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Yen Yu’s novels are so good! It’s the fourth one I read, and I’ve loved them all.
Like the others, 警察執勤中：正義的代價 gives such a good and honest insights on police every day work, showing all the not so glorious parts of being a police officer. The other novels I read were told from the point of view of novices, but this time we follow a veteran: Wang Shuoyen. He is also such an interesting character, someone who is a master at slacking on the job and getting around cumbersome and inefficient procedures, while knowing the line between breaking the rules and breaking the law.
I find that the reader is always placed in an interesting spot, because as a reader, we can only sympathise with the characters, but as a citizen, it’s hard not to get mad at some of the practices described in the book.
But the novel is much more than a good social novel, it’s also a suspenseful political thriller and action thriller whose pace keeps on accelerating. 警察執勤中：正義的代價 tackles a nationwide corruption case that has the potential to completely shake Taiwan political world.
The way high rank officials would do anything to cover themselves and how low-ranked officials are easily sacrificed along the way is a recurrent theme in Yen Yu’s novels, but in 警察執勤中：正義的代價, I felt really mad so many times.
I think this novel is really excellent, it’s a harsh critic of the system of factions that corrupts all the governmental offices, but it’s also a really suspenseful thriller.

The last fourth of the book is impossible to put down! I thought I’d just read one chapter today, but I finished it!

Maybe I should just write the rank of officers in their original language in my character lists, instead of trying to find an English equivalent. I kind of have an okay understanding of ranks in their respective languages I think? but finding the correct equivalent in English is harder.
For example, is it better to say Bureau Chief, Director General, Commissioner?
I also find that ranks in their original language are easier to grasp for me than English translations, just because they’re used in the novel so it feels more concrete, and it’s then easier to associate one name with one rank this way.

I’m a bit mad at the fact that 七十號，你的鳥歪了 is not advertised as a novel following 警察執勤中：正義的代價. The books are not from the same publisher, which probably explains it, but it still annoying.

I read 七十號，你的鳥歪了 first because it was promoted on Books From Taiwan, it looked like a stand alone novel, so I never thought about checking first the author’s bibliography at the time.

The main story is independent, but it directly follows the events of 警察執勤中：正義的代價 which have big repercussions on the characters. But more importantly, it entirely spoils the outcome. And it would be a better reading experience to read them in order anyway, because now I not only have a good idea of how 警察執勤中：正義的代價 will end, but I also know things that would happen afterwards which also impact the way I’m reading 警察執勤中.

I also think that I would have enjoyed 七十號，你的鳥歪了 even more if I had read 警察執勤中 first. The repercussions of the case would have felt even more impactful if I had followed it from the beginning with 警察執勤中. So reading in reverse order kind of affects both books.

I don’t know why they’re not published by the same publisher, but it’s a shame because this prevents them from being sold as a series. I really do think they should be a series, they take place in the same fictional world with its own chronology and some characters and events are recurring. I’m glad I read 403小組，警隊出動！ first at least…

Covers chosen by each publisher also make the books look completely different when they’re really similar in style and topics.

I’m not feeling well today, only some pages read…

I’m not a fan of italic on Japanese script. There are a few passages with italic, and it’s just annoying to read imo. It also feels unnecessary because other markers clearly show that the text in question is a quotation or excerpt from something else, and not normal narration, so the italic is not only annoying, but also redundant.

I finished the first chapter, it’s so engrossing!! It’s so mysterious too… the book is hard to put down.

Oh, I’m just realising now that 缝 has two meanings and two pronunciations

That’s why I was always messing up tones of words like 缝隙，天衣无缝 and 缝纫，缝补，缝合.

I started the event, love the story and the character apparitions so far. Scenes with Citlali were quite funny!

The beginning is so engrossing!! I wish I had time to read more…

I wanted to test Mizuki with her buffs, so I did an Abyss run. I thought it’ll also be a good opportunity to test Xiao with Durin and Nicole.

First half:

Xiao

Durin

Faruzan

Nicole

Second half:

Yumemizuki Mizuki

Ororon

Columbina

Ineffa

It was so much better than my first run!!! I had a lot of spare time on each chamber! Chamber 2 in particular was very close on my first attempt, but I finished well before the time.

Problem is that I don’t know whether it was Nicole in Xiao team or Mizuki’s constellation buffs that made the difference, my bad for testing both at the same time…

I did Mizuki’s quest “Witch’s Revelation “, and I was shocked, her fortune sounds so negative… I thought that maybe I didn’t understand well so I checked the English, and it sounds less negative in English, it feels like they deliberately chose mild versions of the three words Barbeloth gives as interpretation of her fortune. Like I can’t be sure of course, but I feel like the Chinese words all have stronger negative connotations than the English ones…

It’s hard to know what’s right and wrong, and whether characters should act as they do… it’s really a great novel!

Chapter 8 done! Story is so good!