I can’t rate this enough. As often seen with lots of k novels, the world building/ depth of the plot (especially between the two main characters) is detailed and immense. I love the authors writing style and the translator has done an amazing job! This is one of the series where you will be eagerly awaiting each update and after - be wanting more (however each part it pretty lengthy so its still quite satisfying).

Such a great novel. I love the main character, she grows and changes throught the events unlike many other reincarnated heroins.

You have to push through until the end to be able to fully appreciate it. Otherwise, if you stop at certain arcs, it's just frustrating.

Compared to other KR webnovels, this one definitely deserves the high rating. The characters (even the sides) are given just enough exposure to develop their own stories and personalities. The world building, which sometimes feels convoluted, ties up neatly in the end.

The novel, however, suffers greatly from what I call "word count quota" disease. So many parts repeated over and over again as if readers have... more>> goldfish memories. So many actions explained in detail in paragraphs as if readers can't extrapolate on their own. So much philosophizing and idealism that borderline approaches cringe territory.

The seemingly never-ending chunks of text made it a chore to go through. I'm convinced that the author was chasing a by-chapter word count quota when they were writing this.

So many arcs were dragged on for too long and some events were unnecessary. The MC's emotional growth when it comes to romantic love, in particular, was too nonsensical imo. It made sense, taking into account the MC's lack of development as a person in her past life, but even considering that, the pacing was still so atrocious. It wasn't even slow burn. Just slow for the sake of being slow.

And yet, there were several important parts near the end that were chucked in there like add-ons, instead of being given their own proper arcs. I feel like the author also must've wanted to just end it ASAP lol

I also do not like how Priscilla's s*xual harrassment is glossed over and even tolerated. Nor do I think there was a point in Dorcianni's and Lebony's lowkey redemption arcs.

But overall, it's one of the more decent webnovels of this genre that I've read. The webtoon art is very pretty too. Everything does tie up neatly in the end, despite the many things bogging it down. It's definitely a worthy stort, provided that you can push through the chunks of text. <<less

Beautifully written with in depth characters, amazing world building, and realistic relationships

I would rate this a 4.5 but went with 5 because that does this more justice than 4.

Let me just say that I am a newbie to Korean novels and I just started reading Japanese light novels recently. And many times, I struggle to keep going with many options I have come across because it was hard for them to grasp and keep my attention. But this story is really good. It does a great job of keeping you engaged and coming back for more. I am even the type... more>> of person who isn't a fan of verbose descriptions in stories and I'll admit that sometimes I felt like too much time is spent on various arcs (really just the induction ceremony). I really didn't expect to like this one due to how long the chapters are but IT JUST WORKED! The world building and development of their environment is terrifyingly amazing and the quality of the translations makes it that much more breathtaking, big respect to Rainy Translations! I like most of the characters and I really respect the author for how they take their time in weaving the various genres of fantasy, romance and action into the story so well.

Just try it. You won't be disappointed. <<less

What started off as a fun but serious novel with a cool protagonist and a couple quirky side characters, has now been turned into a serious novel with amazing worldbuilding and proper character backstories and plot points that make sense. The world is crafted beautifully with proper lore. The characters are all fleshed out in the writing. The pace doesn't feel too fast or too slow. The plot pulls you in with deep investigations of the magic system, surrounding politics, character history, and romance. The MC is an intelligent person... more>> who works hard for what she gets. This is an extremely good story. <<less

4.5

WRITING
- Firstly, HUGE thank you to the translator, Sephi. This was one of the first euro-ambience novels I read, but as I read more I quickly realised that her translation quality was a true rarity and I couldn't be more grateful.

- Some reviewers that have felt that Adonis is boring or slow. I have to disagree; it is paced very similarly to standard bookstore fantasy fiction (while being less verbose). To be honest it is up to the reader to have patience, rather than the writer to compromise on detail. Hard copy books are frequently half boring lol, but a lot of those details are necessary, and without patience you'll only miss out on so many good reads.

