I have to admit that I went into Lonely Castle […] with very high hopes, since it seemed to tick a lot of boxes for me, as a portal fantasy exploring themes of mental health. So perhaps some level of disappointment was inevitable, but Lonely Castle [...] didn't impress me on a single front.

The prose in this book wasn’t for me: I was disappointed by the environment of the castle itself, which didn’t strike me as particularly imaginative, and which I found very difficult to picture.

I really couldn’t get a grip on any of the characters either: none of them are particularly endearing, or relatable. The bond between them feels flimsy at best, until arbitrarily, they decide they’re willing to stand up for one another: but this rings hollow due to a lack of groundwork between them. The characters in this book also all seemed to behave extremely abnormally, being uniquely unwilling to explore their surroundings, engage with the fantastical environment they’ve been given access to, or even ask basic, obvious questions about it– for no reason that I could fathom, other than that it isn’t convenient for them to do so too early in the plotline, which isn’t fantastic for immersion.

Lonely Castle [...] attempts to confront mental health issues, but does so clumsily. Each characters feels like a very one-note embodiment of their particular issues, rather than a fully-realised person confronting said issues, which cheapens the impact of their struggles. Others have observed that there’s also a didactic quality tone to this book, which I’m inclined to agree with.

Finally, there were two major twists in the novel, one which was very overly signposted, the other which wasn’t foreshadowed whatsoever, but which was so formulaic, it also fell completely flat. I closed Lonely Castle [...] feeling deeply unsatisfied, and slightly condescended to.