Spoiler-Free Review
If you’re looking for a weird, wonderful, whimsical series with Studio Ghibli vibes – The Mirror Visitor is the perfect quartet for you.
I loved this series. It’s unapologetically strange, and I respect that. It’s the most unique worldbuilding I’ve come across lately, and it was a delight to read. This series doesn’t work for every reader, but I’m so glad it (mostly) worked for me.
What’s The Mirror Visitor series about?
Ophelia, a young woman who can travel through mirrors and see the past of objects through touch, is forced into an engagement and made to move to her fiancé’s homeland, where court politics and cruelty reign supreme. Ophelia is just a pawn in their game, and she must keep her wits about her if she’s going to survive. As she adjusts to this new life, she begins to realize their world harbors more sinister secrets than she realized.
Book 1: A Winter’s Promise
I absolutely adored this book. The worldbuilding is unique and the magic is interesting. Their world is Earth reimagined, and the story takes place long after an event known as the Rupture shattered the planet into floating celestial islands known as arks. It feels like a mix of whimsy and steampunk in the most imaginative way.
I also loved the main character, Ophelia. She’s soft-spoken, but she never feels like a pushover. In fact, despite her quiet and introverted nature, there’s a sense that she has an internal strength of character. She’s pathologically clumsy due to a mirror-travelling accident in her youth, and she’s often sick. Many of the people around her, including her family, assume that her outward nature reflects her inward nature, and so ignore her or don’t put much stock her. But the more time we spend with her, the more we realize she’s a force in her own right.
The side characters were excellent. They each felt unique, with standout personalities and impacts on the plot, and each had opportunities for growth that I appreciated.
Overall, a great first impression to this series. The only reason it wasn’t a 5 star read is that I felt I sometimes had to reread a sentence; it was all perfectly coherent and grammatically correct, just sometimes unexpected in its phrasing. This could be a translation thing (it was originally written in French). It wasn’t enough of an issue for me to drop it to a four-star, and in fact, I think the writing contributed in some ways to its quirky charm.
Book 2: The Missing of Clairdelune
As with book 1, this sequel captured my attention and kept me on my toes. These days it’s difficult for me to find books where I can’t accurately predict the plot, but this one succeeded. From chapter to chapter, I was constantly on the hook.
This kept everything I loved about A Winter’s Promise: excellent side characters, whimsical (and unique) magic, and compelling growth. And this time around, we also slowly uncovered some new lore, which is one of my favorite parts of fantasy. Plus, there were some perfect character growth moments and scenes that I’m a sucker for.
This installment delivered on all counts. Chef’s kiss.
Book 3: The Memory of Babel
This book operates as a sort of reset point for the second half of the series after some major reveals at the end of book 2. Our main character has to traverse a different ark (one of the other floating celestial islands), which means we’re introduced to some new worldbuilding as she struggles to adjust.
I did find this one a bit slower than the first two, mainly because I didn’t feel the same propulsion in the plot. Ophelia is operating on hunches and guesses, and starts a long quest in search of her own answers which lands her in an academic situation. The setting was interesting, but I’m not really a quest person, so I found myself wanting something more solid for the plot to operate on.
But the second half shakes things up, and I felt back to my usual intrigue with this series.
Book 4: The Storm of Echoes
For the sake of not putting it off any longer, I listened to the finale on audiobook. I think this was the right move, because I loved the narrator. She put so much personality into it and nailed such a wide variety of accents. She gave every character a unique voice, so the dialogue was always easy to keep up with. It was charming. So, it reinvigorated me to finish.
I was hooked and interested through the first half. But the second half got increasingly speculative (and wildly metaphysical), and to be honest, I started struggling to keep up with what was happening. This could be a result of listening on audio; maybe it would’ve been clearer if I read the physical book. But either way, I had to focus to finish.
And then…the ending. I won’t spoil anything here, but I will say that I am unsatisfied with the resolution. It felt like the ending to this book, but not the end to the series as a whole. I was left with the feeling that the story started in book one, Ophelia’s story, wasn’t concluded.
Final Thoughts
The ending is just one part of a story, and so while the conclusion wasn’t to my preference, I did really enjoy the series as a whole – particularly the first two books.
One thing The Mirror Visitor quartet does well is dash the rules. At every turn, this story was whatever it wanted or needed to be. Each installment took on a slightly difference genre, which made for a really unique series.
Another thing I loved is the dynamic between Ophelia and Thorn. This is honestly the standout feature across the books. Their individual quirks added a lot of charm, and some necessary humor or drama as needed where they clashed. I appreciated that these quirks were simply part of who they were, not something they had to change.
I think the reason the latter half of the series didn’t work as well for me is because the world got so big that Ophelia’s individual plight became a subplot in her own story. That’s not to say she didn’t have any growth, she definitely did, but to me these moments didn’t have the weight they needed. In general, plot overtook character, and I’m very much someone who needs a solid blend of both. But even so, I don’t regret reading it.
(Maybe I just need to read a post-series fanfiction to soothe me).
Should you read The Mirror Visitor?
This is one of those series that’s either for you or it isn’t. It certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. And interestingly, there’s even a lot of division over the ending – some love it, and others hate it. It’s one of the few series that I can’t seem to gather a true general consensus on. Perhaps because it takes on so many different moods and plots across the four books, there’s something to appeal to every type of reader (and naturally therefore, something for every reader to dislike, as well).
If you like weird stories, quirky characters, and genre-bending YA literature, you’ll probably love The Mirror Visitor. I also recommend it to anyone to anyone who enjoys romantic subplots, as this element is not the main focus.
Go into it with an open mind. Anything you’re thinking while going into it will be turned around by the final book. I’ve seen some criticism on book 1 over petty things, thinking they’re just tropes, when in fact those are very important details.
As a YA series, it features some discussion of mature topics and some bullying/abuse, but the content is otherwise fairly tame. I feel it’s probably geared toward readers at least 13+. Content warnings for the first book can be found here.
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