T.Hallows's Topics (19)

The lows in this story are rock fucking bottom and the highs right up in the clouds. It's insane, but I loved it. Gotta said so...that ending...feels like there should have been a few more chapters before it wrapped up like that. I would have really liked to see Ruan's family realize that they've lowkey treated him like shit. Like, obviously they love him, but never once did they really prioritise his wants or needs while expecting him to spend his entire life starting at age 8, devoted to a title he didn't even want beyond gaining the freedom to be with Cloden.

Shein in particular was wild to force his responsibilities on to this little brother and then scold him later on in the story for letting his intense longing and depression get in the way of his duties. I feel like they could have easily wrapped this up by having Shein willingly marry and try to provide an heir for the family in return for all the freedom he's had at Ruan's expense, like as his way of apologising, making amends and paying back a debt. Instead, we get a shit older brother who gets no recourse at all and seemingly feels zero remorse.

They also could have made progress with the parents actually putting Ruan's wants first and actually giving the butler his fucking credit for raising their whole ass child- something they openly acknowledge and yet don't seem particularly grateful for. That man was more of a father to Ruan than the Count ever was and his mother was less relevant than that. They clearly love him and yet willingly sent him away from everything he's ever known for 10 fucking years, disregard his feelings about literally everything and don't take his mental health seriously at all until man becomes an active flight risk, despite his erratic and obsessive behaviour being low key concerning from childhood. But none of this is ever fully explored.

And, of course, I think Cloden should have either willingly returned to the county or at least, we should have gotten clear dialogue that one day he will. Maybe while they're still dating, Cloden would prefer to remain with his family and then move in after their eventual marriage, when HE his ready. And, that would fit in nicely with Ruan learning to respect Cloden's boundaries and personal freedoms, allowing Cloden to decide on their timeline going forward rather than being so possessive. After all, Ruan has his love now and there's no need for the narrative to try and force them under the same roof anymore. Let's be real, the Count has another decade in him at the bare minimum, so Ruan and Cloden have plenty of time to do things naturally, rather than rush a wedding.

Instead of any of this, which wouldn't even take more than a few chapters given that this whole story is pretty rapid pace...we get and ending that barely even feels like one. Close, maybe. With a lot of loose ends. But even their relationship, the stories main fucking thing, didn't feel fully resolved at all.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. It's been a long fucking night.

Yeah. What can I say? There's just nothing really that special about this one. I did like that the Emperor was openly loving towards his son and not just his daughter like in so many of these stories, but you couldn't say it was a particularly deep relationship. Let's be real, most of the relationships simply weren't that deep or compelling. And like, 70% of the plot was boring and the conclusions were completely underwhelming. There was stuff happening at all times and yet there was really never any impact. All the details happen behind the scenes where we don't get the see them at all so when something is achieved like establishing the Fairy Mana charity thing, it doesn't make you actually feel anything cause we only saw like 10% of the work put into it. And if the FL was in danger, there was never any questioning that she wouldn't get out just fine, again, no impact, especially after her relationship with her father and brothers improve. And from there nothing changes between any of them for the rest of the 100+ chapters. The only interesting villain doesn't show up until the tail end and gets zero fleshing out and the FL is the only one who really gets any real character growth and even then it's completely predictable at every turn. She wasn't annoying or difficult to sympathise with or root for, she was just the same as 95% of the FL's in these stories. Unoriginal and uninteresting. She was the FL purely because interesting things happened TOO her, not because she was interesting herself.

For all my bitching, I didn't completely hate it, I'm just sick of these hollow stretched out plots with one dimensional characters

Okay but are we gonna talk about the fact that Diana was a foodie and the first thing Claude did after meeting Athy (not including her being a literal new born) was feed her He found her chomping on those gold statues and he was like...'damn girl your mother's genetics are coming through red hot with that appetite, let's get you some snacks before you start chewing the dry wall'....food was literally something he and Diana bonded over and he immediately started doing the exact same thing with Athy, to the point where most of their early scenes together are them sharing meals/tea, DESPITE the fact that Claude was still having seriously fucked feelings about the fact that she existed at all. I AM FEELING MANY THINGS RN

