Characters: The MC, Selena, is somewhat relatable with her traumatic experiences as a research assistant, but her backstory? It feels exaggerated to the point of being unrealistic. Her emotional state is inconsistent - in the beginning, she's like "I wanna die", but two chapters later, she's planning for a long life. This abrupt shift feels jarring and poorly executed.

The rest of the characters? Walking, talking clichés straight out of your average Korean web novel. Take Magnus, for example—he's the standard issue cold, black-haired, handsome duke with a troubled past (mostly thanks to her, lol + turns out he's "mad"—not to spoil anything). Pamel and Sullei are your classic loyal butlers, the Lavernia Family is the textbook desperate-for-redemption crew, and as for the original FL and ML (Rosia and the Crown Prince) ? They're pretty much just... there, loitering uselessly until the very end. Bartholin and Colin? Who are they again? The story could have done without them entirely, and no one would have noticed. Bartholin doesn't even qualify as a second ML—he had one date with the FL and then vanished into the plot void. These characters are about as deep as a puddle. Drukan, though flawed, is the only one with a hint of interest—should've been the main character, honestly. At least then, the first 3/4 of the story might have been somewhat engaging.

Predictability: The plot takes the well-trodden path of your typical villainess story. The protagonist plans to divorce, offer some apologies, start afresh, and naturally, she succeeds in everything like a proper Mary Sue. It's such a tired trope in this genre that you can see the ending from a mile away. That is, until the author throws in a half-baked animé cliché, at which point the story becomes predictable in a whole new way.

Writing and Pacing: The narrative is bogged down by relentless info-dumping. Lengthy explanations about Selena's past lives and her miserable stint as a research assistant break up the story's flow like unwanted pop-up ads. The author is more inclined to tell than show, which quickly becomes a chore for the reader. And just when you think the info-dumping is finally over, it creeps up right back in!

Moreover, the novel struggles to follow the basic scene story structure. For instance: The SETUP & CATALYST are often overshadowed by lengthy backstory explanations, buried in exposition, making them less impactful. The ALL IS LOST moments are undermined by the protagonist's quick problem-solving, reducing tension. And that's one of the biggest flaws of this novel. Because of this, why should we care about what happens to FL? She's solving everything so easily. Barely an inconvenience. There's no "omg, how is she going to get out of this situation?" five lines later or in the next chapter, everything is ok again. Urgh. When can we have an MC who's not a Mary Sue and who doesn't solve her problems instantly?

+ the writing is rough, with dialogue that often feels unnatural. For example:

Example 1:

"It's been a while."

Selena greeted him briefly.

For her, it had been 11 years, but for him, only a few months. However, it was a neutral greeting that could suit both situations, so Magnus didn't notice the gap in time embedded in her words. [Narrative exposition]

"You look quite well-fed, glowing even."

"... "

Selena was taken aback.

After all, she had indulged in a lavish meal and even refilled her stew twice. [Narrative exposition]

"... I didn't think you'd notice."

This dialogue uses repetitive and unnecessary tags. The "Selena greeted him briefly" tag is redundant since her greeting is already shown in the dialogue. The exchange also lacks action beats to break up the dialogue and provide context for the characters' emotions and reactions. The use of ellipses ("... ") as a stand-alone line of dialogue is overused and doesn't effectively convey the character's reaction. Instead of showing Selena's surprise through action or internal thought, it relies on this punctuation to imply her reaction. Furthermore, the narration between dialogue lines ("Selena was taken aback. After all, she had indulged in a lavish meal and even refilled her stew twice.") interrupts the flow of the conversation and tells the reader Selena's reaction instead of showing it through her actions or more nuanced dialogue.

This exchange could be improved by finding more natural ways to convey the characters' reactions and the passage of time. For example:

Selena met Magnus' gaze, acutely aware of the years that had passed. "It's been a while."

Magnus' eyes narrowed as he looked her over. "You look quite well-fed, glowing even."

Heat rose to Selena's cheeks as she recalled her recent indulgence, but her expression remained impassive. "I didn't think you'd notice, " she said, her tone flat despite the unwelcome flush.

Example 2:

"Is there anything else you need?"

"No, you're quite naïve, aren't you?"

