This is a reverse Josei novel even though its a Seinen written for men. Instead of a daughter-in-law mistreated by her husband and her in-laws, its a son-in-law mistreated by his in-laws and wife. Also the toxic relationship which led to the divorce, and the wife figuring out why her indifference and treatment of her husband pushed him away and now she starts falling for him and appreciating him. Moreover the appearance of rivals vying for her soon to be ex-husband's heart.

As for the story, it's a bit bland. Before... more>> MC's regression he was a martial Sage of sorts. He got crippled and unable to fight however due to his incredible perception & insights he created powerful martial techniques for others and was hailed as a Sage. I honestly preferred if the novel focused on this premise. Instead what we get after the regression is MC avoiding the incident that crippled him thus able to learn swordsmanship and the novel focusing on him in a more combat focused role to become strong rather than an 'instructor' or 'sage' role. Honestly its an overused protagonist plot. The entire premise also involves the invasion of an emerging beast threat, that destroyed the kingdom (of course the betrayals from vassals and all that political intrigue) so our MC's other goal is to save his previous life's compatriots and defeat the horde invasion. Standard cliche stuff.

The writing though, is bad. Author likes to use too much exposition and rhetorics. What you end up with is a scene spanning multiple chapters from different point of views, of the exact same scene. It's like repeating the same content 3 times. Furthermore there's frequent use of flashbacks and they were poorly placed. In the middle of a fight, you'd get a s*upid flashback. It breaks the immersion of the battle and disrupts the flow of the storytelling. There's also the too frequent tendency to jump between scenes, again very disruptive. Moreover author tends to fast forward or skip through moments in the scene. One moment the protagonist is engaged with the boss enemy in their base, then the scene switches to his companions who are in the field and then jumps back to the protagonist's but the battle has already concluded.

Overall the romance drama can be frustrating, it was written to be Josei (basically a soap opera for women) after all. Harem tag might be a sham, as it feels like only a single love interest gonna win in the end, who knows. The setting & narrative is cliche but admittedly it is entertaining. Writing is atrocious though, author needs to stop with the expositions, flashbacks and jumping between scenes. Having said that, its still early on in the story so there's time and room for improvement or maybe not as author's other works are pretty short, 100-200 chapters. So things may or may not turn around. <<less

Knowing it's a story written by the author of Bamboo Forest and I Became The Necromancer Of The Academy, I was quite curious, and so far I'm not disappointed.

The MC is a commoner who somehow got into a love marriage with the eldest lady of one of the most important noble families in the kingdom, but after five years of marriage, he ended up running away from her. Not only was he ignored by his father-in-law and relentlessly bullied by the rest of his in-laws, but his wife also never... more>> openly took his side; he even lost a leg because of the jealousy of one of his brothers-in-law (who was actually trying to kill him). After running away he spent ten years trying to find a way to overcome his disability and wield a sword again. In this process he wrote martial arts books, which enlightened a lot of martial artists. Then, suddenly, the wife he had not seen during the past ten years died on the battlefield and he received her corpse and discovered that she never took off her wedding ring throughout these years. It made him wonder if she had had any regrets. So, after humanity's ennemies, the Transcendents, invaded the kingdom and he died only to find himself back to the past on the day he lost his leg, the MC decided to immediately get a divorce, not only to free himself from his wife's family and her from her lingering feelings, but also to walk his own path as a martial artist.

One thing I like is that the MC is pretty determined. He doesn't waver much in his beliefs and is not confused about his feelings. The most important thing to him is his martial art and preventing the destruction of the kingdom if possible, and he does his best to accomplish those two things. He is intelligent, straightforward and strong (mentally, and, after a while, as a swordman).

The wife, Rihanna, doesn't know how to express herself. She clearly loves him, but she doesn't seem to be able to take any decision for herself. Her development is a bit sad but interesting, and will probably become brighter. Other characters are more straightforward and not as interesting, though, except for Rihanna's father.

I really like how it's funny but serious, bittersweet but also action-packed.

The story is also very interesting, with a lot of developments and many secrets to uncover.

I really recommend it. <<less

A disappointingly bland world with one-dimensional caricatures in place of characters. The plot is okay... regress, become stronger through plot armor, save the world while collecting a harem. The usual, easy plot. Where this one really falls short for me is the one-tone protagonist who is supposed to be charismatic, but just isn't. It doesn't matter how much the author says a character is 'so handsome, and charismatic, and praise-worthy, ' if the author never actually shows it. (Characters commenting "wow, so charismatic!" are telling, not showing.)

Fine for turning... more>> off your brain and passing the time, but I'd limit my expectations to just that. <<less

I have very mixed feelings about this one.

I previously tried reading the author's other work, My Friend's Harem Is Obsessed With Me, but it had so many glaring flaws and logical inconsistencies that I dropped it.

