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After just 2 or 3 pages, I was thinking that this Wang Shuoyan felt very similar to the partner of the protagonist in 403小組，警隊出動！And the more I was thinking that, the more the name actually sounded similar, so I checked: it’s the same character!
That’s pretty cool!! I’m super happy, really loved this character!

So given that I’m following a list that gave chronological order for Yen Yu’s books, I guess that this novel takes place after the events in 403小組，警隊出動！

Every time I read a book in Chinese after reading in Japanese I feel so let down when I see a character name. Wdym you’re not giving me the pronunciation??

I started the first story (I’m assuming each chapter is going to be a different case), it’s very good and reads very easily!

I’m not doing my Korean food notebook anymore, but there’s a mention of 갈비탕 and 냉면 right on the second page. Having to go through a whole dialogue during which characters are eating galbitang and naengmyeon is pure torture!!

I read the first chapter! Loved it, looks like a good police procedural!

They don’t work in the same departments, but here are the police ranks of the main characters:

• Takamiya is 警視 Police Superintendent, two ranks above Hino.
• Habaro is 警部, Police Inspector, one rank above Hino, even though they’re the same age.
• Hino Yukihiko is 警部補 Assistant Police Inspector.
• Irie Ayano is 巡査部長, Police Sergeant, one rank below Hino who is her direct superior.

The 生活安全課 is a branch in Japanese police specialised in prevention and public order. They handle juvenile delinquency, DV, cybercrime, economic crimes, illegal gambling, prostitution, drugs, etc.

Given that I have three new books at the same time (a rare occasion!), I’ve decided to start them all today.

When I decided to start this reading challenge of reading one book per language, I was thinking of it as a friendly competition between my target languages: see which language I will read the most each month.
If I start the three current books at the same time, we’ll see which one I’ll finish the sooner! I know it depends on a lot of parameters, but to me it’s just a fun way to make things more interesting.

I did Lohen’s Witch’s Homework (his story was pretty good!) and tried the new IT, but it’s really tough. I’m halfway through, but I’ll have to give up on the full flower clear. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to complete the run even. If not I’ll have to redo a run without trying to go to the flowers, which will allow me to keep better characters for the last combats. And borrowing my husband’s Kokomi was a mistake…
MVP so far is Durin for sure.

I finished the last chapter of Nicole’s quest. It was a nice event overall, it’s cool to have new formats for events/stories.

All three books are bought and added to the DB. It’s so exciting! Can’t wait to start them!

Now that I finished 暗黑者2 I’m going back to reading Yen Yu’s police novels. There are three that have a similar title:

• 警察執勤中：正義的代價
• 警察迷途中：誰是兇手
• 警察執勤中：宣戰角頭
  I don’t know if they are a trilogy or a series, or are completely independent, but I’m going to read the three anyway. Starting with 警察執勤中：正義的代價!

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.