Review: Interesting portrayal of Korean culture
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 5, 2013
The author did a fantastic job in portraying the 16th century Korean culture. In all honesty I knew nothing about Korean culture and custom, or their belief system, and I feel like this book did an excellent job of portraying that information. From the level of detail in the book (and the set of official references at the end) it is clear that the author spent a considerable amount of time in researching this information. However, she was able to weave the details in seamlessly in her story, so as not to obstruct the telling of the story. I never felt like the author was lecturing about anything, she showed me the culture, and people of those times. For that reason alone, this book was enjoyable.However, I was annoyed by the naivete of Kendra, the heroin character, in this book. She needlessly put herself in danger several times, and went strictly against her own believe system. This to me felt like an over kill, as if the author was looking for ways to push Kendra of the cliff, and after so many attempts it became repetitive and predictable. There was character growth in Kendra, but some of it felt plastered on and not sincere. Admittedly, I am not a ghost story fan, but can see how for some people this would be enjoyable. There were however, periods where the story dragged, and it was not until half way through the book, before the story really started to pick up.As for family friendliness, I have to rate it a 1 out of 5, since I would rate it R. There is a lot of mature content in this novel, and is definitely not appropriate for tweens and younger to read.For more book reviews, visit [...]