Goong

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If you have watched the drama, don't skip this manhwa. It's a lot different and it definitely has its own outstanding charms.

Still, having watched the drama first, I was surprised at how different Shin was in the original source. Here, he was your usual arrogant and spoiled rich kid - whereas in the drama, he was cold, more controlled and quite reserved.

Chae-Gyung, however, was still your normal and average heroine whom you can easily empathize with. Having her life changed like that, I can actually feel how lonely and miserable she was inside the palace. Not to mention that in comparison to the drama, ... the royal household in the manhwa is really strict and much more suffocating.

Anyway, I'll stop mentioning the drama and focus on the manhwa now.

If there's something worthy of praise, it has to be the originality. It's not easy to think of possible scenarios that could occur in AU Korea - and it's really amazing how the author illustrated these "what-ifs."

The art here is really gorgeous and it improves in every volume. I really like how detailed the scenery and the clothes were. The characters also become more and more attractive especially Shin and Yul.

Now as for the plot and characters - I guess what I love the most in the manhwa is that you get to see how the protagonists fall in love. It was slow and gradual yet very convincing.

Having brought up by such an environment, Shin was first introduced as a stuck-up and selfish jerk who's not capable of caring for others. When he and Chae Gyung were forced to get along, he begins to feel emotions that were new to him and eventually realize that he's actually missing a lot of things in his life.

It's also the same for Chae Gyung. She was a hyper and cheerful girl who was suddenly thrown into an unwanted marriage. But then, the more time she spent with Shin, the more she got to know and understand him - which eventually leads to her pitying him. And in which such pity turns to love.

Their relationship made me feel a rollercoaster of emotions: I laughed, get angry and cried along with them and the situations they get themselves into. It's true that the story got draggy - but then, I didn't mind it that much cause I did enjoy the ride and it made me like the main characters (yes, their flaws included).

I guess the only disappointing thing was the ending. It was left out in the open and there were still a few unresolved plot points. But since the manhwa did spend a lot of time building up the characters and their relationship, you can already assume that it still end in a positive outcome.

Also, I find it hilarious that the author makes fun of shoujo/drama/romance novel stereotypes. I mean, even Hana Yori Dango was mentioned!

Overall, the author did a great job in balancing the comedy, drama and romance. Recommended!

I started with goong by watching the live action drama, falling in love with the story and needing to read it till the end. The concept is a fantastic one that you find a lot in Kdramas and manhwas of a fictional monarchy. this story imparticular deals with a girl becoming a princess, to a prince who she clearly is the opposite of and having her free spirit being contatined by palace rules. This story is also about the love triangles that form resulting in scandal, death and some serious aplogizing.
i loved the way the characters were drawn here, and especially the detail ... to the eyes and lips. I found that the structures were okay, but the people and clothing drawn was really good.
As previously mentioned I fell in love with the story and watching the characters develop, however I felt the author drew it out for a long time. It really could have ended a vloume or two before it did. Parts were very boring and static, and the overall theme of the manhwa did not change for about 5 volumes. the side stories seemed to really be worthless and the author admitted to wasted pages in the 2nd to last volume. I really felt that because it dragged on without any real new development of the story the author rushed through the end, making it unsatisfactory. in 2010 this was one of my favorite reads easily earning it a 9, however a poor ending gets it a 8.
I still will suggest it, because who wouldn't want their parents to secretly engage them to a HOT prince?

enjoy.

*SPOILER-FREE*

I believe the downfall of this manhwa was its poor characters, repeated plot structure, and an extremely drawn out story which quickly became boring.

The beginning of the series was actually really cultivating. Although there are many stories of forced marriage between royalty, I quickly warmed up to this one. I saw huge potential and since there were many chapters I was expecting a great plot with a lot of character development. But I was wrong. Around halfway through the story I noticed that I became very agitated and annoyed while reading this. I couldn't figure out why. I continued on. Eventually I figured out ... that I began to hate every single character. All the characters were whiny little bitches who had no backbone. They ridiculously continued to make the same horribly stupid mistakes again and again. This would not be a problem if it was one or two characters, but it was the whole cast. I have to give props to Hyo-rin for becoming my most hated character that I've ever seen. Even with these horrible characters the series still had a chance to succeed. If there had been only 50 chapters the manhwa could have been great. Instead the plot dragged on repeating the same plot ideas over and over again to the point of me not even wanting to read anymore. As the story dragged on I began to hate the series more and more until I got to the conclusion, which I thought was horrible.

This manhwa was a huge disappointment and I honestly wish I had never wasted my time reading it. I would definitely not recommend it to any type of reader.

Story- 5
Art-8
Character-1
Enjoyment-6
Overall-5