khyie's Reviews (267)

 I loved this book so much.  El's sarcasm and rage, Orion the lemming, this monstrous school that literally eats you up if you aren't incredibly careful but is still, somehow, better than the alternative.  There were so many interesting monsters and wow are some of the people here awful, but the choices are hard and I think El was incredible in her struggles and her ability to rise above the problems surrounding her.  That cliffhanger at the end! I can't wait for the next book. 

Turn off pretty much every single brain cell you have and don't ask any questions.  It's cute brainless fluff full of plot holes and nonsense.

I'm only 12 chapters in and I'm already uncomfortable with the basic relationship information.  The MC was so traumatized over his initial encounter with the ML pretending to be a girl that interacting with men makes him literally physically ill.  Meanwhile the ML is obsessed with finding him and had built shrines to him.  He is also somehow a phenomenally good player and exceptional guild leader to the number 1 guild on the server despite only playing a half an hour a day.   Also the MC is somehow able to be better than literally everyone else despite having lower tier weapons and had never worked in a group and I'm sorry but... I've only started and I'm already tired.  No thanks. 

I'm super torn on this one.  On the one hand, it was cute af. It's trying to say something about omegaverse gender dynamics but kind of fails to stick the landing.  That being said, at least it's trying to say something.  And these two are disgustingly fluffily into each other.  Most of the side characters are generic or supportive though one the MC's roommates, Wang Tong, is difficult to like.  I think I understand that his concern was supposed to hint towards the eventual reveal but he often came off as one of those asshole "friends" who tries to sabotage your relationship because he doesn't think you're good enough for the person you're dating (for the record, almost everyone thinks the MC is not worth dating the ML and expresses it so fuck all supposed friends in this story).
The real problem tthough lies in what the translator is repeatedly trying to warn you about without spoilers.  The ML is manipulative AF.  He lies to and gaslights the MC multiple times, forgets how harmful his behavior could be, and is almost entirely unapologetic about it except that he got caught.  Even the MC is clear he's only making the apology because he got caught and if the circumstances were to repeat, he would do it again because he thinks it's easier to ask for forgiveness than have a healthy, trusting relationship.
This isn't to say the feelings aren't there and the conversation ends there.
 I didn't really forget that the ML was supposed to be manipulative and I certainly love me a manipulative ML every now and then.  I think it genuinely was more how indifferent he was to why the MC was upset when he finally had proof that made it more alarming.  Part of that is coming from not remembering what conversation the MC is talking about but it still felt gross that the MC was clearly upset and the ML was making dismissive jokes at first.
Overall, I did enjoy this story and knowing that this was going wrap up as a HE, I thought the conversation they had regarding it was good.  The feelings were definitely there and the reasons the ML did what he did do make sense (I was in your head MC! I had front row seats to how you felt about the ML being an alpha!), but he could've handled it better, especially when confronted.
Sweet with a sour note running through.

I kept thinking surely the ML won't continue being a massive dick throughout the whole story but uh... yeah.  He really did.  He had a small epiphany finally that he mightve been the absolute worst but once the MC forgave him, he went back to being a dick for the most part and was immensely controlling of who he was allowed to interact with and where he could go.  The author wrote an extra chapter to try and make it clear that this was all okay because the MC realized it was for his own protection, like he didn't supposedly have good intuition for other people.  It just seemed like they got a lot of rightful criticism for the ML and tried to wash it off.   Don't recommend unless you like super controlling, mildly physically abusive and hostile MLs who do nothing but treat their shou like shit then get mad when they try to hang around people who actually seem to like them.

Incredibly engaging characters, an insanely wild plot, and heaps of fun.  I laughed a lot.  The introduction of Hedgehog was great and brought a fun dynamic to the the cast.
It does still have that incredibly annoying thing that Chinese novels do with disabilities where they get magically cured but for the most part, I felt this was probably one of the best stories for making the disabilities a fact of the MC's life that needed to be continually accounted for.  While an impediment and the reality of how other people might treat someone with his disabilities was still there, it felt less ableist and hateful about these than these novels usually do.  It was very refreshing.  Also it was literally the last chapter or so that it happened in, so that probably helped although it still was very much "here's something that needed to happen for a true happy ending" which is a bummer.
The poor protagonist gong and shou in this book... they were the most pitiful characters. 

I was interested at first but it kept getting more repetitive and boring
Also the repeated emphasis that the 28 yo ML was an old man was tiresome. Did a 14 yo write this?