Reviews - Putri Kedua (Second Sister)

388 reviews for:

Putri Kedua (Second Sister)

Chan Ho-Kei

4.46 AVERAGE

saturniidaes's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

i think i may have been able to appreciate this book more if i read it in the original chinese/cantonese, but unfortunately i suck at my mother tongue.

a solid thriller, definitely ahead of its publication time (2017). this was very close to home as a novel set in hong kong and dealing with siblings growing up in a working-class family, along with all the familial trouble and expectations that come with it. siu-man's experience as a student bottling up negative emotions in favor of good grades and appearances while struggling with bonding with friends, only posting her true emotions in an online journal of sorts, definitely resonated with me. nga-yee was a mixture of your typical technologically incompetent aunt and your nagging asian parent who nevertheless cares for you in a tough love sort of way, and seeing her bond with N

or szeto wai, ceo and part time hobo

, was both entertaining and mutually nurturing.

i definitely enjoyed reading this a lot, but kind of as a one-time suspense. the rating is 3.75 mainly because

the ending had some cliches (e.g. protagonist goes from rags to riches thanks to wealthy friend made along the way. yay!!) and i did NOT know who christopher song was, nor why he was suddenly introduced and made things right. if he was foreshadowed, i didn't see it

. now that some time has passed since reading, there's definitely more than a few cliches in this story. but it's not bad at all, definitely don't regret this being my first introduction to chan ho-kei. i might reread again just because of the characters who hit close to home for me.

Content Warnings