Lee
Using mixed mediums like forum chats, interviews, social media posts, magazines, and more, About a Place in the Kinki Region crafts an atmospheric, creepy, and intriguing supernatural narrative. Those familiar with The Ring and J-Horror will be familiar with the slow-burning tension usually present through these narratives, and for a debut novel, I did enjoy Sesuji’s tone and efforts. I would certainly read more from the author. That said, I was disappointed when the formatting and non-linear nature of the stories weren't used properly to really make a full circle reveal scare by the end. You feel like you're in a found footage movie library research montage as you read and uncover or connect dots yourself with the characters, all adding to the suspense and eerieness (especially if you read at night alone), but then the culmination is left quite lacklustre. It's a fast and entertaining read nonetheless, but it doesn't escape my thoughts that there was some serious potential to really nail a home run in closing. There are some great visuals left to the imagination upon reading that I'm curious to see how they matchup in the very quickly made soon after film adaptation.
Using mixed mediums like forum chats, interviews, social media posts, magazines, and more, About a Place in the Kinki Region crafts an atmospheric, creepy, and intriguing supernatural narrative. Those familiar with The Ring and J-Horror will be familiar with the slow-burning tension usually present through these narratives, and for a debut novel, I did enjoy Sesuji’s tone and efforts. I would certainly read more from the author. That said, I was disappointed when the formatting and non-linear nature of the stories weren't used properly to really make a full circle reveal scare by the end. You feel like you're in a found footage movie library research montage as you read and uncover or connect dots yourself with the characters, all adding to the suspense and eerieness (especially if you read at night alone), but then the culmination is left quite lacklustre. It's a fast and entertaining read nonetheless, but it doesn't escape my thoughts that there was some serious potential to really nail a home run in closing. There are some great visuals left to the imagination upon reading that I'm curious to see how they matchup in the very quickly made soon after film adaptation.