feels like only the exaggerated feelings (Aki's bashfulness, Niji's can-do attitude) break that pattern, making them both comedic, but also feel slightly out of place.
Onto Marygold's character, I can appreciate the idea of his mystery, and I think that's the reason why I can keep going so easily. He is an interesting character inasmuch as someone as picture-perfect as he seems to be having some cracks, albeit only 'naturalised' ones (i.e. inherited, or derived from a kind of pathology). I'm looking forward to seeing him break.
That's all for now.
