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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
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.
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I don't read historical fiction much, so when I do pick something up it really has to catch my interest. In this case, a mystery novel set in 1800s Joseon. Like, um???? Please??? This isn't a setting I've seen in Western novels often, so I was excited to jump in.
There was so much to learn, and I did look up words (thank you kindle app for the dictionary). I loved the new (to me) setting and found it all fascinating.
The mystery also had me hooked. I wasn't sure about how it all went down until the very end.
100% recommend this one to people who enjoy mysteries and historical fiction.
There was so much to learn, and I did look up words (thank you kindle app for the dictionary). I loved the new (to me) setting and found it all fascinating.
The mystery also had me hooked. I wasn't sure about how it all went down until the very end.
100% recommend this one to people who enjoy mysteries and historical fiction.
The historical and political context of this book is not well-known to me, and the author's note at the end gave a lot of context.
This book has an ending that is unsatisfying in all the right ways. We spend the first half hoping alongside Seol that she'll earn the Inspector's approval and eventually be able to go home. But that goal seems so small later, when we discover Inspector Han's lineage.
I am not Korean, I've never been to Korea, nor do I know much about it's historical or modern culture. All I know is what I see June Hur portray in the book, which is a culture full of nuance in the way people interact and relate to each other.
Maybe it's being a person of western culture, but I spent a lot of the book waiting for Seol's and Han's relationship to be acknowledged, even only between the two of them. But even when Han does this, he doesn't, because he does it in a letter written to a dead girl that he knows isn't dead. And his death leaves us with the knowledge that Seol knows who he is, he knows who Seol is, and they both know that they both know who they both are, but it's still wrapped up in this cocoon of nuance and hesitation. Even other characters who later know all this, didn't give closure. I wanted Han to accept Seol as a person and as a sister, and I'm not sure if he really did.
This book has an ending that is unsatisfying in all the right ways. We spend the first half hoping alongside Seol that she'll earn the Inspector's approval and eventually be able to go home. But that goal seems so small later, when we discover Inspector Han's lineage.
I am not Korean, I've never been to Korea, nor do I know much about it's historical or modern culture. All I know is what I see June Hur portray in the book, which is a culture full of nuance in the way people interact and relate to each other.
Maybe it's being a person of western culture, but I spent a lot of the book waiting for Seol's and Han's relationship to be acknowledged, even only between the two of them. But even when Han does this, he doesn't, because he does it in a letter written to a dead girl that he knows isn't dead. And his death leaves us with the knowledge that Seol knows who he is, he knows who Seol is, and they both know that they both know who they both are, but it's still wrapped up in this cocoon of nuance and hesitation. Even other characters who later know all this, didn't give closure. I wanted Han to accept Seol as a person and as a sister, and I'm not sure if he really did.
2.75 stars
an okay read which could be explained by my procrastination. taking ten days to finish such a short book would obviously make me lose interest… but that’s on me so, in any case, do <i>not</i> pay attention to my rating
an okay read which could be explained by my procrastination. taking ten days to finish such a short book would obviously make me lose interest… but that’s on me so, in any case, do <i>not</i> pay attention to my rating
i had so much fun reading this book. now, i haven't the brains for mysteries and solving cases, so you won't hear much comments about that from me. personally, though, i think this was a very well-written mystery book. everything is laid out perfectly in a way that keeps the readers (well, me, mostly) at the edge of their seats. the clues are scattered throughout the book just so, so that particularly observant readers (not me!) can pick up on it and try to solve the case with seol and inspector han. the mystery itself is really intriguing. it started as a simple murder mystery, and turned out to be so much more complex. when all the tangled web is finally unraveled, the truths hidden beneath it is... more than i expected.
aside from that, if you love learning history from historical fiction, i think you would love this. the world of joseon korea is described so vividly in the book, you can almost see it as a kdrama. you'll also learn the way things work there at that time, but it's not described monotonously. i think this is one of the things i found really fascinating in the writing: the way it painted joseon korea not only through descriptions, but also through the characters themselves. the way they see things, the way they think, the things they say. i know, i know. it's just writing. still.
however, the star of the book for me, as it always is, is this: the characters themselves and their relationships with each other. i loved seeing things through seol's eyes, getting in her head, seeing things the way she does. feeling the things she feels, and even understanding things the way she does. and the object of her gaze, a lot of the time, was inspector han. who intrigued me just as much. there is... so much to him. i want to petri dish him so badly.
aside from that, if you love learning history from historical fiction, i think you would love this. the world of joseon korea is described so vividly in the book, you can almost see it as a kdrama. you'll also learn the way things work there at that time, but it's not described monotonously. i think this is one of the things i found really fascinating in the writing: the way it painted joseon korea not only through descriptions, but also through the characters themselves. the way they see things, the way they think, the things they say. i know, i know. it's just writing. still.
however, the star of the book for me, as it always is, is this: the characters themselves and their relationships with each other. i loved seeing things through seol's eyes, getting in her head, seeing things the way she does. feeling the things she feels, and even understanding things the way she does. and the object of her gaze, a lot of the time, was inspector han. who intrigued me just as much. there is... so much to him. i want to petri dish him so badly.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
