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A review by jandi
The Story of Saiunkoku, Volume 1 by Yukino Sai, Sai Yukino
3.0
This review is for all 9 volumes.
I had very little idea of what this was about, other than it was recommended for fans of shoujo fantasy, and the cover hinted at adventure in a vaguely historical setting. While this is set in a fictional East Asian country, it is more like historical fiction than fantasy. The story follows Shurei Hong, a teenager of noble birth whose dream is to become a civil servant, but as this path is forbidden to women, she instead works as a teacher as well as an assortment of odd jobs to keep her dilapidated house from collapsing. When she is offered a significant amount of money to join the inner court and whip the emperor into shape, she agrees, and enters a world of powerful beautiful men.
I got a bit of whiplash from reading this. At the beginning, the setting points towards a romance story, but thankfully, Shurei is not particularly interested in marrying and while the possible love interests keep appearing, that is not the focus. Not much happens for a few volumes - we get plenty of comedy with the characters interacting with each other peppered with some palace intrigue, until the stakes finally amp up, and then it all ends, without a real resolution. It feels like this is the prologue of a much grander story.
While the ending was not particularly satisfying, I really enjoyed Shurei's personal growth and her struggle to cement her place in a man's world. Volume 8 was beautiful. Some of the other characters were quite interesting, although the art made it hard to tell some of them apart. And the comedy does shine with several laugh out loud moments.
I had very little idea of what this was about, other than it was recommended for fans of shoujo fantasy, and the cover hinted at adventure in a vaguely historical setting. While this is set in a fictional East Asian country, it is more like historical fiction than fantasy. The story follows Shurei Hong, a teenager of noble birth whose dream is to become a civil servant, but as this path is forbidden to women, she instead works as a teacher as well as an assortment of odd jobs to keep her dilapidated house from collapsing. When she is offered a significant amount of money to join the inner court and whip the emperor into shape, she agrees, and enters a world of powerful beautiful men.
I got a bit of whiplash from reading this. At the beginning, the setting points towards a romance story, but thankfully, Shurei is not particularly interested in marrying and while the possible love interests keep appearing, that is not the focus. Not much happens for a few volumes - we get plenty of comedy with the characters interacting with each other peppered with some palace intrigue, until the stakes finally amp up, and then it all ends, without a real resolution. It feels like this is the prologue of a much grander story.
While the ending was not particularly satisfying, I really enjoyed Shurei's personal growth and her struggle to cement her place in a man's world. Volume 8 was beautiful. Some of the other characters were quite interesting, although the art made it hard to tell some of them apart. And the comedy does shine with several laugh out loud moments.