Masca

The more time goes by since I've read this, the more I regret ever reading it in the first place. A little summary of this review: World building- 3/10 Art- 6/10 Plot- 3/10 Characters- 6/10 Enjoyment- 3/10 Recommended? No.Masca is a fantasy-romance depicting life and choices of a young mage, Asarella. All she wants is to work hard and become a good mage, but her life take a steep turn when she goes into the Demon Lord's castle. The story opens innocently enough with plenty of jokes and ridiculous situations, but things soon become more and more serious. A complicated love triangle doesn't help Asarella's many a predicament. The manhwa started off promising. Many races and characters were introduced after the first volume and I was excited to see this diverse world. But by the end, all the potential just fizzed out. The politics were screwed up with 1000+ years old mages and that wasn't cleaned up. Only the fate of one little country, Eda, was discussed while the rest of the world found no reference. Average humans weren't even mentioned. World building was unbearably lacking. The art was alright, but everyone looked the same. The Demon Lords were the only ones with somewhat distinctive features. Characters were irritating, but you could see where they were coming from. While not completely one-dimensional, they didn't squeeze your heart either. Asarella was probably the most annoying one. She was 20 but acted 13. Then again, she was still a fetus compared to how old everyone else was. One of the love interests, Arch Mage Elihue, was literally Asarella's adoptive father. His intentions and character seemed the most baffling to me. I was disappointed. The romance was poorly handled. An exciting world was left unexplored. The story was unnecessarily dragged out and the ending was unsatisfactory. I felt as if I had just wasted my time and effort. Would not recommend.