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REVIEW: The Apothecary Diaries LN 1




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RenimLS



Joined: 26 Mar 2014
Posts: 114
Location: North America
PostPosted: Fri Mar 05, 2021 11:42 am Reply with quote
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As the book goes on, we see him actively thinking about what might make her happy, even if that means that he won't get to see her. (Unless, of course, that's another man. Seriously, if he's really a eunuch, I will be shocked.)



In response to if Jinshi's a eunoch: spoiler[He's not, but he is regularly taking medicine that has somewhat of a similar effect.]

These are details I picked up from reading the fan translation:

Further details on his circumstances: spoiler[Jinshi is the younger brother of the Emperor, but few people actually know his real position. This is supposedly why he has different treatment in regards to being allowed access to the Imperial Harem.]

Even further details on to Jinshi's circumstances (very heavy spoilers): spoiler[Jinshi is not actually the younger brother of the Emperor, he's actually the current Emperor's first born son. When the current Emperor was only an Imperial prince he was married. His wife gave birth at the same time as the Emperor's second child was born, because the child of the Emperor would have been given preferential treatment after the birth she had the babies swapped to make sure her child received proper care. Unfortunately the emperor's baby that she took in died due to an unfortunate accident while under the care of her attendants. The baby swap though was found out, but it was too late. The doctor who was in charge at the time was punished with expulsion and was permanently crippled. The truth of the matter was then buried due to how much of a scandal it would have been.]
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 16 Dec 2008
Posts: 2606
Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City
PostPosted: Fri Mar 05, 2021 2:06 pm Reply with quote
That last is pretty heavily implied by the ending of this first novel - good to know I wasn't way off base!
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Ultimatum



Joined: 03 Mar 2013
Posts: 160
PostPosted: Fri Mar 05, 2021 2:45 pm Reply with quote
This has really been a pleasant surprise--I hadn't heard of the series before J-novel licensed it and really enjoyed almost every bit of volume one!

Maomao is really interesting main character. The depth of her strangeness get revealed in bursts as the story goes on, so by the time she's spoiler[ tasting poisoned soup and grinning about it ] you almost know to expect it but are surprised anyway. I really grew to love her straightforward approach to (trying to) avoid conflict in the palace, too. Unfortunately, she's the MC so no luck there but she does her best!

Jinshi is someone who also grew on me, and I didn't like him at all at first! His petulant side made me laugh a lot more than his perfect ethereal fairy act.

One kind of strange thing--every chapter, it felt like Maomao would tell the audience "Aha, and he is a eunuch, let us now discuss this in depth in a period-appropriate insulting way" when she'd said almost the same thing word-for-word twenty pages ago. Maybe it was originally serialized in weekly chapters or something, but I really didn't need or want to think about dicks that much. I hope volume two assumes the reader gets it just a liiiitle bit more!
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