Heads-up: volumes 1 and 2 of this series should be read together. The labeling isn’t as clear as it could be, but they definitely feel like a single book in 2 volumes. It’s one of those stories where things hit the lowest point in the middle and improve in the second half. In other words, this volume looks like it ends badly and abruptly.
Rei, who grew up in Japan, is attending a prestigious English boarding school after the death of his mother. He’s secretly in love with his relative Edward. Edward’s public image is that of a popular model prefect, but toward Rei he is cold. Edward instructed Rei to keep a low profile, not talk to people, and not attend events at school. Rei obeys and quietly pines, because once upon a time, they were close and Edward was kind to him. Then the book gets into their backstory, and it becomes clear that things are complicated.
Rei is mixed race but culturally Japanese. Arriving in England is a shock: he needs to learn English well enough to get by, and he’s uncomfortable in a country where everyone is physically much larger and the beauty standards are different. On top of that he’s facing overt racism and classism. And some of it comes from his new relatives, who are a toxic nest of snakes. All of this puts him in a bad mental state.
This is definitely an angst BL so if that’s not your cup of tea, be warned. For large parts of this volume, the relationship between Rei and Ed is extremely bad, to the point that it can look like an abuse story.
The difficulty level is hard for me to judge. At the time of reading it was graded at level 29, and I can see an argument for that being right, but also that it could easily be graded a couple of levels higher. I read NO. 6 (level 32) at the same time and for me this actually felt more challenging in basically every way except vocabulary spread; and if I had less practice reading BL/romance and the sorts of vocab and creative use of kanji common in the genre, I might come down on the side of Public School being harder for vocab too.
That said, it definitely is easier than a lot of the other books you’ll find on the big lists of popular BL novels that left an impression on readers. There are easier BLs out there for sure, but chances are they’re probably weaker on characterization or plot.
There aren’t a lot of advanced grammar patterns, the vocabulary is fairly common, the setting is mostly school and homes, and much of it is in England so everyone has easy katakana names. There’s a lot of thinking and talking about emotions. These sentences can get a bit long and often have a single verb being used in multiple forms to contrast/compare. This is the kind of stuff that’s introduced at N4 level, but personally, it’s actually taken a very long time for some of these things to really sink in for me, and I’m still not 100% with all of it. I suspect I’m not the only one. Anyway, this book pushed me to pay close attention to the grammar, and (because Rei keeps thinking and talking about his feelings) offered a lot of practice.
There’s little furigana, as this, like other BL, is intended for adult readers. Here and there you’ll find non-Joyo kanji for words like 睫毛（まつ毛), or 嗤う（わらう）to indicate a scornful sort of laugh. (These kanji will appear in other BL novels though so if you want to read this genre, they’re worth learning to recognize)
Heads-up: volumes 1 and 2 of this series should be read together. The labeling isn’t as clear as it could be, but they definitely feel like a single book in 2 volumes. It’s one of those stories where things hit the lowest point in the middle and improve in the second half. In other words, this volume looks like it ends badly and abruptly.
Rei, who grew up in Japan, is attending a prestigious English boarding school after the death of his mother. He’s secretly in love with his relative Edward. Edward’s public image is that of a popular model prefect, but toward Rei he is cold. Edward instructed Rei to keep a low profile, not talk to people, and not attend events at school. Rei obeys and quietly pines, because once upon a time, they were close and Edward was kind to him. Then the book gets into their backstory, and it becomes clear that things are complicated.
Rei is mixed race but culturally Japanese. Arriving in England is a shock: he needs to learn English well enough to get by, and he’s uncomfortable in a country where everyone is physically much larger and the beauty standards are different. On top of that he’s facing overt racism and classism. And some of it comes from his new relatives, who are a toxic nest of snakes. All of this puts him in a bad mental state.
This is definitely an angst BL so if that’s not your cup of tea, be warned. For large parts of this volume, the relationship between Rei and Ed is extremely bad, to the point that it can look like an abuse story.
The difficulty level is hard for me to judge. At the time of reading it was graded at level 29, and I can see an argument for that being right, but also that it could easily be graded a couple of levels higher. I read NO. 6 (level 32) at the same time and for me this actually felt more challenging in basically every way except vocabulary spread; and if I had less practice reading BL/romance and the sorts of vocab and creative use of kanji common in the genre, I might come down on the side of Public School being harder for vocab too.
That said, it definitely is easier than a lot of the other books you’ll find on the big lists of popular BL novels that left an impression on readers. There are easier BLs out there for sure, but chances are they’re probably weaker on characterization or plot.
There aren’t a lot of advanced grammar patterns, the vocabulary is fairly common, the setting is mostly school and homes, and much of it is in England so everyone has easy katakana names. There’s a lot of thinking and talking about emotions. These sentences can get a bit long and often have a single verb being used in multiple forms to contrast/compare. This is the kind of stuff that’s introduced at N4 level, but personally, it’s actually taken a very long time for some of these things to really sink in for me, and I’m still not 100% with all of it. I suspect I’m not the only one. Anyway, this book pushed me to pay close attention to the grammar, and (because Rei keeps thinking and talking about his feelings) offered a lot of practice.
There’s little furigana, as this, like other BL, is intended for adult readers. Here and there you’ll find non-Joyo kanji for words like 睫毛（まつ毛), or 嗤う（わらう）to indicate a scornful sort of laugh. (These kanji will appear in other BL novels though so if you want to read this genre, they’re worth learning to recognize)