@aressssss 6: on the other hand, themes: im terrible at spotting themes, so take this with a grain of salt. the only ones i've really recognized / had arcs were hard worker vs. talent (or just jealousy in general). this theme occurred THREE TIMES in THREE separate arcs over the span of like 90 chapters, but ALL instances were weak-ish and surface level with maybe the exception of the one b/w the two main characters, which was like 5% different from the usual "u get everything handed to u!!!!" it's, perchance, one of the only themes the author knows how to write???????
7: and for the record, i believe these other reviews are a bit untrustworthy, considering the people who unironically believe this manhwa is "peak fiction" and "masterpiece" are the same people in the comment section calling flame a wh*re sl*t and b*tch because she treats yuseol with suspicion when she first meets him. her suspicion of him is inconsistent, yes, but that's not even her fault— that's because the author is incapable of writing her well, or ANY of the female characters with any complexity.
aiselle could've gotten SO much more exposition— her father branded as a traitor creating prejudice against her and stirring resentment, her beef with biyeon explored to greater depths due to her association with aiselle's enemies, her general struggle with a lack of resources as a shamed noble. the same thing applies to biyeon. the trauma of her abusive past (her relationship with fire itself would've been so interesting), her convoluted dynamic with her sisters and her mother, and her opinion of or maybe guilt relating to aiselle? and with flame: once again, the author can't decide whether to turn her into a rofan heroine or a logical transmigrated FL. no backstory, no actually nuanced motivations or desires, somewhat delusional(?) but i actually like that about her because it ADDS DEPTH TO HER CHARACTER.
the girls were ALL done dirty in terms of writing. we get breadcumbs of ALL of this, but NONE is actually explored to the depth it deserves. maybe it is in the novel or the future, who knows? i am NOT sitting through another 100 chapters of the girls fawning over yuseol the king of FRAUDs because they consistently misunderstand things abt him—- are they even misunderstandings? i cant tell because i know JACK about his character. NO, yuseol, "wanting to see her happy" is NOT a good excuse to interfere openly with biyeon when u said JUST A FEW CHAPTERS AGO u were trying not to be part of the main cast.
if u can't write women, DON'T PICK UP THE GODD*MN PEN. a manhwa poorly written female characters can NOT be better than a 3/5. ykw typing this out pissed me off so bad that im downgrading my review to a 2/5.
8: also. i just realized. WHERE THE H*L IS THE WORLD BUILDING???? i know JACKall about the world except there are these dungeon-like things... 12 divine beasts or somethin like that... contracts with spirits... elves (the only remotely interesting piece of worldbuilding but that's because they grow up genderless until they fall in love. does homosexuality exist? if the person u fall in love with is gay, do u maintain the same gender as them? in the end these questions will never be answered, because this is just another plot device so that the elf king can become a cute girl after falling in love with yuseol instead. it hasn't hapened yet but I KNOW IT WILL.) uh, what continent are we even on??? sorry, i've been too absorbed by yuseol's aura to pay attention to those details.
CONCLUSION: did i stay up to 4 am catching up to this after dropping it at 40 chapters? yeah. did i realize the reason why i put this manhwa on-hold? yeah, because it's mid. do i recommend u read it? yes if u just wanna turn ur brain off and chow down on da cliche harem slop. i wont shame u for that bc its actually somewhat enjoyable, but u DO deserve shame if ur a) dissing flame in the comments or b) calling this "peak fiction".
i WILL be dropping this because after the initial dopamine boost, i've achieved post-binge clarity and realized that reading this contributes ABSOLUTELY nothing to my life. continuing to read this will do nothing except ragebait me, because the moment i hit the comment section i WILL be making the speed face.
i only read romance manhwas for the beautiful women. scummy male leads can DIE