PLOT
- I enjoy the plot. It's very intricate and distinct from other reincarnation/regression novels. I only felt it dragged a little in Volume 7, but every other volume had me eagerly waiting for each update.
- I like that the plot stands well on its own, and would be interesting even without romance.
- She knows enough from her first life to have a purpose and have regrets, but not enough that she has all the answers. This gives the story a mystery element. I think I missed having a protagonist that doesn't know every future event lol
- It's slightly unrealistic how little she knew about the world in her first life as the knight of a powerful prince, but it's passable

SETTING
- The world is quite interesting. It's a large scale fantasy spanning over kingdoms and empires (only made possible by the wordiness of the novel). It has well defined rules and logic within it's own reality, making it 'believable'. The main drawback is the copious amounts of exposition but I feel that it is not a bad trade off.

IANNA
- There are reviews calling her sexist. Ianna doesn't hate femininity, she simply doesn't care to engage in it. (Well she thinks plushes are cute which is conventionally feminine, ha) If you're saying the series is sexist.... Also no? Yes Ianna is different from the other girls, but she's just different from everyone? She's different from the other nobles, the other students, the other swords people. It never focuses on her being different than most girls. That's a problem with power fantasy, not with sexism

- Admittedly she's overpowered. She doesn't have to put any effort in, but retains a beautiful appearance and has perfect hair and skin.

- Her sword skills don't bother me as much (as her silver spoon genetics) because she has worked to improve them. I am so appreciative of the fact that she has not simply carried over all of her abilities (lowkey hate that in webnovels). I would only say the amount of work she puts in is unrelatable to normal people? For her to eat, sleep and study the sword is extreme, but it is fiction. I think it would have been more interesting if there was an aspect of sword wielding that she didn't enjoy.
- In regards to her personality; Ianna can be kind of rude. She's the tsundere type and I usually end up loving or hating tsunderes. I actually don't particularly like her, but I can respect her. She's not a bad person but she's blunt and can sound mean.
- One thing that does bother me, however, is the amount to which she is worshipped. I know that she is the reincarnation of a God, and that this is a power fantasy, but too many direct "wow Ianna, you're so cool" comments really sours the reading, and it feels like the side characters are NPCs for a second.

OTHER CHARACTERS
- I do like the ML, Arhad. He is principled (to a point) and wants the best for the people around him. He is naturally superior and self assured, yet is not flashily arrogant, and is always working hard out of sight.

- There is the question of why he likes Ianna. She's a beautiful swordswoman, but there would be others out there. Personally I don't see why he likes her as much as he does, but love is arbitrary anyway so I won't critique it too much.
- The other characters are all memorable. I think that's part of what makes me like Reminiscence Adonis so much. A lot of them are actually basic representations of tropes, but because they have been given their own stories and interactions they feel much more human. I'm looking forward to learning more about the other characters.

OVERALL
I really like this novel. It's kind of a mix of fantasy anime and young adult fiction. Reading it reminded me of when I used to binge fantasy novels when I was younger. I have not read hard copy fiction in years and am not sure where to start again but I was happy to find this during the pandemic and feel a similar level of enjoyment and anticipation. The fact that it's a translation in progress almost helps me to enjoy it more lol, because it's allowed me to pace myself and savour it. I can't say it's to everyone's taste but if you like fantasy fiction, non exclusively romantic plot, and you have the patience to read through a wordier webnovel then it's worth trying.

I dont know if its sound like this in the original korean, but I feel like the voice of the translator is particularly strong in this story. This novel sentence construction reminds me too much of American YA fiction or original English web fiction. The novel is weighed by the vocabulary it possess. Maybe the translator is particularly good in localising the mood towards the translation community, but I do feel like I cannot find the Korean flavour in it. Or maybe the reiteration of character inner mood is particularly... more>> American since a lot of asian webnovels are not obsessed with inner dialogue as much as English novels thats why I find this novel have that 'American' style.

But let's just focus on the story itself. Yes it does feel like typical American style female protagonist that's angsty and not girly. In the last life she is a family mu*dering villain, but still a warhero but in the new life she decide to not do the family mu*dering but to become a national traitor. Usually Asian novels are patriotic. I like her character setting because a lot of 'villainess' in other novels are misunderstood or accused wrongly but this MC stood by her sins.

The pacing is slow and the chapters are super long, so if you are used to the quick actions in the usual webnovels you need to rein yourself a bit here. <<less

This one is so difference from another secone chance genre novel. But Idk I just dont like MC personality. The author try too hard to make this story become tragedy genre by giveing us much descriptive MC's bg which is help to understand MC problem and how she become like this. Too much detail to the point I hate her because of it, I would say. In the beginning we do know that she try very hard to achieve family's affection and felt miserably. So, in this life time she... more>> will be the one to abandon them, the one who dont have to depand on anyone and the one who will become strongest of them all. What the hell she talking about. If we look very closely, you will know that all and all she is trying to play a victim which is NOT. In every aspect, she have people to support her, love her, care for her but she try to shut them all out and claim that she totally all alone.

