Tags: Action, Fantasy, Romance, Mystery, Villainess, Isekai, Tragedy
Sub-Tags: Time-Loop, Reincarnation, Weak to Strong, Strong Lead
Synopsis:
Selene Vixent has died nine times. In every life, she’s been betrayed by her fiancé, abused by her noble family, and laid low by an untimely end all because she was unable to awaken the power of Sun, a so-called protective gift passed down in her family. Yet Selene is determined to escape this cursed time loop and, after her ninth demise, abandons any further attempts to be a good girl. She awakens to the power of Shadow—seen as an ominous portent of misfortune—and fully embraces her new life as a villainess. But Selene’s dark path is about to take another strange turn when Dier Veldt, the former crown prince, reveals that he knows all about her time loop. He even offers his help, but under one condition: she must kill him in exchange. With her newfound villainy, can Selene break free of this endless time loop once and for all? (Source: J-Novel Club)
A Reincarnated Villainess Wants Revenge!
A Revenge Served in Shadows
Killed time and time again, the beginning of Stuck in a Time Loop’s opening volume finds its protagonist, Selene, at a changing point in her life. Sick of every time loop inevitably ending terribly, she’s decided to stop playing the good daughter, aiming to crush those who’ve wronged her.
The story immediately acts on this statement of intent by showcasing that this new version of Selene can get things done. Now as ruthless as the world she lives in, she spends little time getting her revenge started. After emotionlessly getting through a breaking of an engagement, she turns to start her reign of terror by taking over her family’s house.
Coming face to face with her abusive father and the servants that joined in, there’s no need to wonder why her methods to take over are so merciless. Using her newly awakened shadow powers, she resorts to ultimately humiliating her father. Showing her complete control over the family lineage by proving both the servant’s and military’s allegiance are completely for her and only her.
The Purpose of the Gifts
Whilst revenge and anger dominate the first third of the volume, the story for the rest of the volume changes itself to focus more on the mystery behind the guardian’s powers. While not necessarily meaning that the revenge plan is stopped, it is halted after Selene has a chance encounter with a man nobody remembers, the eldest prince of the Kingdom, Dier.
Dier is described in not too dissimilar fashion to that of an immortal vampire. Searching for a way to die, with his fight against Selene ending in failure, it puts the two on a fateful path. With both searching for a way to end their misery, either at the hands of immortality or time loops, they eventually find a key to their problems hidden deep within the palace walls.
Said key requires the powers of all guardians to activate and thus starts a quest to collect them. Whilst this quest can vary in quality, the mystery aspect is at its best when adding new twists and turns. On that front, the guardian of the forest’s story makes for great intrigue – posing questions over the limits of the central powers and what happens when they aren’t inherited.
The volume ends in an action and cliffhanger-heavy manner. Defeating a world-ending monster reveals that the relationship between the royal brothers is not estranged but loving. As a result, the three of them aim to solve the key behind the world powers, a solution that sees them back in a time loop.
Overall, Stuck in a Time Loop’s first volume is a tale of two halves. The first is purely revenge based, featuring a ruthless protagonist set on stopping her tragic future. The second is a mystery, weaving its way through the heart of what makes the world tick.
Whilst both stand up well, the latter leads to an eventual softening of the protagonist’s character. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it is played into the story a tad too quickly to the point where her past nine lives are almost forgotten. On a more positive note, this softening leads to some wonderful interactions between the two leads as they clumsily navigate a more intimate future.
Stuck in a Time Loop Vol. 1
My Rating: 7/10
I hope you enjoyed my review and would love to see what you thought of the volume in the comments! If you like what I do and want to see more, consider supporting me by buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi.
You can read the first volume of this series digitally on the J-Novel Club website.
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