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the complete review - fiction

Shift

by
Cho Yeeun

general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author

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Our Assessment:

B : a bit simplistically black and white, but with enough to it

See our review for fuller assessment.

  From the Reviews:

• "This emphasis on emotions and abrupt, fast-paced action contributes to the novel’s uncanny atmosphere. (...) In just over 200 pages, the short novel weaves a story of crime and revenge through concise yet dynamic language. The action sequences are combined with an exploration of the nature of evil, with both protagonists and antagonists given a voice." - Kateryna Shabelnyk, Asian Review of Books

Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.

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The complete review's Review:

       Yi Chang is a detective in a small, rural town. He could certainly have gotten a better posting in a larger city, but he has his reasons for being here -- specifically his niece, Chaerin, who is suffering from the same fatal illness her mother had. Not that the local hospital can provide better care than they could elsewhere -- but, given Chaerin's condition and outlook, it's as good as any and there are other, related reasons to be here. Yi Chang knows that the only way she can be saved has nothing to do with the medical care she receives.
       Yi Chang's sister suffered from the same terrible disease, and in their desperation her family basically joined a cult, following a fraudster who seemed to be able to perform miracles. While the cult-leader was certainly a greedy fraud, he was onto something, as Shift has a supernatural element, an ability that trafficked boys Chan and then his younger brother Lan possess that allows them to basically pull any disease or injury out of someone -- albeit at a high cost. Yi Chang's sister was cured -- only to die tragically in an accident -- and Yi Chang is desperate to find those who healed her before time runs out for his niece.
       The three-part novel has Yi Chang finally track down those involved with the curing of his sister, and learn what was behind it. The 'shifting' power is, of course, a problematic one. Chan is dead, and his brother Lan has done everything he could to avoid being put in a position to use the power he now has. But Yi Chang is desperate -- and he is not the only one, politician Pak Yongseok equally desperate to put the power to use, if for more selfish reasons. And those that took advantage of and abused Chan and Lan years earlier still see opportunity here, and have no qualms about doing whatever is necessary for them to benefit.
       The dark side of this life-giving power and why Lan wants to steer clear of using it is made clear in the glimpses of the past offered here -- but things come to a head (repeatedly), and now there is perhaps also the possibility of seeing justice done. But can Lan and Yi Chang thread the needle, given the moral complexity and dubiousness of using the power ? Yi Chang is willing to sacrifice himself, for example -- but Chaerin would be left all alone in the world without him.
       Cho juggles the moral dilemmas behind what is, after all, a zero-sum game, quite well as the situation shifts between who has, or seems to have, the upper hand. At the extremes -- Chaerin on the one hand, the bad guys (there are several) on the other -- the characters are painted very black and pure white, but the difficult middle ground Chan and then Lan have to try to navigate -- they are largely forced to act, knowing the costs -- does at least make for some solid narrative tension and wrenching moral choices.
       Can there be a happy ending to such a story ? Cho leads her protagonists down an interesting course -- making things a bit too easy (or hard) on occasion, as when a bad guy isn't properly incapacitated (which really shouldn't have been that hard to do) or when Yi Chang takes his eyes off the ball, so to speak, before he should, but for the most part offers a fairly gripping read. The main characters -- haunted by their personal demons and the deaths of loved ones (Lan's brother; Yi Chang's sister) -- are interesting enough as well, though there are a few odd choices as well, like why Yi Chang doesn't spend more time with Chaerin when he has the chance to (especially since he's happy enough to neglect his official duties ... well, pretty much all the time).

- M.A.Orthofer, 24 June 2026

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Links:

• Honford Star publicity page
• Kyobo publicity page

• Asian Review of Books
• K-Lit
• Life she Loves
• Punk-Ass Book Jockey

• Teddy Bears Never Die

• See Index of Korean literature

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About the Author:

       South Korean author Cho Yeeun (조예은) was born in 1993.

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© 2026 the complete review

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