Reading through 'A Mythical Love Affair' was a wonderful journey filled with laughter, learning, and love. It was an enjoyable tale with a healthy collection of strong characters, diverse personalities, and a world rich with lore just waiting to be discovered by the reader.
By far the most amazing part of this story comes from the fantastic characters that Mai delivers to the reader, as well as the pace at which they are introduced. Ina is introduced immediately as a normal girl, fighting to create a place in the world for herself before being spirited away to another realm of fantasy. She is amazingly human, filled with a fantastic personality and (honestly) a thirst that would lead the reader to believe this poor girl has never had a drink of water in her life. But what can be expected of a young woman being pined after by a collection of hunky, himbo heroes? Each of the male love interests are introduced at a slow enough pace to give the reader just enough time to fall in love with them before fate rips them away and introduces a new saviour willing to put his life on the line for our heroine. And it works! By the end of a section, you are equal parts ready to meet the next boy toy but also missing the ones who came before.
The sexual tension in this story is also quite palpable! From amazing descriptions to euphemisms and sometimes even just bluntly putting it out into the world. The reader will be tempted to cry out in frustration for Ina to 'just get it' time and again, but the delicate princess would never be so indecent. And, the best part is that there is a love interest for almost everyone's type, making it easy for the readers to demand different relationships, while making all of them seem like the correct answer!
And if you're the type of person reading for the plot, look no further! This story has an amazing storyline that will keep you engaged until the end. Mai does a fantastic job at seeding world lore into every chapter, delivering an epic tale piece by piece. She does well in foreshadowing later revelations a few times throughout her story so well that it would be worth giving it a second read to catch all the nuance that she has thrown in. As someone who loves rich fantasy realms with deep meaning built into them, the fantasy world of Meu does not disappoint. You'll get to travel through different realms, discovering a multitude of enemies and allies, and explore a world different than our own.
I've decided to give AMLA a 5/5 because Mai has an amazing way of describing her characters that really brings them to life. I found myself wanting to read on with every cliffhanger and even cheering for my favourite boy. So, bundle up with your loved one, or two, dine on some noisefowl, and get ready for things to get hotter with every turn of the page.
