The Deer King

Official synopsis: Van, a former soldier made slave, toils away endlessly in a salt mine. An expected chance at liberation drops in his lap when a pack of infected dogs pass through, killing everyone but him and a young girl called Yuna. Van hopes to make a peaceful life for himself now that he’s escaped. However, the disease that cleared out the mine is rapidly spreading, placing him and his ward at the center of a conflict greater than any the world has ever seen. ========== There are actually two intertwining stories with two protagonists in this novel. The synopsis above tells one of them and theother is told from the POV of a doctor/medical researcher who investigates this pandemic, or plague if you prefer a more fantasy-themed word. He is also responsible to locate patient zero and ultimately develop a vaccine to end this catastrophe once and for all. Ah yes, everyone hates vaccines, just like our real world... 😂 But it shows this fantasy world is actually quite advanced in medical science especially when it comes to microbiology, virology, and toxicology. However, magic does not exist in this world which is quite a huge bummer. Instead, we got a lot of intriguing religions in this world ranges from those hardcore "Don't question. Just believe!" religious fanatics, to ancient and indigenous ones like mysticism and shamanism. World building is the best feature of this novel. The author took it very seriously to set up everything about the lore and history of this world, and those (pseudoscience) facts on healthcare and medical science knowledge. It's magical and mesmerising. It has a very nice exotic feel like Avatar (American movie) or Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Japanese anime), and I enjoyed it so much! The world really feels magical even without the presence of magic! Though this story is about a pandemic/plague, it isn't like any zombie apocalypse story that is full of screaming and running and dying. 😂 It explores more on the philosophical and social issues of this catastrophe. I particularly like those heated discussions on the two opposing medical practices which resemble our world's "Western Medicine vs Chinese Medicine" debate. Like, pharmaceutical drugs or herbal medicine? The surgical table or a yoga mat? It is quite thought provoking really! So we have two protagonists, and they are like a polar opposite to each other. Van, the slave, is physically strong and a great fighter but also a very compassionate and caring person when he takes care of animals and children. Hossal, the medical researcher, is well-educated, accomplished, and smart but he is also very arrogant, insensitive, and cold towards people. This has a very balancing effect while reading, since their POVs are told in alternate chapters. But you could also lose track of the flow because their stories are told in alternate chapters. 😅 My biggest complaint is this novel is notoriously slow-paced! It's so slow that I kept spacing out quite a lot of times. It's true the author did an amazing job in world building but there are also times it felt like reading a thesis. But no, I didn't mean plain "info dump". The author is actually very clever to do her world building in an interesting and captivating way. It's just obscenely L--O--N--G... I did enjoy the whole novel despite constantly spacing out... 😅 It's worth checking if being slow burn isn't an issue to you. But lastly I need to give you a big heads-up: Heads-up: This novel has an open ending, an ending that is so open that it will torture the souls of those who prefer something conclusive. Be warned!