To start with, many of the reviews here are either premature (the heroine actually does level up and become a key player in slaying monsters... she just needs some character development, which she does get but took some time), or are just tired of certain tropes to the point that, even though this story did them well, they can't live up to said reviewers' hopes or expectations.
And until chapter 56, I'd have given this an 8/10. I honestly liked it more than the mid-to-late parts of Solo Leveling, because the main character actually needs other people, and he gets help in various ways from other people. And the art is great, though I don't think I will compare it to Solo Leveling, because at this point I don't remember the minutia of Solo Leveling's art. I just know I thought and think both are fantastic.
But chapter 56 does three things that foreshadow what the future of this story is going to be, and I hate them.
- An evil character
is brought back after being killed.
Furthermore, this spits in the face of the premise of the series, as it basically means all the actions of the main character can be reversed, and the idea of stopping
the world reversal,
is a lie told to us readers.
- A counter-plot, through what is mentioned in point 1, is introduced that takes focus away from the main premise of the story to create some kind of
dimensional invasion from an enemy with its own internal politics and characters.
Why does every flipping writer have to
give a backstory for every villain, along with personal grudges,
even in stories that should be focused on other, better, aspects of the story?
- The main character has an important ability that is ignored in order to create drama, and it basically resets their ability to fight.
This is just bad writing. Yes, I understand that this will eventually be twisted into a greater strength, but I don't care. If you have to create a plot hole to advance the main character, you probably shouldn't be getting paid to write stories.
This chapter (56) killed my desire to continue reading. Dear author, you betrayed the premise of the story that I was so enjoying. I feel betrayed, because had I known this was going to happen, I wouldn't have spent the time I did reading up to chapter 56.
I'm just thankful I was able to discover this before I spent money on it. If there's one reason to justify fan translations, besides bringing stories to new audiences that otherwise never would have known about them, it's saving readers money and publishers' reputations. Can you imagine how many publishers would go bankrupt if this slop cost people money to the point they stopped buying until the series was completed and verified as not having major plot holes?
(-83)
(+213)
