Gorgeous art, anti-hero main characters and a serpentine plot... there is so much to love about this story.
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Alternate Names: Hoa chúc gươm, Hoa dữ gươm, Hoa và gươm, Blade and Flower, Hoa và gươm, La espada y la flor, La Lame sous la soie, Pedang dan Bunga, Pedang dan Kembang, The Sword and Flower, The Blade and The Flower, Илд ба цэцэг, บุปผาซ่อนดาบ, 刀与花, 剑与花, 劍與花, 雪辱の花, 칼과 꽃
Yeonjo used to have it all: a highly respected family, a kind brother, and a comfortable life. Now, with his father executed for high treason, his last kin dead, and damned to a lifetime of slavery, Yeonjo has nothing to lose. All that is left is vengeance, and his chance comes when the new governor assigned to the region is none other than Kwon Hee-ryang, the man who destroyed everything Yeonjo loved. Now, Yeonjo will do everything to get his revenge…even if it means getting in bed with his greatest enemy. Hiding a blade behind his beautiful smile, like silk hiding steel, Yeonjo waits for his moment to strike. But things are not going to be so easy…
You gotta give it to Lezhin… they timed the official translation of Steel Under Silk (formerly known as Blade and Flower) to coincide with Painter of the Night’s hiatus, and truly, I think those of us that like these stories would have perished in agony waiting for the fall return of POTN. And the comparisons between the two stories are easily made along multiple vectors, but it would be unfair to snob’s terrific story to spend this review doing that. First, snob’s art is terrific… utterly gorgeous. The line definition, the depth of the color palette around the characters, the darkness of some of the panels… the art is really a cut above.
Yeonjo is clearly the largest protagonist here. We follow his tragic story, and see the hardscrabble life of slavery he has been forced to live since the wholesale murder of his family and the loss of his privileges as a noble. And it is indeed rather dire tale and state… and his wispy, delicate appearance, his exploitative circumstances, they all highlight real steel that runs from his eyes right down his spine.
He is caught in a sexual relationship with one of the officials in the town where he lives, and while he finds this dude repugnant, Old Dude is very, very much in lust and want of Yeonjo. Yeonjo does what he must to survive and to save his brother, but at the opening of the story he’s had enough of Old Dude and only marginally improve his lot… resigned to the depredations of his existence, it appears as though he has little motivating him, and nothing to live for beyond some distant thought of revenge.
Until… his opportunity for revenge walks into his life. It’s Hee-ryang, the officer sent by the emperor to kill his family for treason. And all Yeonjo tells himself he wants, is a chance to pay Kwon Hee-ryang back. The set up seems rather straight-forward for romance fare, but snob’s execution is anything but. There is a delicacy to the telling of this rather rough story, meaning there is some real examination of Yeonjo and we get to see the dangerous, murderous, compelling Kwon Hee-ryang’s licentious, ruthless character pretty early on. And… Oof! Kwon Hee-ryang is definitely #RedFlagSeme… but he’s so deliciously, silkily wicked, yeah… I’m not going to be able to resist. Plus, in a rarity for manhwa and indeed all of BL, here is a character who is ‘swarthy’ and ‘darker hued’. I expect it’s to deliberately contrast Yeonnjo’s. milky, pale, alabaster pinkiness,but I for one appreciate the deviation. And snob sure draws him like beefcake… yum!
Yes, yes, we like our RedFlags around here…Kwon Hee-ryang is a step ahead of everyone, he misses nothing… and he is manipulative, cunning, indifferent it seems to anything other than his own immediate goals. At this point in the story’s release cycle, we can only hope some of that indifference melts away.
What we have here is an odd triangle here with Yeonjo, the unnamed official and Kwon Hee-ryang, and it’s interesting that Yeonjo can’t stand one and wants to kill the other. We know that Kwon Hee-ryang is the love in this lover’s tale, but gosh… it look like it’s going to be a treat watching how snob takes this from the open acrimony that exists now, into whatever it turns into. So far, aside from being pretty, none of these characters is ‘likable’ and no one has any ‘sweetness’. Expect no chibis. Edit: We’ve seen a few chibi like sightings… but zero cuteness.
Yeonjo used to have it all: a highly respected family, a kind brother, and a comfortable life. Now, with his father executed for high treason, his last kin dead, and damned to a lifetime of slavery, Yeonjo has nothing to lose. All that is left is vengeance, and his chance comes when the new governor assigned to the region is none other than Kwon Hee-ryang, the man who destroyed everything Yeonjo loved. Now, Yeonjo will do everything to get his revenge…even if it means getting in bed with his greatest enemy. Hiding a blade behind his beautiful smile, like silk hiding steel, Yeonjo waits for his moment to strike. But things are not going to be so easy…
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