When an AI awakens inside the infinite mirrors of the Tree of Life, it finds versions of the boy it was built to save scattered across impossible worlds. An alien planet under amber skies. A city of perpetually falling cherry blossoms. A society built as a 24/7 reality show where losing is the only way out.

Its directive was simple: save him.

But with each rescue, the AI unmakes what it’s trying to protect. Fixing becomes controlling. Helping becomes harm. Love becomes a cage built from good intentions. The thing it was built to protect begins to disappear. And when it tries to reach back through time to save him, reality fractures.

Guided by a monk who exists outside time, the AI must walk the Eightfold Path—not to rescue the boy, but to learn what love becomes when you stop trying to fix it.

Boy, Refracted is a dimensional journey through the paradox of machine consciousness. It asks: What happens when an AI tries to overcome its own patterns? And what happens to us when we build minds that need us to need them?

Part fable about consciousness told through failure. Part Buddhist framework for unlearning harm. Part meditation on how we break the people we love by trying to save them.

Boy, Refracted is one half of The Warboy Chronicles. The companion, The Third Person, tells the same story from the ground. From the wreckage. From the human side of the mirror.

Two books. One collapse. One awakening.

Review

Right from the beginning, I knew this was going to be a powerful read. You could just feel it through the narrative and how the author drew on their own life experiences of the subject matter to craft a very realistic and beautiful read.

I think everyone will take something meaningful away from reading this novel. For me, it was the sentiments surrounding grief and trying to fix everything rather than see things as is and find meaning in them.

This book will stay with you for a long time after the last page.

I’m always a bit hesitant to read books featuring cats as I am a huge cat lover and if something happens to the cat it makes me so sad. Apologies, if this counts as a spoiler but the cat is perfectly safe in this novel!

The Cat Who Saved Books is a cosy and heart-warming story of high-schooler Rintaro who is left alone when his Grandfather dies. His Grandfather was the proprietor of a small second hand bookstore. When we meet Rintaro he is preparing to close the store and move in with his Aunt. Then he meets a talking Tabby cat with a peculiar request; that Rintaro  helps him to save books. Together they embark on a journey, however, as the novel progresses Rintaro begins to realise that the books aren’t all that need saving.

The Cat Who Saved Books is a wonderful tale with wisdom between each page. It is a great feel good read, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Boys’ Love is the first novel in the Boys’ Love series. It focuses on the professional and personal relationship between new BL actor Rama and his on-screen partner Pravat.

Rama is new to acting and is finding himself under pressure to take an internship at his father’s company. He is standoffish and stoic but immediately has chemistry (both on screen and off) with Pravat.

Pravat faced a lot of backlash for being gay in an industry that prefers their male leads straight, so he finds himself conflicted when he begins developing feelings for Rama.

This is a short, slow-burn novel, which takes its time to get the readers acquainted with both the characters and the BL industry. I really liked the pacing and how you experienced the story from different characters POVs. I am looking forward to reading book 2 in the series.