I came here with high expectations, but am thoroughly disappointed. The pacing is terrible at the end, and the relationships were not tackled thoughtfully. Huge rant ahead:
The big problem looming over the main couple's relationship is the sheer power imbalance between them. It was acknowledged multiple times that mc has no control over anything and ml can do whatever he wants, and he constantly takes advantage of that to have things be his way, while mc has no agency or ways to effectively retaliate. Almost everything mc achieves boils down to ml stepping in to save him at the last moment/allowing him to do things, otherwise he would've ultimately failed, and it's not a collaborative effort where they work together and have equal contribution, because despite mc's efforts and competence, he always fucks up at the end and can't progress until ml agrees with his plans and helps, he can't get anything done on his own, but ml can do anything without mc's approval, since its not like mc can stop him like ml can. The story tries to mitigate this imbalance with their "deals" and "promises" to attempt to level the playing field, but they lack substance because ml constantly lies and breaks his promises, and he doesn't face consequences for doing so. It wasn't until mc literally threatened to commit suicide that he had any power in the situation, and yet it felt like the subsequent deal worked more in ml's favor than mc's. It makes me unable to take them seriously since ml is so painfully superior to mc in every way that they will never stand on equal footing. Relationships without equality are prone to being abusive since one party monopolizes all the agency, that's why they are delicate and have to be handled very well to not become problematic, which this one has mostly failed to do. Everything worked out well for mc thanks to plot armor that ml ultimately loves him and lets him do his thing, otherwise he would've been no different from a prisoner at ml's mercy. Onto the pacing issues, everyone can figure it out at a glance. The foreshadowing was minimal and not very well executed, characters and plotlines that should've been central like X and Rockfeller were completely sidelined, the conflict with Machine was not resolved in a satisfying way imo, and I didn't feel urgency/stakes from any of the multiple villains, since they barely even showed up throughout the story and were quickly dealt with with no issue at all, the trauma sections were glossed over and barely touched upon, with the characters either having no visible trauma despite terrible circumstances that should've caused it, or easily overcoming their trauma in one triumphant moment that immediately fixes all the problems that previously hindered them their whole lives. Lastly, the fact the main couple was in the middle of the biggest conflict in the story and decided to stop everything and have sex?? And it wasn't very deep, like I barely even felt the emotion that it was supposed to have because it felt so incredibly misplaced, and it didn't help with the lack of feeling of urgency in the story. That one really could've been paced better...
I came here with high expectations, but am thoroughly disappointed. The pacing is terrible at the end, and the relationships were not tackled thoughtfully. Huge rant ahead:
The big problem looming over the main couple's relationship is the sheer power imbalance between them. It was acknowledged multiple times that mc has no control over anything and ml can do whatever he wants, and he constantly takes advantage of that to have things be his way, while mc has no agency or ways to effectively retaliate. Almost everything mc achieves boils down to ml stepping in to save him at the last moment/allowing him to do things, otherwise he would've ultimately failed, and it's not a collaborative effort where they work together and have equal contribution, because despite mc's efforts and competence, he always fucks up at the end and can't progress until ml agrees with his plans and helps, he can't get anything done on his own, but ml can do anything without mc's approval, since its not like mc can stop him like ml can. The story tries to mitigate this imbalance with their "deals" and "promises" to attempt to level the playing field, but they lack substance because ml constantly lies and breaks his promises, and he doesn't face consequences for doing so. It wasn't until mc literally threatened to commit suicide that he had any power in the situation, and yet it felt like the subsequent deal worked more in ml's favor than mc's. It makes me unable to take them seriously since ml is so painfully superior to mc in every way that they will never stand on equal footing. Relationships without equality are prone to being abusive since one party monopolizes all the agency, that's why they are delicate and have to be handled very well to not become problematic, which this one has mostly failed to do. Everything worked out well for mc thanks to plot armor that ml ultimately loves him and lets him do his thing, otherwise he would've been no different from a prisoner at ml's mercy.
Onto the pacing issues, everyone can figure it out at a glance. The foreshadowing was minimal and not very well executed, characters and plotlines that should've been central like X and Rockfeller were completely sidelined, the conflict with Machine was not resolved in a satisfying way imo, and I didn't feel urgency/stakes from any of the multiple villains, since they barely even showed up throughout the story and were quickly dealt with with no issue at all, the trauma sections were glossed over and barely touched upon, with the characters either having no visible trauma despite terrible circumstances that should've caused it, or easily overcoming their trauma in one triumphant moment that immediately fixes all the problems that previously hindered them their whole lives. Lastly, the fact the main couple was in the middle of the biggest conflict in the story and decided to stop everything and have sex?? And it wasn't very deep, like I barely even felt the emotion that it was supposed to have because it felt so incredibly misplaced, and it didn't help with the lack of feeling of urgency in the story. That one really could've been paced better...