I, the Mermaid, am the Siren Tribe’s Beloved Chapter -- Discussion

Leaving a review here because it's a good novel (so far) and there doesn't seem to be a lot of readers at the moment. I MTL-ed it. I will say when the author said it's mostly about child raising, they weren't kidding. They separate at around 200 chapters and MC comes back after 3 chapters. Romance starts then. I came in looking for a fluffly, cute novel so I'm very happy but if you're looking for romance right off the bat, this might not be it for you.

The plot is great. It makes sense and there is a clear storyline. There are a lot of foreshadowing happening but it didn't really go anywhere. The main villain, the research institute was killed off in like 3 chapters after so much anticipation. We didn't get a major showdown, it just was "Oh and they're gone" sort of situation. Their relationship is very wholesome. Can't say much about how good their romance because I personally didn't like it. There was really no build up. MC leaves, grows up (go back to his original body) and then he likes ML now. There wasn't any hints or tension between them beforehand. Their relationship was mainly family like and then suddenly, "MC was actually thinking about getting together with ML the whole time". It's the same case with ML. When MC goes back, he makes the decision of not telling ML he was the kid because he wants a separate identity where ML can actually fall in love with him without having that familial love in the back of his mind. Great concept, love to see it. 3 chapters in, ML knows he's the child. He decides he likes the MC even though he knows he was the child he raised and the mental conflict for that was resolved in just 1 chapter. Even the example given by the author to the ML of why it's okay because it doesn't match in their case! Spoiler

Basically, ML is conflicted and sees one of his friends get together with someone he knew when he was young. He asked his friend about it and his friend said, yeah I knew him when he was young but we lost contact and now he's all grown up and can make his own decision about what he likes. Great reasoning, problem is ML's friend didn't raise his lover from literal birth to 7 years old. They were in a group home together when they were both kids, separated due to school and then met up when they became adults. NOT THE SAME!!!

[collapse] Not to mention, he finds out MC is the child and that automatically equates to "MC was always an adult, he somehow got into the egg and turned into a kid". We get no reasoning on how the ML reached that conclusion and this is like the first 5 chapters they met after being separated. I read the tags, I know what I'm getting into but I just wish the execution of the romance, this mental conflict, finding out MC is the kid, etc was more well done. Honestly would have been happy even if the whole book was just child raising with no romance because their relationship was adorable during those times. Like if they get separated for some reason, MC comes back still as a child and they become a permanent family. Honestly, still would've worked because both MC and ML lack that sort of family love and found family is always a nice trope. MC is so cute. He does come off a bit like a child in the way he's very naive and innocent, even though he is supposed to be an adult. It works well for him now because he is in an actual child's body and there isn't much he can do besides stay in character but those traits are still there when he's in an adult body and it's a bit hard to watch. The author's explanation for this is that he's always been lucky so he hasn't really experienced a lot of the dark, gloomy parts of life. Not sure how good that explanation is because according to the novel, he's been multiple different worlds where he's most likely been in weird situations so he really should be a bit more quick witted and clever than this. He's very much that pure white character where he's never been in love or have any experience and he knows nothing about romance. It doesn't help that we literally saw him as a child for 3/4 of the novel. ML is great. Honestly a green flag all around. He's very caring and respectful. He understands the responsibility he has, whether it's towards the MC (when he was a child) or his people. His past is tragic but it's really nice that he's able to separate the institute and the general public. ML would make an amazing father. He puts in so much effort into making sure MC has the best childhood possible.

I do have to say though, I feel really sorry for the minor villain. Spoiler

I don't really like Xu Lianhua but I don't think he deserved to be treated like that. I understand that his actions weren't right like being in a relationship with someone knowing they're engaged. But once you know his past and his reasoning, you can't help but feel bad. Him knowing ML is the protagonist of the world was a mistake by the main system. IF he didn't know, he probably wouldn't have tried so hard and be involved with Luo Zhanan. He was just trying to get on the ML's side. Yes, he went about it the wrong way but with his past, you can kinda see his thinking process. I wouldn't say he's a good person but no one deserves to get beaten up to the point of getting into a coma. He was so injured that he lost his mental strength. And then he was sent to the research institute, the same place that is doing human experiments and torturing kids. I couldn't believe ML allowed this knowing what he went through there and now what Xu Lianhua will most likely go through too.

[collapse] This was the first time I side-eyed the ML because nothing he did made him deserving of that sort of ending. He honestly was just a casualty between ML fighting his family. ML could have saved him and he didn't.