The Epic a Minstrel Wants to Sing in Praise of a False Hero

Other people's works are nurtured and then abandoned, but yours, author, is the only one that gets finished while you're nurturing it.

Thinking about it, I've read quite a few "marriage-changing" novels, haven't I? I started following them in high school, and now I'm a freshman in college. The "marriage-changing" genre is amazing. Perhaps because it's not as popular as "whitewashing," this genre consistently produces excellent works. There are excellent plots like "The Song We Were Woven with You" and "The Hermit's Endless Legend," and emotionally resonant works like "A Date Under the Moonlight" and "The Sparrow Girl Only Wants to Repay Kindness, Not Get Married." There are also many with unique (I'm sure) fetishes, and quite a few with connections to popular web novels that can quickly create scandals. Of course, each of these works has its flaws, but their merits outweigh their flaws, and they are all enough to stand out in their respective areas of expertise within the online novel world. But this one...

I imagined a fake hero: a Don Quixote-like figure, steadfast in his ideals and justice. But the author's "fake hero" is literally literal; the protagonist becomes a traitor the moment he sees someone he likes 😅 In the first few volumes, I thought it was like his teammates, Don Quixote, but now the protagonist is a complete spoiled brat, bearing the consequences of his actions as if he's been betrayed.

The male protagonist's criticism of "unauthorized expectations and unauthorized disappointments" is a classic example of sophistry. Isn't not surrendering to the enemy during wartime a basic principle of being a human being? How can that be called unauthorized expectation? And yet, a group of people are repeating the female protagonist's line—what, have you been brainwashed too?

The first few volumes were great, but the last two felt rushed. It suddenly shifted from a leisurely adventure to a large-scale, fast-paced plot. It felt like it could have been written as a road movie, with more volumes to gradually develop the story.

Dear author, please don't use "Made in Heaven" in your next book. Reading the second half of this book felt like riding a burning oxcart; a chapter flew by in a dizzying rush. Some authors I've read are particularly good at padding the word count, while others love writing slice-of-life stories. But you, author, are the other extreme. The density of information is incredibly compressed; almost every chapter propels the plot forward, giving the feeling of being on a rocket.

This author's books are always like this: so captivating yet so hard to finish, once you've finished them, they're gone; once you start, you can't put them down, and if you don't read them, you still have fantasies; once they're over, they're gone, and you feel a pang of regret.

This is absolutely disgusting! If disgust level were rated on a scale of 1 to 10, almost every female supporting character would get a 10, and even the male and female leads would get a 4.

Where to begin...? I really don't know how to write a book review. Since that's the case, let me start with the parts I liked. The first part that deeply moved me was the depiction of Carol's and Arnold's inner thoughts after Carol was possessed by the Fallen King. From Carol's desire to maintain her human dignity in death, to knowing she was exploiting his feelings for her, yet still disregarding her appearance to live on—perhaps ugly and repulsive, but still displaying a genuine desire to live. And Arnold's willingness to do anything for his love, even turning to Ona for help, just to give the girl in his arms a sliver of hope... It's hard not to be moved...

Aside from the main character, the thought processes and logic of everyone else are simply inhuman—too contrived, too disjointed, it gives me a headache.