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Reviews

Review: Goong (Vol. 02)


Manhwa-ga: Park SoHee
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Released: July 2006

Synopsis: “With the wedding ceremony complete, Chae-Kyung and Prince Shin are finally newlyweds. . . but now they have to spend their first night together?! And as she tries to get accustomed to life as a princess, homesick Chae-Kyung finds no comfort in her haughty husband, who seems determined to antagonize her at every turn. Will the crown prince’s attitude ever change? Is the dream of marital bliss doomed to be a nightmarish marital blunder?!”

If Korea hadn’t been crushed by the countries around it, if their nobility was as wealthy and influential as that of China or England, what would modern day Korea be like? Changing history and sliding it into the real world, SoHee Park tells the tale of young prince Shin, who has been forced into an arranged marriage. He doesn’t seem to mind, but his bride to be, Chae-Kyung, has a thing or two to say about it!

Shin can’t seem to make up his mind about who he is. One moment he’s yelling about how foolish she is, the next he spends hours watching her favorite soap opera so he can better understand her. These two crazy kids get along almost as well as oil and water and the most they can do is sit near each other. This makes the reality of their first night together as newly weds horrifying, to say the least.

Yol seems to start playing a bigger role in this volume, inserting himself as more of a threat then previously assumed. Still, he hangs in the background looming over everything like a vulture just waiting to take the forefront in the action. Is this guy friend or foe? I’m not sure yet, but it’s going to kill me not knowing! Personally, the guy sets off my gaydar, he’s way to nice and his commentary about the Shin/Chae relationship is strangely unspecific.

It’s nice that there aren’t a million characters to keep track of, so to complete the update on all three of them, Chae has sadly lost some personality. In this loss there is some white light though. By losing some screaming, and giant headed moments, she’s gained character stability. It feels like artist and author, SoHee Park, has decided what kind of person Chae is, which is good because now the story can also assume direction.

I did come up on one serious disappointment with a particular scene, one that I felt didn’t come across as intended. Reading it a few times, the tension which broke between characters kinda fizzled out into nothing. That one part really could have been the hook for me, but I’m going to keep reading to find out what the heck is up with Yol instead. It’s not a good sign that the only reason to keep going is a side character, but that’s not really an uncommon thing.

As with all manwha I’m weary that Chae will magically end up being related to Shin, and if she does, I swear to all that is holy I will throw this book at the wall… then promptly pick it up and hope it turns out to be some kind of mistake. Regardless of the reason I am looking forward to number three of Goong.

Review written November 6, 2008 by Marsha Reid.
Book provided by Yen Press for review purposes

Marsha Reid

About the Author:

Marsha Reid is a self-proclaimed manhwa nut – "It’s my not so guilty pleasure and my one true love." She has a group called Anime@ Large, which has become much like a full time job to go along with her full time job at a local theater. Marsha likes fluffy animals (even though she's allergic), manga/manhwa, anime, and make Lolita costumes in her spare time.



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One Response

  1. […] vol. 1 of Vampire’s Portrait and vol. 4 of Winter Demon, guest reviewer Marsha Reid reads vol. 2 of Goong, and guest reviewer Gizmo checks out vol. 4 of Zombie Loan at Kuriousity. Sakurapassion posts a […]

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