hear me out, I've read more than 500 books and tutu is the most patient guy and loyal and give the most effort so far and he wasn't even being dramatic. all the things, the problem, how he got away from it, the healthy competitive environment between him and natisha, the dedication to his own principles despite the fact how much he loves her. it's all still realistic and not exaggerating (relating to the 18th century & their culture).
this is, i would say, a very mixture of slow and fast paced book. from the event where natisha ran away to the point tutu started to look for her took more than half the book! this part might bring you to boredom, but again, believe me you gotta keep going and the story will pay you back. the flashback parts were the reason it felt fast paced.
at first, i thought "what the hell is tutu doing??? go find your girl, dude. you do literally nothing here!" and oh, OH, now i get it. now i understand why he did nothing! ffs. it's all made so much sense. it was so contradictory to me how he said & seemed so in love with his girl and yet he did nothing about it. but yeah, you'll get the answer later haha.
many people commented about the poetical narrative, which for me wasn't annoying at all. or probably because i am a very fast reader so it just went through without getting enough of my attention so i didn't really notice it. but anyway, it didn't affect anything to the plot, maybe affected a bit of how people picture tutu's personality.
and oh my god, nusantara vibes is always my instant plus point. the cultural environment is so bold and as a local we can feel it for sure. such a very good reading!