Thought We Built A Dynasty

by Yoonkeeri

For those of y'all who haven't read the story yet, kindly be warned that there are spoilers ahead!

♥︎ Cover: _8_/10

First of all, I have read the author's note at the end of the book where the author explains the symbolism and little details about the book's cover. According to them, Jin is portrayed in full color while shown to be crying which signifies him being alive and well, whereas Yoongi is portrayed in black and white to show that he ends up passing away into the realm of the dead later on in the story. Jin is crying because he is grieving the death of his beloved partner, while Yoongi is shown to be smiling to show that he is at peace while he is resting and he wants nothing else but for Jin to move on and continue being happy despite him not being able to be in Jin's life.

There are also two peonies (flowers) at the bottom left and right corners. Throughout the story, peonies play a significant role in the story's progress as it has been depicted in almost every chapter of the story. The colored peonies on Jin's side symbolize the vibrance of being alive, whereas the faded black and white peonies show death, grief, and loss which connects with Yoongi's role in the story.

All in all, I have to say that the symbolism and foreshadowing details shown on the cover are absolutely fantastic, and I applaud the author for their creativity. However, the reason that prevented me from giving full marks to the cover is that it doesn't look well-edited to my taste. I feel that the cover has the potential to appear neater and cleanly edited by an experienced graphic designer on Wattpad. Therefore, I suggest the author make those necessary changes if they wish to do so.

♥︎ Title: _5_/5

"Thought We Built A Dynasty"

I absolutely love the title choice! It's a brilliant idea to name the story as such. In the story, Jin is shown to be a successful actor, and "Thought We Built A Dynasty" is an award-winning film in which he was shown to have acted as the male lead. It is also the OST song for the movie and the same heart-touching song that Jin sings to Yoongi as he passes away. It also symbolizes the fragility of human life and the high expectations we tend to set for it. In the story, Jin comes back to his home country with dreams of reuniting with his lover Yoongi and surprising him by proposing to him. However, upon finding out that Yoongi is sick in bed with an incurable cancer, he is left feeling that the supposed "dynasty" that he had planned to build with Yoongi - a dynasty where he and Yoongi would have complete rule over,  has now come crashing down with one blow of fate's cruel attack.

♥︎ Blurb: _10_/10

The blurb starts with the lyrics of the OST "Thought We Built A Dynasty" which pretty much explains the whole theme of the story with just its lyrics alone. At first, when we glance through the blurb and come across the lyrics, we tend to not think much of it other than it being a well-written song. However, as we read further into the story, we understand just how much the song significantly helps to propel the story forward. And that is why I think the author has made an amazing decision to include the lyrics of the song in the blurb.

In the preceding sentences, the author explains the moment about how devastated Jin is to come home to see that his beloved partner is in bed dying from something dangerous. However, it is recommended to mention Yoongi's name as the secondary protagonist in the blurb because though Yoongi's role was explained in the blurb, his name wasn't mentioned.

♥︎ First Chapter: _10_/10

The first chapter was amazing! The author has jumped straight into the story's starting point without any unnecessary stalling which I very much appreciate as a reader. It consists of Jin coming home from his business trip abroad with plans to propose to his lover Yoongi. However, he is beyond shocked and confused to discover Yoongi's house is a complete mess with Yoongi nowhere to be found. He later discovers through the help of a trusted friend, Jungkook, that Yoongi has been admitted to the hospital for weeks, so Jin rushes to the hospital as fast as he can to meet Yoongi. 

I really loved the sheer tension that was built as Jin observed the house to find everything a mess with medicine bottles scattered around. That cleverly built-up tension is a wonderful addition to a story's first chapter because it made me not want to stop reading even despite knowing fully well that Yoongi is sick at the hospital. The writing style is so smooth and flowy as well. It's an incredible first chapter.

