It's been ages since I've written a review on this website, having been heavily distracted by all the officially translated and published LNs (and thank lord, I'm so glad publishing companies recognize there's a huge market here), but I had to pipe in. There are not many spoilers in this review, but as usual, if you'd like to read this with your own fresh interpretation, please skim or skip my review.

Honestly, I was completely curious about this due to its anime adaptation announced a few months ago, and the trailer... more>> looked stunning. Unfortunately, the anime doesn't seem to be shaping up to par, and I was shocked to see the number of low ratings here. I can be a pretty harsh and obviously biased rater; if you look through some of my ratings from years prior, you'd find them averaging two to three stars. But I honestly have no idea where the influx of one stars came from. Maybe it's from a previous translator or troll, but whatever translations are up now are clean and super high quality, or maybe it's because

Spoiler

of the lack of romance from those who've read the raws. To be honest, I actually prefer the way Koushun and Jusetsu's relationship as canon, but that's likely because I enjoy life-long platonic relationships between characters of opposite genders.

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The story itself is reminiscent of The Apothecary Diaries and other novels based in the inner courts of Ancient China with its mystery premise, but it completely holds its own.

The characters are lovely to follow, and I enjoy the holier-than-thou protagonist's way of speaking juxtaposed with the childishness that naturally comes from her youth. I enjoy the world-building, the atmosphere, and the lore of their kingdom's history. This wasn't as spellbinding as some of the novels I've rated five stars, and it isn't a game changer in its genre, but this novel series holds its own very well. The translator has done an amazing job, and if the localization doesn't hold up to par, I'd be pretty annoyed.

Edit: The official translations did, indeed, not hold up to par. This is one of the few series where I'd recommend reading the unofficial translations over the official ones while still buying the volumes and supporting the author if possible. There's a lifeless quality to the prose of the official translations, and it doesn't quite manage to capture the peculiar atmosphere surrounding Jusetsu as artfully as Sasaranomiya does.

The only reason I wrote this review was to perhaps inspire other curious people to give it a chance. The low ratings nearly threw me off, and anyone who would watch the anime would likely be disappointed. Anyone a fan of this genre I would strongly recommend giving this series a chance. Of course, I'm only two volumes in, and if my thoughts or opinions change with the later releases then I shall update my review accordingly. <<less

Having read ac253's review, I decided to give this novel a chance even with the low ratings. But I just could not enjoy.

From beginning to end, till where I had read, a shallow writing, beautified words to dazzle the inexperienced.

A fumbled pacing, with no consistency to the character, truly, a Japanese light novel. I shouldn't have had my hopes up.

... more>> And like many Japanese works, solutions are... Uninteresting, even though this world has "qi", "fantasy" and "ghosts".

In the end, it is only a shoujo-esque drama fit for those who wish to turn off their thoughts and/or intellect. <<less