kamreadsandrecs's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
misssusan's review against another edition
5.0
today i figured something out about myself
it's that i am hella predictable and a good 80% of all my favourite fictional relationships come down to queen/lionheart dynamics
the queen believes in higher ideals and embodies them as best they can! the lionheart believes in their queen and will do whatever is necessary to protect them and bring them to power! yup, i'll take like one hundred of those, thanks
(king/lionheart is also cool but we're dealing with ooku here so i feel using the general feminine is more appropriate)
so yeah. take a queen with two lionhearts and two cases of tragic romance and you get...
5 stars
it's that i am hella predictable and a good 80% of all my favourite fictional relationships come down to queen/lionheart dynamics
the queen believes in higher ideals and embodies them as best they can! the lionheart believes in their queen and will do whatever is necessary to protect them and bring them to power! yup, i'll take like one hundred of those, thanks
(king/lionheart is also cool but we're dealing with ooku here so i feel using the general feminine is more appropriate)
so yeah. take a queen with two lionhearts and two cases of tragic romance and you get...
5 stars
directorpurry's review against another edition
4.0
CW: child abuse, incest
Aaaaaahhhhh I love this series it's so good! Alt-history is underrated as a general premise, honestly. Yoshinaga does such an amazing job of creating and illustrating this world.
Aaaaaahhhhh I love this series it's so good! Alt-history is underrated as a general premise, honestly. Yoshinaga does such an amazing job of creating and illustrating this world.
nwhyte's review against another edition
3.0
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2037339.html[return][return]Yet another in the alternate history series where most Japanese men are wiped out by a mysterious plague, and a chosen few are secluded in the Loku as personal attendants and occasional lovers of the shMgun, who in this version of history is a woman, women having taken over all leadership positions in society.[return][return]This volume crystallised some of the problems I have with the series for me. Because it is set in the Inner Chambers, we basically have a continuing repetition of new shMgun takes power, some internal politicking in the harem, a disputed process for producing and recognising an heir, a dead child or two, then the shMgun dies and we go back to the start of the cycle. It is getting a bit repetitive.[return][return]Also, it is now clear that this is actually meant to be not an alternate history but our own timeline, a secret history of the real reason why Japan chose centuries of isolation. All the history of Japan in the early modern period which we think we know, in other words, is actually about women rather than men. That will create problems when we reach the nineteenth century, but I guess one can go with the flow for now.[return][return]But I think you do need a better knowledge than I have of the "real" course of Japanese history to appreciate this; I suspect that some of the charm of the series must be to see how the author manages to gender-flip some of the dynastic dynamics of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries which are presumably well known to those who know anything about that period of Japanese history. Unfortunately I am not among their number, so it leaves me rather baffled.
ladydewinter's review against another edition
5.0
This is such a fantastic series. Top-notch, really. Outstanding art, great story, characters you can't help but care for, SO MUCH tragic love (seriously). I love this.
morningstar1993's review against another edition
2.0
This volume was nicely written, but it was really boring.
halcyon_nights's review against another edition
4.0
Having a break of two months between this volume and the last made me re-evaluate just what still compels me to continue on with the series with its flaws. It's more than clear by now that the art is not enough to carry the story forward, as it can often be quite difficult to distinguish between characters, and even now, they're all a blur in my head. While relatively slow in pacing, the lives of the characters in the volumes pass us by before we're able to truly form an emotional connection to them, which makes them even more indistinguishable from each other. Most of the characters are tragic, trapped figuratively by responsibility and duty and, literally, by the walls of the inner chambers. They all seem to have some form of a tragic or bittersweet ending.
For now, I just find the series easy to read and I already own the next three volumes. I'll see if I feel like continuing then.
For now, I just find the series easy to read and I already own the next three volumes. I'll see if I feel like continuing then.
nonesensed's review against another edition
5.0
At this point in the series I'm so grateful for both TV Tropes and Wikipedia because I'm borrowing these books from an out-of-town library, one by one, so the huge cast and many many years the story spans are getting pretty tricky to remember. Will definitely have to buy this series one day, because it's still super interesting! Don't want to spoil anything, can only recommend giving the series a try.
kalanadi's review
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
morningstar916's review against another edition
2.0
This volume was nicely written, but it was really boring.