また、同じ夢を見ていた

Captivating read

This was my first Japanese light novel. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to other Japanese learners or people who are generally interested in Japanese culture.

In terms of Japanese learningthis is a good book for early immersion. There is a good amount of drilled repetition, grammar points (I found N2 and N1 grammar points in the book, although most are N3), and useful daily use vocab and phrases. However, despite the easy language, the content and themes in the book can be difficult to grasp. This leads to my second point on the content and linguistic style.

While on the surface easy and repetitive, the amount of introspection, wordplay, and deliberation, makes the story enjoyable if the reader is actively on board the journey alongside the 主人公. There is a fair bit of realization and revelation in the last 20-30% of the book.

This is not a typical new world adventure or mystery murderer story, but rather a deep, inward retreat into decisions, choices, and regrets. The indirect, poetic prose could be considered a good flavour of Japanese style of communication and storytelling.

Upon finishing the book, I certainly recommend interested readers to look up some Japanese fan's reviews and afterthought. It shedded light on themes/language that I found hard to grasp, or missed, while I was going through.