[Narrative exposition]

"... "

"... "

[Narrative exposition]

Overreliance on narrative exposition: Instead of showing Selena's thoughts through her actions or more nuanced dialogue, the author relies heavily on narrative exposition to explain her internal state. This breaks the "show, don't tell" rule of good writing.

Silence as a response: The use of "..." for both characters' responses is a weak way to convey their reactions. It doesn't give the reader any insight into their emotions or thoughts and misses an opportunity for character development. It's an unnecessary exchange that could be cut or replaced with more meaningful interaction. And oh my, did this novel have many silences...

Lack of action beats: The dialogue is presented without any accompanying actions, making it feel disconnected from the scene and the characters' physical presence.

Telling instead of showing: The final line explicitly tells the reader how others might interpret Selena's words, instead of allowing the reader to infer this from the characters' reactions or subsequent dialogue. (Magnus and Pamel remained silent, the kindness they had shown suddenly turned into what seemed like a provocation. Of course, since it all played out in her head, it was somewhat unfortunate that others might have interpreted her words as something like, "You've done everything I asked, are you an idiot?")

Example 3:

"About what I did to your siblings, and even getting in the way of your new relationship... "

"... New relationship? I've never done anything like that!"

"Well, anyway... "

[Narrative exposition]

"I guess I've been really struggling. Ever since the carriage accident... I've been so lonely. But when I moved to the separate house and was on my own, I realised I was making a huge mistake. I was taking my anger out on the wrong people."

Emotion exposition: Selena directly states her emotional state ("I've been really struggling", "I've been so lonely") rather than conveying these feelings through actions or more subtle dialogue. This approach feels unnatural and lacks emotional depth.

Overexplanation: The dialogue provides too much explicit information about Selena's thought process and motivations. This leaves little room for subtext or reader interpretation.

Tell don't show: The narrative explicitly tells us about Selena's manipulation ("she pieced together a story in her mind, spinning a tale...") instead of allowing the reader to infer this from the dialogue itself.

Just bad animé gods assuming children forms. They could've avoided this whole mess if they had more than a single brain cell between them. Essentially, Nix —darkness personified— wanted to save his crush, the World Tree. So, in his infinite wisdom, he decided to push the FL around to wipe out all evil (including himself) and rescue his leafy love. But, being the smart fellow he is, he didn't bother to communicate any of this. And in his boundless, godlike intellect, he figured it was a brilliant idea to turn humans into sleepless creatures and get rid of darkness (the thing that rules the night and is deeply connected to all those dark human emotions). Because, obviously, in his brain—allegedly as ancient as darkness itself—this would purge the world of evil, negative emotions, and misfortune. As a result, everyone would live in a perpetual state of bliss, free from any unpleasant experiences or feelings. Which is, of course, complete rubbish, as anyone with a functioning brain cell could tell you. But no, not our Nix. Congratulations fellow readers, we've got ourselves yet another brainless antagonist.

But fear not! Love will conquer all, and Nix will be vanquished. Teehee <3

And since the author couldn't come up with a sensible solution to this absurd mess, she decided to put the problem to bed. Quite literally. For some inexplicable reason, Nix and the World Tree decide they need to "sleep a long sleep together." To survive and heal, or something? But what's the point? The World Tree wanted to die, and Nix has already been subdued. Letting them snooze won't fix anything long-term. And how is the gradual disappearance of night a good thing? The whole argument was that preserving it was crucial for humanity. Only Drukan, best dude, has plans to do anything remotely useful, even if no one knows how it'll pan out. The "long sleep" seems more like a stopgap measure than an actual solution. And seriously, if a good nap could fix everything, why didn't the gods do that in the first place... ?

So many plot holes I swear.

Moreover, what's the point of dragging some random Korean girl into this mess and making her the scapegoat for all the world's "evil"? If what happens to the FL is meant to be the pinnacle of malevolence in their universe, can we please swap worlds? Because, let's be honest, people are actually being beaten, r*ped, starved, and subjected to countless other atrocities in our world. Not to downplay her suffering—poor girl clearly needs a good therapist—but honestly, if the author's goal was to delve into such a dark concept, it falls woefully short of the horrors we see in the news every day. If you're going to toy with a philosophical and psychological heavyweight like dualism, then the story ought to match it. Otherwise, you're doing dualism a disservice, and the whole tale ends up looking shallow.