A review by katharine_opal
Semantic Error, Vol. 1 by Angy, Soori Jeo

fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Sadly, this story flopped for me. The entire premise of the primary conflict is honestly very stupid. The members of a group project slack off and contribute nothing, so Sangwoo Choo leaves their names out. He gets all of the grief for being "heartless" because they automatically failed due to nonparticipation. Jaeyoung Jang, a senior whose complete non-attendance of the class gets discovered because of this, hates Sangwoo. But...I really do not get why it's treated as if Sangwoo is the one in the wrong? He wasn't. His classmates did not contribute to the project, so they failed. Maybe there's some other Korean etiquette thing I'm missing, but from my view, Sangwoo didn't do anything wrong. Sure, he's very uptight and rigid in his routine, but he wasn't wrong to leave off their names. But because Jaeyoung is forced to retake the semester, as he doesn't have enough credits to graduate, he decides to make Sangwoo's life on campus hell. Except...Jaeyoung is wrong for this??? He's harassing someone when HE is at fault for never attending class and never contributing to the project. The story is trying to play this as an enemies-to-lovers story, but this is just one guy being a dick cause he got caught slacking. I don't know, this story just irritates me because it acts as if Sangwoo is in the wrong and is the bad guy who calling out his classmates. But, you don't do the work, you don't get the credit. The art is good, I did enjoy that.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

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