Review: Short, Enjoyable Story; Worth Reading
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 27, 2013
Impressive effort from the author... especially considering this was written in 30 hours. I liked the main character, the story has good dialogue, and the Japan setting is rich and well crafted. The story moves along fairly briskly, so it doesn't get bogged down with unnecessary detail. There were a few issue with the plot that I didn't like which I will explain below (since they contain spoilers.) However, I found this story entertaining and likable and I recommend it.SPOILERS BELOW*****Ok,I have 2 gripes with the plot. First of all, is you are the daughter of a prominent American politician you should probably avoid any kinds of public sex acts. I understand that the character was into sexual exploration and all, and I'll assume she just got caught up in the moment, but her behavior (drunk or not) was just plain dumb. Based on her actions, I'm convinced that sooner or later she was bound to be involved in some kind of scandal, at least in this case she had friends to help her clean up her mess.The second issue I take is with the students' plan. It was a truly horrible plan. Lucky for them, things went amazing well (except for poor Tobu.) Overall the ending felt too serendipitous, for example the egg that happened to jam in the wall on the exact level and exact place where the bodyguard would be standing in the final confrontation. And the ease with which the main characters flee the scene, with no apparent repercussions. They also didn't seem concerned with the fact that innocent people probably lost their lives in the blasts and resulting fire. Tobu's sacrifice was a nice touch, but the tone of the ending feels too light and easy, when such a serious incident should have a grittier feel.Like I said above, an worthwhile read. These issues were not substantial enough to prevent me from enjoying the book, but they did prevent me from adding a 5th star to my rating.