Kam

This was a little shorter than I strictly liked, but not half-bad for the most part. The story works just at the length it has, but I think it could have benefited from being a few more pages longer just to let the plot breathe a bit.

I’m not sure I liked the narrative style very much. It was ACCURATE to the character, but the sleepy languidness of the storytelling is not really something I personally enjoy.

I did like the moments when the narrative pokes at climate change and misogyny though, as well as economic uncertainty for working people. Also really liked the narrator’s sympathy for the villain in this story, emphasizing how much people are a product of their respective backgrounds - and how what one views as good might not necessarily be good for everyone else in the world. I also thought the illustrations were a lovely touch, not least because they look like manga/manhwa panels. It’s a great nod to the original magical girls that influenced this story.

Overall this was a lovely story that deals with some heavy themes while managing to maintain a rather light and wondrous tone. There were aspects of it that I personally didn’t enjoy, but it is otherwise a good novella.