Whoa finally a out of the box, unique manhwa! This is a stunning piece of work, with so many layers and so many things done just right, but overall some things quite bug me and put this just short of a master piece tier. So many dark, fierce and violent moments here! So much shock! So much of everything!
The story itself is a masterful blend of several threads, connected to superstition, alchemy, generational traumas, women's role in society, incest, mad love, revenge, reincarnation, warmongering, economy... While I felt the story flow could have been a bit more polished and the plot sometimes unnecessarily veers into backstories, it was a powerful, full bodies story and it left me quite impressed. Plus that the original author of the story take it's nom de guerre from Beatrice Cenci, an Italian renaissance woman who killed her own father after he bullied and raped her her whole life. And the supporting characters were so well fleshed out, not a single one of them was a one note,paper thin creation with no personality. Winfired, Grizelda, Alyona, and the rest actually leave a mark, and this is so so rare in both western and eastern art (movies, manga, series, you name it).
The art was phenomenal. Not a bad note here. But this leads to the main downfall here... THE OVERTLY EXCESSIVE ANGST! I felt that this type of a story would benefit much, much more if it were less angsty and more socially conscious. I can understand excessive angst in stories with minimal narration, but for well tought out stories such intense emotional is just detrimental. YOu cannot really focus on anythign else when so much angst is before your eyes. And we have so much to focus here on! From the way Duke Valdemar treats Anette, to the brutality of the time period, to the social norms and customs, to the pursuit of freedom in such times... So, so many topics are covered here, but they get eaten out by so much pain, sorrow and angst. And I am afraid to say, it's cheap angst at some points. Mostly it's well made but they did try to manipulate the reader's heart string at some points. IMHO this wasn't needed for such a quality work. When Anette goes into her inner machinations, things lose a coherent line of narration and everything goes over-the-top. The art of course only multiplies this, with constant intense images, and that gets boring very soon. But indeed this is the only con of this otherwise great work.
The FL and ML are also top of the line. Johan especially is simply a splendid char. So many delicious contradictions rolled into one juicy, poisonous delight! Emotionally both a chauvinistic pig and a gentle child, a beast and the most honorable of men. Anette, our narrator, is so flawed and human it hurt at times. She's batshit crazy and realistic at once, a victim of the times and her surroundings, but also a victim of her own self. Truly a remarkable char! And their love... Don't get me started on it!
Overll, a very good manhwa, with many, many pros. Rec for sure!