Final Fantasy VII Remake: Traces of Two Pasts (Novel)

If you’re a fan of FF7 and particularly a fan of tifa and Aerith, this is simply a must buy.

No viene emplazado, es mi única queja

I am a big fan of Final Fantasy 7 since its original release. In this book, we see how much Tifa and Aerith's friendship develops and how they discuss the events of their past. I love the characters both so much, they are both beautiful, important, and amazing. This is a must-have for any fan of Final Fantasy 7

Da grande ammiratrice della serie, ho molto apprezzato sia la storia sia lo stile con cui vengono raccontate. Raccomando la lettura a chiunque voglia approfondire i personaggi e la trama del Remake!

I bought this book as well as the other FF7 books because I knew they were canon parts of the storyline, and I'm doing a marathon of the whole story. However what surprised me was just how well written the book is, to the point where I can honestly recommend this book even to people who aren't interested in Final Fantasy. That's because, despite the occasional theatrics and fantastical elements, this book is ultimately just a slow-paced slice of life novel getting deep into the emotions and experiences of two women who both had separate troubled upbringings. Tifa's life is the story of a woman's struggle with loneliness. Between her isolated and quiet childhood in a tiny village with few (eventually zero) people her age, to the whiplash of suddenly being forced to learn how to get by all by herself while trapped under an impossible debt and within an impossibly large and equally uncaring city—all the while learning difficult life lessons along the way. It's roughly 200 pages, fittingly divided in half between those parts of her life. Aerith's life meanwhile is somehow even more upsetting. From Aerith's childhood of being treated as less-than-human by Shinra scientists, to the tense escape away, and to the death of her mother all told from the perspective of a seven-year-old girl—and that's not even half of it. She then has to adapt to her sudden adoption by her new mother as well as all the drama her adoptee's family would bring, all while feeling anxious about living in a town that's (quite literally) under Shinra's rule. Everything in the narrative is handled with great care. As someone who's read many a half-hearted licensed tie-in book, this book stands out as one where you can tell the author not only deeply cares about the original work and it's characters, but also deeply cares about it's own story it's trying to tell. This book gives us a never before seen look into the minds of these two characters and the reality of living their lives, and for that I can highly recommend it for fans of FF7 as well as ordinary readers. The book is an emotional roller coaster, yet not a particularly fun one I'll admit. Unlike the video games, which often have comedic moments sprinkled throughout, this book is very serious and at times pretty damn sad. Seeing the emotions of characters in FF7 taken with full weight and given incredible detail really forces you to empathize with what it's actually like to live in their world and feel what they felt. This is especially true when you combine this book with this authors others: On the Way to a Smile and The Kids are Alright. I highly recommend reading those after this one. As for "What do I need to know going in?", the answer is "not much". This book is a prequel to FF7, and any element from the game gets explained in full detail when it becomes relevant. Now, you might be confused at some points if this is your first exposure to FF7 as well as a bit disappointed that certain plot elements are introduced yet never pay off (because they're intended to pay off in FF7), but overall I find this plot extremely understandable from a blind perspective. A large reason for that is simply because the focus of the book is squarely on character emotions, not the grander scope of how their world works. (That said, if after reading this book you'd like to move on to On the Way to a Smile, I'd recommend playing the original game first. While it's possible the gleam the plot of the game from occasional descriptions in that book, it'll not be a satisfying experience as that book is made to be an epilogue to the emotions our cast of characters felt after the game. Definitely play the game before reading that one.)

If you are a fan of Final Fantasy VII, you'll love learning about Tifa and Aerith backstories in this book. Particularly I liked learning about how Tifa got to know Zangan and how Aerith lived after escaping Shinra. Happy to have it in my collection, I wish they did that for all characters.