Runes of Despair | myunghun4ever

Title (4/5)

The title is appealing. It hints an angst story, not to mention a war-like theme. It's kind of historic, and the story seems to deal a lot with history (with the timeline and the dates).

Appearance (3/5)

The poster is appealing, but I don't see why Kris is the only one on the poster. I suppose that the mysterious figure in Chapter 15 could be Kris, but I can't assume anything since nothing has been confirmed. 

Description/Foreword (14/15)

The description was nice. It gave me a good amount of information about what was happening to the world and the history behind the dystopian society the characters were living in right now. It didn't tell me too much of the story, either, which I liked because it left me curious with the story's development. 

The foreword was fine. It was just an author's note, so there isn't much to say apart the foreword.

Plot (18/25)

Runes of Despair is about a group of orphans who are taken into custody by the Holy Government, a group of higher authorities who use their to suppress a revolt against their ways of practice. The story is in second point of view, with the reader ("you") being Eunkyoung. For the last fifteen chapters, there has been a slow progression. Most of the chapters consist of flashbacks and introducing the characters, and the action begins around Chapter 10, where the group decide (with Yi-en's help) to escape the camp.

At first, I assumed that the uprising and war was taking place in Korea and only in Korea, as the diary entries only listed Korea. However, I got a little confused and thought that maybe the Holy Government ruled more than one country since Luhan and Minseok were from Japan and they were supposedly captured from there. 

The plot tends to go back and forth a lot, and it becomes a bit of a hassle for the readers to know where they are or what's going on. Even though there's dates, some flashbacks seem to be less significant than the others. For example, in Chapter 8, you claimed the the flashback of Chanyeol and Baekhyun were to show how advance technology was in the time period. However, back in Chapter 7, it's already hinted that technology is very advanced, such as the use of a "controlling device around his waist" or the necklace which provides a visual display in Chapter 9. It was nice to know about Chanyeol's and Baekhyun's characteristics, but their presence is so minor, there wasn't much of a reason for them to be introduced so thoroughly. 

Characters (10/15)

There's a lot of characters, but most of them seem to be minor characters. Therefore, I'm only going to touch up a few of the characters who stood out in my eyes.

Eunkyoung is the tough, motherly-type of girl who knows three different languages: English, Chinese, and Korean. Although she claims that he English was rusty, it still seems like she's quite fluent in the language, as she is able to easily speak the language to have some long conversations. The story even points out that she's fluent in all three languages in a flashback that happened three years ago. In addition, I understand that Eunkyoung is sent to a concentration camp, but I can't keep wondering why she's surrounded by guys and only guys. I understand that she has to be surrounded by guys since that's one of the main attractions to this story, but it kind of kills the realism. It would've been nice for Eunkyoung to have girls in their room and befriend them. Otherwise, I feel like she should've been more tomboyish rather than a caring motherly-like girl, since it's never easy looking over little kids who don't listen and there isn't really a feminine role to be admired.

If Eunkyoung is like the mother in the group, then Luhan would be the father. He's usually calm and sweet, but when somethings comes up and he doesn't like it, he's not afraid to show it. He's almost like Yi-en's rival for Eunkyoung's love. Even though he's responsible and all, he's kind of boring. He'll get angry if something happens to the girl he loves, but that doesn't really spark up anything in his character. He doesn't like changes, and when huge changes start to happen because of Yi-en, it's clear that he still doesn't trust him until Yi-en begins to die. Even though Luhan seems upset over Yi-en's dying state, I feel as if he's a bit happy. His rival in love with dying, not to mention that Yi-en recognizes Luhan's importance in Eunkyoung's heart. There's less battling to do to have Eunkyoung like him and no reason to be hostile. 

Yi-en was a fun character to read about. He's very lax in the beginning since explanations and long chats don't seem to be his thing. However, when it comes to martial arts and battle strategies, he's strict and focused. Yi-en is the opposite of Luhan's character: h