Kusuriya no Hitorigoto
The Apothecary Diaries

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I highly recommend reading this series to anyone who liked the anime. I've currently read five volumes, and it still remains very interesting. It initially caught my interest after watching the anime, and the novels feel much the same. If you liked the anime, then you'll probably also like the novel. The novels are structured as a collection of short stories that follow a detective format, centered around medicinal themes. While the short stories might seem disconnected at first, they each subtly contribute to and advance the main plot. This makes for nice stopping points, but it can sometimes be a bit frustrating not to ... know the outcomes of an investigation immediately. Instead, it often only becomes apparent much later in the novel(s), even if it seemed inconsequential at the time. This is part of what keeps the story engaging for me; the other part is to see how the relationship between the main character, Maomao, and Jinshi develops over time.

The setting is an unspecified era of fictional Chinese history, somewhere with an imperial family. I can't comment on the historical accuracy, but besides the mystery-solving, I find reading about the workings of the palace and Maomao's daily life in and around the place to be a lot of fun to read as well. The other characters are also engaging to read about, but I'll omit them to prevent spoilers.

Overall, this is definitely one of my favorite series. The story is very well written, the characters are interesting, and the English translation I'm reading is great as well. At the time of writing this review, there are nine volumes translated already, so there's plenty of material available if you intend to read in English.

This series is great at telling an over-arching narrative. It has some soft mystery vibes and a large focus on political intrigue.
It's probably the best LN I've read in terms of narrative focus. It's hard to really put in words, since in the first place, the purpose of writing is to take the reader from one point to another in a coherent way. I think all I can really say about it, is that it's well-paced and leaves just enough for the reader to be satisfied but still wanting more. Which sounds bad, but I mean it in the best way possible.
Despite being mostly slice ... of life for the most part, it reads more like a mystery novel, where information stacks on itself until it reaches a big reveal of an arc. I would not consider it a romance novel, even if there is a male lead interested in the female mc. The female mc is very charming and has basically none of it.
The writing is very laid back, but well-written in terms of pacing. It can go off on a complete tangent with a side story, and still leave the reader feeling like the story's taken a few steps forward by the end of it. And later on, almost all of it proves to be important in a way the reader didn't see before, in a way I personally don't feel with most LN.

It probably won't click with everyone, it's not anything too special or particularly mind-blowing, but it's really well-written and unabashedly what it is.

Definitely worth reading, currently at volume 12, love how everything takes a new perspective and start coming together each time, the plot twists make the story really enjoyable. Sometimes you might find what is happening a bit slow, just to realize everything had a purpose.
The new characters included now and then really surprise you when you least expected, the mystery or simplicity behind someone is never an indicator of what is about to come. The presence of strong female characters continues throughout the development of the narrative, which I personally really appreciated, especially considering the time period in which the story is set.
Every interaction between ... Maomao and Jinshi might leave you wanting more even but you can expect that it won’t be the focus, however at the end the plot is enough to keep you reading without realizing the time passing by.