What is your opinion?
Breathtaking
"When I started reading this short story, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the author has managed to move me in many ways. I love how this story portrays the “eye is the window to the soul” concept. I felt every emotion from the characters and I just kept wishing for Itsuki and Mikael to end up together."
Really Cool and Unique, but A Confusing Ending
"I really liked it. It's unique and all the characters are written really well. The only problem for me was the ending. I was very confused about the ending and a couple of other parts. The last interaction between Mikael and Itsuki was just not written well and I don't think I got a conclusion out of it."
Intriguing
"I've read some of this author's previous work and truly enjoyed the unique way they unravel the layers of humanity with their characters. Short stories tend to lack depth, but this is not the case. Without falling into the trap of info-dumping, we glimpse a society in which people hide their true selves (for safety reasons enforced by the government, apparently) concealing one of their eyes. There's little explanation as to why this happened, but understanding this is not the story's point. We follow Itsuki during two critical periods of their life and witness firsthand the obsessive relationship they develop with a mysterious man. Ignoring the advice of friends, society's rules, and their own misgivings, Itsuki carries on with the relationship until it consumes them. It felt like a portrayal of harmful relationships with narcissistic partners, here depicted as someone who the world sees as unreliable because of his "misleading" eye. However, Itsuki defends him even without clear reasons. While I do enjoy morally gray, or even toxic characters every once in a while, I do so when there is growth to be found at the end of the story. Not every tale must end with a happily ever after, or even a lesson, but in the end, I missed a conclusion."
Confusing but uniquely vivid.
"The author has great talent in composing vivid imagery that gives further insight into the story's themes, and the cadence with which the author writes is so conversationally natural. I just wish there was more on the grammar behind the writing (spelling, overabundance of commas, incorrect usages of m-dashes). The setting's premise was definitely intriguing and unique, but the world-building could have been a bit more creative and clear. For example, are there other ways to explain the story's background besides listing it in long sweeps of narration or dialogue? I also found it hard at times to decipher which character was speaking. And Itsuki suddenly speaks Mikael's name when he's clearly the story's mysterious archetype she's trying to understand (I wish there was more of a discovery behind his name to match the intricacy of the mind which is so prevalent to the story). I was also hoping the ending would revisit the story's main theme of turning away from a black-and-white understanding of the world (hence 'Grayscale'), but I did not find that, other than the brief mention of "gray eye." Overall, good story. And the author has amazing ways of composing fantastic similes and metaphors I've never read before!"
