Just another case where MC regressed to take another chance in life but stupidly asks why things are different from before when they deliberately took a different route.

Just do a simple skimming for one chapter and you can definitely say that the art is good. But this is the only good thing in this series.

The plot is quite decent. Just like the description said, MC is trying to avoid death by manipulation so she will pull the string herself. Common tropes like kidnapping, assassination, and blackmail were included as they normally would in royal settings.

The story is bad. In one sentence: Things just happened, don't ask how, and let's just talk about the future.
Some things were revealed suddenly that greatly influenced the main story. No clues or leads were shown before the reveal.

The characters are worse overall. MC tries to be manipulative but is always startled when things go slightly different from what she expects. She expects things to stay the same when she never does the same things. Like a typical harem manga, this manhwa has other characters to fall for MC in one scene.

... Last updated on March 14th, 2024, 12:30am

Tons of plot armour.
All around ML protection with him being characterless SIMP like dude is pure virgin to the core.
Typical dumb s*ut FL who was dumb but gained 200+ IQ in next life like what did she eat to boost her brain power or just everyone became dumb.
Korean manhwa illiteracy at it's finest.
Boring and puke inducing romance, with plot armoured schemes like no matter FL will win this novels author should learn something from Your throne .

But at the end he can't this trash can't be salvaged.

-99/100

... Last updated on March 6th, 2024, 12:31pm

Reviewed @ch24

It's trying to execute a political drama ala The Villainess Lives again. Which would be great. I love political dramas.

But this one isn't believable.
Our main character was used as an ornament by her brother. JUST as an ornament. She wasn't used as a tactician, she wasn't used to do networking by proxy, she was basically useless and made to look pretty and be owned.
Meaning she gained no skills in that life.

Then there's her Korean life. Again she didn't do anything special here, just a normal job. She wasn't great at office politics, in fact she was a victim of it (and possibly sexual harassment, unclear). In this life she reads the book of her first life.
Then in her third life she's back in her first life, partway through...

...And now she's somehow a political strategist. How?? It'd be one thing if it were a result of her using her foreknowledge from the book...but she isn't. Most of her plans don't use foreknowledge, it's plans she's thinking up with skills she's never had but suddenly does?
And everyone starts commenting 'Oh wow, she looks so regal/mature/powerful we should keep an eye on her, she's different, what's with this aura? etc .etc .etc.' Why does she know how to carry herself so differently? She never learned those skills!

Not only that, in the first chapter we see her get her memories of her third life up to the point of the poisoning back, mixing with her second life's. But then she also reacts to memories from after the poisoning, i.e. from her first life...which she is never mentioned as having.
It looks like the author forgot his own framing device (maybe this was lost in transition to manhwa form from the novel, idk)

Furthermore, the male lead gets , somehow?? Why would she be? It's just not believable.

Male lead doesn't have anything to stand him out except for that one phobia, which is handled abysmally to the point where he may as well not have it. So he's just generic male lead A

The Prince is a raging lunatic who has been threatened with assassination by the king if he steps out of line...but he's already done so many times before the story even begins so...why wasn't he killed? Prince doesn't bring anything great to the story, just 'Raging male lead B'. (also the dude is like 18 but ripped af somehow?)

Pretty much no characters are exceptional. The female led would be good if her skills were actually explained, meaning her entire backstory revamped. But, that's not how it is. (also her plans aren't that clever but hey, it's hard to write good political plans)

Idk how this is rated so damn high on manga dex... Or even have an 8 on here.

The art is absolutely gorgeous. There's a noticeable change in style after season 1; although it didn't get worse, it just changed. All throughout the art is gorg despite this, so on that front, it's all good.

However, the pacing got terrible after season 1. At first it was intriguing, she has plans but even us readers aren't made aware until the incident will come to pass. But then things got more more unsensible. I'm not sure if it's just because there are nuances from the novel that got cut in the adaptation, but suddenly what seemed smart and cunning started to feel more like a cliche. "I one-upped you" - "I one-upped your one-upping" - "I knew you'd do this, so I actually have the upper hand still all along!" Like this. It felt... distasteful.

And then the happened, if I can even call it an arc. It's just so out of the blue like whaaat.? Yeah, it was mentioned that so we know that's a thing, but all the things in there are just 😕? And then characterization fell off the window, or maybe it did even before this part. Either way, it became hard to both follow and swallow.

