ladyfaceplant's reviews
22 reviews

Her Tale of Shim Chong by Seri

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Honestly I didn't find this manhwa super exciting but the story was engaging enough that I finished it. Also the art was beautiful. I'm glad that
the girls got a happy ending
and its rare to see a GL with such a complex story (I feel like a lot of them are just about ordinary students). I found the love interest a little one dimensional at first but I really like how she was fleshed out towards the end. In general, it was also a little slow for this kind of story. Shim Chong's father is a massive ableist stereotype which is a shame. But overall I enjoyed it and it was a worthwhile read.

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Perfect Buddy by Lash, Daki

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emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Honestly one of my fave manhwas I've read recently. Well realised and likeable characters and an actually sweet love interest unlike in a lot of these stories. The main character feels autistic-coded to me and I connected with him a lot. I really love the supporting cast of coworkers. The actual external drama is very melodramatic but honestly that's what I come to these comics for. Obviously I can't do a full review yet because the story isn't complete but I really enjoyed what I read so far. 

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Ennead by Mojito

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Did not finish book.
Honestly, idk if it was the translation or the original writing, but I found it hard to connect with the characters. I also think it just wasn't what I was looking for. Plus, the
incest
and
consent issues
were a bit much for me.

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Bloodline by Will Wight

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adventurous emotional relaxing tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Honestly, this one went too fast. I think because the last book was so much longer, I was expecting a bit more. I don’t have a huge amount to say this time since there weren’t a lot of revelations in this book but
it was great to see Lindon reunite with his family and his reaction to seeing them how they truly were for the first time was really painful. When they didn’t believe that Lindon could possibly be powerful and that someone else was lending him their power, it was heartbreaking. 

As always, the Suriel & Makiel chapters were kind of boring. I’m sorry! However, I am intrigued by the Mad King and I liked his perspective a little more. Interesting that it was him who attacked Ozriel when he was trying to save those people before running away. I can never quite get what the Vroshir and the Mad King’s deal is. They seem to want the same thing as the Abidan but they just want to be the one with all the worlds - like they just come and steal people from the Abidan and just put them on a different world? But then sometimes they’re just killing people and destroying worlds. I don’t 100% get it but maybe it’ll become clearer when our protagonists ascend and see it all for themselves.

I had forgotten how frustrating the residents of Sacred Valley were and I very much shared Lindon’s frustration with them but again I respect Will Wight’s choice to do the less satisfying but more interesting thing. The whole escape from and then fight with the dreadgod was a bit messy with the back and forth but I liked the final plan with Dross’ sacrifice. He’d better not be gone though! I miss him already. My theory is that he moved over to the wandering titan’s mind in that final moment but maybe that’s wishful thinking and he really is gone. He was one of my favourites! RIP Dross, you were always so silly and I loved you for it.

I still can’t quite figure out why the Monarch’s aren’t willing to team up to fight the dreadgods. If they outnumber them and have similar levels of power, shouldn’t they be capable of beating them? I know they lost a lot of Monarchs last time they tried but why? I feel like there’s something going on there that’s not been fully explained yet. I was also wondering why Fury had to ascend (unless that was just for political reasons - two monarchs in one family might be too much of a threat to the other sects). One theory I have is that dreadgods and Monarchs have to be kept in balance for some reason - though I suppose that wouldn’t make sense since Seshethkunaaz died in the last book and he was a Monarch. Hmm. Food for thought.

Regardless, I’m very excited for the next book. I hope all the excitement doesn’t stop Lindon and the others from getting back on their advancement grind. I wanna see some Archlords, baby!
Wintersteel by Will Wight

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Wow that was a long one! And probably my favourite so far. I really didn’t expect
Lindon to really be out of the tournament! One of my favourite things about this series is that the writer is willing to go against tropes and let his protagonist seem weak. Lindon isn’t as powerful as Yerin but that doesn’t make his story less important.

Love all of the Lindon/Yerin romance stuff as well, of course. Ruby was an absolute delight and Yerin finally accepting her was my favourite part of the entire series so far. I’m sad that since she’s part of Yerin now, we won’t get to see her anymore but I suppose her personality is a part of Yerin now. I wonder if we’ll see Yerin being a little more Ruby-like in the future (though they’re very similar anyway).

Reigan Shen is such a good villain and I can’t wait until the heroes eventually find a way to beat him. I also find Mercy’s story with her mother very meaningful and I hope one day she can supersede her mother in power and strike out on her own. No wonder she tried to leave the Akura family in the earlier books. Northstrider is such a funny and compelling character that I also love to see. Honestly all of the Uncrowned side characters were brilliant and I would happily see any of them again (though I guess half of them are dead now lol). Glad Yan Shomei made it out because I loved the parallels between her and Yerin. I wonder if Lindon is ever going to have to face all the people he’s killed bc his abilities were getting pretty dark in this book.

I’m also glad that Pride finally came around to Lindon in this book to an extent, they have such a funny dynamic. Speaking of humour, I knew from the bloopers at the end of each book that Will Wight was funny as hell and I’m so glad he finally let that shine in the ‘points!’ section of the book. Lindon is honestly insane at times and it was so wonderful to see him go fully feral and everyone else’s reactions. It was sad to lose Akura Grace, I feel like she didn’t have much going on and I would’ve liked to see more of her and Lindon’s friendship but maybe she was stepping on Mercy’s toes a little. 

