Customer Reviews

Apothecarius Argentum: VOL 01

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I first saw this product on Amazon, I was excited to see it come out. The summary sounds good and the ability to adapt to poisons sounded like an interesting twist. Once I got the book, I was disappointed, the book matches the description only in the barest of ways.

First of all, his name is Argent, not Argentum. He wasn't raised for the purpose of being a food tester. His very touch was poisonous when he first met the princess (which is a nice scene to read). There's a bunch of small points I could pick with the description, but that would be giving away some of the plot.

The one unique part about the book I like is how Argent is an Apothecary who works with poisons to cure. It's a unique angle for the male character. The princess is likable, if not a bit too naive.

I gave it four stars because while it is a nice story, the story just doesn't grab you. I'm fully willing to wait the months between releases and wouldn't be surprised if I don't buy the next one right away.

Argent was a slave growing up. When he was a child he was purchased by the King of Beazol bought Argent for his daughter, Primula, to act as her poison taster. After a misunderstanding between her and him gets him fired he goes to work as an apothecary elsewhere in the city. Years pass an another poisoning incident occurs and he is sent for to administer medication for it. He and Primula bond once again and she hires him to work as the official Royal Apothecary. But there is something off about Argent; he is a basilisk, an assassin fed with poison to minimize the effects of poison and also trained from birth in the deadly arts. there is a catch to this training, of course. Argent's touch can kill people. But what happens when he starts to fall in love... with the princess Primula?

I liked this series a lot more than I thought I would. I work in the manga department in an independent book store and this has been kicking around since it arrived, virtually unnoticed by yours truly. This is a shame, because (as often happens) it's a series that has flown under the radar until it surfaced on a pull list. I took it home and read it and absolutely adored it, and now it is my mission to save this series from the cull list. It's so good. It has a great story, especially for a shojo storyline, and the imagery is gorgeous. I also like the character development, it's very compelling. I have to save it now. It's too much fun.

Unlike the previous reviewer, the story got my attention and made me think about the story for a long time after I finished reading the first book. It got to the point that I had to get the rest of the available volumes. In fact, it's the first shoujo manga I've collected in a long while (the last one was Lovely Complex). Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for storylines about star-crossed lovers, but I genuinely love the romantic conflict in this story. I find the characters more mature and intelligent than your average high-school shoujo manga. The princess is naive, yes, but this actually works for the story because this gives a chance for character development. Her character does develop in the later volumes. She may be naive, but she is likable and NOT helpless (how many shoujo mangas have such useless heroines that you want to strangle and throw them off a cliff?). The romance is weaved into political and courtly intrigue, and readers will share the pain and dilemma of Argent and Princess Primula in their quest to be together. The obstacles in their way feel very real and not contrived (another point that sets it apart from other run-of-the-mill shoujo mangas).

My only regret is that in Japan, this manga ("Yakushi Arjan" in Japanese) is not published by the more high-profile shoujo manga publishing houses such as Shogakukan (Flower Comics), and Hakusensha (Hana to Yume). So it has less exposure and as such is not as popular as the mangas from the more popular publishers. I actually had difficulty finding this title when I was in Japan. What a shame, since Apothecarius Argentum has a ton more story and believable romance than most of the more popular titles.