Paperback, 178 pages

English language

Published May 2, 2020 by Square Enix.

ISBN:
978-1-64609-070-9
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(7 reviews)

In the East is a land ruled by an emperor, whose consorts and serving women live in a sprawling complex known as the hougong, the rear palace. Maomao, an unassuming girl raised in an unassuming town by her apothecary father, never imagined the rear palace would have anything to do with her—until she was kidnapped and sold into service there.

Though she looks ordinary, Maomao has a quick wit, a sharp mind, and an extensive knowledge of medicine. That’s her secret, until she encounters a resident of the palace at least as perceptive as she is: the head eunuch, Jinshi. He sees through Maomao’s façade and makes her a lady-in-waiting to none other than the Emperor’s favorite consort... so she can taste the lady’s food for poison!

At her lady’s side, Maomao starts to learn about everything that goes on in the rear palace—not all of it seemly. Can she …

4 editions

reviewed The Apothecary Diaries: Volume 1 (Light Novel) by Natsu Hyuuga (The Apothecary Diaries (Light Novel), #1)

Review of 'The Apothecary Diaries 1' on 'Storygraph'

I loved the anime, so I had to get into the books! It's really fascinating to see how the original story has more of a classic mystery novel feel, kind of brushing past the setup of the rear palace and Maomao's place in it to get into Jinishi asking for her help to solve these seemingly unconnected problems. The slow buildup into showing how everything is connected is a strength of the volume, but it also puts it in contrast to the anime adaptation. The show does an excellent job in presenting the source material, don't get me wrong, but it also benefits from the hindsight of knowing what actually ends up as important to the story. As a result, there's a lot more detail and foreshadowing put into some areas that just does not exist in this book. While I love how everything came together, most of the volume …

reviewed The Apothecary Diaries: Volume 1 (Light Novel) by Natsu Hyuuga (The Apothecary Diaries (Light Novel), #1)

None

I wasn't sure whether this would be super interesting, but I was pretty much hooked from the start and the only reason it took more than a couple days for me to read was a bunch of library books coming off hold.

Maomao is a fun protagonist, using investigative abilities on par with Sherlock to figure out the mysteries of the rear palace and her skills as a pharmacist to help resolve them. Plenty of interesting mysteries in here, all layered together so that nothing feels unnecessary by the end of the book. The romance is pretty minimal, which I would consider a bonus since it was the weakest part.

Very solid book, and I'll be happy to grab more of them as they come out.

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