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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
slow-paced
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A slightly more thoughtful thriller. Not too heavy, and it kind of leaves you like one character fancied himself in the book. Pleasant at the time and inoffensive, but I doubt I’ll remember I read it within a few years. Engaging and witty at times, but it took a little while to get going. Beats reading vapid actioners with too-perfect heroes, for sure.
Well translated and a pretty easy read. Better if you already know a little bit of Korean history and culture. Recommended.
Well translated and a pretty easy read. Better if you already know a little bit of Korean history and culture. Recommended.
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I expected a fun read, and didn't expect anything too deep from the book. The beginning was pretty promising and some of the world building really stuck out to me. Unfortunately, Kim couldn't keep his momentum and tried to do too many things with this book. Full review (spoilers) at my blog.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book took me SO long to read, mainly due to life getting so busy all of a sudden but also because I didn’t feel all that “drawn in” by it. Unlike other books I’ve read recently, this one didn’t make me feel any kind of emotional attachment to the characters nor keep me invested enough to feel motivated to pick up. A new genre for me so I’m glad I gave it a go, but yeah, not a book I’m likely to reread!
In The Plotters, we follow Reseng, a stoic hitman living in Seoul. As the book goes on, he slowly starts to question the morals of his own livelihood and whether he chose the right path in life.
The book opens with a brilliant introduction in which our protagonist has an unusual experience with a target. Afterwards, though, it takes a while to get going. Kim spends a lot of time exploring Reseng's past and what makes him tick; I liked this, but at the same time, the narrative was a bit too concentrated on what had already happened. For example, aside from the aforementioned introduction, we don't actually witness Reseng carrying out a job in the present. This means that the plot doesn't progress much for the first half, with almost all of the time being spent on building up characters and the relations between them.
Where the book shines is in its depiction of the bureaucratic assassination world, which itself may be an allegory for the political and sociological landscape we live in. Un-su Kim offers an interesting perspective by focusing not only on the hitmen themselves, but also the people controlling them — the titular plotters. These are the individuals planning each gig and making sure that no evidence is left behind. I enjoyed how the book explored the structure of the criminal society it takes place in and the parallels that are drawn to the real world. It made Reseng's struggles more believable.
My biggest disappointment has to do with the blurb on the back of the book. It describes a certain event as a major turning point in the story, when in reality, it just happens in a flashback and doesn't have much of a consequence on the protagonist's life. Perhaps it's unfair to judge The Plotters based on this description, but I do feel like what was promised sounded more interesting than what I got in the end. It does pick up during the final chapters with a decent plot twist and some cool fight scenes, but the feeling of slight disappointment still lingered in my mind.
Even so, I enjoyed The Plotters — it's not particularly sophisticated or enlightening, but it does provide a slick story about a killer for hire and the criminal underworld.
The book opens with a brilliant introduction in which our protagonist has an unusual experience with a target. Afterwards, though, it takes a while to get going. Kim spends a lot of time exploring Reseng's past and what makes him tick; I liked this, but at the same time, the narrative was a bit too concentrated on what had already happened. For example, aside from the aforementioned introduction, we don't actually witness Reseng carrying out a job in the present. This means that the plot doesn't progress much for the first half, with almost all of the time being spent on building up characters and the relations between them.
Where the book shines is in its depiction of the bureaucratic assassination world, which itself may be an allegory for the political and sociological landscape we live in. Un-su Kim offers an interesting perspective by focusing not only on the hitmen themselves, but also the people controlling them — the titular plotters. These are the individuals planning each gig and making sure that no evidence is left behind. I enjoyed how the book explored the structure of the criminal society it takes place in and the parallels that are drawn to the real world. It made Reseng's struggles more believable.
My biggest disappointment has to do with the blurb on the back of the book. It describes a certain event as a major turning point in the story, when in reality, it just happens in a flashback and doesn't have much of a consequence on the protagonist's life. Perhaps it's unfair to judge The Plotters based on this description, but I do feel like what was promised sounded more interesting than what I got in the end. It does pick up during the final chapters with a decent plot twist and some cool fight scenes, but the feeling of slight disappointment still lingered in my mind.
Even so, I enjoyed The Plotters — it's not particularly sophisticated or enlightening, but it does provide a slick story about a killer for hire and the criminal underworld.