[MANHWA RECAP / REVIEW] Palace of Bardo

★★★★★

Synopsis:

An emperor had his eyes set on his architect. The architect declined his advances. The emperor drugged, raped and assaulted the architect repeatedly. People died in his court everyday because of this obsession. The architect was twenty-six when he committed suicide.

One hundred years later, the architect and the emperor were reincarnated. The emperor was reincarnated as the emperor. However, the architect was reincarnated as a palace laborer called Heun. He had his memories intact. History started repeating itself. The emperor set his sights on him, started killing people, drugged him and raped him. He didn’t want to live through the same hell of a life he lived before. On multiple occasions, he attempted to end his life. At some point the emperor, remembered his previous life.

As an atonement for his previous life’s sins, he refused to repeat the same things he has done in the past.

Review:

I started reading this because the art was beautiful. I am 35 chapters in and I did not expect for this to take such a dark turn.

To be fair, the plot was intriguing. It made me want to keep reading. It made me root for the the MC. This is a story of survival, politics, redemption and hopefully, retribution. *fingers-crossed* There were enough challenge surrounding the plot.

Heun a.k.a the MC had a gradual character development. This could have been faster. He was initially suicidal. The emperor kept saving his life. The palace servants said if he refused to take his medications or proper care, the servants would be punished. So, he used a different tactic. He fought back. He wanted the emperor to kill him. But since the emperor magically remembered his past life, Heun wasn’t killed. I hope he seeks vengeance for every wrongdoing by the emperor to him. I also want him to be happy and escape that godforsaken palace. If not, I want him to train that tiny crown prince to kill his emperor dad and be a good emperor the nation deserved.

The Emperor was the devil himself. There is no way he can redeem himself. He may have tried to appease Heun but not without an ulterior motive. Even as he made amends, he still wanted something in return. If he really wanted to atone for his sins, he would’ve let Heun go.

Heun’s brother. In the past, he raped Heun. I want the emperor and this dude to kill each other. The horrors this man brought to Heun.

I might have to steer clear of such manhwa for a few days. Sad stories tend to weigh me down for a bit if I read too much of it.

Liked what you read?