The ML is terribly, and I mean terribly, dull. For the first, like, twenty chapters his sole purpose is to warm the Empress' bed and explain to the readers in great detail just how fantastic and talented she is. He doesn't contribute anything else significant to the story, and there's literally nothing interesting about him. The only time I felt something for him was when he was thinking about his dead brothers. That's it.
And no, I don't have anything against pure, soft-hearted MLs. I adore them, in fact. I just wished that Kang Joon had more personality, that he wasn't as boring as an 8 am Monday class.
The Empress is... Idk, I felt like the author couldn't decide what to do with her personality. At first, she seemed like a formidable and cruel Empress. In the first chapter alone, she allows her wolf to devour a man—ALIVE!—for lying to her in front of her entire court. I kinda liked that, actually. Not the gore part, ya nasty. I just wanted to see how the author planned on exploring her character.
I shouldn't have. Halfway through the story, it was obvious to me that ch. 1 exists purely for shock value and nothing else. By the end of Season 1, she's like a shell of her former self. All she's focused on is love, romance, and getting pounded by Kang Joon, our one and only King of Boring Land.
The Empress also constantly pulls an Edward Cullen and comes to KJ's room in the middle of the night for d a y s. She doesn't do shit, she just stares at him for a while and then leaves.
Ma'am If I woke up in the middle of the night and saw you standing there beside my bed just staring at me, I'd grab the nearest chair and throw it at your face. Zero fucks given. Gtfo of my room, yo. That shit ain't romantic, it's just plain weird and creepy.
If you ask me whether or not I root for the main pairing, then the answer—if it wasn't already obvious—is no. Like I said, KJ is boring and the Empress is weird. The author even had to throw in another potential ML just so KJ had a reason to be jealous and finally realize his feelings for the Empress. Ya know, the good ol' cliché.
We do love it when authors shove romance down our throats🙂🙂
Just like the characters, the plot is all over the place. It jumps from point a to b really quickly without any clear explanation. Things got a liiiiitle bit interesting when the mystery case happened, but other than that? Nah.
I also wonder why the entire palace staff aren't living in constant fear of the Empress, considering how "cruel" she is (remember ch. 1?). Granted, she's done an amazing job conquering all those nations in under 4 years, but she also smiled while watching her wolf munch on a living human being. If I were them, I'd be terrified of serving someone like that. The mood in the palace would never be as jovial as what was depicted in this story.
One more thing I'd like to know: who is the target audience for this manhwa? Like, why was this categorized as Josei?
In my opinion, the only people who would find all the clichés and boring stuff in this manhwa entertaining, would be middle/high schoolers—aka shoujo readers. But then again, the story does contain gore (though very briefly), sex (implied), slavery, etc. So I'm not quite sure if this is the right manhwa for those kids lmao.
I'd recommend reading Beware of the Villainess! instead. It has a strong FL and a pure, soft-hearted ML who actually has personality. I've only read up to ch. 50 (I think?) and it's already in my Great Read list.
If you still want to read My Master, the Wolf Queen after reading my review, then go ahead. But know that you could be spending your time reading a better manhwa, instead.