However, there are two small things to point out. Not very big things, just a few minor things. 
It should be "ring box" and not "a box of ring". And in the part where it says "his voice barely above a whisper" there should be a full stop at the end and not a comma. But again, these are very minor issues and didn't affect my reading or my overall impression of the story, therefore I give full points to the first chapter.

♥︎ Grammar and vocabulary: _14_/15

As I've mentioned before, I very much like the author's writing style for I found it to be smooth and it flowed so easily like a river which accounted for such a pleasurable read. There is a perfect balance between writing complex sentences and not making them sound overly complex to lose the essence of the story.

Moreover, I believe I've mentioned this before in one of my previous reviews regarding this author's works and that is that the author has such an amazing skill at writing some of the most intense, heartfelt, and meaningful character dialogues I've ever come across throughout my years as a reader on Wattpad. It's indeed mindblowing and it makes the characters come to life. I love it!

However, there are some minor rephrasing of sentences to be done;

"took up the pot of plant" should be "lifted the plant pot"

"Even with all this efforts..." should be "even with all these efforts.""as all they prepared for the worst..." should be "as all of them prepared for the worst.""Some of bangs away" should be "some of the bangs away""as he kissed younger's lips" should be "as he kissed the younger's lips"
"when they spent the time" should be "when they spent their time."

Additionally, I feel like the author should work more on describing the characters' appearances. For instance, I feel that at the moment when Jin walks in and sees Yoongi lying on the bed, the author could have emphasized more how pale and frail he looked with an intense delivery of visual imagery. Moreover, towards the end when the angel Jimin appeared, even his appearance could have been described more richly. Phrases like "he had an angelic face" are not enough to describe some of the character's features. Therefore, I advise the author to work on their visual imagery skills because sometimes the descriptions weren't rich enough for me to paint a picture of the character in my mind.

♥︎ Plot: _9_/10

This short story gives off the same theme as famous novels such as "The Fault In Our Stars" and "Me Before You". It discusses the theme of love and loss. To be honest, what made this story unique to me was that this was my first time reading a story where the character dies at the end but is also reincarnated back to life. Yes, Yoongi coming back to life at the end was a bit out-of-the-blue I must say, with an angel having to be there to bring him back. However, it made the story stand out from the other famous novels that discuss "love and loss" because the ending balanced out the intense grief caused to the readers and provides a form of sweet comfort- like a warm hug. I'm not able to give full points to the plot because this story is for the most part similar to other novels but for adding that unique ending, it does score some good points.

Obviously, since this is a short story of around 9 chapters, I don't expect the author to include any elaborate sub-plots. So, it's all good!

♥︎ Creativity: _9_/10

Without a doubt, I'm pleased to announce that the author scores some excellent points for the creativity factor. 

I love the hand-drawn pictures included in the later chapters. The author is undoubtedly so talented, not only in writing but in sketching realistic portraits as well. I also love the lyrics to the song "Thought We Built A Dynasty". It's so nice to hear that the author wasn't initially happy about the original song that helped inspire them to write the book, so they ended up writing some new lyrics to the song to better suit the storyline. That is the definition of creativity!

Also the transition of words when Jin was saying "Min Yoongi" to "My Yoongi" is so incredibly sweet. I love it!

Most importantly, I have to award points for the author's skill in creative writing as well. Especially the part where the peonies on Yoongi's bedside table at the hospital start fading away as he starts losing more and more of his energy. That is some amazing creative writing and symbolization. 

The thing the author has forgotten to add is some nice banners for the chapters. I feel that a book is incomplete without some banners for the chapters. It's just a personal opinion, and the author is free to do as they wish. 

♥︎ Pace: _10_/10

The pace was perfect! I don't have much to say about that. Nothing felt too slow nor too rushed. Everything was great!

♥︎ Character development: _9_/10

Almost all the characters felt realistic to match the realism of the theme of the story that is being portrayed. 

