My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I read the other reviews on Goodreads before setting out to write this (as I always do for good or ill) and it seems that we only got 2/3 of what Clover was originally meant to be. Maybe that’s why it’s nonsensical. The “written word” part of it is just that: incoherent. The lyrics from that song, in 110% cliché anime style (i.e generic song that has the words love, happiness, forever, together, alone, tears and heart mixed, sautéed in soy sauce and served on the spot) repeated ad nauseam was quite annoying and the plot in general didn’t exist at all. Yes, I’ve concluded that it can’t be my fault that almost all anime/manga plots fly right over my head. This one in particular… wow. It was so irrelevant or so it seemed, that I think it would have been better if I had “read” it in Japanese (or whatever other verb you can use to describe at least trying to read something that’s in a foreign language and you by default only pay attention to the shapes of the letters/characters/kana).
The reason I’m stressing this of course is that this tome is just beautiful and I can imagine the aesthetics take a hit when the kana and kanji are forced to be replaced by latin characters. The steampunk/clockwork angel & sparrow thing worked well and was pretty to look at on the experimentally laid out pages that flow in lightning speeds. While I enjoyed the visual feast, I must confess that this style in the end is just not for me.
Even like that, I ended up liking it and it’s probably because some parts reminded me very strongly of my girlfriend who’s the one who came to my house one day and out of the blue just left Clover on my desk. If it wasn’t for her, I would have probably never touched it. But, sentimental a critic as I am, my feelings governed these keystrokes. I feel strangely complete writing this.
Wahoo! :3 I expected you would write something beautiful. I’m gonna show your review to people I suggest this manga to. Wait… not just this book, ALL THE BOOKS!