We are following the below schedule (page counts may vary based on your medium):
Week
Up to
Approximate Pages
Percent
Week 1
* - last sentence ending 最後になった
31
8%
Week 2
* - last sentence ending 観ていたのだろう
26
14%
Week 3
* - last sentence ending 明かしてください
26
19%
Week 4
end of 第一話
24
24%
Week 5
* - last sentence ending じいぅと見つめていた
28
31%
Week 6
* - last sentence ending 席に立った
25
37%
Week 7
end of 第二話
29
43%
Week 8
* - last sentence ending 女の子です
29
49%
Week 9
* - last sentence ending 見つかったそうです
33
56%
Week 10
* - last sentence ending 愛しげに抱きしめた
33
64%
Week 11
* - last sentence ending はそう判断した
26
70%
Week 12
English sentence containing “Iced coffee”
29
76%
Week 13
English sentence containing “Grimoire”
29
81%
Week 14
* - last sentence ending その経緯を知りたいです
44
90%
Week 15
until 解説
29
96%
I will generally copy this information over thread to thread each week for ease of finding - you can always expect the schedule at the top of any weekly thread
Law and Order
Any reveals, for the current chapters must be behind spoilers or detail curtains. When we get further in you don’t need to hide details that were revealed in previous chapters.
Questions on vocab, grammar, nuance, and the like are both welcome and encouraged. If you’re not sure if it’s a spoiler, assume it is and use one of the above options to hide the text.
You are encouraged to speculate and guess wildly
Be kind about other peoples’ wild guesses
Even if you don’t read the chapter(s) in time, you are still encouraged to post in the thread for that reading once you have finished it. I advise not reading ahead in the threads as you may see spoilers.
To gauge participation - a poll!
Are you reading week 1 of Medium?
Yes, I’m planning to read along/am reading along this week
@mita I think it was you who said they were doing listening only and so would have trouble stopping at the right place potentially? I just finished the first week and stopped 1hr 1min 40 seconds in. About 90 seconds before the end of track 4.
As for my initial thoughts, nothing really spoilery - just throwing my hat in the ‘this doesn’t feel like a LN’ ring, at least so far. The author definitely likes their fancy kanji though, reminds me a bit of この本を盗むものは in that regard.
Waking up, feeling awake but not being able to move and seeing things? Sleep paralysis - Wikipedia would be my first guess before I would think anything spooky is going on.
注意を払う is literally “pay attention” - I guess that was introduced by Japanese on return to Japan from US/GB or something…
WHAT A CLIFFHANGER!!! and now I have to wait a week…
Interestingly enough, this week ends at 6.7% (12811/191339 characters) for me.
Also, can we stop complementing women on their appearance and appearance alone? You have become pretty, so now you are a fully fledged adult…
I was quite pleased with that cut off for week one
There’s always a bit of wiggle in percent when I do iPad vs reading on my computer Probably my iPad is rounding up from 7.something as it doesn’t show decimals.
I actually started listening last month during my commute, got maybe 30-40% in, then got burnt out and needed to just not have anything playing during my commute for a while. Excited to jump back in. It’s probably good that I had a preview of the first bit of the book, because listening-only comprehension is a lot harder for me. But it will be fun to follow along with everyone!
Turns out my copy is slightly different on the page count - I was looking for the ending phrase for several pages until I had the sense to flip forward and saw the sections ends for me on page 40! So thank you @cat for dividing the book up so nicely for us all I still have a few pages to go for this week but I like how it’s started, it feels quite promising. However it feels a bit more like it might be a thriller than a mystery at this stage? Curious to see how the story pans out.
My page counts were approximated based on the number Natively listed, my iPad always shows far fewer pages so I had to multiply it by 1.7 or something if I remember correctly.
Its a pity this book has so few named section breaks, it made it very tricky to slice up the weeks.
Ok so now I’ve completely finished the week’s reading! Poor Yuika… And I like that the protagonist is set up to be quite cynical of typical tricks from a psychic like sneakily finding out their jobs, it will make for a more fun dynamic imo.
