Xari101

This story was surprisingly good. It starts off pretty generic as the rest of these fantasy manhwas. The beginning of the story was pretty mundane, not boring, just not too much action happening. Just a build-up of characters, doting on the MC and her adorable son and the usual mean characters trying to tear the MC down, the love interest being so obviously interested but yet doesn’t make a move. Just typical. I did like that none of the characters were re-incarnated though! Just felt like they were normal and didn’t have an advantage and had to figure things out like the rest of the characters.

Anyway the second half is much more enjoyable than the first. Had more action, better dialogue, good communication. And most importantly, IT ACTUALLY HAS A PLOT. It’s not like many manhwas before that start off with a plot and good premise and then seem to forget all about it. The story can start to feel a little never-ending but I think that’s just because the author wanted to wrap things up tidily. So in a nutshell it’s not an amazing story, but I think if you give it a chance it can be good read.

I LOVE family dynamic manhwas and this one was different because of the whole Asteriol concept. Hello?? A girl who biologically should feel apathetic towards everyone and yet her twin and mother loved her so hard that she learns to be more empathetic and actually yearns for things as early as her childhood? SIGN ME UP.

I loved the relationship dynamic between Claire and Eciel. So different from one another but their bond remains strong. The mother annoyed me a bit sometimes because she was so stubborn and hard-headed but once you read her background, you start to understand her a little better and she eventually accepts that she is her husband’s Tara and wants to stick around for him.

Now, the first 80 chapters of the story, the girls are 9-10 years old. I enjoyed the first half better because although a little slow, it felt, I don’t know…..more meaningful?? The later half of the story (where they timeskip 10 years) although had more action and surprisingly well thought out villains just felt rushed. I liked all the world building, meeting the Asteriols, having magic be more involved and so on but it liked it more of a ‘WOW, this is an interesting concept’ rather than actually enjoying/being entertained by it.

The whole Tara-Asteriol thing was just tiring with Claire and what’s his name. I found myself skimming a lot of their scenes when they got older because I just didn’t feel any romantic things. Their disagreements and feelings were just SO REPETITIVE I just wanted it to finish. Felt draining to read some parts tbh. I was like ‘AGAIN? We are going to re-hash this AGAIN?’.

And I like that Eciel was very involved in the story for the first half, but she kind of becomes a secondary character in the later half. Which just seems like wasted potential since we discover she has magic. Why couldn’t she also be involved with hatching plans with Claire and fighting off evil forces? Idk, just wish they gave Eciel more importance considering she is the main reason Claire was even able to develop feelings in the first place.

Anyway overall the story was fine but could have been better.

P.S - I totally think we should have gotten more Eciel and Lucretia scenes!! Again, potential that was just never fully explored.