Well well well what do we have here

Also, while I feel that Meldon is def too old for Dahlia romantically, I still enjoy their interactions and their dynamic far more than I like Dahlia and Cedric at the end of the day

I thought Dahlia and Cedric were cute at first but the whole, her going out of her way trying to teach him to have basic empathy thing is just...Alexa play 'Labour' by Paris Paloma

I got 34 chapters in and after goggling some spoilers because I know both this comic and the novel are pretty popular and I was finding it very underwhelming...Yeah, I'm not finishing this one. I honestly don't get what about this story draws such a crowd over other comics. And I'm saying this as a massive fan of the genre. It's really nothing remarkable compared to many of the other stories out there. The FL is nice and has a goal but with no real personality beyond that. The ML is possessive, unexciting, dime'a'dozen trash that we've all seen over and over again and the second ML is better personality wise but is honestly just possessive according to the spoilers. There's also low key a homophobic vibe at times that was just completely unnecessary??

I know that the Sweet and Beautiful FL x Strong and Cold ML is a super popular trope given that it's fucking everywhere, but it's rarely ever done well. I'd honestly kill for some variety here. I feel like I'm reading the same two characters over and over again in every damn story because god forbid anyone try to be creative rather than parrot the same shit we already all know the smell of. It's not like I hate every couple in this trope in every story, but why is this always the only the only option? Is this really the only sort of man and woman that the writers find interesting and romantic? Y'all may as well just be copying and pasting one another that this point.

I wish I'd actually looked at what I was reading first before just picking up something random from a reddit rec because I wanna beat someone to death with a pillow case of bricks rn. Twenty chapters...TWENTY CHAPTERS IN JUST FOR THEM TO KILL OFF MY BEEF CAKE AND REPLACE HIM WITH A TWINKY FEMBOY CLICHE? FOUL PLAY. FOUL PLAY I SAY. And I'm never gonna go in blind again because these authors are fucked in the head with their weird ass ideas of what they think is romantic. Having an 18 year old eventually end up with someone they knew as an 8 year old child is not cute, it's fucking rancid. Not only did they pull a twink death in reverse because these mother fuckers can't get off unless he looks like a 12 year old boy, but you're gonna screw with the physical age difference as if that makes it not fucking weird? You tryna gaslight me into thinking this isn't just another take on the 'I raised this boy and now we fuck' trophe? Ha. Try me bitch. You'd have better luck convincing me that Elton John is straight.

Although I'm glad I finished it, the story definitely lags at certain intervals. It took me way longer to get through 100 chaps than it takes me with other manwha's/webcomics. I liked the main couple and their dynamic just fine despite it being very cliche, you really can find a relationship like theirs in countless other stories like this. The ML did start turning me off towards the end though when he started getting so obsessive and possessive. Personally, having the ML think to himself all the time that he's successfully got her trapped so she can never leave him isn't attractive.

And as for Phan, whose character design is so similar to the ML's that I was waiting like 30 chaps for it to have some plot relevance...He kind of felt pointless? Like, I didn't hate that he was there (although he's also as massive unattractive red flag for me) and I liked where his story ended up, but I kinda felt like he had barely any plot relevance? Like, he was just there to third wheel and piss off the ML? Which is a trophe I'd love for us to lay to rest tbh. And okay, sure, saying that he was useless is a bit of a stretch, he did contribute and move the story on, but I felt like his contributions could have been achieved by many other, far more interesting modes than just 'Phan is OP'.

My favourite male character was most definitely Eclipse. He really was the only one who wasn't giving red flags and was kinda just a genuinely nice dude who at the end of the day, cared for his sister. Salme and the Demon King were fun as well, but we unfortunately don't get to see that much of them.

And as for the FL, she's a very common brand of FL we see on repeat on this genre (I'm begging these writers for some variety pls), but I I still enjoyed her overall. I think, if not for the physical limitations put on her by the narrative, she would have been able to achieve far more on her own. Honestly, she did all she could with what little she had. Although a dime a dozen FL, she was still well written and likeable and that's generally more important than originality.

I got 51 chaps in and I'm throwing in the towel. The main couple are cute and all but plots that are like 90% wholesomeness and 10% conflict just tend to get dull for me, especially if the characters are so blatantly stereotypical and vanilla and especially if the plot is going to drag on like this