However, this novel had a really interesting premise, so I decided to give it a shot. And it's a very mixed bag.

... more>> On the one hand, the writing is technically not bad—sometimes even good and engaging. As I mentioned earlier, the premise of the story is genuinely interesting.

Unfortunately, while the author has improved compared to their previous works, their writing still feels very immature, and they struggle to deliver when it comes to resolving mysteries. In that regard, they fail miserably.

The resolution of the main mystery and the question posed at the start of the story falls completely flat.

The power dynamics in this world make no sense, and many mysteries exist solely to either showcase how amazing the MC is or how s*upid everyone else is.

Just to give one example: the MC is presented as a master teacher of all weapons. How does the author demonstrate this? By having him teach a spear prodigy, where the very first thing he points out is that she's gripping her spear incorrectly. Her response? "That's how my father taught me when I was 12 years old."

Overall, it's very mid—filled with glaring logical flaws and inconsistencies. <<less

It's good. As CrisisCode said, MC is determined and it's unknown why the wife allowed him to get beat up. MC knows there's more to the story, but he doesn't care, he wants to improve himself in this second chance.

The pacing flows smoothly, but things look grim for humanity. They're weak compared to their enemies and they're not competent enough to make up for their weaknesses. Going from what was said, there are only a few actually strong people who can stand head to head against the enemy. MC is... more>> very weak, but competent, however, the beasts are many times stronger than him. I can't honestly see him getting strong enough to actually defeat those monsters. There would have to be a time skip or some inexplicable power boost. <<less

MC regresses and plans to leave his wife to escape her cruel family.

It's a good read, but suffered from a moderate amount of stalling the plot. The wife's reason for not helping MC ab*se from her family is withhold. When the wife visits the MC, the author stalls by having her hid as a maid for many chapters doing nothing but gaze from afar. MC also withholds his divorce arrangement so the 2nd female lead is in unnecessary limbo from falling for a married man.

The female lead is adorable and... more>> cute, but some can find her irredeemable as she's been cold and neglectful to MC for years. They past love story is nice though. Hearing how MC gotten through her ice walls before. MC and 2nd FL is nice to read. Not much romance yet, but a slow burner through training, learning, and combat.

This plot outside the relationship is interesting too. As the MC has prior knowledge of an upcoming tragedy and he's doing the best to help his the rival family of his in-laws; 2nd FL's family.

Overall, it's good but drags. <<less

This was honestly incredibly boring for me. I don't think that it's particularly bad, but the way how MC is written makes me think that he has no goals outside of just divorcing his wife. It's like watching some regular guy going to work from 9 to 6 every day, until he gets enough to save money for some vacation and back to drone work. There are maybe 1 or 2 scenes that is interesting, and it wasn't even about MC. It was about the highly skilled general defeating an... more>> enemy that MC and his useless crew couldn't.

2.5 stars. <<less

I know we usually say “Show don’t tell” but this author really takes it a bit too far sometimes. Its like almost every random moment would be a flashback from some character’s perspective (not even necessarily the MC). And it wouldn’t even be a particularly insightful flashback, just a random scene that would then get followed up by an event in the ‘present’ that is directly related. There isn’t any build-up or tension in such an execution.

There are entire scenes which are blatantly skipped because it seems the author is... more>> simply not capable of writing them. Like one chapter ends with the MC encountering a powerful monster and the next scene is that a bunch of the guards/ allies are already lying down defeated. But somehow the monster doesn’t kill any of them? Despite that being the main concern of the MC that this monster does not show any mercy and will kill all humans on sight. The whole combat thing doesn’t properly add up, even the strategies are barebones with “I will hit this guy in the place he is already injured”.

Also, the power levels of this world are not explained. There is ‘Aura’ but there is also magic, but then one of the main points is how the MC’s wife’s family is simply born with supernatural strength. But then also that the hired knights who aren’t part of the family line can also seem to learn the aura technique?

The overarching plot of the ‘main apocalypse threat’ is also poorly explained.

Anyways, this is an alright novel, good character and descriptions but somewhat lacking story structure with random flashbacks and really lackluster action scenes. It’s a 7 out of 10 at best, at least in its current state as far as I have read. <<less

Starts off great, but as you read, characters, MC included, begin to feel shallow, power scaling and parts about martial arts are inconsistent. Overall, world settings and people are roughly stitched around the main plot events (side plot is almost nonexistent, world is wayyy too focused on protagonist), but since plot itself is generic, it comes off as very unpolished. 34 chapters might be too early for final judgment, but reading after I Became The Necromancer Of The Academy written by the same author, The Son-In-Law Of A Prestigious Family... more>> Wants A Divorce is lacking. Single smoking rebel girlboss turned maid has more personality than entire cast of this story. <<less

I kind of agree with most of the other reviews. In my opinion, the major downfall of this novel is that it tries to do too many things. I think the author absolutely nails the emotional part of the story. I don't think I've read more than a handful of novels that go so deep in this one aspect. I'm not talking about romance or anything, either. Strictly, how the characters process and deal with emotions is spectacular.

