Emil
Yi Chang is an investigator trying to track down the leader of a cult while also trying to solve a murder with confusing evidence.
I have mixed feelings about this book.
First of all, I did find the concept compelling and didn't ever feel bored reading. Even when I saw what was coming, it didn't feel like it was because the plot was overly predictable or tropey, it felt like it was because the book itself gave me enough information to figure it out myself. I found the characters interesting and relatively consistent, with their motivations being clear and understandable.
The writing can be a bit abrupt and stilted which I think is probably because this was translated. I'm not sure about Korean but I'm sure localising it to English is a pain. Sometimes the writing feels a but redundant, repeating the same noun over again when it's already clear what's being talked about.
Characters are mostly consistent but I did feel like they sometimes acted bizarrely for the sake of the plot, Yi Chang being the character I saw do this the most. Lan, the other main character, acted a lot more in character for the duration of the book.
Towards the end especially it started feeling more and more like a TV show in book form which I rather enjoyed. It can get quite dramatic and in those moments the writing was definitely better paced.
I would recommend this if you can get over the sometimes clumsy writing, the characters depite some hiccups do seem very human and the plot is quite engaging.
Yi Chang is an investigator trying to track down the leader of a cult while also trying to solve a murder with confusing evidence.
I have mixed feelings about this book.
First of all, I did find the concept compelling and didn't ever feel bored reading. Even when I saw what was coming, it didn't feel like it was because the plot was overly predictable or tropey, it felt like it was because the book itself gave me enough information to figure it out myself. I found the characters interesting and relatively consistent, with their motivations being clear and understandable.
The writing can be a bit abrupt and stilted which I think is probably because this was translated. I'm not sure about Korean but I'm sure localising it to English is a pain. Sometimes the writing feels a but redundant, repeating the same noun over again when it's already clear what's being talked about.
Characters are mostly consistent but I did feel like they sometimes acted bizarrely for the sake of the plot, Yi Chang being the character I saw do this the most. Lan, the other main character, acted a lot more in character for the duration of the book.
Towards the end especially it started feeling more and more like a TV show in book form which I rather enjoyed. It can get quite dramatic and in those moments the writing was definitely better paced.
I would recommend this if you can get over the sometimes clumsy writing, the characters depite some hiccups do seem very human and the plot is quite engaging.