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Fool's Gold - With Great Expectations come Great Disappointment

I am the Precious Daughter of the Greatest Villain in the Fantasy World

I'm a sucker for the doting father trope and I was so excited when I saw the cover for this. I loved everything from the flowers, to the wand she's holding, and the way her father is looking at her so sweetly! But nope. I wouldn't be writing this if that was the case.

The summary on Bato.to:

"I thought I was reincarnated as the daughter of a wealthy family, but it turns out I was born as the child of the greatest villain in the fantasy world of martial arts. My father doesn’t care about me, I’m ostracized by the others, and I’ll eventually be murdered as a side antagonist by the male lead, after suffering from my one-sided love.

Even worse, this is a world where the weak are the prey of the strong, conceited antagonists.

So, before it’s late, I need to learn martial arts and escape!

However, there was a fatal flaw in my plan…

Because of my notorious father, there were too many people who sought to end my life.

“Wahhh! Dadda! (Daddy!)”

…Will I ever be able to escape safely?"

There will be some spoilers beyond this point so read at your own discretion.

Let's start with chapter one. Which MC spends the whole time crying. In complete hysterics. Now honestly, her reaction was justified since she is a baby and confronted with her homicidal demon sect leader father, and the ML who was also who killed her in the original story. So not too bothered by that.

What caused me to become frustrated was her behavior and thought process in chapter two. Let me summarize what happened in a span of 10 consecutive panels.

At first she wants her dad to leave as soon as he enters, then becomes upset he's staring at her? But suddenly she SPITS ON HIS FACE. To make him go away. Is then flustered he evaporates said spit because her "deadly attack" failed, and is still disturbed that he continues to look at her. Before deciding to appeal to him with her pretty face and is flabbergasted?? That he moves away from her?? Personally, he probably thought she would spit on him again.

She even says, AND I QUOTE, "Usually, in this kind of story, even if the dad isn't interested in his daughter, he slowly softens up and takes his daughters side."

Because he didn't immediate start loving and doting on her, after she a) cried so badly he was going to execute her nanny, and b) spit on him, and c) was probably visibly uncomfortable when he was around. She says, "Fine. The nursing plot is already ruined."

THIS FOOL.

If anything his actions show that he cares. Other characters note that he frequently visited the main character, to the point her mother (which had been absent up to that point), came to find her to FIND HER FATHER.

This isn't an issue of pacing, it's the fact that the MC doesn't understand why people don't fall in love with her and follow her every desire and whim. She acts in certain ways to get certain results. Just because her dad doesn't automatically accept her actions (which arguably he did, considering his personality), she feels that he's the bad one.

I'm honestly in awe. I don't remember if it was ever mentioned how old the MC was before she transmigrated, but I'm tempted to believe she was either a middle school or high school student. She's self-centered and naively "adorable". Very clearly lacking life experience.

On one hand she's aware and trying to plan for her future, on the other hand she's stubbornly focusing on things she read from the story instead of actively trying to understand her situation.

The artwork in this was gorgeous and I persisted up to about chapter 15 before I just couldn't go on. The clothes and colors used in this are distinctive, pleasant, and the translation was great. I love the side characters that were introduced including the nanny, and various sect experts who are demons but also doting uncles and grandfathers.

There's so much potential in this story from the misunderstandings of the original plot (of course) to the world building that the author slowly reveals. But I honestly can only drop this story.

Personally, I'm not fond of MC's that are more mindless and passive. There's one scene in chapter 15 where the MC and ML are fighting against assassins who broke into the sect. The MC doesn't want to leave the ML alone but he tries to buy her time to escape. She runs away only to stop and realize that she had explosive beads given to her by one of the sect elders. Extremely. Powerful. Explosive. Beads.

So she runs back to help the ML. Wait. Let me correct that. She runs back to TALK to the ML about the beads, instead of just throwing them as a distraction. I get that she's not familiar with the items in this world, but its been at least 10 years by this point. It feels like she's given so many advantages that she doesn't utilize properly, so either she'll develop as a) traumatic event that forces her to grow, or b) becomes typical heroine that doesn't contribute much and passively moves along as the plot develops itself.

I didn't even talk about the ML, but this has gone on long enough. He mostly spends the chapters agonizing on the fact he's falling for MC which conflicts with his goals.

This could end up being amazing but I will never know, since I'm just not fond of the MC and can't get invested in the story.

If anyone is interested, I've linked the manhwa above. Please support the translators and their hard work but also the original author and artist if you enjoy the story they've shared with you.

[acupofcocoa]

Opal Reviews - Unexpected but Good

Dressed as Cannon Fodder Abandoned by the Actor

This novel isn't being translated and currently only available for MTL (machine translated), but its relatively easy to understand. I made this blog because I wanted to talk about this novel and I have no other outlet.

