- #1
Worth reading if you have run out of things to read but this along with the author's other works are really just average.Story is interesting enough (think Mulan but slightly different) however the author always has these elements that make her work just okay instead of exceptional. (Please note that these would include some spoilers)
- Abilities that don't make sense. In the author's other works, the MCs have supernatural memory abilities. It didn't make sense how the memory of the MCs were so clear -- even for things that shouldn't be possible (ie Malicious Empress MC remembering another guy's speech even though she was busy ogling another guy when it was being said). Here it's similar but even more preposterous. I can understand a blind person enhancing their other senses to interact with the world but a blind person being able to guess the side of the dice just from the sound? That's infeasible. She mentions things like each side of the dice having a different sound. I can suspend disbelief if it's a dice she's used all her life but her just waltzing in to a casino (which is also most likely noisy) and being able to predict the exact dice position? That's infeasible.
- MC is supposed to be a general but is absolutely clueless about ML suspecting her even though she shows abilities that aren't within the potential of a new recruit. If she were just a normal soldier who just has incredible physical abilities but not much wit, then it's fine. But she was a general in her past life. How can she not understand that she can be misunderstood for being a spy given all her unconventional abilities? She also doesn't seem to have any foresight about subterfuge. She couldn't seem to predict that her former older brother would use war to kill off her former trusted confidants in the army and is surprised when this happens. How is that something that a general should be surprised about?
- To combine the first and second points, author focuses on abilities that shouldn't even be focused on. It's like making a character Mary Sue as possible even if certain traits aren't even necessary for the narrative. Then they forget to make sense of the character inconsistencies. It's a bit grating (especially for this novel)
- Author tends to make subpar villains. I admit I haven't exactly gotten in depth here so this may change but in all her other novels, villains mostly just feel like one person with a different name + a slight difference in variation (like one being slightly more cowardly or more patient). No one ever feels remorse and the villains usually barely have any redeeming characteristics outside of physical appearance and their assumed intelligence before it drops once the MC/ML appears.
- There is some level of misogyny in the author's works. This may also change once I get more in depth in the novel but since I just finished Ill Fated Consort, I can say that the author never seems to treat female villains well. Almost all of them are just there to treat the MC badly because of jealousy or perceived slight (even if they've only fallen into their own traps prior) and never have any guilt nor remorse. I don't mind having these types of villains but for the author to make all her female villains like this shows misogyny and pretty much just goes with the idea that all females who are not in line with the MC are all wrong and hateful.
