Honestly the story had potential but making the dumb villain the final boss just killed it for me. the author dropped the ball here couldnt make the final boss more appealing. The characters in this prequel feel kinda lackluster toonowhere near as good as Sweet Home and the villains are just plain annoying. Its hard to get invested in characters who dont really evolve throughout the story. The protagonist had potential but felt underdeveloped almost like the author was rushing to connect this series to the larger Sweet Home universe. Its frustrating because the worldbuilding had promise but everything felt halfbaked. There were moments where you could see glimpses of something great but the execution just fell short. Like you can tell the author had ideas but couldnt quite pull them together into something cohesive. And lets talk about the pacing. It started off strong pulling you in with some decent tension and mystery. The first few chapters really had me hooked and I thought the story was going to build into something incredible. But as the story progressed it felt like the plot was just meandering without any clear direction. Scenes that should have been impactful fell flat because the stakes never felt real. Even the emotional moments didnt hit as hard as they could have probably because the character relationships werent fleshed out enough. Its like the author wanted us to care about the characters but didnt give us enough reason to. There were moments where I wanted to feel something but the story didnt let me. The monsters were cool at first but they werent as much intimidating as Sweet Home. They became more annoying as the series progressed. They just existed. There were hints about where they came from but nothing concrete. It felt like the author was holding back too much for a future installment rather than making this story stand strong on its own. A little more background or lore couldve made a huge difference here. Even a simple flashback or conversation explaining their origin wouldve helped. Honestly it feels like this series only got popular because of Sweet Home. If it werent connected to that I doubt it wouldve gotten the same attention. Its not that its bad but its definitely disappointing when you know how much better it could have been. The potential was right there but the execution didnt live up to it. Its like the author had a roadmap but forgot to include half the stops along the way. Final thoughts? Its an okay read if youre just looking to pass time but dont expect anything groundbreaking. Hopefully the sequel picks up the slack and delivers on the potential that this one missed. Theres still hope for the next part to turn things around but its going to take some serious effort from the author to make that happen. Final rating: 7/10. It couldve been an easy 8 if the story had just been tighter and the characters more fleshed out.