By no means bad, but I liked the first book better. I was waiting for the heart-to-heart conversation where Lori's mom realized she was being too hard on her/living vicariously through her, but it never came.

In a way, I think it's relatable for kids who are going through difficult situations with their parents. You may never get an apology. 

I enjoyed this deconstruction of the typical hero’s story. There are more colors painted on this canvas than what you usually see.

First, it’s dark and complicated with the paradox of love and hate. Everything is messy and complex, the cast of characters included. Do the ends justify the means? When we idolize people what parts do we fail to see? How can one-sided thinking create huge blind spots?

The story begins slowly with Lazlo’s childhood and a haughty prince, but it’s worth holding onto until you can get to the meat of the story. I was surprised this wasn’t Adult Fantasy with some of its implications and sexual content. Oh, and Minya? As my father would say, “that one’s a pistol.” 

Overall, this was something different for me, and I had a great reading experience.  It was DREAMY.

Lovely artwork. Every single character is BEAUTIFUL. This Webtoon excels at creating a visually-appealing art style and fun paneling. The men look so dashing and princely. 5 stars for the artwork!

I think the story started well, but you had to have some major suspension of disbelief when it came to racial issues. I've no idea how Sybil was this chummy to white people in 1842 (mind you before slavery was abolished in the US). 

Mr. Doran's motivation behind his helpful nature didn't make enough sense. He was way too understanding. I'm not saying I wanted there to be racist events or slurs, I'm just saying there was a never an event where he (or Estelle had an epiphany). I truly thought one of the plot twists was going to be that he was passing for white. Because then everything would've made sense. But the story wasn't offensive, so there's that. It tried to acknowledge Transatlantic enslavement and genocide of indigenous people in the US.

Estelle is the same heroine we've seen too many times before, but she wasn't bad. +1 point because she didn't do the cliché cut her hair to show she's serious trope. Heath Langley was my favorite <3. Ending spoiler:

I like the twist that showed the reason Estelle's relationship was strained with Isaac is because of herself.

also, Guillermo and Sybil was a bit too insta-lovey. Heath and Estelle worked because they were similar and had banter and motivations and whatnot. Guilly was just too enamored over Bee at first sight. It felt the slightest bit cheap. And why does Bee want to protect him??? If anyone needs protection, she does as a literal runaway slave. >.>

So did the resolution between Doran and Estelle. I think the story had to wrap up quickly. A few more pages or a season 2, and it could've ended stronger.

The ending was very abrupt but not bad overall. Thaddeus was an interesting villain because his motivations made sense.

 At first, I found some of the paneling a bit confusing and the line width would get randomly thin in some parts, but the emotional aspect hooked me. I want to see Stud’s journey to making friends and mastering his powers. The ocean kingdom seems like a fun setting, so I would like to learn more about this world. 

 Hmm, I liked this despite it being violent and gory (think: Squid Game). Body horror galore! After establishing the setting, we are immediately thrust into an elimination round/tournament plot. Action sequences and character designs were especially niceeeee, but I felt bombarded by how many characters were introduced.

I really want to get inside the main character's head, Oumi. She's storing a lot of trauma and it seems as if it's about to burst. Another character Salam is a detached butthole (not the literal body part lol; I’m saying he’s a jerk), but he’s got my interest. He already seems like a fun foil to Oumi. Bensikin is the obligatory annoying character, but he fulfills his role well enough, I guess.

I would read a volume 2. 

Yet again I’ve been fooled by a beautiful cover.

It is not my intention to be overly harsh because writing is hard, but these are my true feelings. I’m a completionist at heart, so it has to be a lot for me to throw in the towel.
 
Unfortunately, I didn’t mesh well with the writing style. We’ve immortals, magic, DRAGONS, and court politics, but GOLLY do we have a boring bland MC. Very rarely do I throw out the Mary Sue title because it’s disheartening to hear as a writer, but Xingyin feeling sad for her parents is not a personality. It’s giving they are an orphan, so now they have built-in character development. She’s pretty, plays music, has magic, and can fight. Oh, but her flaw is she doesn’t know how to use her magic well. Okay, but she eventually learns, so now what?

Even during Part I where Xingyin decides to accept the cattiness of those girls, it just felt like she was going through the motions. She’s upset, but she tries to hold her head high. She’s sad because of her parents’ situation. Okay. That’s expected. Sad stuff happens character sad. Bad stuff happens character disappointed. I just … I don’t know.

Action and war play a part here as well. But every big bad villain felt cartoony. Some of the best villains you understand where they’re coming from or at least they make a worthy opponent/good foil to the hero. Xingyin "struggled" with the various ones, but none ever felt satisfactory.

And the relationship between Xingyin and Liwei is literal day-old stale bread. I generally enjoy childhood friends or royal character falls in love with MC who is of a lower class/not royalty. The author had the foundation to build their relationship until she started telling us they were close and these feelings they supposedly had. I felt no chemistry, ma’am. Maybe some geometry as best.

when we had the fakeout that Xingyin killed Liwei... like girl, I FELT NOTHING.

Love interest #2 Army Dude was slightly better than Liwei, but I don’t why he fell for Xingyin either. She’s not that interesting nor is he to be honest. Major Wenzhi spoiler:

Wenzhi being a demon felt abrupt. There was little to no foreshadowing at that. How was he talking he doesn't like that side of him that threatened the merpeople but then he's like secretly evil??? chile, is this a rebrand?

  The characters felt like chess pieces that just had to move to from one area to another to keep the story going. None gave deep connections, whether friendship or romantic. I don’t even care about the girl’s doggone mama, which is what the story hinged on.

Because I didn’t enjoy the reading experience, none of this was entertaining and it just dragged along. Many of my mutuals enjoyed this story, but I couldn’t see it in that light. Overall, this story wasn’t for me. Some of this may be my own personal enjoyment tainting the story, or the fact I’m more inclined to character-driven stories. I could’ve liked this more if I had seen it as a soap opera or an animation.

Cute slice of life without too much conflict. Really enjoyed the focus on healthy communication. Always happy to see Webtoons adapted into print. 

Ending thoughts:

Avery was annoying. I feel like they were subtly hinting that Molly had feelings for Sian, but who knows. Ray and Laurie gave more friend vibes to me.</spoiler

I'm honestly still enjoying this series. Itsuomi is great at communicating and confronting issues with tact. His dynamic with Oushi is charming; he’s not jealous but he’s made it clear he likes Yuki. But at the same time, he’s not deterring Oushi if he wants to address his feelings. They have such a big brother guides his little brother vibe.

Without delving into the pandemic too much, we see a glimpse at the hurdle wearing masks puts on those who rely on reading lips too. Being deaf is not all that Yuki is, but it definitely affects her life in ways some people don’t think about. 

I would like to see what happens next since there's little to no conflict.