3.5 stars
Welcome to the world where "Gods" walk amongst humans ~ Welcome to the Underworld by Con Template
Author: Con Template
Format acquired: ebook
Source: Bought
Publication
date: December 10, 2012
Summary:
There is a secret society that presides over
every world. This society is so powerful that it can control a nation, strike
fear into the bravest of men and bring turmoil onto the most unsuspecting of
victims.
There is a dangerous society in Seoul that is plaguing Choi Yoori.
Her world is turned upside down when she is told that she bears a strong resemblance to the “Queen of the Underworld,” a notorious Underworld crime lord who died 3 years prior—the exact same time Yoori woke up with amnesia. The dangers of this new world is crashing in on her and Yoori's only grip on stability lies with the guidance from her crime lord boss and the secrets the Queen of the Underworld hid from her powerful society.
Welcome to a world where “Gods” walk amongst humans. Where the heartless and vengeful are revered like Kings and Queens—and the weak, the distracted are punished without mercy.
It is a cruel world and once you’re in, the only exit is death.
There is a dangerous society in Seoul that is plaguing Choi Yoori.
Her world is turned upside down when she is told that she bears a strong resemblance to the “Queen of the Underworld,” a notorious Underworld crime lord who died 3 years prior—the exact same time Yoori woke up with amnesia. The dangers of this new world is crashing in on her and Yoori's only grip on stability lies with the guidance from her crime lord boss and the secrets the Queen of the Underworld hid from her powerful society.
Welcome to a world where “Gods” walk amongst humans. Where the heartless and vengeful are revered like Kings and Queens—and the weak, the distracted are punished without mercy.
It is a cruel world and once you’re in, the only exit is death.
Review:
When I
found out that this book’s setting was in South Korea, it definitely piqued my
interest. And finding out that this was a mafia book heightened my interest. I’ve
always been
fascinated over mafia books so it’s no wonder that I immediately read this one
after knowing about it.
Welcome to the Underworld is a book about a secret
underworld society or what we call the mafia. The story revolves around Choi
Yoori, the main character of the story who resembles the “Queen of the
Underworld” who died 3 years ago—the exact same time Yoori got her amnesia. She
meets one of the prominent Kings of the Underworld, Kwon Tae Hyun, and that’s
where all the batshit started.
I liked the action scenes in this book though there
weren’t that many to begin with, which was a bit disappointing since I expected
more because when you read a mafia book, there’s got to be a lot of fight
scenes but it seems like that’s not the case in this one. It’s understandable
though because I view Welcome to the
Underworld as the topping in a whole chocolate cake. The world building in
this book was shaky. It’s slow paced. Don’t expect to know all the inner
workings of the Underworld when you read this. The main character, Yoori, wasn’t
that exposed in the mafia world in this one. Most of the time, she was being
kept in the dark. I think this book focused more on introducing the characters
and their backgrounds than the world building. I assumed that with how this
book ended, the world building will happen in the next book.
Aside from the action scenes, I also liked the side
characters specifically Jae Won and Kang Min. When the connection between these
two characters was revealed, I felt so attached to them. They’re such precious
characters and I am looking forward to see more of them in the 2nd book.
It’s quite opposite with how I felt with Tae Hyun. His character made me so
annoyed, though there were some instances that I would like him but majority of
the book, I hated his suave-ness. I’m the black sheep among the sea of Tae Hyun’s
admirers.
What else did I like in this book? Oh. I loved
Yoori’s sass. And also her internal monologues. Those were fun to read! Aside
from those, there’s nothing else special about her character that appealed to
me. I’m more attached to the side
characters than the main ones.
Overall, Welcome
to the Underworld left me with question marks and attachment towards the side
characters. With how things ended in this book, I’m sensing that the 2nd
book will contain more actions and answers to the questions that are floating
in my head right now. I’ll certainly read the next one.
Here are some quotes from the book that stuck in my mind
"That's all that you are in this world. You're
just a girl. A girl amongst a society of people trained to be Gods and killers."
"How can you make such a promise?" Yoori
smile sleepily before answering her own question. "Because you're a King
in this world?"
Tae Hyun smiled. "Because I am a God in this world--because they will
all kneel before me soon. And when they kneel before me, I will have them fall
to their knees for you as well."
