unfortunately, i feel like i have wasted my time reading this, and most of this review will probably be what i dislike about this great novel.a great beginning, that will probably hook in most who like this genre, showing interesting characters as the story goes on. as Will (MC) becomes older, more of the world is revealed, but not explored beyond "this is this, and that is that." although it feels slow-paced, the author is constantly releasing chapters. however, sometimes the writing feels muddy and repetitive, but i think those moments became rarer as i continued reading. i think many people will probably like this story with the exception of a few things like Will's shepherd class, Celine in general, and maybe Will's character. all the way until the tldr at the end are spoilers, so skip if you don't want those.i don't like Celine, mainly because her character is defined as "yandere crazy, but is actually a good person at heart." in the first few chapters she is shown, her only redeeming action was helping Lont. right before she enslaves Will as the price because he was the one to interrupt her experiment. she goes to torture him for the sake of his training and building resistance to dark magic. his reaction is: "She is a good person." Will's only mention of resentment is a single sentence and is only "a little bit." basically, she never looks or seems like a good person, because she never does anything to warrant that besides random thoughts where she sympathizes with Will. an unlikeable character for me.it might just be my bad memory, but i don't think Will has any meaningful character development. throughout the 114 chapters, he is always the happy boy who is kind to others, but comedically narcissistic. besides learning his motivations for the future and maturing in the most obvious ways, he is painfully generic. the only unique thing i can say about him is his narcissistic joke. hopefully his changes are more prominent after he recovers from his apathetic mood around chapter 114 or his training in general.lastly, the entire novel up to now feels like a very, very long setup. i have already said this is slow-paced, because it seems like the author is setting up and showing all of these characters who will be relevant to future plot points. some are even the cause of future plot points (Celine, Ella, Will's mother), but i think this is what ruins it for me. i do not know when this setup will ever pay off, and i'm not enjoying the novel as much as i was before. to me, it's dragging on and i don't want to invest more time into it.tldr; feels like the novel drags on, and many small events that i don't like pile up and ruin my enjoyment of it. it's still a great story, so for those reading this, please do give it a try. it might just be for you.
