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...
It's criminal that we got manly bottom Mason stolen from us...
This is pretty bad ngl confusing, boring, annoying asf. The sequel better be good for reading this shii to have been worth it.
On that note, I have no fucking idea what is happening. I feel like the story was trying to portray mc as a good guy and his ex as the villain which to some degree I understand, but also mc is not innocent, he took advantage of the guy who liked him and started a fwb relationship bc of his inferiority complex that he was jealous of his ex's artistic talent, then just dumped him out of nowhere without explaining and disappeared for 5 years. Even if it was wrong of the ex to almost assault him (even if drunk) I feel like the ex deserved an explanation and an apology which he never got. The fact ml (ex's lil bro) seemingly didn't care at all that mc did that to his brother is kinda ass I'll be honest. This isn't even completed and tbh doesn't look like the main story at all, let's hope the sequel actually has quality.
I mean the plot is very obvious and the storytelling isn't the best, the pacing and especially the conflict weren't very well thought out, but it's a sweet story, not a bad read.
Do I gotta read "kiss me, liar" for this? Idk I wasn't a big fan of that story but I was willing to give this one a chance
No u don't have to
Me too I hated kiss me liar too
I'mma be honest the main story is very mid, the whole 50ch were just drama after drama and it all stems from literally the SAME mistake being made over and over: not communicating very VERY important information to your partner until it ultimately comes out in the worst way possible and causes a massive problem. It's like they don't learn!
The side stories in that sense were much better since the drama was mostly over, but I'm still not happy at how dirty the motorcyclist was done. He was the only character with any sort of common sense and basically had to fix the miscommunication between the protagonists by going around being their middle-man and voice of reason whenever they kept running from their problems. The fact that he was in love with mc, but never became a villain, never tried to take advantage of mc or make him uncomfortable, never acted like an ass towards ml even when ml treated him like a pest, he went out of his way to help them get together even! It showed how he truly cared about mc's happiness above his own, all that just for his backstory to be so rushed and for him to barely get a resolution or really any screentime at all (especially in the side stories) when he was one of the most important characters infuriates me. He was the best character imo and deserved better treatment.
MILOOOOO MILOOOO MY CHILD MILOO IM LIKE LITTLE A FUCKING BAWLING MY EYES OUT
Like little A did. TEARS GUSHING IT'S A WATER FALL UP IN HERE
Am I the only one who got the impression that the author likes the brother?
I mean, otherwise there'd be no reason for him to get a happy-ish ending. Not only did he survive a fatal injury, it led him to forget all the horrible things he did and the people he hurt, as well as having him conveniently leave the country right before civil war broke out meaning he was spared from the conflict, and he's still rich somehow. It feels like he was given the best ending he could've gotten considering how much of a scumbag he was, and for no reason too, since the story was already over and there was no reason to attempt to redeem him like that.
I still like this story a lot for all the amazing things it has, it was just this singular choice of the author's that ticked me off and I wanted to know if anybody else felt that way too.
I totally get where you’re coming from but at the end of the day all these characters are just created by the author so it would make sense for her to feel bias towards them since they are her creation to begin with
By that logic the other aristocratic, the one with the dented skull, should've also gotten a better ending since he's also a character that the author created and would therefore have bias towards, but he got a very brutal life and death even though he did similar things to mc's brother, so no I think the bias is specifically towards the brother and it's not because he's one of their creations.
Fair point but oh well at the end of the day it’s the creator’s free will on what they want to do with their art