toffeebox 's review for:

The Red Palace by June Hur

3.0

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

---

By YA standards, it's serviceable. But if I rate it as a romantic/mystery novel, it doesnt hit the mark for both.

The mystery wasnt explained well. The plot starts out with a mystery prince (mentioned in the blurb) and

I had expected a coup de tat/ royal infighting of sorts. Instead, once Nurse Inyeong was discovered to kill the nurses, the plot overly focused on the subplot and the main plot of the corrupted royal system was foregone.

 

Neither was it romantic enough due to the historical Confuscian setting. We did have some near death romance which was not bad.