Spoiler

and also in her previous life isnt make me bring myself want to give her any justice neither, since she is the one who slaughtering the entire family

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Anyway translator did they great job, very long chapter I would say!! <<less

This novel gave me such an unexpected epic tale, that I really did not expect at all. Through all the story, it gave me different type of feelings, which I did enjoy, to relate to the main characters, especially Ianna and Arhad, but every character that had in depth in the story as well.

Its good points:

Balanced pace of the novel, sometimes its slowpaced resulting to slice of life/romance/ etc, sometimes its fast paced resulting to action, intrigue, fighting etc.

FL and ML good characters, they have their drawbacks, not mary sue,... more>> gary sue.

Though it has its setbacks:

For one, there's "some" lacking of world building, many times I seem to forget where they are, though this problem isn't that big since it relates to the second setback.

Two: Warning!! This novel is very, VERY long, do not underestimate its length, 4000+ chapters, each volume feels like it never ends. Though if it had more world building, I bet, it would've had 5500+ chapters at least. Therefore, too much reading. - I took many breaks with this novel, I think it took me two months to read it. I took it as a tiring journey, but I took it as a rewarding journey, at the same time.

Three, this novel has some deus ex machina plot twists, for example

Spoiler

Ianna out of a sudden talks about a weird power she got, the ability to see Lines while fighting

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Four (subjective)

Spoiler

The last volumes between Ianna (and Arhad, but mostly Ianna) fighting the Bahamut villain, lasted way too long. It got to a point where I got frustrated with the word "training", that was relating to Ianna. But fortunately it ended after the third or fourth fight between them.

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Big thanks to the translator, for translating this long, long!! But refined story,

Shortly, do I recommend it?

If u want a long, long novel filled with action, fantasy, romance (top-notch), then yes.

P.S. Bed scenes, vaguely detailed.

Goodnight. <<less

The story was quite interesting for me. Many of the characters are my favorite. I love their character development. It's nice to let some character to grow, especially some that seems to have a bad first impression. At times I was annoyed with the MC/ML, but still in moderate level.

But this time I wonder if I should drop it, for the sake of the stability of my mind. Sounds exaggerating, I know.

... more>>

Spoiler

The Bahamut-ExKnight's war arc really draining me to no end. I can't say I can enjoy it like any of the previous arcs. At first, I was intrigued by the Prince/New King of Bahamut's character, but I grew numb and nauseous after reading more, especially when they announce the end of magic era. It felt like I fell into abyss. I'm no tragedy lover, at least if the character didn't deserve it. I don't know if there'll be any plot twist, but I'll stop reading this for awhile.

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It's still deserve 5 stars from me though, coz I love almost all the arcs of the story. Almost. <<less

The first arc of the story (before she leaves home) will trick you into thinking that this story is good. Indeed, it was enjoyable up to that point. But every character introduced after that is campy and one dimensional. MC seems to attract anyone who has an ounce of talent and they immediately feel kinship and gladly share their life story with her. Imagine if you met someone for the first time and they immediately share their personal details, family history, list of likes and dislikes and acts chummy with... more>> you, that's how all the characterd act toward the MC, despite her supposedly having a stoic and reserved attitude. Essentially, it's a mary sue story. <<less

I like the plot, but the story bores me. It did not hold my interest for long. There are also parts where it irritates me... like the cool persona of the characters are simply cringey. This is just my opinion.

The plot seemed interesting. And there's definitely lots of thoughts put into it. The character, plot, setting are quite elaborate. But the problem is they are detailed to the point of making it dull. Lots of unnecessary dragging details that would've been better without. I just found myself skimming and glossing through a lot. Until eventually, my excitement and curiosity dimmed and extinguished by hefty words droning on and on. What a shame!

