1/5...
A wasted potential.
The author went, "What if I just tell, and not show?". I read that the author wrote history books and this is one of their novels. Frankly speaking, I don't think they can write novels... The story has sooo much potential (and that's why I picked it up in the first place), but Park Young-Kyu didn't (or couldn't) give it any justice. The characters are bland and one dimensional, the story is fast paced (granted, it's from a diary, but at least give it some spice or stretch it out a little), and there is little to no explanation about what is happening at the time (which for someone who knows nothing about this particular Joseon's history, is very confusing). Also, the supposed "mystery", where the Empress' body and journal is found a couple years later, is not explained. Maybe it would be resolved in the book 2, but it just didn't make any sense in this book.