Was It Good?

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts cereal does not really taste like the Pop Tarts. It tastes like Honey Smacks and is basically a different flavor of Krave. I don't love it.

I'm not disappointed with the Birth By Sleep light novel, despite some mistakes and omissions, but I did learn a few things. I thought Aqua was always the last one to go to Disney Town, only having played through it once and not to completion, but it all depends on your playthrough. All three of them get a different ice cream, and there really are a lot of different ice creams to make. (Me: sees the word "ingredients," gets triggered). The mobile game wasn't a thing yet, so Braig was simply described as thuggish and bored. He was probably a yankee before working for Ansem. Xehanort mentions that he'd seen "several" people dressed in that uniform, so maybe more guards than just the three of them but who aren't apprentices? Ven's got a way of thinking about people, such as calling Lea a weirdo and a scrub in his head. I liked Vanitas's vignettes in each world where he's got time to himself. Also the extra two chapters of backstory. I would compare him to BlackWarGreymon or Crona from Soul Eater. I hate Xehanort and Master Eraqus's teachings, but the man himself is probably okay...for the most part. I related to him teaching Ven how to fight, as it reminded me of spring training at the start of softball season. Aqua shoving cake in everyone's mouth provided some amount of levity. I enjoyed the extra information that came along with it, but for the most part, what you saw in the game is what you get here.

So now to address the mistakes. It had the odd typo here and there, which is not what I'm complaining about. Sometimes it would change to a different font for Vanitas's parts, which wasn't bad, just inconsistent. I'm pretty sure they swapped Dilan and Aeleus's lines at the end of their scene, as I distinctly remember Dilan being the one talking about duty to lord and castle, not Aeleus, although both of them were concerned for Ven's well-being due to his young age. The narrator described the two of them very well, which makes me very happy. However, Even and Ienzo are both described as having silver hair, though this is obviously not the case. Nor are the guard uniforms navy blue. Braig is never described as anything but an uncouth and dubious person, but the scene where he shoots at Xehanort for getting him injured doesn't appear in the book (a pity, since I was looking forward to seeing Braig's true colors). Merlin doesn't show up in the book either, but Hundred Acre Wood wasn't a playable world and so amounted to nothing. Two of Ansem the Wise's reports made it into the book as he's waiting at the shores of the dark margin, but otherwise we get no extra info on the last scene with Xehanort, Braig, and Ienzo that he's flashing back to. At least the scene was mentioned in Ienzo's secret reports in KH3, so anything concerning their relationship will probably show up in the novel for 3 that's being worked on right now. Overall, the book didn't give me anything I was hoping for (except dialog for the end credit scenes - yay!) but a lot more besides. It's at the very least satisfactory if a bit repetitive in a few places with more than one person having the same flashback at different times. The narrative flowed together magnificently, keeping track of each character's progress at the top of their individual sections for each world.

Now that I think about it, Even telling Ienzo not to wander off should've felt familiar to Ven as Ven is also being told to go home and stay there, but this never crosses his mind. Instead, he vaguely thinks that he doesn't have parents either but shrugs it off. He also draws no comparison between Ienzo's unresponsiveness and his own previously. I'm even less sure about what ages people are, as he pegs Lea and Isa as being older than him and Ienzo younger, but not by how much. Ven does not consider anyone his peer in age but spends the second volume naming off friends like Lea, Hercules, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and forgetting about Jaq from the first volume completely (and not counting Isa as Isa only cares about Lea, and Vanitas stole Isa's jealousy motivation). All of the character profiles are put at the beginning of the book, so getting started is a slog. Even and Braig still get two for appearing and being important in more than one volume (along with the three leads). I'm still unconvinced of some of the descriptions, as some aspects are not shown in the story itself (hence my disappointment - when does Dilan ever manipulate anyone's heart in this? How does Even show how much Ienzo means to him? It's as bad as saying Aeleus has a problem with Roxas when I can't think of why that would be). Ansem doesn't get one for only coming in at the end, and the flashback scene just says they're walking down the hall with ice cream and that's it, no mention of them enjoying themselves or finding Xehanort and Braig suspicious. Isa and Lea get an art page at the beginning, as do most characters at the end of the book, but not the other characters from Radiant Garden, including Kairi, with Sora and Riku also coming in too late to count.

The book ends with Sora's boss fight against Terra's lingering will from KH2 Final Mix, so now I'm probably going to check that one out before moving on to Dream Drop Distance next year. I have no hope that the Re:Coded novel will be worth my time. I also blame earlier novels featuring Organization members (Days and CoM especially) getting my hopes up for the deep introspection certain characters provided but don't here.