I absolutely loved Jin and Yoongi's relationship. The way they reassure each other and how they're always there for each other with Yoongi being one of the very first people to believe in Jin during his early stages of being an actor and then Jin vowing to be there by Yoongi's side at the hospital to take care of him. It all felt so heartwarming and sweet. I was rooting for them throughout the whole book, but their relationship being that heartwarming is the same factor that caused their separation through Yoongi's death to be even more heartbreaking. Therefore, I love how the author has properly built their relationship with backstories and comforting dialogues just so that Yoongi's death will leave an even bigger impact in the reader's heart at the end.

The only part that I want to address is the ending scene of the book where the angel Jimin comes into play. In my opinion, though it accounted for a comforting and happy ending to the story, however, I feel like Jimin just came out of nowhere by announcing to be Jin's guardian angel. I feel like maybe some foreshadowing about Jimin could have been presented in the earlier chapters so that the ending wouldn't feel so out of the blue. For instance, the author could have had moments where Jin always feels like some invisible force is protecting him and he feels that something's up but doesn't know what. 

As always, I don't expect any sub-character relationships or plots between them because this is a short story and it is supposed to primarily focus solely on Jin and Yoongi. 

♥︎ Emotions: _10_/10

I'm not exaggerating when I say this book deserves at least a 100/10 for the astounding convey of emotions. The chapters from the moment they started, I only kept getting more and more emotional and I could feel every single dialogue, gesture, moment, and symbolization straight in the core of my heart.

These are some of my favorite emotional pivotal moments;

The part where Jin kept saying "Will you marry me" to Yoongi while Yoongi was dying and getting emotional at the proposal. Jin's voice was unwavering and despite how Yoongi was reacting, he kept repeating the question as if he had never been this sure of anything before in his entire life. It's also insanely depressing but also sweet how Jin slips the ring onto Yoongi's finger moments before he passes away because he wants him and Yoongi to be engaged to each other even after Yoongi has passed away.

"And as darkness closed in, he (Yoongi) clung to Jin's love". The scene where Yoongi ends up passing away while being in Jin's embrace and surrounded by the hospital staff is heartbreaking. 

I officially started crying and felt tears pricking at my eyes when Jin started singing the OST "Thought We Built A Dynasty" to the dying Yoongi. I was even able to imagine a male voice singing those lyrics in a beautiful but sorrowful melody. The moment felt like something straight out of a movie. Moreover, the peonies by Yoongi's bed shedding their petals as he dies is also an amazing symbol. They appeared frail when Yoongi was sick but when he ended up dying, the peonies too started dying alongside him.

Furthermore, in chapter 8 after a week has passed after Yoongi's death, Jin finds his sketchbook and sees how Yoongi has described the lyrics of the song "Thought We Built A Dynasty." Yoongi mentions on the page "When my hyung sings this to me and it gets to the last line, I hope it won't be our last chapter that comes to an end. I hope there will be many more that will never end. I love you, Jin hyung." That just made me bawl my eyes out because we as the readers know that Jin is seeing this message soon after Yoongi had indeed passed away. This is the most heartbreaking emotional irony I've ever come across.

Moreover, through Jimin's help, when Jin was re-living the flashback to the day when he first met Yoongi in college, Jin describes all the details of that moment and keeps repeating the phrase "just like that day" after every description. It just evoked a wave of emotion within me.  

Finally, when Jin looks at the sketch Yoongi had drawn of him, he says "You have not just captured my face, you have captured my journey." It was such an incredibly emotional line. Like I've said before, the author has a gift for writing such intense lines and dialogues.

~Final Note~

"Thought We Built A Dynasty" is an incredible gem of a book! It left me speechless, heartbroken and comforted. It made me feel alive again due to the intense emotions it stirred within me. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys angsty books centered around the theme of "love and loss". I struggle to find the proper words to convey just how big of an impression this story made on me. The author should definitely consider entering this book into awards sessions, particularly if there's a category for the most emotional writing style. One thing's for sure, I won't be forgetting this book. It will forever be imprinted in my mind due to its beauty!

Well done, author!

~Jinleen

♥︎ Total: 94/100