I've always been borderline disappointed with June Hur's oeuvre, but this time, it's just stark disappointment.

I'm usually compelled to start her newest work because of blurbs that promise me a gripping tale set in the pockets of history I'm always the most curious about. This one promised me one set against the turbulent backdrop of Yeonsangun's rule and... well, I wasn't even able to immerse myself in the story, what with the bad writing/editing all around.

I shouldn't be surprised at this point (given my track record with her writing), but I can't help but wish that maybe THIS book is the one with a more capable/equipped editing team only to be disappointed again. Tell me why my copy has highlights - not of quotes that I wish to revisit - but words/phrases that should have been translated to English or at least use the correct korean term. Why does the book open with 할머니 only for her to be referred throughout as "grandmother" after that? Why does Iseul never call her sister 언니 but the clunkier "older sister" when she has no problem calling Daehyun 대감 when it would have been better for everyone to just keep it as "your highness?" Not to mention calling a prince 대감 but calling the rest of the joseon bureaucracy with generic terms like "official" and "deputy" (?????) I know there is a lot of discourse on how princes in Joseon were addressed by people lesser in rank (마마? 자가? 대감?) but obstinately calling him that while not giving everyone that treatment was definitely a lazy choice. Also, as a fan of sageuks in general, since the vast majority of dramas refer to princes as 마마 while the officials are 영감 and 대감 maybe this book too should have just followed the trend :')

So Iseul calling Wonshik ahjussi but referring to him by name when talking to someone irked me. Bugaksan is Bugak Mountain but Wongak Temple is Wongaksa Temple? "The two princes, Prince A and Prince B treated Daehyun-gun like their own family" oh really?! "White charm papers" were stuck on a shaman's hut, hm I wonder what these charm papers are - wait are you referring to talismans? Also did someone just give Iseul a 패도 and call it small? Surely you mean an 은장도? Even though we are finally living in times where it's known that we shouldn't call it "chai tea" and "naan bread" we still have a book with "musuri maid" and "binyeo hairpin" and "yangban aristocrat" - editing team, you're either not paid enough or you just don't have the skill set to do your job, sorry.

One might call me dramatic for this review/nitpicking but I genuinely have little tolerance for writing that is doing everything in its might to break my immersion in the book. After about 30% of the book, when I had finally managed to numb myself to the writing (because you know I started this book with a purpose! I was curious!) I realised this story was ... boring. I felt no attachment to any of the characters; there was nothing new except a murder mystery??? that stuck out like a sore thumb because what do you mean this was the best the writer could conjure up as a plot piece for one of the most adapted periods of history on screen? There is the kdrama Queen of Seven Days that explores why Yeonsangun turned out the way he did, there is the movie The Treacherous that went into grim details of Yeonsangun's tyranny, there is the masterpiece The King and The Clown that puts another angle on Yeonsangun's suffering, and we have this book that sells itself to focus on the commoners' suffering while "sticking to facts" but instead made itself out to be the plainest adaptation possible.