I'm disappointed because I had high hopes for this manhwa. I hummed and hawed about reading it, then came across several tumblr posts that made it seem like the kind of manhwa that's right up my alley (morally grey, strategy that's more about moving pieces than simple word battles, and very very good art). So I read this. I wish I stopped reading after season 1.

Idk how to rate this. I don't want to be too harsh, but I don't even remember the parts I liked about this anymore besides the art. Maybe the novel will be better but this manhwa adaptation in particular I feel is a failure.

The art is AMAZING but I don't feel a connection to any of the characters. All the characters feelings (admiration, love, etc) for the FL come so fast that it doesn't feel real or human? Like this person was supposed to have been a complete fool that everyone used to their advantage before and she only needs to do one impressive thing, or just look at someone a certain way to completely change their opinion about her? Also there is SO MUCH NARRATION. It feels like more than half this story is told through narration that explains background info and potential consequences. There's not much story told by the characters, it's like the writer can't trust the readers to put any context clues together and think for ourselves, so shoves all the information down our throats. I have picked up and put down this webtoon at least 5 times. This time I made it to chapter 38 (while skimming the narration cause it's very predictable) and I don't know if I want to continue.

Tldr. If the art wasn't beautiful I wouldn't have read this webtoon at all, so props to the artist.

... Last updated on March 31st, 2022, 11:01am

Only read season 1.

The art is amazing and very intricate. You would not be disappointed if you are looking for an easy on eyes read, but the plot is not as great in compared to what you look at. It is a typical manhwa where the mc goes back in time, have knowledge of future, tries to protect herself and has the ultimate goal for freedom but eventually falls and gets knee deep in the schemes(and surprise...it looks like everyone is obsessed with her). The ml who first ignored her has now fallen in a puppy love. It is tolerable in the aspect that the romance is not toxic and the mc kinda thinks things through.

Her plot does have some base to it, it is understandable and does not seem like it sprung out of nowhere. But then the problem arise that the readers themselves don't know whether It is gonna work or not, this concept is actually great It gives a unique aura to the story and makes us anticipate the plot, but it has not been executed well and thus It becomes a headache, a nuisances.

But then again I would tell you the art is more than enough reason to read it, give it a try, who knows maybe you will like it, after all there are many more like this out there, with lesser arts and they are being enjoyed.

... Last updated on April 21st, 2023, 11:25pm

Totally agree with RAGApeace. Having read the novel, I don't think the manhwa compares favourably. It's very beautiful, but it's slower and less substantial which really damages Kayena's position and character. We just don't see as much depth to her in the manhwa, which is a real shame, because she is an incredible character to follow and support. Compare this to the adaptation of The Villainess Lives Twice, for example, which is much stronger because Tia and the characters around her are fleshed out deliberately using the manhwa format, and because the artists take full advantage of panels and other visual cues to add to a sense of pace, and even to foreshadow. It's very unfortunate that the manhwa for Marionette doesn't match what made the novel so excellent.

Don't judge book by it's cover.
No matter how good the art is of this comic it can't be anything but trash.
With seemingly no character depth, growth or any sensible plot it is total sh*t stain in the name of Manhwa.
Even in fantasy when you get rewinded you just absurdly don't become supersmart and it's like trashiest rewind comic ever . After I got migraines at why people like this?!

... Last updated on August 28th, 2022, 1:51pm

Dropped ch.38
The art is beautiful, but pretty much nothing of note has happened in nearly 40 chapters.. It's ended up style over substance. Following week by week certainly doesn't help the pacing. Characters are also way to simpy to the FL compared to what they should be given the first timeline.

... Last updated on August 5th, 2021, 11:03am

This story falls victim to FL knows the future because she read the book, but the author never gives her any actual skills or personality outside of knowing the future even after 23 chapters. She is technically an overpowered protagonist and as long as you understand that or don't mind that, the story is enjoyable.

You get to watch her exploit her knowledge of the future and turn everyone into puppets. Sort of a if I knew what I knew now back then, then I would have done this instead sort of scenario. The pacing is nice, the art is pretty and overall I plan to see where this story goes.

... Last updated on May 15th, 2021, 12:09am