
The Apothecary Diaries
by Natsu Hyuuga, Touko Shino
Genres: Fantasy, Light NovelsPages: 297
Series: The Apothecary Diaries (LN) #2
Rating:

Synopsis:A palace servant trained in herbal medicine finds herself in the heart of imperial intrigue in this enthralling period mystery!
Dismissed from the rear palace, Maomao returns to service in the outer court--as the personal serving woman to none other than Jinshi! That doesn't necessarily make her popular with the other ladies, but a bit of jealousy might be the least of her problems. A mysterious warehouse fire, an official with a very bad case of food poisoning, and the mysterious last will and testament of a deceased craftsman all demand her attention--but are these cases really separate, or do they share a troubling connection? Then there's the mysterious military man who continually visits Jinshi. He's strange, maybe even a little twisted...and he seems very interested in Maomao.
I probably shouldn’t have left it this long to review volume two of Natsu Hyuuga’s The Apothecary Diaries, but it’s one I really enjoyed, so I don’t want to be quiet about it even if my impressions aren’t so fresh! Maomao remains a really fun character: deeply practical in a way that comes across as a bit deranged. (Actually, that’s a thing I really like in characters in general — think Emily Wilde and Isabella Trent, too! Hmmmmm.) I love that Jinshi is fascinated by her and she just totally stonewalls his interest; I really wonder if this is meant to be a will-they-or-won’t-they or whether she’ll always say no to him. I feel like I want the latter, in some ways, but I’m already starting to feel sorry for Jinshi!
I do wish that we saw a bit more of Jinshi’s cleverness too, because at times it feels like Maomao’s the only competent one in the whole court, at least as far as solving these mysteries go. Sometimes that’s because she’s the only one with the knowledge of poisons, but still…
This volume does also dig a little bit into Maomao’s origins, and ouch. I wonder whether more will happen with that, or if this kind of wrapped it up? There are so many volumes to come, and I’m not sure yet what the ongoing threads might be, other than Jinshi’s fascination with Maomao.
I find these light novels really compulsive reading, super quick reads with total absorption, which is a nice feeling. And I kind of want to read the manga at about the same pace, so I have a few volumes of that to catch up with!
Looking forward to reading the next volume of the light novel soon, in any case.
Rating: 4/5