The Apothecary Diaries, Vol.5 {novel}

i can definitely see why a lot of people were put off by what happened in the epilogue, but it's just messy romance imo. (and frankly a lil kinky; kink fantasies rarely match reality's kink best practices.) maomao does not react like someone who is experiencing intimate partner violence. it's certainly not a kind of interaction i would want to see happen irl without prior negotiation but that doesn't always make sense in fiction, especially fiction that isn't really about realistic/unheightened relationships.

it's totally fine if this isn't your brand of fantasy, but consuming media is not activism.

That epilogue really isn’t it chief, and it’s weird to read other people’s reviews and basically romanticize it. I know about the whole mistranslation, here’s the thing, what about the fucking picture? That’s not a mistranslation. Unless the publisher comes out and says they made a mistake or the author addresses it then I truly don’t believe it.

TBC