Goong, Volume 8
By Park SoHee
Published by Yen Press

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It’s one step forward, two steps back for Shin and Chae-Kyung, as the new openness shakily established between them is blown away by Shin’s resolve to remain Crown Prince–a reaction to the news of his mother’s pregnancy. Both Shin and Chae-Kyung fall back on their own worst habits, with Shin presenting the news as an irrefutable barrier to Chae-Kyung’s future freedom and Chae-Kyung rebelling with all her might. Taking advantage of the situation, Yul throws Chae-Kyung a lifeline, but will it really have the effect she hopes for?

Though Shin’s bullying and Chae-Kyung’s temper continue to be the real barrier to their happiness–both together and as individuals–it is the Queen’s pregnancy that exacerbates everything in this volume, putting Shin on the defensive (on behalf of both his mother and his wife) and making Chae-Kyung further aware of the gravity of her position. Having been asked to assume the Queen’s duties during her pregnancy, Chae-Kyung becomes more mired in tedious palace workings than ever, bringing a new desperation to the promise of divorce, though that promise has now been cruelly retracted.

That Yul finds a way to exploit this comes as no surprise (he is his mother’s son, after all) but it does shed some incredibly unflattering light on how far he is willing to go to get what he wants, even if it ultimately hurts the person he claims to love. “From the start, I had no interest in becoming King,” Yul says to his horrified mother as she struggles for his cooperation. “What I wanted was to take away the most important thing to Shin, because he took away everything important to me.”

Heavy tension and anticipation make this volume’s slow pace maddening to say the least, which is a real testament to author’s skill with consistent characterization. Though it might seem like it would be a huge relief to have these characters shake off their most damaging personality traits and just work things out already, the result would be utter destruction of everything Park SoHee has worked so hard to create. I, for one, am grateful that she has not taken that tempting, deadly road.

The one truly distressing thing about this volume is the re-emergence of Eunuch Kong, who remains this series’ most unfortunate trait. That aside, fans should find plenty to angst over and enjoy in the latest installment of Goong.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Goong, Volume 7
By Park SoHee
Published by Yen Press

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A fire in Daebi-Mama’s quarters sends the palace into an uproar, particularly the Queen who finds Daebi-Mama being relocated to her quarters by order of her husband. Meanwhile, Chae-Kyung overhears something that leads her to believe that Shin may have been responsible for the fire and is surprised by her impulse to protect him regardless of his actions. Still reeling from Shin’s public kiss during a recent press conference, things are made more uncomfortable for Chae-Kyung when the Queen Mother arranges for them to share a room on their class trip. Shin, finding himself intensely attracted to Chae-Kyung since their forced night together in the palace, is no more comfortable than she is, and though a string of misunderstandings and their usual stubborn pride keeps either of them from being completely honest about their growing feelings for each other, they come closer to in in this volume than they ever have before. Most surprisingly, as Shin becomes increasingly aware of both Yul’s ambitions and his own father’s stealthy maneuvering against him, he actually begins to push back, suggesting that he may wish to remain Crown Prince after all.

It’s quite a relief to finally see Shin taking some steps to open up to Chae-Kyung, even bringing himself to thank her when she rescues him from an embarrassing situation on stage in a student play. Whether this is due to a real desire to break down walls between them or just stark fear of losing her to Yul remains to be seen, but either way it’s a pleasure to see. Similarly, his speech to his father in the final chapter of the volume gains him new respect when it’s most needed.

Though it was easier to sympathize with Yul earlier in the series, it is now Shin who seems like the good guy (despite his dismal communication skills) and it will be exciting to see where things go from here, now that he’s really standing up for himself and those he most cares about. Most importantly, he finally reveals to Chae-Kyung the reason behind his early dislike of her and why his feelings have changed. “You looked right into my eyes and asked me so many things,” he says to her, in a flash of rare vulnerability. “You asked me if I ever went to Myungdong or to Dongdaemoon Market or if I’d ever watched a movie in a movie theater. When you talked about your life, I felt like my life was fake.” It is an extremely revealing moment we (and Chae-Kyung) have waited seven volumes to see, and the payoff is definitely worth it.

