I don't normally rate webtoons but this one stood out to me. It's a BL manhua, which I don't normally read either, but it was recommended to me by a trusted friend and boy was I in for a treat.

Set in China, the story resonated with me a lot, since I come from a culture that views homosexuality similarly - Russia. The protagonist is the only character that's out, and, being someone who came out to my family as soon as I knew I was gay (causing rifts within it), I related a lot to his complex feelings on the subject. In its own matter-of-fact, lighthearted way, the story examines what it's like to exist in such a society as someone who's closeted, and as someone who's out. It touches on the well-meaning fetishization of the queer community and our relationships, even by allies who do so with good intentions (a part of the story features a girl trying to help the main characters get together by giving one of them BL manhua to read, getting upset when it backfires, and having to be sat down and asked whether she was doing this for their happiness, or her own). I've never seen an LGBT story tackle that, ever. Another thing that's touched upon is the inherent biphobia that crops up as a byproduct of living in a homophobic society, which, again, I've never seen portrayed in media like this.

The art is phenomenal and the story just really resonated with me. One of the secondary characters is a workaholic who basically denies himself access to his own feelings, putting off accepting his attraction to men with schoolwork and an internship, until he can't function any more. I have done this, and the moment when he finally accepts the help of his (soon to be) boyfriend made me bawl at 2am.

It's a cute, happy, slice of life story, and yet it brought me to tears at least three times. I couldn't put it down from the moment I picked it up. It touches on so many aspects of the queer experience, both universal and specific to the culture it's set in, I felt at home reading it, for lack of a better term.

Giving this three stars because I prefer most of Gaiman's other books to this one. It's still brilliant. It just made me sad in an uncomfortable way, so I'm taking my frustration out on the rating system, I suppose.

This book sits with you. Maybe it's because the "quintessential British childhood" is full of weird not-quite-trauma for so many of us, and we only realise it once a book like this sheds a kind of gloomy light on it. It's 1am, what do I know.

A guilty pleasure of mine is an unreliable narrator, and this book is practically built around the concept. It's bleak, but not in a way that's boring, and it's thrilling, but not in a way that's safe. The vagueness of the nature of things, and plot, and setting, has been frustrating in some aspects, but I found that I minded less as time went on. My questions went almost entirely unanswered, but, thinking about it, I can't imagine an ending for this book that's satisfying. It's just not that kind of read, and it would almost ruin it.

I didn't think I'd enjoy a protagonist that does very little, but here I am. It hilights how helpless you feel as a child, in a way I found I didn't mind either. It's a book that makes you reminisce, for sure.