Helen: I remain unsure whether or not to call The Apothecary Diaries a mystery series; while Maomao sometimes is asked to look into something in the Rear Palace, more often than not she’s simply connecting together seemingly unrelated events without the knowledge that a plot was even afoot. While Maomao and Jinshi had thought that some recent events seemed suspicious, and Maomao even has a burst of insight when she realizes that someone has been deliberately targeting people and items used in rituals performed by higher ups, she still has no idea who instigated this plot or to what end. But Jinshi or the palace official Lakan might know, especially since Lakan was the one who specifically asked Jinshi to have Maomao look into the inheritance feud of the metal-worker brothers in volume five which also seems to tie into this deadly plot.
This is another area in which I wonder if the term “mystery series” is truly accurate or not, since sometimes it’s not the characters making a discovery but the readers themselves, like how some readers (myself included) worked out the details of Lakan and Maomao’s relationship before the text spelled it out or similarly, Lakan confirming Jinshi’s position in the palace. Funnily enough, other in-story mysteries were never meant to be such, like Maomao realizing that she never mentioned who her adoptive father, a trained medical professional who served in the Rear Palace as a eunuch, was to Jinshi or Gao Shun before (and while she hates Lakan and doesn’t consider him to be her father at all, she doesn’t try to hide that there is a connection between them to Jinshi and company). It’s not as if Maomao is an unreliable narrator but just a reminder that the very nature of fiction is that you can’t know every detail about a character and I feel that the story is richer for it.
This volume isn’t all serious however, or even mostly serious as Maomao has to do things like disguising Jinshi as a peasant, discovers some more medical herbs sprinkled around the palace, and Nekokurage’s art continues to be delightfully expressive (there’s a Maomao face that’s so memorable that I dare not spoil it, readers will know it when they see it). While I could be misremembering, I feel as if we are making quicker progress through volume 2 of the light novel than we did in volume one which is fine by me; that volume was by no means dull but there are a number of scenes in volume three that I have been dying to see illustrated and the sooner we reach those points the better!
Helen’s rating: 3.5 out of 5
Krystallina: There are two types of wows in the world. The first is an expression of cheer like when you spot a pretty rainbow in the sky or scored free tickets to a concert. The other is one of disbelief like someone blatantly cutting front of you in a line or repeatedly rolling the one number on a dice that prevents you from winning a game.
So let me be clear: when I say wow about The Apothecary Diaries volume 6, it is certainly, unabashedly a wow of excitement.
Perhaps my only major criticism of the volume is that you may want to dig out volume 5. You could reread it, but you really only need to go back and double-check exactly what the enigmatic Lakan said to Jinshi. His story about a courtesan obviously wasn’t just a Fun Fact of the Day, and while I could remember the gist of his tale, I still wanted to scrutinize his words a little more than the lackluster recaps here in volume 6. I’m tempted to go back even further and double check some other things, but I really wish somewhere we could have seen Jinshi pondering some exact quotes of Lakan’s instead of just referencing the conversation.
You probably wouldn’t think this story about someone’s past would play a big deal from the first couple of chapters of volume 6. Jinshi requests a disguise, and Maomao is not going to be satisfied with just some makeup on his face. After reaffirming her belief that Jinshi should never put on makeup to make him even more beautiful (for the sake of world peace), Maomao finds herself being dolled up and then touring the town with Jinshi.
On this little date (not that Maomao thinks it’s one), Jinshi asks about the world of courtesans, stemming from his conversation with Lakan. And that’s when things get really interesting. I almost hate talking about it since it’s more fun to let the story unveil things. But even as Maomao is assigned yet another case and finds herself crossing paths with a court lady who has some interest in medicine, it all connects (directly or emotionally) to the main characters instead of just being another random mystery to demonstrate Maomao’s skills. It all caps off with a dramatic, emotional ending with Maomao still being Maomao no matter what the situation.
…I say that, but there is one situation where her indifferent mask majorly slips, and the intrigues of both the past and the future (or maybe they’re one and the same?) just continue to rise. I said the worst thing about The Apothecary Diaries volume 6 was missing a bit of the flashback scene, but maybe I was wrong — it’s the wait until volume 7!
Krystallina’s rating: 5 out of 5