It's a bit hard to follow all the side plots under the main umbrella. There's Alice and Ed, Alice and Aaron, Aaron and Durua/Aurora, then Nocton and Alice, and Nocton and Durua/Aurora, not to mention we have all these additionalside characters that have their stories shared as well. From reading it till chap 50, I can understand the concept they were going for, but it's all too much in just the beginning of the Manhwa. There are too many character storylines in just the beginning, which makes it easy to drop from its complexity. If you enjoy multi-thickening plots, then maybe you'd enjoy this, but this is definitely a story for a more honed section of developed literature. There are occasional plot holes, but theyre minor so it doesnt take away from the story, and some get fixed further into it. But it's definitely too complex for the first 50 chapters.
I would also like to HEAVILY EXPRESS there are farrr too many misunderstandings that could be cleared up within a single word. Reading through the first little portion, its hard for me to continue because I'm under the impression everything is just going to be misunderstood anyway. Valrose does eventually start receiving some sense to think further into things, but all the characters are constantly avoiding subjects to clear things up, or even hinder their own ability to clear mistakes up, and her sense of clarity just started happening close to chap. 48. I'm not the type to stop a story mid-way, regardless on how bad it is, but when I'm at chap. 150, I will be back upon further review lol
Im absolutely baffled I managed to read it all. I'm a writer and an artist. The art was great, well-made. The storyline is off-putting though. The concept the creator had was an amazing concept, but the delivery was brutal.
Death, then kissing, then not a single break for the fl or the ml. I kept reading hoping that it would get better, but it just doesnt. After chapter 60ish, it just reigns chaos. The ending isn't even complete but I'd be content if I ended at 100 chapters.
I feel bad cause it looks like it couldve been amazing, but I lost hope. If you're starting to read Manwha or Manhua, this is definitely a book to save for later. Not one to read first unless you're not easily impressioned.
Bro, what did I just read- This is going to be one long ass review, buckos.
After reading until chap 76, heres my honest review for if you're looking to get into it:
There's very little depth to the actual world building, character develoment, character interaction and connection, as well as no depth to the problem solving or justaposition. Everything came easy, and the story was sloppy with plotholes from the get go.
We understand that monsters and human have beef; great, why? There is only a brief mention of why monsters/humans/demons either don't interact or hate each other, but there's no exploration to the cause and effects of this worlds history. Why do demons sit back and not interfere? Why was the contract between Monsters and Demons written? Why do human hate the idea of monsters so much? What triggered this divide between categories of living things?
Not to mention each monster/demon has it's own character traits from myths or legends; and that wasn't part of their personality or embodiment. Dragons are commonly known as extremely territorial beings in fantasy, so to have Kassir agree so readily to a lot of the Fmc whims felt like the easiest approach to finishing the story. If only he had more pride as a dragon, sigh.
As for character development, man was this rough. Kande grows up hating/fearing monsters because of his past. Great, going so good. He wanted to get rid of all monsters and started a wide-spread monster hunt, awesome and makes sense. He wants to use Armonia to make this happen knowing she can communicate with monsters and control them; fabulous and love this character so far, how will he grow? Then we face the random ass change where suddenly he gives up on his trauma and starts moving forward to help Armonia starting awhile but not too long after they meet. They really only spent a month together on the initial travel to the Capital, and it's quite obvious there's disdain for each others perspective in the beginning; so what happened? Great question: suddenly he has feelings for her. They bicker, he likes it, she frustrated.
Oh man! What a love story right there, might I say! There's nothing quite like a Forced Proximity Relationship, because how else will these 2 characters end up having feelings for each other if I don't make them be next to each other for such a long time?! Like, wow. I could admire when Armonia was determined to travel on her own, but to make the Mmc spiteful in the beginning but then do a complete 180 once they're stay in ng side by side was so not the choice.
There's truly not much buildup to their relationship other than the fact that the Fmc is almost annoyingly naive in the worst of the moments but sharp in the right ones. Is that what catches his eye? The story doesn't fully expand on his feelings or his perspective unless it revolves around Armonia in some way, shape, or form. What happened between him from when he was spiteful, to ordering an entire fruit carriage for her because she said something once? Not only that, but when he does discover she is the lost daught of the Duke (for some dumbfuck reason) why does he feel so pressured into reuniting her with her human parents? That would've been such a great opportunity for him to relate her nobility to the actual ability to court her? Also, how many questions did the author actually ask themselves about the characters before putting them into existence? Because I have so many regarding Kande, Kun, Rogua, Kassir, Lyme, Night Fairy, The halflings, the demon king, the Pellburn family, and I think you get it.
While on the topic of no character depth!: Kun... The whole, "oh I met you when I was lost in the woods at 10 years old! And you came to save me, Armonia ♡ tehe" , goddamn VACUUMED from existence. Like, hello?! Nothing more to add, your honor?! There wasn't anyy development on that slippet of information. Simply something to support the Fmc and her whimsy ways, which was so incredibly sad because I liked Kun a lot and I think he should've gotten wayyy more story to him. Or atleast more than a collective of like 5 chapters total I got to see him.
And Rogia as well, I wish they had aftually been written as side-characters rather than supports for the Fmc; their only reason for existence, was to make the fmc easier to write around and deal with the xtra scenes on the side. Rogia had great potential, but her storyline only goes as deep as a water droplet on a kitchen counter.
And as for Armonia; man. What can I say that most the comments haven't already? She left her manor when she was 5, with 17 years in the forest but a "perfect" memory of what happened; 1) Her doubt for her monster family shouldn't have existed in the first place based on a numerous of things. Like: She willingly chose them, they took care of her, she's never really had complaints because as she's exclaims, "I've never had to do anything I don't want to" so where did this doubt stem from? There's nothing really to answer the question. And 2) She must have remembered her father desperately claiming he wouldn't give up his own daughter, and! Armonia also recognizes in the reunion, that her psrents didn't do anything wrong; so why was there so much hostility between her and her father? where's her mother? What truly happened, because a one-time occurrence of accidental eavesdropping, doesn't mean you run away and leave everything behind. At the very least, you'd ponder over it depending on how her life before that was. But We Don't Know That Either! Yayy!
Moving on to character interaction: As we briefly touched on Kun and Armonia meeting for a short while when they were kids then being denied any further clarification; we also lack any more interaction between the halflings and when they decide to confront, Armonia's human family at all, her monster family other than the 3 with her throughout the story, Kandeh and his relationship to the Emperor, The great Mage exists in only 2 chapters, and Nadium.
To keep it short and sweet: they dissappear when they are no longer useful to Armonia. They only show up when it's convenient to the plotline, and sometimes just thrown in there for a quick reminder that they are also in the story still. I wish I could've seen more Nadium, and his childish Great spirit life. I wouldve wanted to see him while he took care of the baby Drake. (whom of which also ended up only being a character aid to the fmc and held no purpose).
Overall, its been mind-numbing. It's sweet, happy, too easy to predict (if you like to keep things simple) and chaotic. I spoiled quite a bit, so I really only hope you can appreciate my analysis over anything. I did have more I wanted to say, but frankly, there isn't enough time in the year for me to go over it all in select detail. It could maybe be something cute, but you'd have to turn your brain off ♡