- #1
Reading this novel feels like being stuck in quicksand. You struggle to keep moving forward, but in the end you're actually moving backwards.This is actually the second time I picked up this novel after dropping it some years in the past. No matter how hard I try, I just can't shake the inevitable boredom and disinterest I end up feeling for the characters. Which is really strange considering how I've found way shittier novels to at least be readable as the literary equivalent of junk food.The biggest problem I have with this novel is the MC, the way that he responds to the situations he encounters is just so bizarre that it breaks my suspension of disbelief. The biggest contradiction is in his outlook. The MC is portrayed, essentially, as a man with superhuman will, committed to a cause which he plans to give his life for in the end. Why then, does he spend 99% of his time wallowing in self pity?I would understand if it was something that happened from time to time during slow moments in the story, but no, it's like it's literally the only emotion he's capable of feeling, regardless of the situation. He never feels angry, happy, empty, h**ny, proud, etc., he's like a robot programmed to feel sad and spout sad lines 24/7. Realistically speaking, if someone was actually subjected to this, given the MC's skill at detaching himself from feelings of hunger and pain, he would also become extremely jaded and emotionally detached as well, but that is not how the MC is portrayed. In particular he has absolutely zero issues with empathy.The heroines are the same way, except instead of self pity they are programmed to feel remorse and pity for the MC. The side characters don't even receive this minimal level of attention, most of them are so one dimensional it's funny, like "the pe*verted aristocrat", "the greedy pope" or the author's favorite "the bystanders too scared to act".
