Natsu Hyuuga

The Apothecary Diaries, Volume 2

Inkmelt

B Sai Sushma

I love the twists in each book. All the mini almost episodic mysteries leading to one overarching big mystery!

oberon vortigern

In Volume 2, Maomao returns to the palace as Jinshi's attendant after the intervention of Gaoshun (even others are shipping the two together), continuing to solve various mysteries. This is where the overarching plot of the series begin to come together, and Maomao realizes the mysteries she solved may have not been relatively harmless but are hints of a conspiracy threatening the palace. Meanwhile, a peculiar military man begins to disrupt Jinshi's daily life, bringing dark hints of Maomao's past.

The previous volume's mysteries were fairly lighthearted, and much of the mysteries in this volume at first sight appear to be the same, but this volume is where the series becomes memorable, with clever mysteries leading to a dangerous conspiracy, and shows the series' heart in its character writing and development.

The characters are allowed to be flawed, making mistakes in their arrogance and overestimation of themselves, and suffer the consequences of their actions, but here is where the story shines compares to other stories. Instead of ending with their consequences, the author asks us for empathy and understanding for these damaged people. (view spoiler)[I initially thought Maomao's father was hateful, but by the end of his story, I realized he is a tragic character who suffered as the culmination of his various mistakes and circumstances outside of his control, and is now desperately trying to make up for them. Maomao's birth was an ugly tragedy, and it's no wonder why she has such poor attitude towards romance after her childhood. (hide spoiler)]

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.

The Apothecary Diaries, Volume 2

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