May 01, 2024
Ah, wait, I didn’t realise this is the last chapter of the volume. I had planned to give my full thoughts on everything at the end.
First of all: for such a short volume, the characters feel like they have a lot of depth. Especially Ekko. I was very impressed that you managed to make me believe her as a character so much in so few chapters.
On top of that, the story thus far has also been really engaging. The MC slowly catching on to everything that’s happening felt like it was done very naturally, and despite happening so quickly I actually found the romance between MC and Ekko to work pretty damn well.
Now, I think the biggest set and also biggest weakness so far has been the world itself.
A lot of things about it do make it seem like a well-built dystopian world. The pill itself, especially with how those who are off it are shunned or seen as no better than unintelligent apes, lends itself to this very well.
That being said, looking back on the whole story, I quite often didn’t really *feel* like it was a dystopia. It’s a little difficult to explain what I mean, but to try to sum it up: when you read a book like 1984, every scene has a sort of pressure. The further into the story you get, the more and more you start feel the hopelessness of the situation. Even when there’s reprieve, there’s something in the back of your mind that’s constantly thinking about how everything could go belly-up with one single false step.
I didn’t really feel that way a lot of the time with this story. I could logically think “yes, I would not want to live in this world,” but I wasn’t exactly feeling that same dread you generally get from the oppressive atmosphere in a dystopian story.
I know that’s not a very tangible or concrete criticism, and it may just be me looking for something to complain about, but if there’s one thing about the story that I wasn’t the biggest of it, it would be that.
Overall, volume 1 has been a great read. I’ve enjoyed every chapter and I felt like I really connected with the characters despite the short length. I’d give it a high 7/10 to a low 8/10, a really strong start with certain aspects that could do with some fine-tuning
