this is one of those works where you see so much potential that's sadly wasted by execution and lazy characterization.
First of all, I don't mind the age gap. 5 yrs isn't much compared to some other works I've read. It's always the execution that matters, and the artist did a terrible job of it. The FL is portrayed as a young girl who longs to have her own family (not in a romantic kind of way, but a family of loving brothers and sisters), and in the first dozens of chapters, it really looked like that's where the creators were heading, which melted my heart. The relationship FL formed with other maids and personnel in the castle was truly wholesome and touching, the dynamic between the FL and the second prince (who was similar to her in age) was really really cute (the second prince turned out to be a real cinnamon roll). What's more, the way the FL, 2nd FL, and ML were characterized in the first chapters made it look like the three of them could've been a family, with the ML being like the FL's father and the 2nd FL like her mom. Their hair and eye colors certainly made sense, though the age didn't. There's even a scene where all three of them are lying in one bed with the FL cuddled in the middle, and it looked like the 2nd FL and ML were her parents protecting her from both sides. the FL looked really small for her age and when the ML would pick her up and let her sit on his arm, they really looked like a father-daughter duo. It was a really wholesome dynamic AND IT SHOULD HAVE STAYED THAT WAY.
But no, the creators decided to completely spoil the story from there on out. They started doing a 180 on the father-daughter dynamic that appeared to be forming between the ML and the FL, with continuous hints of how the ML was viewing the FL in a more romantic type of way since the beginning (without any reason as to why he sees her that way). And all the while, the FL really has a crush on the ML's younger brother (the 2nd prince) and is constantly chatting with others, including the ML, about how much she wants to have a family with loving siblings. It was really disturbing how the creators just plowed down all that family-bond goodness to force a romantic relationship between the leads.
Lazy characterization was also a huge downer for me. Most scenes with the ML were incredibly boring. Once the father-daughter relationship was discarded, the ML became a bland character, like one of those run-of-the-mill king MLs that rolled off a ML assembly line, with the same 1-dimensional personality I've seen in another of other copy-pasted together isekai works. Minor villains were also characterized incredibly lazily, yet more assembly 1-dimensional cardboard characters. For example, an annoying maid hated the FL from the onset for no good reason and openly displayed her hostility physically so that the story could have a "bully character" to get the FL some pity points. This was totally unnecessary and added nothing to the plot, not to mention all the other maids were so openly friendly to the FL that it made no sense to have a bully who stupidly went around trashing the FL. All of these hostile minor characters were written so lazily that they formed a stark contrast to the rest of the minor character cast, all the while having a comparable lazy characterization as the ML. I mean if the creators didn't want to spend any time trying to come up with real minor problems for the FL to deal with, maybe they just shouldn't have come up with these kinds of villains in the first place and stuck with the main storyline.
Also, the art could’ve used more work. The first scene where the ML appeared, I burst out laughing because his head was SO SQUARE. He looked like a Lego character LMAO.

... Last updated on January 30th, 2023, 5:58pm

Let's talk about the elephant in the room:

Throw out the "age gap" argument. Age gaps don't matter.

To sum it up, you have a 19 year old (legal adult) grooming a 14 year old (minor). NO!

Some may say "stuff like that happened back then". Yes, back then, not now. We should learn from bad things of the past, not fantasize about it (in whatever form of "fantasize" you want to use).

I got through chapter 23, hoping it wouldn't go the way I thought it was. But, when people started arguing "age gap doesn't matter" and didn't want talk about the grooming (or wanted to rationalize it) I did some research, and found out it doesn't get better soon, I quit [run on sentence, sue me].

... Last updated on March 30th, 2022, 3:36pm

The MC is good and the story is nice.

Too bad, TL of chap 43 and after is confusing and not really good.

Personally, I think the plot is quite interesting, though it's not my favorite. I love the mystery surrounding Nina's identity and the other side of the story. I also like that the love confession in this story somehow is bold yet subtle (maybe this was caused by Nina's dense personality, that she can brush off other people's love confession).

Currently reading this in Line Webtoon, and checking all the comment section there and the other sites even here, people are talking about pedophilia.

I heard Nina's age gap with the king is only 4 to 5 years old? Nina was 14, and her body was small for her age because she rarely get nutritious food back in her village. The age gap is *normal*, in my opinion. Pedophilia is the case when you have sexual desire to children, while the King's feelings towards Nina is not like that. Besides, why judge about age gap stories? There are *lots* of romance stories with huge age gap in both manga and manhwa, even more than this one. And it's not like the King is asking Nina for her hand in marriage too. I can't really understand the criticism about the age gap here, since I don't see any problem to the King's feelings to Nina.

I would suggest that anyone who does not like grooming should avoid this since the the king who is the main love interest is basically grooming the 14 year old MC

Hmmm. I have read the first season and couple S2 chapters as of now and I kinda enjoy the story. Sadly it's nothing particularly special though. The FL is interesting in her thoughts (not really her actions) but at the same time the writing is at times a bit bland and confusing. Especially the mechanics of her/Nina's original life are a bit...strange. What I liked the most was probablyy that for once someone accepted the story is diverging from the novel without needless drama. And griffins. There is decent amount of bishie eyecandy. Of course, I like the side characters best. Dio and Leo~

There is a problem with transmigrations or returns to child/teen years. Readers will always complain about it. Either they will call the older ML pedo (really incorrect term here) and be uncomfortable with his age or if the ML is same age as her, they will call it creepy because the FL is adult in her mind and the ML then is the child. It doesn't really help when the artist makes the characters look like their age difference is bigger than it really is either. In this story they start of at 14/15 and 19/20, but people constantly keep acting like he is double her age. It's honestly ridiculous. Also, they are characters living in fantasy mediaval-ish setting, not in our modern culture. If you are unable to read it without projecting reality onto it...you probably just shouldn't.

... Last updated on February 13th, 2021, 5:24pm

I like it. At first It was kinda weird.... she maybe in the body of a 15yr old but the mentality of 19yr old. How can one stop thinking as adult and go back to being a child?! All I’m saying it that the storyline is good and getting interesting.

My ship didn't sail..

I'm so sad..

I won't say which guy but I'll say that their separation with Nina/MC was so sad for me.

The love interest for the FOURTEEN (14!?) year old fl is an ADULT GROWN MAN in his mid to late twenties. Like bruh if you like pedos then you’ll like this manhwa for sure...

I thought that he would be like a father figure to the fl but nah, he’s the ml 🤮
P.s I read till end of the season 1 hoping that it would turn go less gross but nah, gets kinda worse

... Last updated on November 22nd, 2020, 10:58pm

[as of the completion of season 1]

"I Became a Maid in a TL Novel" is enjoyable, primarily due to attractive characters and an interesting central plot conceit. But these two factors are not the reason it is a success, but because it doesn't have any overt, and obvious failings to overshadow any of its minor positives. The main character currently sits in a position where she is mainly a reactive entity - people come to her, something happens, and then we move from there. She is certainly cute, and apparently has a magnetic personality to go along with it, but this can be lost in the rather mediocre/poor dialogue (translation?) and bland paneling/presentation. There are moments of inspiration though and charm seems to radiate from the series even though there are a great many things that should theoretically take me out of this experience (e.g. a strictly hierarchical/class based society -> Nina acting distinctly informal to people like the Grand Duke et al). I hope season 2 continue to expand on the characters we have seen, has Nina take a more active role as she becomes more aware of the place she occupies and adds some interesting narrative stakes.

... Last updated on October 15th, 2020, 2:11am