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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
Just can’t finish this. Once I get past 60 pages and it feels like a chore, I have to DNF. I was so happy to finally be out of a reading slump but this was just putting me back in one.
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Loved it!
This book is incredible.
I was skeptical at first because there was no romance, magic, or anything else of the sort. Which usually I only read books if they have at least one of these aspects. But, wow, this book blew me away! The way Hur develops her characters and evolves them over the course of the story is so masterfully done! Along with that, Hur's writing style is absolutely gorgeous and so aesthetic to read! I REALLY enjoyed this story for those features and many others. June Hur is now one of my new favorite authors! Can NOT wait for her future books!
I was skeptical at first because there was no romance, magic, or anything else of the sort. Which usually I only read books if they have at least one of these aspects. But, wow, this book blew me away! The way Hur develops her characters and evolves them over the course of the story is so masterfully done! Along with that, Hur's writing style is absolutely gorgeous and so aesthetic to read! I REALLY enjoyed this story for those features and many others. June Hur is now one of my new favorite authors! Can NOT wait for her future books!
For when grief swells around you like the sea, you must swim and keep your head above it. Do not drown in it.
This book holds my entire heart in it and I will never trade it for anything else. I love everything about this book. That ending kills me (in the BEST way) and I will bear this pain until forever. Maybe until I find my way home once again.
This book holds my entire heart in it and I will never trade it for anything else. I love everything about this book. That ending kills me (in the BEST way) and I will bear this pain until forever. Maybe until I find my way home once again.
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
came here for the cover, stayed for the plot and mystery.
adventurous
challenging
informative
medium-paced
In this book, we follow a police bureau servant girl through an investigation of a murdered noble woman which leads her into a web of deadly family secrets, a catholic conspiracy and unimaginable betrayal.
As always Hur shows an artistic ability to weave high-stakes mysteries into historical ancient Korea settings, as in this story the death of a noblewoman is set alongside the purge of Catholics in 19th century Korea. Her historical fictions feature young, capable and intelligent women in a society that does not hold women in any regard and brings their skills to the center alongside the men and the nail biting murder mysteries and aristocrat conspiracies. I loved the themes we delved into: revenge for the sake of family, on shame and the villains it builds, familial longing and a search for home and belonging, loyalty and betrayal. I think Hur explores these themes so well through our main characters and their relations with each other. I also liked for the most part how she handled the mystery, we knew only as much as the narrator at any given time, so we felt equally as confused as she was which lent well to the immersive experience of the mystery.
However, I did feel that the story moved a bit slow especially around the beginning which made the story feel longer than it needed to be. First, some of the character descriptions felt unnecessarily repetitive especially in the first act, e.g. when Inspector Han would appear the same larger than life descriptions of him would be cycled through. I do understand how they work to build the narrator's idolising of him at the time but after the first two times it felt repetitive. Second, though this did work to craft a not-easy-guess-mystery, I did feel that overall, the mystery may have been more convoluted than needed. While it allowed Hur the time to tackle multiple themes and touch on various aspects of Korean history, the multiple links to the investigation were for me at least a bit overwhelming and lent to the slow pace of the book. But only a bit - as always Hur's mysteries hook me, and the ending for this one was bittersweet and honest.
As always Hur shows an artistic ability to weave high-stakes mysteries into historical ancient Korea settings, as in this story the death of a noblewoman is set alongside the purge of Catholics in 19th century Korea. Her historical fictions feature young, capable and intelligent women in a society that does not hold women in any regard and brings their skills to the center alongside the men and the nail biting murder mysteries and aristocrat conspiracies. I loved the themes we delved into: revenge for the sake of family, on shame and the villains it builds, familial longing and a search for home and belonging, loyalty and betrayal. I think Hur explores these themes so well through our main characters and their relations with each other. I also liked for the most part how she handled the mystery, we knew only as much as the narrator at any given time, so we felt equally as confused as she was which lent well to the immersive experience of the mystery.
However, I did feel that the story moved a bit slow especially around the beginning which made the story feel longer than it needed to be. First, some of the character descriptions felt unnecessarily repetitive especially in the first act, e.g. when Inspector Han would appear the same larger than life descriptions of him would be cycled through. I do understand how they work to build the narrator's idolising of him at the time but after the first two times it felt repetitive. Second, though this did work to craft a not-easy-guess-mystery, I did feel that overall, the mystery may have been more convoluted than needed. While it allowed Hur the time to tackle multiple themes and touch on various aspects of Korean history, the multiple links to the investigation were for me at least a bit overwhelming and lent to the slow pace of the book. But only a bit - as always Hur's mysteries hook me, and the ending for this one was bittersweet and honest.
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Things I liked about this book;
• historical information about arrival of catholism in Korea and its consequences
• the constant struggle of fmc to prove herself in a male doominating society
• Lady Kang and her courage to stand up for a change that whole country was trying to avoid.
......This book once again proves, that whenever there is innovation or a new change is made in a society, mostly people rebel against it and try to stop the change. But sacrifices have to be made to get results.
Things I did not like;
• the slow pacing on book
• the mystery part was boring for the first half of the book.
• the first person pov is not really my fav thing in books. I prefer 3rd person and multiple povs.
Overall, it was a good book. Not something I will reread but I loved to know that side of Korean history. I would have given it 3 stars. But since its a debut novel, its gonna be 3.5 stars from me.
• historical information about arrival of catholism in Korea and its consequences
• the constant struggle of fmc to prove herself in a male doominating society
• Lady Kang and her courage to stand up for a change that whole country was trying to avoid.
......This book once again proves, that whenever there is innovation or a new change is made in a society, mostly people rebel against it and try to stop the change. But sacrifices have to be made to get results.
Things I did not like;
• the slow pacing on book
• the mystery part was boring for the first half of the book.
• the first person pov is not really my fav thing in books. I prefer 3rd person and multiple povs.
Overall, it was a good book. Not something I will reread but I loved to know that side of Korean history. I would have given it 3 stars. But since its a debut novel, its gonna be 3.5 stars from me.