The Stars May Rise And Fall - Tumblr Posts

Review: The Stars May Rise And Fall By Estella Mirai

For the first time ever, I’m reviewing a book by one of my moots here on tumblr, and the moot in question is, as you might have guessed, Estella Mirai! I didn’t read the synopsis before I bought the book, I must confess that right away. I skimmed it, and I saw, gay Phantom Of The Opera retelling set in 2000s Japan, and I knew I had to read it. My little readers’ heart fell in love at hello…And boy, did it stay that way.

Little bit about the premise first, Teru is the drummer of failing visual kei band La Rose Verboten, who are, in his own words, good, but not great, or at least, not great enough to land any real success in Japan’s cut-throat music industry. Their only claim to fame is their lead singer, Bara, whose vocal range is mediocre at best, but his attractiveness has garnered the attention of a small group of girls who regularly show up at La Rose’s performances, not for the rest of the band, but for him. Naturally, this all changes when Teru gets a text from a mysterious stranger who claims that he can help him, and after said stranger, known only as Rei, orchestrates an incident that causes Bara to quit the band, Teru is forced to become the band’s new lead singer. Thus begins the story of La Rose’s rise to fame, and Teru’s relationship with Rei, a disgraced former star who was left permanently disabled after a car accident which killed his previous boyfriend.

I must confess, I don’t know much about the visual kei scene—I hadn’t been born yet when visual kei was in its prime, but I didn’t need to come in with prior knowledge—Everything about the visual kei scene was explained organically by an author who clearly knows their stuff about it. I truly enjoyed seeing La Rose’s progression from nobodies to stars, and the problems that the band face—From Minori and Teru’s parents disapproving of their sons’ career choices, to Minori facing the threat of having to give up on his dreams if the band doesn’t start making more money were very true to life and well done. I also enjoyed Rei’s character development, starting from wanting to vicariously live through Teru, and enjoy the success he feels should have been his, and ending with him sacrificing his relationship with Teru so that he won’t choose him over his dreams. By the end of the book, my neighbours must have thought that I was crazy, because I was full on screaming, kicking my legs like a teenage girl. This book left me on the best emotional high possible, and I would’ve loved to see a little more of Teru and Rei rekindling their relationship, and making up for all of the lost time. My ramblings aside, this was a great read, and I would highly recommend it. Head to Goodreads to be redirected to the right Amazon page for your country if you want to buy a copy!

Holy fuck I would have loved to see that

／(=✪㉨✪=)＼

There should be more books that have chapter titles, and then a little summary of the chapter below them. You don't have to be boring with them, or spoil the whole chapter by telling what happens - you could make it vague, like a prophecy of something you know is going to happen, but you don't know how, or with what results.

Having one-sentence summaries like "Chapter 12 - where the Queen's hound makes a fatal mistake" and you're like oh shit does this refer to the queen's actual hunting dog, or the guy that's mockingly called her lapdog? "Chapter 24 - where justice finds a thief, and a thief finds justice" and you're like ooooh shit the cute little pickpocket is going to get caught, and then it turns out that shit, she does get caught, but by someone who actually agrees that she's right to steal to help feed her family, and gets her help instead, which is justice.

You already know what's going to happen, but not how.