As a life long reader I used to pick my books by going to bookstores and picking out what attracts me. I do in fact judge books by their cover. I do the same for artwork for anime's and webtoons but that's another story. Lately I've been exploring new novels and stumbled on this one. The cover is... rough but the summary is what attracted me.

I won't quote it because if you're not used to MTL it sounds very awkward. In summary:

Gu Qingchi became a cannon fodder in a story but one that wasn't even written by the author. He has the best appearance but even that is of no use. As a cannon fodder he has no sense of existence and everyone treats him as part of the background.

Now, the plot has come to an end and he is about to be abandoned by the successful actor. Gu Qingchi's eyes are full of tears, "the day has finally arrived."

Xie Luyu (Male Lead): The tabloids are talking nonsense.

Gu Qingchi (Main Character): No response.

Xie Luyu: We've already received the certificate!

Gu Qingchi: We have already divorced.

Xie Luyu: I regret it now, really regret it.

There are so many stories now about people transmigrating as cannon fodder's and changing their fates, and coupling it with the entertainment industry setting I was very intrigued. There will be some spoilers beyond this point so read at your own discretion.

At first the story was exhausting.

Gu Qingchi is someone without a care for the world. Literally. He's written to cold and can't be bothered to care even about himself. The author contrasts this lazy, can't be bothered persona, with his seriousness towards his work. He will do what is needed to do and what is asked of him. But nothing beyond that. In addition, he is skilled at acting because he immerses himself in the character's emotion rather than using skill.

Reader's may be put off with how he readily accepts what's given to him, never speaks up, and how generally sloppy he approaches everything else in his life. I was so frustrated by his character in the first third of the story because of how he thoroughly he embodied the notion of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

As we are introduced to the ML, the MC notes that he loathes him after the divorce. But is willing to let the past remain in the past as he now strives to move forward. I swear I was about to shake him. Read and you'll understand why. (Hint: the ML doesn't even know for most of the story that the MC was his "marriage" partner that he divorced.)

What kept me reading was the mention how the MC actually tried to break free from the plot early on but found all his efforts futile and the people he met can't even remember him because of his setting as a cannon fodder. I believe at the beginning of the story the MC mentions that he has to introduce himself every time he meets the neighbor next door because they can never remember him.

I'm so glad I pushed through and read it because my god was this story heartbreaking.

Can you imagine how the MC must have felt living for two years as if he doesn't exist? How no matter what he does he doesn't leave a trace and no one acknowledges his existence? The only thing he can leave behind are physical traces like a tree he planted and the receipts from his takeout orders. Nothing else.

What started out as being lazy and sloppy, turns out to be signs of severe depression. I can't and won't mince that. As I think back there are so many signs that the author wove into the details to show his struggle, how hard he tried to overcome it, and what contributed to it.

Whether it be the contrast of his family life before and after he came into the story, his addiction to the "burn of alcohol running down his throat", or the complete lack of interest he has in life. I really can't do this story proper justice. What astounds me is how complete the emotion is through MTL and makes me wish I could read it in it's original form to see the style of the author tear my heart into pieces.

But this story isn't meant to break your heart, it's a story about healing. As the MC continues living and sets goals for himself he meets the ML who is utterly and completely in love with him (and properly redeems himself I promise!) and his actual family who show his endless patience, understanding and support.

If the first part of the story is full of irritating dust in your eyes, the second part is full of knives, but the third part is the warm hot cocoa that soothes you.

This is the journey of a young man who overcomes his struggle with the support and care of the people around him. He learns to be independent but also learns its ok to need help.

There is so much underlying tension and drama with his relationship with the ML and his family. But there are also warm moments with his friendships and especially in his relationships. This story isn't perfect.

I'm frustrated that we don't see true retribution for what his "family" put him through. I'm frustrated that why he transmigrated was never really addressed (although his previous life was acknowledged in a great plot twist). I'm frustrated there were interesting character's that were introduced but didn't get proper exits or acknowledgement because the MC "doesn't care".

But there are also many things I loved about this story. I loved how the MC and ML overcame their communication issues and both learned to grow and love each other properly. Especially the ML. I loved how his family prioritized the MC and made the effort to improve their relationship. I loved how the author acknowledged that the process to healing isn't smooth and linear, it can be bumpy and takes time so it's ok to go at your pace.

This is about 135 chapter's long (+ 3 extra's I haven't read yet) but it was an unexpectedly good read. I tried not to spoil too many things about the story and there's still so much I didn't cover. So much! But it's worth it. It's really worth it.