Such a bait and switch to have Lindon be the one with Sage abilities rather than Yerin! But Yerin isn’t undercut by it since she’s now a herald. (I still don’t 100% understand where Sage/Herald/Monarch sits in the advancement tree but hopefully I’ll figure it out eventually).

And now we’re going back to sacred valley! I can’t wait to see the Jai siblings again and get a good ol’ family reunion…. Unless Orthos and Kelsa leave before Lindon gets there. Damn.
Uncrowned by Will Wight

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adventurous inspiring lighthearted tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

TOURNAMENT ARC TOURNAMENT ARC TOURNAMENT ARC

Another great Cradle book! They always end before I’m ready for them to. I think
having Lindon lose the fight against Yerin was a bold choice and not at all what I expected. Usually this kind of protagonist wins pretty much everything. I do hope he somehow ends up in the last part of the tournament though - maybe Sha Miara will come clean about being a Monarch? Who knows. I want to see him fight Sophara! Though I suppose as long as someone kicks her ass I’m happy. Surely he can’t be out of the tournament before the real tournament even begins.

This was a really good book for Yerin. I really love the dynamic between her and the Winter Sage and I can’t wait to see them training together.
I need to see Eithan’s backstory! I have three theories:
he is a direct descendant of the Arelius Monarch, he is the Arelius Monarch or (my potentially insane theory from the beginning) he is Ozriel. He was looking at that arrowhead with way too much intensity, that’s all I’m saying.


I wonder if they’re going to do a love triangle with Lindon, Mercy and Yerin. They hinted at it with
Pride saying that Lindon is good enough for Mercy but to me, it doesn’t seem like Mercy is interested. Obviously I would prefer if Yerin was in the middle of that triangle instead of Lindon (I know nothing beats Lindon/Yerin but Yerin/Mercy is a close second for me). I loved all the little romantic moments between Lindon and Yerin in this book and their fight was honestly incredible. Lindon getting real character development? We love to see it! Also, very funny that he held back because he thought he was stronger than Yerin and then she went and beat him even at full power.Nothing more romantic than a good shounen ass kicking. Naruto and Sasuke could never.

I also loved Naian Blackflame and his part of the story - it was so full of hope and then so devastating. They’re really building up the gold dragons as the antagonists and oh boy do I hate them.

I just remembered the chapters about sacred valley - I can’t believe that’s where Orthos went! I honestly really missed Orthos in this book and I wish we heard more from them but I hope Kelsa and Orthos end up going on a journey together. I’ve always liked Kelsa and I didn’t expect to see Lindon’s family again for a long while. Now I just want to see Jai Long and Jai Chen! And what a plot twist that the sacred valley actually makes people Jades, rather than them just being pathetic. Absolutely wild! There were a lot of huge revelations in this book. The setting of the Ninecloud City was great too, though I do wish we had seen more of it. Also, no Fisher Gesha :(. 

I have to say, the Abidan sections really drag for me. I prefer it when we’re following Suriel because at least I’m invested in her character but I didn’t really enjoy the Iri/Makiel chapters as it felt a little disconnected from the main story. Very excited that the Abidan have finally shown themselves on Cradle though and it was a huge surprise to me that the Monarchs had all turned down a place in their ranks. I hope we get to find out why at some point. Though that explains how Northstrider knew what a presence was.
The Infinity Particle by Wendy Xu

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I did not expect this book to hit so close to home for me. I picked it up because Im a fan of speculative fiction about AI and the blurb reference Fruits Basket which is one of my favourite series. This book was a very cathartic read for me and I loved the contemplative, hopeful vibe of it. The setting and character design were gorgeously rendered as well; it’s the kind of art that makes me want to draw. Will definitely be looking out for more of Wendy Xu’s work in the future.

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Trouble by Lex Croucher

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-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

5.0

Lex Croucher is my favourite author. There’s something about their writing style that’s very soothing and charming to me and they write romance so well. I intentionally knew very little about this book going in (though I preordered it of course) because I knew I’d like it regardless and I was right. Though the protagonist certainly thinks she’s unlikeable , she might be my favourite of all of Lex’s regency protagonists so far. There’s something about her complete refusal to be nothing but completely pragmatic in the face of love that I find really charming. The kids and staff are also wonderful; there’s nothing better than a good found family. As usual, I read this book far too quickly and find myself considering starting again immediately, simply because it just felt so good to read. Very much recommend this and every other book by this author.

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Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

God I loved this book. I just wanted more of it. Lex Croucher writes romance like no one else. One of the kissing scenes made me genuinely burst into tears. The characters were somehow all my favourite but I think Gwen will always have a special place in my heart. She’s very autistic coded and I really saw my younger self in her. It’s so wonderful to read a queer historical story that’s so full of hope and yet still feels grounded and meaningful. I would read about these six idiots for the rest of time. 

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Against The Stars by Christopher Hartland

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emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-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? Yes

5.0

Couldn't put it down!