Looking up at the night sky and thinking of the "Mender." (#CreativeAwardImpressions)

I have a rule I follow when writing impressions.

I avoid writing "interesting" too easily.

Because if I write that, it makes everything else sound as if it isn't interesting at all.

I have called for submissions for the Creative Award under the banner of the "Moriage Hiroba" (Excitement Plaza), and I have read over 70 works and written impressions for them.

If you were to search through the impressions written by Arlon one by one (though I doubt anyone would do that), you would find that in my impressions for the Creative Award 2026, the only work I explicitly called "interesting" (or "enjoyable") was Yasushi's "Provoked by my wife, stabbed by a college girl, and saved by a beauty advisor" (Essay Category).

I used the past tense "was the only one" because I am about to write that a certain work was "interesting."

yoyo's "The Night Sky Mender" (Fantasy Novel Category) was interesting.

In high fantasy, the world-building is difficult to begin with. Things that don't exist in reality, things that are unfamiliar to modern Japanese people. How do you handle and explain them?

In this work, two nations appear. To distinguish them broadly, there is light and shadow. Each has its own history and culture, yet they are connected at the core.
I felt that this work succeeded in setting up such a world.

From the idea of likening the intangible "night sky" to "fabric," a breeze of culture that makes one feel history—such as dances and nursery rhymes—blows through, naturally affirming the existence of the "Mender." The special abilities unique to fantasy are not flashy magic, but rather necessary elements of this world, treated as realistic craftsmanship.

This genre of high fantasy often has proper nouns that are hard to remember, which frequently leads to readers dropping the book.
However, that was a groundless fear in this work. Names of people and places do not appear in rapid succession. The rules of the world are not presented as a list of difficult words. I had the impression that each element was explained just enough so that it would take root firmly in the reader's mind.

The character settings are also efficient. Starting with the protagonist Karina, as well as Erg, Sepha, Yuhan, Luo, Silma, and the "Mender." Each has a distinct personality and character, and thanks to the careful explanations mentioned earlier, they leave an impression as if they were real people. This is an amazing feat.

Also, as mentioned in the work's introduction, there are descriptions regarding sexual minorities, but I felt that this was the core theme of the work: "acknowledging diversity." Who loves whom, and in what form? There is no absolute justice there; each person has their own form of love. A way of thinking that resonates with modern society flows through this work.

And the story is captivating.
The secret of the "Country of Night and Stone," Nouran.
The past of the "Mender."
The choices and roles of each character.
Everything is spun like thread, forming one beautiful piece of fabric. None of these threads are the same, and none are meaningless. That is likely why I was so absorbed in reading it, despite the not-insignificant word count.

This work was submitted to the aforementioned [Moriage Hiroba]. Normally, it should have been kept to around 100 to 150 characters like other entries.

Even so, I am writing this individual review because I cannot help but express my gratitude for the wonderful reading experience it provided.

yoyo-san, thank you for such a lovely work.

Once you finish reading, be sure to check the afterword as well.

(The End)