If last volume’s strife could be mainly chalked up to Shin’s inability to explain his feelings, in this volume the credit goes to Chae-Kyung’s inability to let him. Conditioned now to protect herself against Shin’s coldness as a preemptive measure, she’s having difficulty recognizing what’s changing in him enough to actually let it happen. Fortunately (or unfortunately) it looks like the two of them may soon be in a position where they must stick together just to survive, which will certainly be a trial for each of them as well as for their relationship. Watching the two of them slowly learn to truly care for and depend on each other is one of the best things about this series and though the pace may seem excruciating at times, it’s hard to imagine it playing out any other way.

Though this volume is less emotionally volatile than the last (despite the obvious drama of things such as Shin’s potential as an arsonist) the fact that it actually begins to veer towards romance at long last makes it a real page-turner of the very best kind. Goong continues to be one of the most compelling girls’ comics (Korean or otherwise) I’m currently reading, and definitely a personal favorite.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

I’ve made quite a few manhwa-heavy posts in the past six months or so, starting with Let’s Talk About Manhwa, in which I declared my love for Korean BL comics and asked for recommendations for all kinds of manhwa. The comments to that post were fantastic–filled with recommendations upon recommendations, only a fraction of which I’ve managed to get to at this point. I’m reading as fast as I can!

The truth is, I’ve really fallen in love with manhwa. It has many of the traits I most love in Japanese manga–lots of epic, dramatic, character-driven, single-creator stories with lovely art and well-paced, finite plots–but each these traits has its own particular quality unique to manhwa. I believe that even if I was presented with flipped manhwa (reading right-to-left like Japanese comics) I would be able to tell at a glance that it was made in Korea–something that has been proven to me already, actually, in the case of one of my favorite single-volume Korean BL stories, U Don’t Know Me. Some of this has to do with the art, particularly the character designs which favor a a particular kind of cheek and chin, full lips and heavily lined eyes, but the storytelling has its own flavor too, with its spunky, outspoken (often even violent) girls and arrogant, swaggering boys.

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Goong, Vol. 6
By Park SoHee
Published by Yen Press

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Convinced that the royal couple’s relationship will improve if they consummate their marriage, the elders trap Chae-Kyung and Shin together overnight, hoping to create a romantic mood. Unfortunately for them this just makes things worse as Shin’s stubbornness causes him to let Chae-Kyung go on believing that he does not care for her and she has too much self respect to lose her virginity under those circumstances, regardless of her own feelings. Confronted by Yul the next morning, who pulls Chae-Kyung in for a hug that is too close for either her comfort or Shin’s, Shin buries himself further by piling on insults and hurtful comments that only cement Chae-Kyung’s pain and feelings of disgust. Not that Yul is in any better position with her by the end of this volume. Though Yul arranges for Chae-Kyung to visit a sick family member, his confession of love only helps open her eyes to his darker motivations, further proving to her that the royal family is one seriously screwed up bunch and making her own unrequited love even more painful as a result.

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Goong, Vol. 5
By Park So Hee
Published by Yen Press

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Goong is set in an alternate version of modern Korea in which the monarchy survived and continues on as in England or Japan. Chae-Kyung is an ordinary girl who happens to attend the same high school as the country’s current crown prince, Shin Lee. Though the prince is much admired and fairly dreamy, Chae-Kyung discovers early on that he is also a real jerk. Unfortunately for both of them, the royal family has decided that it is Shin Lee’s time to marry and after the only girl he proposes to turns him down, he’s bound to follow his family’s wishes and marry the granddaughter of his deceased grandfather’s best friend–a commoner who “treated him like a normal human being and not a king.” The granddaughter is, of course, Chae-Kyung.

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