- #1
- Stunning Characterization (great chemistry)
- The MC here, Yuder, is such a complicated and fascinating character. We start off with very little knowledge of MC (obviously). What I love is that we gradually see his character shine through as each chapter passes by. In his reminiscing of the past, we see snippets of who he was, and how he came to be the person he is now. There is no sudden info dump. You need to read and discover everything yourself.
- MC is also an unreliable narrator who isn't very in tune with his emotions, so it's so enjoyable to read the descriptions of his feelings and then to interpret them yourself. At times I even stop between chapters to just interpret MC's feelings. Ie. When he says "guilt, " does he mean [this] or [this]? Is [this] what led to all his complicated emotions/lack thereof in the past?
- Despite being very knowledgeable, he still has many gaps in his memories and general info of the past, so you follow him as he figures out problems and events that he had never known about, and as he theorizes possibilities of what led to his disastrous future.
- The ML is just a flat-out amazing character. He is complicated and layered (like MC), with so much depth and history that I'm still interested in finding out more about him. He has amazing chemistry with the MC, and I love reading their interactions. I saw that some people didn't like him at first (which I don't really understand bc he's great from the get-go), but give it some time and you'll just see him blossom. He's an interesting, mysterious character at first, and, like the MC, we slowly get to know him more and more. One of my favorites is the contrast between the ML of the past vs. The ML of the present, shown through the MC's contemplations.
- Spoiler
The ML of MC's present is a bright man filled with goals and aspirations. The ML of MC's past (before ML's death) was a tired, resigned man who MC didn't quite ever understand (so therefore, we don't understand him much either). Ultimately, ML's emotions were somewhat of a mystery. But, as you discover more with the MC, you see and understand exactly how the ML ended up the way he did.
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ie. The ML was the commander of the Calvary, but he stepped down after a short amount of time to give the seat to the MC in the past. When the MC goes back in time, he wonders why he was given the seat and questions the ML about his intentions. But the ML states that he never intends to step down, and that he intends to stay as the commander. So we're left with the question of "why did the ML step down in the past?" And then we're given the answer to that question in the future chapters. It was an interesting but sad reveal. (I'm not specifying what it was--go and read it yourself!
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- Spoiler
- The side characters are also enjoyable to read about, but I'm too tired to gush about them. But the amazing thing about them is that they feel realistic and memorable.
- Stunning Characterization (great chemistry)
- Pacing/Development
- my hands-down favorite thing is probably the development: the development of the characters, the development of the plot, etc.
- For one, the greatest part is probably the development of the character's pasts and personalities. The author drops a few hints (through the MC's thoughts) and leaves you with so many questions. Why did [insert event here] happen? Why did [insert here] do this?
- And then you slowly but surely piece together the puzzle of events from the MC's world, and it's so satisfying. You cansee and guess how things turned out. You're granted the ability to compare the past and the present. As MC finds out more and more, you canunderstand how things ended up as badly as they did in MC's past timeline. There's lots of mysteries and questions, which I love bc I'm an avid fan of the mystery genre.
- Pacing/Development
- Plot
- the plot very-much exists and it is amazing. I'm loving the world-building and gradual understanding of the world. There is no boring downtime. The MC goes from event to event, and each one is so significant to realizing how things came about.
- Plot
