Omini

Trying to calm down and failing miserably.
This story is so messed up.

I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into with this series, but once I started, I couldn’t stop until I saw how it ended… Okay. I read the novel because I have zero patience. This is, without exaggeration, the worst book I’ve ever had the pleasure of encountering. And no, I’m not being sarcastic. The entertainment value of this novel is so low—it’s basically below the Mariana Trench.

I have very mixed feelings about this series. I hated it and loved it at different times. It took a while to grow on me, but then I devoured every episode—fascinated by that strange blend of love and manipulation. To desire someone so much that you want to possess them completely—this is love cannibalism. To love with your entire being, to watch, to seek, to chase the other, and yet insist you’re not in love. This is a love war. Such an interesting and twisted story.

And yet… I just couldn’t take it anymore. This romantasy is definitely not for me.
Imagine if Sheng Shao You were a woman. No. Completely out of line. The constant harassment wouldn’t fly in a male-female romance, and it shouldn’t be excused just because it’s set in an ABO universe. It’s incredibly problematic to justify it with “he wants it.” The other character doesn’t know that.

I struggled to connect with any of the characters—they were all irritating in their own special ways.
Xuan Hao is introduced as some kind of legendary Enigma, but most of the time he’s just… manipulative, hidden behind a mask of defenselessness and sweetness.
Sheng Shao You—he must have done something terrible in a past life to end up with Xuan Hao in this one. I honestly don’t know what he did to deserve it.
Shen Wen Lang was especially obnoxious; every time he spoke—or didn’t speak—to Gao Tu, I wanted to punch him.
Gao Tu… oh my god. Every time he looked at Shen Wen Lang, I felt my soul leave my body. So heartbreaking, so sad, so utterly pathetic. I loved him so much. I wanted to shake him, hit him with something, anything, just to make him come to his senses and run away forever.

And yet, I still felt sad for every single one of them. But I’m still reeling from some of the offensive, irritating, and downright wrong things in this story. And no, don’t tell me that’s just how “ABO creativity” works. I don’t care. It’s wrong, and popularity doesn’t make it less so.

I don’t want to be unnecessarily harsh—it was a good idea.
Overall, the series started strong, was tolerable in the middle, but by the end I just couldn’t stomach it anymore.
So my rating lands somewhere in the middle.
Why six stars then?
One bonus star because the opening song is fantastic,
and another because I got an illicit thrill from the second couple’s plot—though I only got crumbs of it.
Dear god, this should probably be minus one star instead.