- #1
One of the 'villains' of this novel are the foreign races. If the MC's emperor persona is so convincing, shouldn't a normal foreign race that detests humans be wary yet curious about why other powerful foreign races (the cards) follow a human emperor?
Instead of being merely hateful and jealous throughout the novel, they could have been portrayed with more depth.
A more nuanced approach would show their initial hatred and jealousy gradually giving way to curiosity about the emperor, perhaps leading to some foreign races befriending the cards and slowly becoming allies of the MC. Alternatively, they could discover something amiss with the MC (after befriending him) and set obstacles for him, giving the satisfaction of solving the pitfalls set by them for the readers or providing a sadistic approach of watching the MC suffer.
This would make them less one-dimensional, possibly even giving them the depth to become 'redeemed villains' and affiliated allies of the MC. Or more dimensional villains that scheme and plot against the MC while remaining doubtful of his identity, half-convinced, half-unconvinced, providing a real challenge.
Other 'villains' include a noble who believes the MC is a false emperor and spreads rumors about him. Initially, I was excited, thinking our smooth-sailing MC might face some difficulty. But no, the noble is just cannon fodder who barely disrupts the MC's plans and only appears briefly for face-slapping. (I even forgot his name after several chapters. He's really a cannon fodder to the core... kind of sad.)
The other thing is Useli and Su Lie. As well as the other guy, who confronted the MC in some starfield league event on the first round? Military card pool holder Qiu Shanning or something? Honestly, I forgot. But he pretty much chased the MC throughout the first round, barely mentioned, then appeared as the final obstacle for the MC to defeat and accumulate a lot of points to win the event.
I can't even call him a villain. Hes just a bag of points to skyrocket the MC to 2nd place in the starfield league event. If the author was anymore shameless, I believe the MC might even be 1st place. Now back to Useli and Su Lie. What I'm thankful of is that Useli still has a small bit of dimension to him, though still rather 2d. He's very arrogant and haughty, has some sort of brother complex and isn't downright hateful of the MC. But his persona is overall, simple, and probably only there so the author can write a bit more about the Weekly something event before getting bored and skipping through the arc after MC helped his other card pool friend.
As for Su Lie? At the current chapter I'm in now, he's barely written about aside from also being a host that completely bound to his Fengyue cardpool, loves being surrounded by beautiful people and embracing others left and right. Though one thing to note is that he often only lets one woman, card Yun Nu, into his arms. But it isn't explored much either. And I can't really call Su Lie a villain either. He barely made any splash. He was just there to attract a bit of aggro from the reader, and let the readers experience the satisfaction of MC defeating him during the weekly event arc.
[collapse]Now, let's talk about other things our MC has 'faced' and 'overcome', aside from the villains.He has bad luck and often draws terrible cards, but due to his ability to make full use of each card (or rather, his protagonist halo), he's able to use the drawn cards and improve upon his current situation and dilemmas for his persona.But going to the main point, his problem is gold. And originally, I half-expected and half-hoped that there would be a business arc of the novel, about commerce and trade. It did happen, but not in the way I expected, though its not that bad of a solution. He somehow drew a businessman card to solve his gold problem. Well, its only in the middle of the novel did that happen, and that card made him more and more richer later on in the novel.His 'bad' luck feels kinda BS, if I were to say it in a more direct approach. Though, his situation is unique, and if he were a normal host, his luck really is bad. I think a better way to explain it is that his so called luck, it's more of a plot device, adjusting to give him what he needs rather than truly being bad luck. Like Zero, in the first few chapters of acting. I believe its the protagonist plot armor kind of luck, which isn't really a bad luck. It's just for the sake of gags I suppose. Probably part of the comedy aspect in the novel.Now, about the romance. The author introduces it very slowly (only after dozens of chapters), and while I expected a slow burn, it feels forced. But then... the friend zoning part. Perhaps the author wanted to make things funny but it only felt a bit painful for me.The MC showed a very clear attitude about his feelings for the ML. He only thinks of him as a brother. Purely a brother. But his attitude is really ambiguous (perhaps the author was trying to transition the romance without making it too abrupt) and when he found out about the MLs feelings, he kept quiet about it.Then one thing led to another, they got together. Which didn't really feel natural and smooth to me. It felt a bit... abrupt, despite the fact its a 'slow burn', kind of.Many readers dislike the romance and wish the ML wasn't there. However, it's not the ML's fault but the way he's written—too two-dimensional, like many male leads in shou MC stories. He's possessive due to a barely explored deep trauma, which from what was written, sounded absolutely terrible. I detest those people who made our ML suffer. But I'm more upset that the author literally didn't explore much upon it. Like what the heck? It sounds so serious, but its being brushed off? Which lead to the two-dimensionality of our ML, a stereotypical trauma-ridden, possesive, tyrant lover with some gap moe due to his... well... way of courting the MC. Its a bit... s*upid. Very elementary and so old school that its kinda adorable. (Edit: man, I'm still so upset that our ML wasn't explored enough. He had so much potential.) Which adds a bit of power