ENNEAD

This hidden gem is surprisingly addictive and there’s a lot more to this webtoon than you’d expect.

In case you don’t know (I didn't either), Ennead means group of nine and typically refers to the nine deities of Egyptian mythology. The good news is that if you know nothing about Egyptian mythology, it doesn’t matter because the author gives a neat little rundown of the creation story at the beginning. There’s also a helpful little family tree at the end of each chapter. Also, this is a story that takes Egyptian mythology as its starting point - what happens next is largely original but plays on the myths and characters of the pantheon. This part is done so well, it seamlessly blends the author’s story with the mythology so much so it feels authentic.

First off - if you’re choosing to read this now then congratulations because season one has finished and you can happily binge it. It’s the type of webtoon you’ll want to binge because of all the cliff-hangers. I read the whole season in one day and loved it. It would have frustrated me to wait week on week for updates (much like the other reviewer).

It's hard to say too much about the story without spoiling things but basically, the story centres around Horus and his challenge of the current ruler of Egypt, Seth (the god of war and the desert). Seth has done some...unscrupulous things and Horus's mother Isis (goddess of magic) REALLY wants to overthrow him. Horus therefore challenges Seth to three matches of different skills with the victor being recognised as the rightful ruler of Egypt. That's what the story is about on the surface but there's so much more that gets uncovered on the way...

There are three major selling points for this webtoon...and one caveat:

Selling point 1: The Plot

Want to talk about a page-turner, I literally couldn’t put it down till I finished it. It’s the classic cliff-hanger strategy to keep you moving onto the next chapter to see what happens next and it works! There’s a great structure to this story and it doesn’t feel like the author is making it up as they go along. It’s clearly been well planned out. I think the premise of the three challenges helped keep the story structure in place, it would always come back to that. There are some shocking moments, some plot twists, some character revelations. It’s all very entertaining.

Selling point 2: The Characters

One thing I love about this series is that the lines are blurred on the characters - you begin to realise that you don’t know who anyone is. It’s not such a simple tale of good guy, bad guy. It’s more complex than that and it’s also not necessarily what you’d expect. I can’t say too much more without serious spoilers but the character development is excellently done. Those you might love, you come to despise and vice versa...and I really like that, even in this mythology based yaoi webtoon there’s something real about the characters, no-one is ever completely perfect or villainous and it does a good job at keeping you on your toes with how you feel about the characters.

Selling point 3: The Art

Probably the biggest selling point for me, even if you just read one chapter of this - do it for the art, it’s so well done. I love the art style, it’s perfectly in-keeping with the mythological vibe yet has its own style. It cleverly uses colour palettes to signify flashbacks and incorporates changes in its art style to more “traditional-looking” Ancient Egyptian style when explaining certain elements of the actual mythology. The art is consistently good throughout the whole thing and there’s some really stand out dynamic fight sequences.

Caveat: The Yaoi

It goes without saying, if you don’t like yaoi then this is not for you. That said, I will say that the yaoi elements are fairly sparse, I think there’s only like two scenes if you don’t include the extra chapters. But even if you’re reading this FOR the yaoi (I see you) there’s two things you should be aware of:

1. It’s this old chestnut again, if you are uncomfortable seeing abuse or rape then this webtoon is not for you….there are two scenes and they both contain abuse/coercion. One thing to mention that made it bearable for me though is that it wasn’t necessarily romanticised in either situation. They didn’t have the characters fall in love with their abusers, which is often my problem with those types of scenes. I don’t have a problem with depicting a sexually abusive scene as long as it’s not glorified and I personally didn’t think it did glorify those scenes too much.

2. If you’re reading this FOR the yaoi then you’ll likely be disappointed - there’s barely any tbh. I think it goes for like 35 chapters or something without any sex scene. I might be miscalculating but I think there are only two scenes in the whole first season. So the yaoi is not the selling point here. If you’re in it just for that, there’s way better webtoons you could be reading. I’ll admit the guys are kinda hot in this though...

Overall

This webtoon is really great. I picked it up on a total whim and ended up absolutely loving it. So, who would I recommend it to? If you’re into mythology even remotely - definitely read it. If you’re into really great artwork - read it. The only thing I’d warn you about is there’s barely any yaoi scenes and they aren’t exactly consensual - you can decide if that bothers you enough to miss out on this.

I’m excited to see where season two goes, without giving away any spoilers - I feel like it’s going to be dramatically different to season one…