Review that EVERYONE going into this story should read. With the emergence of the whole otome and villian webnovel/lightnovel genre, readers in the audience come with certain expectations. You expect a whole academy, a kingdom or what not. No, its not that this novel doesn't have that similar stuff. But as of this review which is the max chapters (40ish), the whole story is very different to what one would expect from coming in. The novel's world building, the amount of POV changes just for 1 particular scene, the slow pacing, the amount of exposition, the amount of deepness really suggests that this world powers will be as large as a CULTIVATION novel (Multiverse/universal level confirmed). All of this makes the novel feel quite heavy to read. This is definitely not your typical slice of life rom
com novel you would expect. Speaking of comedy, there was almost none of that and its very serious (though I expect it to come during the academy arc). About 20 chapters + that's when the story starts becoming less expository and heavy, but the qualities this novel have are still there. Not to mention, the story feels very shounen (tra*sh to strong) but on a seinen level of maturity (18-40 males). Lots of introspection to add to that. Thus, this novel's content is definitely not for everyone catered to this genre. It's a super big world and a serious take on the genre. If you cannot handle this, then I do not suggest picking it up because even the chapters feel long themselves. You probably won't be able to survive the first 25 chapters or so.
END OF REVIEW FOR EVERYONE TO READ.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- REVIEW THAT YOU CAN READ IF YOU WANT TO.
Now I will go into some thoughts I personally have for the novel.
Writing linguistic- I was surprised to hear that the author is NOT a native. Because the English in this novel is quite good. The grammar and punctuation itself barely had any problems for webnovel standard. The most common mistake was commas where they shouldn't be. Even though fiction writing can exempt some things, half of what shouldn't there are plain mistakes. If there is an improvement, that would be to make it more flowery and better immersion. But that's difficult to do and I'm basically talking about the actual bookstore publishing level. In other words, as a webnovel quality it is satisfactory. However, I do suggest to tone down the POVs for new characters and keep in mind it will slow scenes down in the novel. Especially coming into the novel, I was overwhelmed. I can't imagine how it would be for a non-native.
Story development: Overall, because of its pacing its pretty good. Things are slowly fleshed out and not rushed at all. But one can easily imagine the downsides. If you read the above its not hard to find the consequences. I say its pretty good, but that's because I was able to somehow keep my retention and understand it. Some would REALLY Hate it because of how much content and expository is smashed in your face. It really reminds me of reading Earth's Greatest Magus (One of the all-time top stories on Webnovel). Thus for some people the story development can be very bad.
Characters are very good and developing well. I like the main ones so far and heavily look forward to them. The author with his POVs shows that he takes care in presenting them as 3D. Although if I had to be critical, they pale compared to a book-store level (they feel more like characters than humans). But on a webnovel level, very good and enough.
World Background- As large as a cultivation novel. Expect 600 chapters + at minimum. That's what it feels like.
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Conclusion:
It's a novel that can potentially be one of the top novels on this site. It's definitely a hidden gem. I hope this novel becomes at least one of my top 10 favourite novels on this site because it really does feel like it will become one. Every review of mine now ends with me wanting to ship. Oh wait... 40 chapters and with its pacing and lack of heroines I really can't. There's only 1 heroine really that we seen so far (a few? maybe have appeared but just brief). Author I beseech you to create a romantic drama! I wish for at least a strong heavy, dramatic love triangle at the minimum. (Think Oregairu and White Album 2). Harem in the sense of multiple girls interested around mc is preferred. Not in the sense of polygamy and such. You can write realistic characters and hopefully no ruin of story with sm*t. With your story, sm*t scenes should be used to really show that their relationship has extended to this level of LOVE. Not lus*.
1-2 wives is what I like: Love is war.
I want to ship! And enjoy the anticipation of my ship sailing or sinking. And the heart wrenching drama that unfolds. Not everyone gets a happy ending. Liu vs the Villainess. Doesn't this love triangle sound great if you focused on them? One's an ice cold beauty, another is an apathetic villainous. We don't need other heroines!
Imagine the dynamic interactions. Wouldn't it be so interesting? I would love it if you would do this. They are probably so similar too. You can play around the Mc's taste and that's why he feels great affection for both; however, struggles to choose as they're similar.
Ofc its more complex than that but its stuff you can work around with for the complexity of romantic relationships. Awesome novel. Keep it up!