Even more interestingly, this week ends at 9% for me
You’d think percentages would be more accurate than pages, but I’ve actually seen differences between devices, never mind different versions of the book.
I’m reading along with the audiobook, and it’s indeed well produced, although I would have preferred it without all the sound effects. I want the words to set the mood, not the sound. At least there are no anxious teenagers, so the voice acting doesn’t get on my nerves (so far at least).
Not much to say about the plot yet, but @cat did choose a great stopping point (although I admit I read the small section that comes next too, because it felt silly to stop the audio track with only a few seconds left).
I read some of the spoilers even though I wasn’t finished with this week’s reading, and I kept waiting for the cliffhanger Well, as it happened, it still got me good!
Looking forward to how this will pan out, seems like it’s maybe more dark than I expected (but to be fair I read nothing about the book in beforehand and only judged by the cover… Probably doesn’t help that the dynamic with the medium reminded me of Phoenix Wright :D)
@omk3 Anxious teenagers? Did the production level also remind you of かがみの孤城? I even thought they used the same music at some point But I agree, while かがみの孤城 was too much for me, I am still happy with medium. Hope it won’t get too dramatic with its sound effects/acting
Exactly!
I couldn’t stand the voice acting in that audiobook. I mean, it was good as voice acting goes, but I really would have preferred a deadpan reading instead. Listening to a timid, nervous teenage girl for hours on end wasn’t exactly enjoyable for me.
I didn’t think of that but I love those games haha! I agree the tone feels a bit darker, that’s why I said it feels more like a thriller. It’s a little reminiscent of a Keigo Higashino to me right now?
Wow this book is off to such a strong start, I’m already hooked. Stoked to see where it goes next. The prologue was pretty tough but once everyone started talking in chapter 1, it got a lot easier to keep up. I’m surprised they managed such a strong cliffhanger just in the middle of the first chapter like that lol, it’s very engrossing.
(Whoops, this wasn’t supposed to be a reply to Elec specifically; sorry!)
Finished week 1! Really enjoying the book so far; the audiobook’s sound effects in particular I feel really heighten the atmosphere; they don’t feel too intrusive for me. Great job picking that cliffhanger to end at @cat, hahaha.
I really liked how the prologue seemed to start in media res, then jumped back.
Could we add a list for character names + pronunciation to the OP for easy lookup?
漢字
ふりがな
香月史郎
こうげつ • しろう
城塚翡翠
じょうづか • ひすい
倉持結花
くらもち • ゆいか
千和崎
ちわさき
舞衣
まい
Typing up that list, I’m reminded: 翡翠’s name is really pretty. No real reason, I guess.
Same here. Man, I wonder why that’s a consistent thing. I seem to remember similar in 十角館の殺人 and 七回死んだ男 as well.
I am late, so it’s going to be a while since I read it, but in general I found that prologues are written in a way to keep the reader as much in the dark as possible. That necessarily reduces the amount of context present in the text, which increases the difficulty.
Makes sense to me. It also has the effect of making me feel smart, hahaha. “Wow, that prologue was pretty tough! But now I’m reading pretty smoothly, which means I’ve adapted and there will be no more hard parts in the book. ”
I wasn’t really sure if I could read with the bookclub pace, but I actually did it! I think it was my biggest Japanese page/week record so far.
The prologue was so difficult I ended up copy pasting the whole thing in Google translate , and still I can’t say I’ve understand it completely.
I was about to give up on the book, but after that, the first chapter, was easier.
Same. I thought the bigger twists will come in the second half of the book so I read the spoilers ahead, and still the last line gave me a shock.
FWIW DeepL has character limits so you’d need to do it piecemeal, but it generally gives more natural translations than Google Translate if you find yourself stuck.
Law and Order 
would be my first guess before I would think anything spooky is going on. 
and now I have to wait a week… 
Probably my iPad is rounding up from 7.something as it doesn’t show decimals.
I still have a few pages to go for this week but I like how it’s started, it feels quite promising. However it feels a bit more like it might be a thriller than a mystery at this stage? 
Well, as it happened, it still got me good!
”
, and still I can’t say I’ve understand it completely. 
