Quitter les monts d'automne has much to love. A Japanese-inspired world that has its roots in tradition but grows into sci-fi, an independent, queer heroin who finds her voice through her unique experiences, and a truly beautiful prose, very elegant and harmonious. A large part of what I didn't enjoy about it was that Kaori, the main character, is painfully passive for most of the plot. The story happens to her without her having any grasp on it, up til the very end. She appears to be some kind of Chosen One, but most choices are taken from her. I read an interview in which the author was fully conscious of this, so I store it as "an author's choice I didn't vibe with". Despite this, and as far as I can tell, I thought the author did a wonderful job with the Japanese culture running through all the story. One small detail I particularly enjoy was the different spelling of some names depending on who was speaking. It's such a small touch but as someone fascinated with languages, I appreciated it a lot.
All in all, I didn't enjoy the plot of this book and the fact that everyone except our main character seemed to have agency, but I loved the idea, the atmosphere and inspiration.
Rep : lesbian main character, bisexual secondary character.