dynamic when the MC teases the ML about it, showing MC's occasional 'bad taste'.But if you really wanna emphasise the MCs bad taste, and make the romance more smooth...One way I'd go about it and suggest, is to let the MC be the first one to fall in love. Its not hard to fall for a handsome and good-looking tyrant. And as for the 'bad taste' of the MC, it can be utilised for the MCs attitude towards such a tyrant as, 'I can fix him'.Plus, the ML during the first and mid chapters of the novel, does rather have a cute gap moe that the author occasionally succeeds in writing.It would be fun to see the MC more interested in the ML and occasionally tease the ML, but with his persona, the ML would only feel a bit confused and try to shake it off before slowly falling into the MCs pit of love.The MC, after being taught by the card pools etiquette, can also show a strange attitude to the ML sometimes. Utilising the barely mentioned 'etiquette' of chaos card pool. The etiquette thing was only shown to the ML very late in the novel for a simple abrupt misunderstanding that is solved rather quickly, just so the author can speed through the MLs confession and make the MC go soft on the ML, then make them get together.But I didn't really don't want that to be the way the 'etiquette' thing was handled. When I first saw it mentioned, I thought it would be perhaps, be one of the major aspects of the novel for his persona.After all, the emperor of the 'chaos empire' would surely adhere to the etiquette of the 'chaos empire' and act accordingly. It would be of great use to add depth and realness to his persona, making it more real.And maybe... using my suggestion, the MC would also subtly use the etiquette of his empire such as tossing ones sword or blades over to the ML to express his interest and court, but also to act as his persona. The ML won't understand at all at first, and maybe be a bit wary to MC. But the author would of course reveal it to the ML in the later or mid half of the novel.Perhaps it would even be at a point where the ML already fell for the MC, and the reveal of the 'chaos empire' etiquette would make MCs attitude clear to the ML. And ML, already fallen, would use that as a turning point in their relationship.This is all just my suggestion for the romance aspect of the novel. I really like MCs who pursue their love interest, instead of the love interest pursuing the MC, so my thoughts had a bit of influence on the suggestion. Just in case the author ever reads this, somehow, of course.But anywho, the novel is already done and written. I'm just a few chapters away from completing it. I mainly jabbered on and on about the romance and how it can be improved because I really do feel like it's lacking. And I had so many ideas on how the author could go on about this, and make this more excellent as a novel.As for why I rated this 4 stars despite all my complaints? Well, the plot and concept is really interesting. I only see this gacha-based plot in non-BL novels, and really wanted to see it in one of my favourite genres, BL.Aside from that, the cards and other side-characters are really lovable and cute. Such as Zero in the initial-mid point of the novel before slowly not getting mentioned in the latter half, much to my dismay.My only other complaint is that, I kind of wanted to see things in the cards perspective. Not just about their loyalty to the MC and yada yada. But I wanted the author to explore more and more about the complex relationships between all the cards.It could be seen that their daily life in the cardpool is really lively and colorful, I want that to be explored more. Maybe like a few 'break' chapters for the readers so we can read more about their life in their perspective instead of centering all around the oh-so perfect and gentle MC? Not that I dislike it, I like the MC and his attitude towards the cards. It's just that, he's not the only character I'm interested in and want to explore. I also want the author to explore more on the other side characters, the ML, the 'villains', the 'cannon fodders' and the cards.Especially the cards. I kind of have some side CP of a few cards aside from Mana and Lund, like Duo Le and Suo Tian. I kinda wanna know more about their relationship, even if they remain platonic. As well as Zero and his clan members who still remember and care for him despite being an N-grade card who couldn't speak or even move back then.The main complain that I've manifested, and to conclude this review, is that...In conclusion, the characters are too one-dimensional or, at best, two-dimensional. Their past isn't explored much. Their personalities isn't explored much. And even with the system and card pool lore, it's not explored much. This novel had a lot of potential but in the end, I can't help but feel disappointed.But though, despite my complaints. I still like this novel. Even if my favourite side characters aren't explored much, the romance is a bit bland, and the MC has too smooth of a path, in the end, this is probably just a casual light read.This is good for those who aren't really interested in delving too deep, and just want something to read and pass the time with.Don't let my review affect your decision to read this. This is just my personal views on the novel, as well as my own suggestions and a few criticism. This novel is still wonderful to read, considering that although I'm dissatisfied, I still read through the latest chapter and will continue to read until the end.Although the novel isn't a masterpiece deserving of a perfect rating, I still give it a solid 4/5 stars. It's a face-slap novel meant to be read lightly and savored in moderation. It has interesting world-building, a cute and lively system, adorable side characters, a gap-moe ML, and silly moments that make you laugh.I recommend this novel to those who need a light read or don't want to be overwhelmed by complexities and prefer something simple to pass the time. Sincerely, thank you for reading my review. Take it as a grain of salt, its ultimately your decision whether to read this or not. I still think it's worth a look.