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Review

by Rebecca Silverman,

Apothecary Diaries

LN 2

Synopsis:
The Apothecary Diaries LN 2
After briefly leaving the palace, Maomao is back, this time having been “purchased” from the proprietress of Verdigris House by Jinshi as his personal attendant. Except she's more like his personal maid, because while she's a brilliant apothecary and a pretty good detective, Maomao's not a great scholar, and she failed the test to become an official court lady. That's just as well, though, because when her former mistress in the Rear Palace suspects she's pregnant again, Maomao can return to keep her safe, even as other intrigues involving Maomao herself swirl through the palace courtyards.
Review:

It's official to everyone who isn't Maomao: beautiful eunuch Jinshi has a thing for her. Or perhaps that should be “eunuch”; of the two major plot points in this volume that pertain to our hero and heroine, the fact that Jinshi's eunuch-hood is less permanent than most others' is simultaneously the least important and most interesting. It's certainly not unheard of: after all, chemical castration is something that we hear about today, albeit infrequently. But it does have larger implications not just for Jinshi's potential relationship with Maomao, but also for who he might actually be. There are a few more hints dropped on that front, particularly with regards to how high up in the court hierarchy he must truly be, but Jinshi himself seems to want to keep that as quiet as possible. Whether or not he thinks he can keep the truth about his reproductive state fully secret from Maomao is debatable; after all, he knows how good she is with medicines, so any slip in storing the ingredients for his concoction could spill the beans.

That may be the one thing Maomao is actually prepared to notice about Jinshi. She achieves some truly Katarina-levels of obliviousness in this novel, which in some ways isn't entirely unexpected. Maomao is, and has been from the start of the first volume, laser-focused only on that which interests her. That was tempered in the first novel by the fact that she was working in the palace against her will, having been kidnapped and sold into service. But now that she's got more freedom – she can go visit her father and the women at the brothel, for example – she doesn't have that to fixate on. She does have huge amounts of work provided by the head lady of Jinshi's quarters, an older woman who has been looking after him for what appears to be his entire life, but even if she's dusting or scrubbing, that leaves her mind free to think about other things. Are any of those things Jinshi? Absolutely not.

Mostly Maomao uses her headspace to solve the small mysteries that keep cropping up in the palace. A great many of them seem as if they might be linked – a burning storehouse where Maomao finds a piece of a pipe, stolen ritual items, and a couple of suspicious food poisoning deaths all give her keen mind something to work on. Interestingly, this is a plot that has carried over from the end of the first book in a way that's almost unnoticeable until you really start paying attention. It seems to be part of a much larger conspiracy brewing in the court, and while we know who one of the perpetrators is at the end of this novel, there are bound to be more, especially since this one person isn't in a high enough position at the palace to be masterminding the scheme. Naturally Maomao is able to use her vast store of information to solve the bits and pieces of the case that come her way, but she has a tendency to write things off once she's finished with them – and this conspiracy is almost certainly not as done with her (and Jinshi) as she is with it.

There are essentially two main stories going on in this volume: the conspiracy that somehow involves targeting Jinshi and the truth of Maomao's parentage. In terms of the latter, we know from the first book that her father adopted her, and with potentially missing royal children occasionally mentioned, that's something worth paying attention to. We do learn more about her heritage this time, but while the identity of her father seems locked down, that of her mother still seems a bit more suspect. Jinshi takes a much more active role in uncovering the secrets of Maomao's birth (and the scandals that drove her father from the palace), which is par for the course. He's at this point got a much more vested interest in learning who Maomao's parents were; as far as Maomao is concerned, her father's the doctor in the slums, and her biological parents don't have any effect on her ability to do her apothecary work. In some ways we can read this as another marker of Maomao's indifference or unawareness where Jinshi is concerned, although we do see towards the end of the book that she has much more of an idea of her heritage than he suspects.

The novel runs much like the first, with a variety of small mysteries that need Maomao's expertise to solve, a few chapters from Jinshi's perspective, and a storyline that coalesces towards the end of the book. There are a few particularly good moments, such as the time Maomao is appointed to teach sex ed to the four most important consorts (and I don't mean “what sex is” sex ed) and when she disguises Jinshi so that he can go into town. The former is a bit of a lost opportunity, as it doesn't get nearly the page time it deserves (although we do learn that the emperor is appreciative and requests more “textbooks”), but the latter is a lot of fun as Jinshi and Maomao venture into town in a way that doesn't quite satisfy either of them – or the attendants who set them up. The book can feel like a bit of a slog at times, mostly because it isn't always clear where things are going or why they're important to the overall narrative; this is particularly true in the middle of the volume.

The Apothecary Diaries' second novel is still an engaging read. Maomao is a wonderful, if at times abrasive, heroine who takes no garbage from anyone, and watching her become more and more involved in the life of the court is interesting. Jinshi still has his work cut out for him, but even he has to know that Maomao doesn't move until she's good and ready – no matter who's doing the asking.

Grade:
Overall : B
Story : B
Art : B

+ Maomao's a good heroine, more information about what might be the overarching plot of the series. Color illustrations are especially nice.
Maomao can be grating at times, story gets bogged down in the middle.

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Production Info:
Story: Natsu Hyūga
Licensed by: J-Novel Club

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Apothecary Diaries (light novel)

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