"In the Dark" danmei novel
A while ago I bought the ebook version of the danmei novel "In the Dark" by Jin Shisi Chai.
Here's the official summary: In the Dark: Volume 1 : Jin Shisi Chai : 9781736500941 (bookdepository.com)
I only bought it as ebook because both volumes were in a sale but as I was reading the first volume, my eyes felt more and more tired. Then I decided to buy the physical books to finish reading it in a more comfortable way... but buying them was like a hide and seek game 😂
First, only vol. 1 was available, and being the "forever in a budget" and "completeist" person I am I thought "I won't buy it until I'm sure vol.2 is not out of print 😤"
I asked around in online stores and nothing. After a couple of weeks vol. 2 was finally back in stock everywhere...
... but now vol.1 was the one out of stock! LOL
Waited a bit more and now vol.1 is back in stock and I finally got it! now both books are flying home! :D
If you'd like to buy this 2 volumes long danmei novel, NOW is the moment. Small publisher means the books will come and go and won't be available whenever you want them.
About the story itself, I'm about to finish the first (e)book and I'm liking it a lot.
More than a light novel, it feels like a full, normal, book. Between flashbacks and present action it has a lot "to read", not sure if "plot" would be the right word since it includes flashbacks of secondary characters but 1/3 of the book already feels as if you read a full light novel content-wise.
The main focus of the story so far is the police cases, fully developed crimes to read and discover who is the culprit and the work our main cast does to capture the criminals. Behind this, is the main(?) plot, with some clues and flashbacks that tell you there's a bigger mystery to solve here about our main heroes. It can get a bit gory and violent at times too (which also makes you wonder "is this really a light novel? O.o")
As the danmei novel it is, it does include romance, but so far is still being taken as heavy bro-flirtring. Anyway, you're still well fed with many sensual scenes! ;P I wonder how "official" or "explicit" can their relationship get, I don't know how much censorship tolerates. Hmmm, to give you an idea, it feels more like a "shonen ai" shoujo manga, those where there are no female love interests and the two main boys obviously have something going on but it's never properly defined (examples: Yami no matsuei, Bloody Mary, Owari no Seraph (but this one is a shounen))
Characters feel alive and are easy to imagine (except for Shen Liufei, in my case, everytime I imagine him one way, the author says the oposite ^^U) and it has so much content everywhere that you'll get dizzy with all the names and situations presented! lol (also another reason I got the physical version, I'm sure I'll forget a lot of the story so being able to just grab the book any minute and re-read it all sounds great)
If you're ok with your BL not being focused in romance and like dark stories then I recommend it! :D