Applause to the translater, though. They were pretty spot on and neatly translated. They even added footnote. It... more>> is commendable, especially considering the terrifying length and blocks of words. <<less

This story is frustrating. They took so much care building the world, and then they do something unbelievably s*upid like having the MC castrating the loosers of a schoolyard duel and having the admin not care. I can't honestly recommend the story. MC is someone who studied social graces and a child but manages to alienate everyone who doesn't get a crush on her. And is alarmingly ok with stewing in toxic enviroments, without making any plans to fix the issue. I honestly can't recommend the story. The translation is... more>> fantastic, the descriptions and attention to world detail is a breath of fresh air. But what the characters are doing just ruins it for me. <<less

hiya!

i just binge read all the currently translated chapters, ahaha! It has been quite an interesting novel so far! The female lead's very much my taste, with her strength and coolness, haha! Gotta respect anyone who stays true to themselves! I've sobbed at how she treasures the people she loves, and been so happy for her when she creates more bonds!

this story!! the plot!! the characters!! the world!! A 5-STAR!!!

this is unlike any action romance fantasy I've read!!

this is my favorite web novel... I've read a lot of web novels this far... but this one is the best... the translation is superb... thank you so much, Rainy Translation for translating this masterpiece in such an excellent way...

... more>> now where do I start.. well, I finished this last summer... but I remembered I never left a review...

the FL is just a love... she's strong, she's talented, she's intelligent, SHE IS JUST A ✨BADASS✨

the ML is just a puppy... I don't know what title he has but he's a simp... man is and was down bad for the fl... the way he stuttered on his moves when he first met FL in 2nd life...

as a fan of rival to lovers, this novel greatly portrayed the troupe...

i loved how the secret of the world unfolded. the past life was tragic... tragic... roygen and roberstein deserved better.... the story clashed with my religious belief obviously but however I ended up loving this story... <<less

Note, I finished the novel a couple of months ago, but I'm only writing this review now, so my memory on some of the details might be a bit fuzzy.

Out of all the Korean, Japanese, and Chinese novels I've read, this is the best. Out of all the books I've read in general, this is still one of, if not the best. A lot of times I just read something to pass the time, settling on something just "good enough", I don't think about it too much and I enjoy... more>> it a lot (I'm not trying to say I don't like most of the other novels I've read, but I'll admit my standards aren't too high. As long as I can enjoy it, I'm willing to suspend my disbelief in most cases). So it goes, I sort through a mountain of novels, 90% of which are just slop that I drop within a few chapters, with most of the remaining being something I like and can enjoy, usually enough to binge read through them for multiple hours over multiple days. But at times, I'll find a story that just blows everything else out of the water. Something where I can search for the flaws in the story and still come up empty-handed (for the most part). I can count those stories on two hands, out of all the hundreds or even thousands of stories I've seen. Adonis is one of those, and I'd rank it at the top. In general, the story is just well written, juxtaposed against the vast majority of other stories I've seen. The interactions between characters feel genuinely thought out, they have nuance (both the characters themselves and the interactions between them), and I enjoy the characters. Even if I hate what the characters are doing or their personality, I enjoy them because they all achieve exactly what the author wants them to. What I mean is if I see the villain, at times I actually feel terrified of what they're about to do, or if there's some kind of enigmatic character like a dragon that's lived since nearly the beginning of the world, it feels foreign and alien compared to all the human characters. The plot has a firm direction that doesn't wander around, it is planned out, and it works in tandem with the world-building to create mystery and intrigue so that you're constantly trying to figure out what's going to happen or how exactly the world works. You have a general idea of where the plot is headed, but it's not predictable and at times you're even blindsided by the developments (in the "Oh, why didn't I think of that?" kind of way rather than the "How the hell does that make sense?" kind). Lastly, what I find most impressive in the story, the world-building and lore. It's slowly revealed throughout the story, never so little that you can't make out what's going on, but not enough that you can figure out how exactly everything goes together. That experience of reading through the first time and guessing at how all of the little pieces of information connect was some of the most fun I've had reading since I was a little kid. Also, while this doesn't really affect the story, the translation definitely affected the reading experience. It was incredible, some of the best translation I've read outside of officially licensed and translated books. Incredible and consistent quality, all for free? A huge thanks to Sephi for giving this novel the translation it deserves, and for free at that.

(Spoilers for the third chapter)

Spoiler

When Lebony is dying and telling Ianna all about her life and when Ianna reads about the Golden Demon and Phaemdra, the author drops so much foreshadowing for the lore it really made me ecstatic when I finally figured it all out and everything was revealed.

