tbh it bothers me how subservient ian is the entire story. sure he doesn't "pledge allegiance" but he supports and allows himself to be used as political leverage by the crown Prince, it's annoying. it pisses me off the way he bows his head to everyone for no reason, especially the way the empire basically conscripts him the moment he turns twelve. you're a powerful magician fucking act like it. the crown prince also attacks ian when he goes against him like huh??? whyre you acting like he was supposed to be in your side? i wish the prince actually made a political effort to persuade ian to align with him instead of just expecting it after maintaining a lukewarm relationship for a bit
also why doesn't he act faster? bro waited until his family was being threatened a second time to do something. also his mom is a poorly written nuisance character who's only there to be his Achilles heel, she doesn't have any scenes or impact on the story other than that, making me have no attachment to her at all as a character, so everytime shes in danger i get a sense of annoyance rather than urgency. same deal with the annoying romance plot that came out of nowhere and had no chemistry, in order for me to gaf abt the relationship between the princess and ian, i have to first gaf abt the princess. and i don't. she hardly had any scenes either and just randomly gets a crush on ian, before randomly pulling a magic dragon book out of her ass that solves all his issues. "surprise! the barely foreshadowed fact that you're actually the son of the golden dragon here's a bunch of power now go defeat the evil villain!" straight up deus ex machina.
Aside from that, the story was generally a bit boring to read, and not even that satisfying for a revenge story.
tbh it bothers me how subservient ian is the entire story. sure he doesn't "pledge allegiance" but he supports and allows himself to be used as political leverage by the crown Prince, it's annoying. it pisses me off the way he bows his head to everyone for no reason, especially the way the empire basically conscripts him the moment he turns twelve. you're a powerful magician fucking act like it. the crown prince also attacks ian when he goes against him like huh??? whyre you acting like he was supposed to be in your side? i wish the prince actually made a political effort to persuade ian to align with him instead of just expecting it after maintaining a lukewarm relationship for a bit
also why doesn't he act faster? bro waited until his family was being threatened a second time to do something. also his mom is a poorly written nuisance character who's only there to be his Achilles heel, she doesn't have any scenes or impact on the story other than that, making me have no attachment to her at all as a character, so everytime shes in danger i get a sense of annoyance rather than urgency. same deal with the annoying romance plot that came out of nowhere and had no chemistry, in order for me to gaf abt the relationship between the princess and ian, i have to first gaf abt the princess. and i don't. she hardly had any scenes either and just randomly gets a crush on ian, before randomly pulling a magic dragon book out of her ass that solves all his issues. "surprise! the barely foreshadowed fact that you're actually the son of the golden dragon here's a bunch of power now go defeat the evil villain!" straight up deus ex machina.
Aside from that, the story was generally a bit boring to read, and not even that satisfying for a revenge story.