Reviews

This was great! Not light reading, if, like me, you want to understand the historical references and separate fact from fiction, you will wind up with several open tabs. Unless you are deeply familiar with Korean colonial history perhaps? Even then, there is a mixture of shocking but true facts, with intriguingly plausible falsehoods that I imagine would draw some cross referencing. As a result, I was often pulled out of the experience, which made it a halting read. Hard to succinctly describe in a genre sense, sort of of scifi, with playful historical fiction peppered with conspiracy theories. I think I get what it's going for, some kind of transformative myth-building. It's cool and I can't think of anything very similar to it, that alone seems worth a lot. Singular.

alliegray's review

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challenging informative mysterious reflective

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

book_lizard42's review against another edition

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I wasn't sure I would like this one, but the writing hooked me from the first five minutes. I would appreciate it more, I am sure, if I knew more about Korea and its history, but I appreciate the lack of info-dumps. The author trusts me to know some stuff, and it's on me if I don't. I was able to keep up with the stories without the background, but I am sure if I did a little research prior to, I would really get something out of it.