Legend of Nereid

RECOMMENDED FOR THOSE WHO LIKE EPIC PLOTS, LOVE & WAR TYPE ROMANCES AND DRAMATIC SOAPIES.

I usually don't like dramatic stories but I felt the historical context and setting of this manga aptly matched it and worked well.

Character 8/10
Female lead (Matia) - Naive youth who transitions into a very strong character.
Matia's character arc is quite superb and lasts for the whole length of the manga. She is constantly changing and maturing and it works given that Matia is so young (just a child) in the early chapters. In the later chapters she grows to be a smart, mature and very feminine figurehead (although her experiences along the way leave her a bit broken).

Two male leads
These guys are deeply flawed and I really enjoyed it. It really is a story of Matia rising above these two and their flaws. I've seen other reviews call it a 'love triangle' but I disagree; it's just an unfortunate chain of events that lead to their unusual relationships - but there is only one and main love interest in the story.

Story 8/10
The story is long-winded and I'll admit I skipped a few parts. At the same time, it's incredibly dramatic and raw with political intrigue. Sometimes the politics didn't really make much sense and there are a few plot holes but, whilst it was something I didn't enjoy, I found it easy to ignore. I really liked the ending and that's what brought the whole story up a notch for me. Here's a bit of a spoiler but I feel like it's more of an easter egg than anything and if I don't mention it alot of readers might miss it: The ending hints at the birth of democracy (under the guidance of Matia's teachings). -Makes sense as we have the Greeks to thank for democracy (and this Manga is ofc set in Greece)! I just think that's such a great end to her character arc/story.

Art 6/10
The art is unique. I found it alright and I think, in particular, the hair is drawn beautifully. However, it was a bit messy, not very clean, especially during scenes of warfare, so it made the story hard to follow.

Romance 8/10
Super juicy and dramatic. The main romance takes a bit of a hiatus for like half the manga at its mid-point, but it comes back at the end - the break is also refreshing and leads to a whole lot more story-driven drama. It starts off as a really simple relationship but, ahhh good old politics gets in the way. Never fear it has a happy ending. The other romances amongst side characters are largely maturely themed (there's r@pe, incest etc). No real love triangles though (which I am glad for).

Recommended for your classic historical fiction buff :)

I enjoyed this series a lot. It is an intense drama with great characterisation. If you like soap operas you will love this.
The lead female Matia is strong and bold. Her initial stupidity bugs me, but she is a welcome change from most shoujo heroines in that she is both physically and emotionally strong and sticks to her strong ideals no matter what. The characterisation was great as was the character development. Each character was believable in that they all had motivations, they all had there own value systems and they all had both good points and bad.
The romance in the story was strong. There was a very strong forbidden romance between the leads, a love triangle, some unrequited love, and even a little yaoi and incest in some of the side characters.
I found the story line enthralling, I couldn't stop reading until I had finished. Usually I'm not interested in adventure type stories, but this story is very well done.
The story is amazing and the characterisation is fantastic, but where the manga falls short is the art. I feel the story would have been better as a novel. The drawings themselves aren't bad looking, the characters look good. But the illustrator fails to convey the full emotion of the characters through the drawings. I feel like certain crucial moments that should be dramatic and exciting just pass on by because of the artist doesn't add enough impact to them. I could, and should have got so much more from such a good story with such good characters than what I did. Another problem was that the translator doesn't fully grasp english - most of the time the translations are easy to understand, but once in a while there will be a sentence that doesn't make sense.
Overall I can definitely recommend this to anyone who likes a good romance with a strong heroine.

Although it was a long story and you may get tired in some events, but the unexpected events will make want to read it until the end of it.
Maybe hwang mi ri didn't want to make a perfect hero to make the story more realistic, she made a horrible mistake she made him the opposite. She made him such a moody person. And I even thought he was more evil than the evil itself, and that was a bad point .but in general it was a good story and you won't regret reading it .