Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.82 AVERAGE
4.82 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
fast-paced
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ok.
Must-Save-KDJ complaints aside that I've rambled on previous volume, I think this is exactly where ORV's ridiculously complicated systems got completely unraveled.
So we all know that HSY's memories got split in perfect 50-50: Original HSY and Avatar HSY. The assumption is when we actually meet avatar!HSY, she'll know things OG!HSY doesn't, and vice versa. This, by the way, leads to nowhere. They have mostly identical memory, somehow. No, the TWSA memory doesn't count because it disappeared before she splits?
Why would HSY even cared enough to dimension-hop for the random I'll-Curse-This-World-You've-Been-Building-For-Years-For-My-Favourite-Character , let alone dedicating the rest of her entire life saving him at the cost of dooming the world? Especially Avatar!HSY, who 1) spent like 24hrs maximum with KDJ, 2) has shown to be at least as pragmatic (if not more) than OG!HSY ? After some time thinking about this, I actually would mind less if HSY were given more autonomy in thinking. Because this has happened multiple times with KDJ: decisions that the pragmatic him should've chosen differently, but he didn't for reasons he couldn't understand himself. These were expressed through some monologues that we can infer - for YJH, its because of his parasocial love; for the kids, it's simply because he couldn't bear to hurt them, and so on. HSY wasn't granted that privilege by the author - instead, it feels like it's common sense for her to help KDJ at the expense of the world.
By the way, if all of my plot hole questions were resolved by "it's the world that KDJ dreams so of course it's advantageous to what he wants" I'll drill a hole to someone's stomach.
Also the part where they just redo the games over and over again with ease? I hate it. See, what appeals ORV to me is that despite knowing half the cheat codes, the gods and dokkaebis are THAT powerful that they can keep changing the variables, thus YJH having to regress 1864 times and still not succeeding. And now suddenly they're doing it in 3 paragraphs?
And the disrespect towards 49% KDJ! Why aren't we getting his POV? Or at least his feelings? He very clearly feels like an inferior compared to OG!KDJ and like. We have 2 HSYs that have same importance. Give 49% KDJ some privilege?
But honestly? Once I reached the end it just kind of dawns to me that it's just... a different story than what I thought it's offering. I read somewhere that the author is interested in the concept of uroboros: snake eating its own tail, the concept of eternity and loop. It's like, ahhhh it's not FGO it's Tsubasaholic/Homestuck! Sadly it's never about humans fighting against gods, never about communicating with those who seem to have insurmountable walls, it's about a looping tragedy. I can respect that! Hence, the extra star.
Must-Save-KDJ complaints aside that I've rambled on previous volume, I think this is exactly where ORV's ridiculously complicated systems got completely unraveled.
So we all know that HSY's memories got split in perfect 50-50: Original HSY and Avatar HSY. The assumption is when we actually meet avatar!HSY, she'll know things OG!HSY doesn't, and vice versa. This, by the way, leads to nowhere. They have mostly identical memory, somehow. No, the TWSA memory doesn't count because it disappeared before she splits?
Why would HSY even cared enough to dimension-hop for the random I'll-Curse-This-World-You've-Been-Building-For-Years-For-My-Favourite-Character , let alone dedicating the rest of her entire life saving him at the cost of dooming the world? Especially Avatar!HSY, who 1) spent like 24hrs maximum with KDJ, 2) has shown to be at least as pragmatic (if not more) than OG!HSY ? After some time thinking about this, I actually would mind less if HSY were given more autonomy in thinking. Because this has happened multiple times with KDJ: decisions that the pragmatic him should've chosen differently, but he didn't for reasons he couldn't understand himself. These were expressed through some monologues that we can infer - for YJH, its because of his parasocial love; for the kids, it's simply because he couldn't bear to hurt them, and so on. HSY wasn't granted that privilege by the author - instead, it feels like it's common sense for her to help KDJ at the expense of the world.
By the way, if all of my plot hole questions were resolved by "it's the world that KDJ dreams so of course it's advantageous to what he wants" I'll drill a hole to someone's stomach.
Also the part where they just redo the games over and over again with ease? I hate it. See, what appeals ORV to me is that despite knowing half the cheat codes, the gods and dokkaebis are THAT powerful that they can keep changing the variables, thus YJH having to regress 1864 times and still not succeeding. And now suddenly they're doing it in 3 paragraphs?
And the disrespect towards 49% KDJ! Why aren't we getting his POV? Or at least his feelings? He very clearly feels like an inferior compared to OG!KDJ and like. We have 2 HSYs that have same importance. Give 49% KDJ some privilege?
