Take a photo of a barcode or cover
bookswithmana 's review for:
The Red Palace
by June Hur
This book was amazing! It had a compelling plot, strong characters, a well-developed mystery, and the cutest romance.
To start, I loved the premise so much that I read the blurb a good three times to absorb it all. After reading the masterpiece A Crane Among Wolves, I knew I had to read more of June Hur’s works, and I was sooo excited to finally read this.
The mystery in this book was so intricate. There were so many different connections with even the most minute details playing a part in find who the killer was. And the moment where it all came together was so satisfying, yet alarming. The killer was definitely not who I expected it to be, but I loved how even the culprit had a story. They weren’t just killing to kill, not that it makes them any less of a criminal. It just feels a lot more realistic and adds depth when even a killer has their own story, their own reasons for their actions. It’s this type of stories that always make me think “what if…” If certain things happened differently, would the murders have even occurred? Would the person who had ended up a murderer have lived a different life? Happier? Just as miserable?
I loved Hyeon’s character so much. She’s given almost nothing in life, as an illegitimate daughter who believed that even her own mother hated her. Yet, she was able to work towards becoming a palace nurse, which is not an easy feat. For her mentor, she wanted to investigate the murder on her own, even though so much could have gone wrong. She could have lost her own life trying to save someone else’s. I don’t annotate when I read, but if I had, at least half of my annotations would have been “you go girl!” every time Hyeon did something amazing 😭. Eojin was just as impressive, an inspector at 18, and working on his own, against the wishes of his supervisor, to find a killer. And the romance… so cute 😊. It was a slow-burn, but worth every second until the end. I also loved the side characters, and although I have a lot to say about them, I don’t want to spoil anything.
To start, I loved the premise so much that I read the blurb a good three times to absorb it all. After reading the masterpiece A Crane Among Wolves, I knew I had to read more of June Hur’s works, and I was sooo excited to finally read this.
The mystery in this book was so intricate. There were so many different connections with even the most minute details playing a part in find who the killer was. And the moment where it all came together was so satisfying, yet alarming. The killer was definitely not who I expected it to be, but I loved how even the culprit had a story. They weren’t just killing to kill, not that it makes them any less of a criminal. It just feels a lot more realistic and adds depth when even a killer has their own story, their own reasons for their actions. It’s this type of stories that always make me think “what if…” If certain things happened differently, would the murders have even occurred? Would the person who had ended up a murderer have lived a different life? Happier? Just as miserable?
I loved Hyeon’s character so much. She’s given almost nothing in life, as an illegitimate daughter who believed that even her own mother hated her. Yet, she was able to work towards becoming a palace nurse, which is not an easy feat. For her mentor, she wanted to investigate the murder on her own, even though so much could have gone wrong. She could have lost her own life trying to save someone else’s. I don’t annotate when I read, but if I had, at least half of my annotations would have been “you go girl!” every time Hyeon did something amazing 😭. Eojin was just as impressive, an inspector at 18, and working on his own, against the wishes of his supervisor, to find a killer. And the romance… so cute 😊. It was a slow-burn, but worth every second until the end. I also loved the side characters, and although I have a lot to say about them, I don’t want to spoil anything.