Personally, I like the different POVs in that sense. Each character has their... more>> own way of dealing with things and growing, and seeing that feels impactful. At the beginning, you hate the FL for being indifferent. You love Silverna for being cheerful and caring. The little sister annoys you, but starts to grow on you. But as the story unfolds, you start to feel different emotions for those same characters, and you realize that things aren't as simple as you thought.

This part of the story is honestly a masterclass, and I don't think it gets enough praise.

What really holds this novel back is everything else. I think I agree with a previous comment that this story would have fit better if the MC couldn't get stronger or if the differences in strength weren't so vast. Whether he was crippled again or just physically untalented, not having the MC on the frontlines and fighting all the time would've allowed the author to put more emphasis on the things that really matter. Not saying that there should be no action, but if it were much more limited, we could've had a masterpiece.

A consequence of this is that things tend to drag on for longer than they should. For example, I made it to chapter 100 and in terms of the overall apocalyptic plot, it feels like almost nothing has happened. They've killed a few "bad guys" and had like 1 or 2 "impactful scenes" in that regard but it feels a bit lackluster.

The author treats it like a plot device to move the "romance" along, but he spends like half the time devoted to it. Then there are the somewhat random events that pop up, and all these different people are introduced and there are backstories for almost all these characters and.... well, there's just not much time for anything else.

This novel wants to be a Romance/Fantasy, but the author pushes the "romance" part aside a lot in place of other things that he's not so great at.

Do I recommend this novel? Honestly, yeah. I think it's worth a try. Even though I'm rating it a 3 to 3.5/5, I think it definitely has its audience. There just aren't many that do the emotional aspect as well as this one. <<less

An interesting regression story where the MC doesn't instantly become OP with his future knowledge and actually has to work hard. Since he has known failure in his previous cycle, he knows the importance of learning from mistakes and how amazing it is to even get the opportunity to fail (you'll understand as you read). The other characters are not interesting, but each have their own personality and are not just hanging on MC's tailcoat like other novels. Lastly, the MC is an absolute sigma of a male, he... more>> has a goal and is actively striving towards it. I highly recommend reading this novel for 10-20 chapters, if you do not ending up liking the MC then it's probably not for you. <<less

i agree with another review that said most of characters are shallow and have no personality. For example Sharon & the north girl. They fell way too easily and their personalities shift to maidens in love off the bat and their relationships are too generic for romance to be a big part (except for FMC). I quite like the MC. One of the reviews says that he only talks about leaving the family and I honestly don't see what's wrong with that at this point of the story. His regrets... more>> were basically not being able to wield a sword and not sorting things out with the Helmuts and he is currently achieving both of these. Overall a work in progress. I'm going to go 4/5 because the 3/5 novels I've read so far have been horrible, this isn't. I guess a bit rough around the edges since it doesn't seem to excel in anything. Give it a read and if you don't like it 10-20 chapters drop it without worries. <<less

It is just average at everything

The author seems to be undecided about what will the story be about. It is a romance for a few chapters, then the romance is completely forgotten for a saving the world escenario, then it is a self improvement story, then it is a kingdom building one, then harem, then back to romance.

This is trying to be too many things in a short amount of time

Also, like someone down below said, it would have been a lot more interesting and unique if the MC remain... more>> a cripple in his next life as well

But like I said, it aint bad but it good either, at least for now. Maybe it will get better later (or worse).

Edit: it gets better later on, so I'll change my review from 3 to 4 stars <<less

It is just a regression of the son-in-law.

The novel does nothing wrong but it just does what it does to a normal extent - normal revenge, normal arguments, normal fights scenes and normal characters nothing special so I wouldn't recommend to anyone who has limited time and looking for this genre there are better out there so why not try that like - 'Correcting the Villainess of the Academy'.

Issac the ML is shown as kind and understanding and he is crazy about swords for some reason because he was a... more>> ferryman so it made no sense how that happened. He fell in love with his wife no idea why that happened. His wife became distant after they became married and he became a live-in son-in-law

Spoiler

(guess why, its what you think it is)

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The story isn't bad its not revenge its just a guy trying to live a different life from his last life while trying not to make mistakes of his last life. The family conflicts are added in almost every chapter and sometimes its like ok we get it its a problem but like why the f*ck do you keep mentioning it if you aren't going to do anything.

Spoiler

The guy is hated by his in-laws for various reasons causing him to run away in his 1st life now in the 2nd one he tries to get a divorce and focuses on swords but he is spectacularly failing at that cause for some reason are important people of future are women (coincidence? I say blasphemy). The ML doesn't have much of a plan he isn't that smart, nor powerful, charmful or cunning. He is a f*cking jp ML in a korean wn (idk why)

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