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It's not flawless though. The author sadly couldn't escape the Korean webnovel curse of the ending being worse than the rest of the novel. The ending did lose some of the quality that the rest of the novel had, but it wasn't even close to the point that I would say it ruins the story. Relative to the rest of the story, the end is quite short (which in this case is a good thing), partially because it feels pretty rushed. It still maintains a level of quality no lower than anything else I would take the time to read though, going from extremely good for the first 98% to still good but not close to the rest of the story for the last 2%. I feel like it stands out particularly in this novel with how good the rest of the story is though. To go into a bit more detail, it feels more the novel ended at chapter 34, with the resolution of one of the major points of interest from the beginning of the novel. The ending feels more like a summary in an epilogue that's there to grant some closure and give us a bit more time with the characters, and if anything I'll give it that, it fulfilled that purpose. It tied up all the loose ends and gave us closure, even though the quality did drop off. Overall, it had a minimal effect on my enjoyment of the series, being only a minor gripe that I wrote a whole wall of text about because of how much I love this novel and how exceptional the rest of the novel is compared to it.

One last thing, this novel is long. I'd say I read pretty fast, and I can read all day long if I have the time (I remember multiple days where I've woken up, started reading, then stopped reading and went to bed 16 hours later). Given, I was reading at a time when I had both school and work, but it still took me about two and a half weeks of binge reading (I mean ALL of my free time, even cutting into sleep, not a good habit of mine) to finish the novel. So just a warning for anyone who doesn't like long novels or people who have no self-control when it comes to reading, like me.

Final verdict and TLDR

Stop reading this, go read Adonis. You will not regret it. <<less

The. Best. Korean. Novel.

I've read more Korean, Japanese, Chinese novels than I'd care to admit. But this one was so good I finally bit the bullet and made an account here (after years of avoiding it) just to write this review.

The world building and character growth were incredible. I'm so used to reading stories with horribly one-dimensional, shallow characters and worlds built off of countless unoriginal ideas, that I was blown away by this one. The writer clearly put a LOT of love into this. All the characters (and... more>> especially the MC and ML) grow and mature throughout the story, they learn from their mistakes, and adjust their core beliefs when new viewpoints and values are introduced to them. Just as we ALL should as we get older. (This, coming from a 32 year old guy who has been through some sh*t and learned a few too many hard lessons. And hopefully matured a bit.)

The world was very expansive and well fleshed out. Some novels I've read from this site make me feel like I have blinders on and am trying to navigate a dense forest. Countries and landmarks not being accurately mapped out, or given minimal if ANY background stories. The author of Adonis didn't flesh out most countries, but most countries were hardly visited or important to the story. The countries that were visited and important to the story were described more than well enough for understanding but not so much you wanted to skip paragraphs to get it over with. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this author in the future, as their writing style is my cup of tea.

And the translations!! Freaking, WOW. So good. They were so damn good, I feel spoiled now and am hesitant to start a novel NOT translated by Rainy. Kudos, Sephi! <<less

Phew.

This was a very large novel to read by my standards and I'm still digesting it now. While I do understand some criticism that is here, I don't agree. It's a fantasy story that is serious but also fun. Even though it does get a little too lovey-dovey at the mid-point, I don't mind. The world building just s**ked me in so hard that I was practically mentally paralyzed for about 2 weeks until I finally finished all twelve volumes. This novel is such a stark contrast to one of... more>> the novels I wasted too much time on (Kuruno something, idc). They both have a lot of in-between stuff and explanations, but Adonis is actually so charming in its telling of its story/environment that it never feels too bothersome or sluggish.

The story, I won't even get into and I'll let the other comments try to somehow piece it together into 100 words. In short, I loved it very much and was utterly captivated by the world and it's characters. Also it baffles me how stuff from the very beginning gets answered at the end. The way everything is wrapped up left me in complete awe.

My utmost thanks and respect for Sephi, the wonderful human being, who translated this in its entirety. The quality of the translation and the fact that Sephi completed it makes me awestruck. I cannot express my thanks enough to this person who allowed me to read my favorite book series I've ever read and wouldn't have known about, had it not been translated. So, Sephi, thank you so much.

In conclusion:

Spoiler

My god the Bahamut imperial family is so goddamn nerve wrecking. I was furious how long thos bastards were allowed to live. Their deaths were long overdue. Taylon can go and pound sand.

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