Izimmy's Reviews

This review contains spoilers. Despite the familiar tropes, this story still feels engaging. Abused illegitimate daughter, evil father, incompetent and cheating fiancé, childhood love interest, charming yet dangerous stranger, it has all of them. Even so, the story clips along and doesn't seem stale even though many of the plot points are familiar. If you're looking to pass the time, it's an easy read done well. The art is nice too!

This review contains spoilers. The female lead is good-natured but basically like a naive doll. He sexually assaults her twice right off the bat, as if it's justified. She's just like "ok..." and in the next chapter she's talking about how secretly kind he is and how she wants to take care of him. He definitely wanted to humiliate and shame her, which isn't what "secretly kind" people do. It's hard to do nuance in a 5 episode story, so everything is going to be done as caricature with little depth: The spineless king, the evil queen, the jealous sister, the contradictory emperor, the evil general, the too pure and good secret princess etc. Don't expect too much, it goes exactly how you'd expect. Applying logic to this will only hurt your braincells.

This review contains spoilers. So, I read this because of all the reviews saying it was cute, and to a degree it was a short and sweet romance with a childhood "first love" and mistaken identity subplot. However, the male lead's obsession gets sorta rapey halfway through. I'm mostly talking about the carriage ride scene where he's feeling abandoned and jealous so he forces her into sex as a reminder that she's "his". It wasn't done out of malice, but it wasn't from a good place either. Maybe that's something people find hot, but it gave me the ick and changed how I viewed his character. He calls the crown prince a malicious brat, but at least the prince didn't force himself on his wife even when given the chance (which would have made him a pedophile regardless). Long and short is, if you're OK with questionable consent or domineering sex that's used almost punitively, then you might think this deserves more stars. His inability to control his jealousy knocked my rating down a lot. It was ok, but I can't find the lead that charming.

This review contains spoilers. My only criticism is the confusing skips in time/location. I had to read the third episode twice because it was such a departure from the chapters before and after it that I got confused. However, when you take into account this is a story that spans lifetimes, and that characters are regaining lost memories, being reborn, and maybe even entering dreams, it's understandable things aren't immediately clear. In a way, it helps put you in the main character's shoes as she is inexplicably thrust from one reality to another and how disorienting that must be.

I get the feeling it will all unfold and make sense. So far it's fascinating, it starts as a traditional "neglected by my husband" royalty plot but turns into a murder mystery drama which leaves you guessing at the truth and who is disguised as who. I'm looking forward to more, just know you might get whiplash from the setting and character changes.