This was a very interesting story that had me very engaged for a large portion of the book, but with intermittent chapters that really didn’t connect with me. On the good side, I was hooked in chapters 1-5, I loved the action, and the story arcs for Mamoru, Misaki, and in the end, Takeru, were great. I thought the family dynamics and the character and relationship growth through the book was very touching. That said, starting with chapter 6, there were intermittent sections of the book that I did not like. And the character, Robin, irritated me (not in a good way).
Some of my issues in the sections I did not like included: irrational logic of veteran fighters engaging in combat (e.g. determined to fight but unwilling to kill – this is not a survivable strategy and is “self correcting” IRL), contrived social issues inserted (lots for people to relate with, but in a couple cases at the expense of story flow), illogical strategic military reasoning (e.g. send elite units without support for an invasion without support as a “test”), sections of info dumping, and inserting throw away characters and story arcs at the end that felt meaningless. I am sad to say that the last chapter was possibly my least favorite chapter of the book because 1. the chapter was ridiculously long (almost 2 hours listening) 2. Robin, one of the side characters from Misaki’s past showed up and was the main focus of the chapter (it made things super weird after excellent development between the other main characters), 3. a new bad guy was introduced (a plot function to make Robin even a little bit relevant to the situation and which was ultimately left unresolved), and 4. several social issues unrelated to the book’s story arc were jammed into the end (probably just so the author could say they were there, but had no relation to the rest of the story, e.g. “my old friend was gay,” “my old friend gave up their fortune,” “my old friend had marriage tragedy,” etc.
There was much more good than bad throughout the book, though. I especially liked the character Mamoru, and the relationship development between Misaki and Takeru in the end was very well done and felt especially meaningful. The action sequences were also very well done and kept me at the edge of my seat rooting for the book’s heroes. Outside of some of the social issues that felt contrived, there were a lot of relatable issues that were well integrated and I expect the story will connect with a wide range of people for that reason. At the forefront of these issues are women’s issues including women’s roles in society, arranged marriage vs. love, motherhood, miscarriage, raising children, depression, friendship, and leadership. In general, the writing was engaging, fun, and easy to listen to. The voice actor did a great job.
I am glad I listened to this book, but I am torn if I would recommend this book to just anyone. I think a reader will need to be willing to overlook some issues that felt significant to me. But if you are willing to overlook these issues, I am confident that you will enjoy all of the excellent parts of the book.