No shade to anyone enjoying this series! People have been telling me to read this for a while, and it's been on my "want to read" list for a while. I'm a sucker for nontoxic couples and starting families!
But that said, I did find it kinda..meh? Geumryang doesn't really have much personality to me, kinda just breezing through the story without much distinct traits. It was hard to enjoy him, plus the whole crux of the story is him and Taesun having a baby, but they don't feel super important for most of the main story. Taesun himself said that he didn't really think about them much, and even IMPORTANT conversations like the fact that both he and Geumryang were treating the children as transactional (Geumryang needed them for the mountain, and Taesun was just having them for the health of his grandpa) are quickly brushed aside.
Then there's the whole grief storyline that made me drop. I get the message they're trying to tell, but I find it very dissatisfying for a work of fiction. Taesun wanted his grandfather to live since he's all he had, but when Geumryang starts to die, Taesun realizes he has to let his grandfather go. His grandfather JUST got back from the hospital like 5 chapters ago. Why did it have to be an either/or thing? I was very bummed out. Like, the big deal about this story was making a deal so his grandfather could live--but the moment Taesun gets him back, he has to let him go? I'm also not a fan of the unspoken idea that essentially Taesun doesn't need him anymore, that having a lover and kids fulfills the loneliness he had. That's very devastating to read, especially since a lot of BLs I've read have a habit of not really involving male friends/family unless they're plot-centric--and when they are, they're usually problematic, or in this case, dead.
I know his grandpa couldn't live forever, but considering the whole start of this story was Taesun getting him back, I don't see why he had to die over the course of the story. Had to bow out.
No shade to anyone enjoying this series! People have been telling me to read this for a while, and it's been on my "want to read" list for a while. I'm a sucker for nontoxic couples and starting families!
But that said, I did find it kinda..meh? Geumryang doesn't really have much personality to me, kinda just breezing through the story without much distinct traits. It was hard to enjoy him, plus the whole crux of the story is him and Taesun having a baby, but they don't feel super important for most of the main story. Taesun himself said that he didn't really think about them much, and even IMPORTANT conversations like the fact that both he and Geumryang were treating the children as transactional (Geumryang needed them for the mountain, and Taesun was just having them for the health of his grandpa) are quickly brushed aside.
Then there's the whole grief storyline that made me drop. I get the message they're trying to tell, but I find it very dissatisfying for a work of fiction. Taesun wanted his grandfather to live since he's all he had, but when Geumryang starts to die, Taesun realizes he has to let his grandfather go. His grandfather JUST got back from the hospital like 5 chapters ago. Why did it have to be an either/or thing? I was very bummed out. Like, the big deal about this story was making a deal so his grandfather could live--but the moment Taesun gets him back, he has to let him go? I'm also not a fan of the unspoken idea that essentially Taesun doesn't need him anymore, that having a lover and kids fulfills the loneliness he had. That's very devastating to read, especially since a lot of BLs I've read have a habit of not really involving male friends/family unless they're plot-centric--and when they are, they're usually problematic, or in this case, dead.
I know his grandpa couldn't live forever, but considering the whole start of this story was Taesun getting him back, I don't see why he had to die over the course of the story. Had to bow out.