I found the second volume of 暗黑者 overall entertaining and suspenseful, but it felt diluted at times, and even though it does have great plot, memorable scenes and good twists, it doesn’t have the impact of the first one in my opinion.
The plot is really great, there are several cases, several story lines, but everything ends up being connected. Everything makes sense, the plot is complex but easy to follow, there’s a lot of suspense too.
However, I found that some chapters, especially in the second half, tended to be repetitive (there’s one in particular that feels oddly placed), and there are a couple of things that I dislike in the author’s writing style. First, there is a tendency to conceal the identity of well known character when we open a new scene. They are even described as if it was the first time we saw them. This didn’t bring anything imo and was just annoying to read. Then there are the small commentaries: oftentimes, we get a dialogue, then the author would add something like “indeed, …” followed by generalisations, clichés or useless explanations for things obvious and simple.
I also find the characters are generally just all too strong and too perfect. Luo Fei’s observation skills could be a nice addition if they were not so exaggerated. Overall, male characters in the novel are all heroes, and female characters tend to be the weakest link. It’s pretty obvious (the person who lets Chengyu in the archive room is a woman, the nurse who lets the journalist visit Wu Yinwu is a woman, Mu Jianyun is the reason why Luo Fei had to let Eumenides kill Deng Hua in vol.1, and she let Chengyu plant a microphone in her phone, even Zheng Jiao ends up handing the recording to Chengyu without questioning what it could be).
On the contrary some characters like Han Hao and Ding Ke are overpraised. Ding Ke in particular was really annoying: the author kept praising him in such a superficial way it felt very strange. It was all tell not show, and the only things that the reader actually know are despicable: covering for student and son, fleeing and hiding from the consequences of his choices… Despite all these, the novel kept trying to make us admire and revere Ding Ke.
When I finish volume 1 I would have said without hesitation that I would read the whole trilogy, but now I don’t really feel like starting volume 3. I’m pretty sure the story will be great, and I will like it, but I’m afraid the things I didn’t like in the second one will be in the third one as well.
. Funny that I finished all three more or less at the same time.
So I guess it’s good?