But honestly? Once I reached the end it just kind of dawns to me that it's just... a different story than what I thought it's offering. I read somewhere that the author is interested in the concept of uroboros: snake eating its own tail, the concept of eternity and loop. It's like, ahhhh it's not FGO it's Tsubasaholic/Homestuck! Sadly it's never about humans fighting against gods, never about communicating with those who seem to have insurmountable walls, it's about a looping tragedy. I can respect that! Hence, the extra star.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
⸢If this story can really save you…
If you regained just a little of your memories and remember us just one more time…
Then I'll keep writing the epilogue for you until the end of the time, for eternity.⸥
this was, hands down, one of the most satisfying conclusions to any piece of media i've ever experienced. every reveal was handled exceptionally, and the meta aspect of this was insane.
a huge portion of that is due to yoohankim- they simply reach levels of soulmatism that is impossible for the human mind to comprehend. there are a billion things i could go on about but it really just comes down to every iteration of the three of them being in this loop of using their life to save the others, and not existing without the other two. i love the three of them to such an insane amount that i cannot imagine there was a time before i read orv where they didn't take up this much of my heart and soul. idc if you view their relationship as romantic, platonic, or a secret third thing, but it does all of their characters such a disservice not to examine the endless bounds of their love for eachother. they know it's doomed. they know there's less than a 1% chance of them being reunited in the way they all want. they know it'll take a lifetime of pain to secure that chance. and they'll do it anyways
on that note, joongdok is truly the doomed yaoi of all time. i'm not going to go into the entirety of their dynamic's progression throughout orv because it would take me a lifetime, but
i am so eternally grateful to have stumbled upon this book. it is one of those stories that is so all-encompassing and compelling that when you finish it you feel like you lived a whole extra life. it has over a million words, and i would eagerly read that many more. hell i honestly might have to learn korean just to read this as intended. kim dokja i will hold this piece of you in my heart with love for the rest of my life <3
If you regained just a little of your memories and remember us just one more time…
Then I'll keep writing the epilogue for you until the end of the time, for eternity.⸥
this was, hands down, one of the most satisfying conclusions to any piece of media i've ever experienced. every reveal was handled exceptionally, and the meta aspect of this was insane.
Spoiler
what do you mean what hsy & yjh want is for US to experience kdj's story. you should have seen the scream i let out when biyoo said "This time, the married couple writers over there look to be good candidates." god and "Now, they could carry on knowing that some people were reading their story in the distant, far-flung other side of the universe." what do you mean knowing we're reading orv is the reason kimcom can carry on. what do you mean parts of the oldest dream came into us when kdj scattereda huge portion of that is due to yoohankim- they simply reach levels of soulmatism that is impossible for the human mind to comprehend. there are a billion things i could go on about but it really just comes down to every iteration of the three of them being in this loop of using their life to save the others, and not existing without the other two.
Spoiler
1863 hsy spending her entire remaining life force writing twsa, knowing she was dooming the world to the star stream but doing it anyways so kdj could endure his suicide attempt. hsy starting everything by saving suicidal kdj with yjh's story, and ending it by saving dying yjh with kdj's.on that note, joongdok is truly the doomed yaoi of all time. i'm not going to go into the entirety of their dynamic's progression throughout orv because it would take me a lifetime, but
Spoiler
ending volume 5 with kdj trying to kill himself the second he found out he was the oldest dream, and yjh immediately grabbing his sword with his hand, even though destroying the oldest dream had been his longest wish?? and then secretive plotter finding out his thousands of years of pain and regression was all to help one little kid get through his life, and immediately finding contentment in that. god. i mean his ■■ being oldest dream??? and then starting off the epilogue with 1864 yjh finally getting the ending where he doesn't lose any of his original companions, and immediately planning to regress to find the missing parts of kdj. and then the reveal that yjh started regressing in the first place, in part, to meet kdj???? when the tell me, you fool & i pray you continue to exist somewhere too lines came out my chest hurt so bad i had to go sit in the grass and reconnect with nature. then finally ending the novel with yjh immediately offering to become the oldest dream in kdj's place, to his reaction to returning to the train and seeing kdj had scattered, to never being able to move on and trying to steal the arc, to spending a lifetime visiting the worldlines for the smallest hope the smallest portions of kdj would read it, to surviving in that trip by reading kdj's story, just like kdj had survived his childhood reading yjh's... i just don't have the words for it.i am so eternally grateful to have stumbled upon this book. it is one of those stories that is so all-encompassing and compelling that when you finish it you feel like you lived a whole extra life. it has over a million words, and i would eagerly read that many more. hell i honestly might have to learn korean just to read this as
Spoiler
han sooyoung
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated