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And I do think they are somewhat achieving that, but more so with Sin Seo Ri than Cha Se Gye who is very much a boring and slightly mean modern-day chaebol with some melodramatic, cutthroat chaebol family problems that have made him untrusting and ruthless that you sort of expect from this sort of romcom. He serves a purpose for sure, but I am also not like super intrigued by it.

I enjoy Seo Ri a lot and she intrigues me and I enjoy all the little nods to her being from the past, like her putting her shoes down after exiting a car and then stepping into them, just the way she talks and speaks and carries herself and even her little flashbacks from her past at the palace, even if sometimes it is done a bit hastily and over the top.

The drama is also going reincarnation route that a lot of those dramas tend to do, at least in a sense, and talking how your past and present is connected and it's quite evident that the drama is really going with that angle, because it does lay it on a little thick. Like, you could sort of sense some of the things that the story plows it's way through in this premise from a mile away like the people behind the show are in a hurry to get through the setup and into the good bits but are a bit too worried about the viewers just don't get it there.

Like I get it. You don't have to put all this emphasis and expositions onto things, like I get what is going on. I can read into the story on my own. But the storytelling is kinda too fast paced and expositional (in these two episodes at least) which sort of makes it loose a bit of warmth of feeling for me or immersion. It's like being told things than experiencing it or ruminating on things on your own.

Like I was enjoying myself, but the hour that passed by while watching each episode didn't feel like it just sailed by.

It does feel formulaic and kitschy, but that doesn't always have to be bad. Because like I said before, if the people making the show pour some heart into it and sort of embrace the innate silliness of the premise everything can turn into a very endearing show. It' can be a stupid show, but a fun and heartfelt stupid show. Like some of those dramas with the same kitschy premise told our former queen once she has somewhat oriented herself in the present. Like Rooftop Prince. That was a stupidly silly show but with a lot of heart and it made me soooob at the end.

Sure, Rooftop Prince had way more episodes to truly build up that story but hey, anything can happen.

I had my issues with Sold Out on You after the first two episodes but I can safely say that I am quite enjoying it now. Sometimes a drama does take a bit, like two or three episodes to truly land on it's feet and it sure did feel like My Royal Nemesis was power-walking through the setup to get to the good bits later on (and starting a story and ending a story is a notoriously hard thing to do and get 100% right) so I will be giving this drama some grace.

Vegur Allrar Veraldar - Sigríður Hagalín Björnsdóttir: ★★★ The story has it's moments and is at times very informative and thrilling when the story goes back to the 15th century history of Iceland and that part of the story. But on the other hand, we are also have an incredibly boring man as a main protagonist who stumbles and faulters his way through the narrative and constantly kills the mood of the otherwise interesting story.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms - George R.R. Martin: ★★★★ It was a bit of an experience to go back into  the world of  Westeros after a long absence, but this world is so tangible and well-crafted that it sucks you right back in. There is a little more hope here than in the Song of Ice and Fire books, and dare I say that the characters are as whimsical, but just as complex as one might expect of Martin. The descriptions are lush and there is a good mix of myths and legends of Westeros to keep you entertained and the morality tale of a what knight should be works well here. I often struggle with shorter stories due to their fast-paced narrative style and sometimes lack of overarching plot, but there was enough here to keep me happy, even if I wanted to get a little more.

Heiðmyrkur - Ingi Markússon: ★★★★ Despite the long absence between volumes, it is incredibly easy to get back into this world. It is extremely complex and ambitious story that continues to be an exciting mix of fantasy and science fiction. Many fantasy trilogies or series start well and then fade into the shadows of the great ideas presented in the first volume, stumble and fail to properly build to the end, but here the author succeeds and the story becomes clearer and stronger with each volume. Many lingering questions about the world and why it has become the way it is are answered and the ending is satisfying enough without seeming too easy or clichéd.

Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 1 - 13 - Kamome Shirahama: ★★★★★ The art within these pages is stunning and the worldbuilding is neat and effective. All the characters feel grounded and tangible, and the pace of the story is quite steady, which makes the reading fun and engaging. At times the story does go a little overboard with its side plots, which can feel distracting, but they usually serve a specific purpose for the story or world building. There is a sweetness to the story that can also be serious that works  well and often makes it feel like an old-school, tried and true fantasy, which takes inspiration from both former witchcraft school stories and hero’s journeys about finding yourself and the friendship you find all while searching for the truth and the magnitude of your powers and your place in the world. Still, the series manages to stand on its own two feet and make some fantasy tropes work into something fresh and new as it uses the conventions of fantasy for its own whimsy within the story. And that is something a lot of fantasy stories today lack. The story is quite cheerful, sweet and emotional, but also thrilling, deep and gloomy when the story needs it. And it manages that all while delving deeper into the moral ambiguity of the world and the characters.

The Memory of the Ogisi - Moses Ose Utomi: ★★★★ The mythos of the world allows the story to ground itself so that it can play with the truth of history and how it shapes people's memories. The pace of the narrative makes it difficult to truly get to know the characters, but I think it is akin to the folkloric tone that the story is meant to emulate. The author focuses more on communicating the theme, describing human behavior or certain moral lessons to the reader rather than character development as it is a story to make you think. And for that reason, it works well.

His Majesty's Dragon, Throne of Jade, Black Powder War - Naomi Novik: ★★★★, ★★★★, ★★★

The series starts off strong, with an exciting plot before it slows down quite drastically and the narrative’s focus shifts more towards character development and the expansive worldview that Novik has managed to create. This sudden slowness is a bit uncomfortable at first, and it put me off the series a little when I read it a few years ago. Now that I'm older, I can better appreciate the travelogue nature of the narrative. There is a certain part within each book that are much more interesting than others, but it does help that the story is easy to read, and the characters are engaging and feel very realistic for this setting. Novik is particularly good at weaving together real history and fantasy, and there is a good main plot that runs through all the books that ties it all together. But you can see that this is a very character-focused narrative and almost like a world-building atlas for Novik.

To Ride a Rising Storm - Moniquill Blackgoose: ★★★

This story is a little too slow for my taste. Often very pleasantly introspective and it talks a lot about our main character, her relationships with the world and in academia and manages to be a pretty good critique of the excesses of Western culture and the subtle ways of colonization’s that seep through every crevice’s. But this sequel felt like a huge repeat of the first book. It gets really boring in the middle and that lull doesn’t get sorted until the very end. The story has serious pacing problems that makes it a hard read.

Too Like the Lighting, Seven Surrenders - Ada Palmer: ★★★★

There is a lot going on in this very dense story, with its enormous number of characters that can give one a headache to keep up with and to remember who is who. The story deals with so much, everything from gender to politics, national consciousness and religion, but at the same time, none of those things is explored in a too broad way that it loses its place within the story. The story is so complex, and one can certainly tell that Palmer is a scholar through and through, and a great thinker. That tone is not for everyone, but I think it works within this story. The text is often long, tends to be rather dry and everything is a little indulgent towards the fields of study that Ada Palmer is interested in and teaches. But the ambition and scope of this story is so strong, strange, breathtaking and brutal, all while you can't help but marvel at it. This is not an easy read at all, and at times so brutally realistic that you must take a break between chapters. But I admire the boldness of it all. It is very introspective and very interesting science fiction world that is very deeply realistic and human.

Álfareiðin - Gunnar Theodór Eggertsson: ★★★

The story was generally quite gripping, and the escalating horror was well executed, although towards the end the story seems to change gears too quickly and lose its footing a bit. At times I found the folklore that the story weaves into the narrative little too predictable and sometimes the story tends to rush things too much. The English slangs and such, which I thought would annoy me, worked well within the narrative bringing the dialogue to life and making the characters sound like actual teenagers. My problem, however, lies mainly with the characters, whom I had a hard time warming up to. And there was a certain incident that occurred between them, which made me rather uncomfortable.

Saltswept - Katalina Watt: ★★ The story was very fast paced, but slow at the same time. A lot of things happen, but at the same time it feels like nothing important is going on. Lots of events going on, but the plot was barely moving since three different perspectives hog the narrative and none of them work that well together or apart. The plot dwells too much on unnecessary things, and all these different characters, and I often felt like my time was being wastes on worldbuilding aspects and side plots then lead to nothing special. By the time the story finally gets going it's little too late as you don't really care about anything.

Travel Light - Naomi Mitchison: ★★★ Yes, the style was whimsical and humorous, which I quite liked, the pacing of the story wasn’t for me, and it may be because story intentionally kept the characters distant to accommodate for the dreamlike, fairytale style of the story. So, while I appreciated the story, I wasn’t ever that into it or enthralled by it.

Huldukonan - Fríða Ísberg: ★★★★ There was a pleasant aura of mysticism over the story, which is written in a very stylish way but not in a why where the style does overshadow the content or hinder the reading. The narrative is told in an interestingly fragmented style of the characters' memories which suits the tale and makes the story very easy to read. The character development here is intriguing, but from time to time I had a hard time keeping track of all of them, which was an aspect to the story could perhaps have been more concise. This is not a long book, but it has big ideas that were fun to explore and the story and there is a good buildup and the pacing is good and the folklore is nicely presented within the narrative.

The Legend of Lady Byeoksa - Esther Park: ★★★ The setting of the story and the mythology it used was the most interesting part of this whole book. The story itself felt too cliché, with tropey but fun character that just go through the motions. I had a lot of trouble with the pacing and the long chapters, while decently focused, were longwinded and not that gripping. The story often falls into the trap of telling us things rather than letting the reader figure things out for themselves, things happen too quickly and become repetitive. It sometimes felt like the repetition was there to hold your hand and guide you through the narrative, but it just makes it quite uneventful and predictable, simplistic and drawn out. It's an easy read, it's fun at times but not too gripping.

The Poet Empress - Shen Tao: ★★★★★ A story full of enticing, cruel and believable court politics and characters that play their games of power while the people of the country suffer. The path to a better future involves difficult and painful decisions and that is a fact that the story never backs away from. The story is framed by realistic worldbuilding and a simple but still very effective magic system. The very poetically written narrative makes the story flow very well without becoming too decorative, making this very easy to read and the pace precise so that the story stays sharp throughout. Despite the cruelness of the world the story never becomes too heavy thanks to the inner strength, resilience, and the hope that our main character brings into the story. The author uses the characters' backstories and actions to show the effects of power and greed within the narrative but also to show their complexity so that you both pity them and hate them at the same time. And it's that layered and subtle characterization that makes you unable to stop reading and very attached to the characters.

Taiwan Travelogue - Yáng Shuāng-zǐ: ★★★★ Cheerful and yet bittersweet, heartwarming yet wistful story frames it point effortlessly yet subtly. The story is quite slow-paced, and character driven which makes it hits a bit of a lull towards the middle that feels a bit too repetitive in the middle and the ostentations main character becomes increasingly tiresome at a certain point. But it is all done to underline the characters' state of mind and the subtle balance of power between the two women, to reflect on colonial thinking in a very effective way.

Among the Burning Flowers - Samantha Shannon: ★★★ It felt a little too much like a fantasy world-building atlas rather than a fully fleshed out story. And while the poetic yet ornate style of the writing makes this story beautiful and the intimate character moments, exciting plot and fun fantastical moments and really well-written love interest are all there for the reader to enjoy, I felt the pace of the story never quite worked properly and made the story lack a bit of depth.

Irpa - Hildur Knútsdóttir: ★★★