Is The Villainess Makes Amends Worth Reading? Review & Where to Read
Quick Answer
Yes, if you enjoy the villainess-redemption genre — it leans on familiar regression tropes but executes them with a genuinely funny, sharp-tongued lead and a well-drawn dysfunctional family.
Quick Verdict
“Executes a familiar genre well, carried by a lead character with real personality rather than a generic self-insert.”
Best for: Readers who enjoy time-rewind villainess/redemption stories and want a protagonist with actual wit rather than a blank-slate heroine.
Not for: Readers who want a story that breaks from the genre's familiar beats rather than executing them well.
- Type
- Manhwa
- Genres
- Villainess, Romance
- Status
- Ongoing
- This review
- Minor Spoilers
- Author
- Yoo Na Jin
- Artist
- Eddie
- Publisher
- Kakao / Daum
- Platform
- Tapas
| Quick facts | |
|---|---|
| Format | Manhwa (shoujo), 57 chapters |
| Run | 2024–present · ongoing |
| Community score | AniList 7.2 · MangaUpdates 7.4 |
| Content | Death of family members, execution, violence, war (mentioned) |
| Where to read | Tapas — official |
Overview
The Villainess Makes Amends is an ongoing Korean manhwa written by Yoo Na Jin with art by Eddie, adapted from a novel and published in English on Tapas. Kiana Ellie Frellai left her family behind to build a quiet academic life as a professor of magical engineering, glad to finally escape her reputation as the household's troublemaking black sheep. That peace ends when her family is wrongly accused of treason and sentenced to execution. Her cousin Melissa manages to turn back time by a year to stop it — but only Kiana keeps the memories of what's coming, leaving her, and her blunt magical-beast companion Chirpy, to somehow repair a family she'd already half-abandoned before the year runs out again.
It's a familiar shape for the villainess/regression genre, and the manhwa knows it — what it's betting on is a lead worth following through the familiar beats.
What it does well
That bet mostly pays off. Kiana is written with real personality: matter-of-fact, self-aware about her own reputation, and funny in a way that keeps the story from tipping into the genre's more melodramatic tendencies. The family she's trying to save is just as specific — an unhinged swordsman, a gossip-magazine aunt, an oddball grandfather — giving her mission actual emotional texture instead of an abstract "save everyone" goal. Reader reaction backs this up directly, with more than one review calling the book out specifically for being funny, which isn't always a given in a genre this stacked with execution plots and political conspiracies.
The art is a clear asset too — full color, clean, and confident enough to move between comedy beats and genuinely heavy material (a terminally ill emperor, a wrongful execution, court intrigue) without the tonal whiplash that can undercut series trying to do both.
Where it falls short
The honest limitation here is that this is well-worn ground. Time rewind, one person carrying the memories, a family to save from an unjust fate — this is the villainess genre's most common shape, and while this manhwa executes it well, it isn't trying to subvert it. At only 57 chapters in, the larger political plot — a missing prince, a succession dispute, a crown prince apparently working an angle of his own — is still in setup mode, so it's too early to say whether the payoff will match the setup's ambition. And if you're picking this up mainly for a central romance, that thread is currently secondary to the family and political plotting, which may not be what some genre readers are specifically looking for.
Verdict
This is a well-executed, genuinely funny entry in a crowded genre, carried by a lead with more personality than the average villainess-story heroine. It's not reinventing the format, but if you enjoy watching a sharp, self-aware protagonist claw her way through a wrongful-execution plot with her prickly extended family in tow, it delivers exactly what it promises.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- Kiana is a genuinely distinctive lead — blunt, self-aware, and quick to note her own reputation as the family's difficult child, which makes her a much livelier narrator than the average regression-story heroine.
- The family at the center of the story is drawn with real specificity: an unhinged swordsman relative, a gossip-magazine-owning aunt, an eccentric grandfather, all sketched with enough personality that Kiana's effort to save them feels motivated rather than generic.
- The comedy consistently lands, with reader reaction specifically praising the humor rather than just the drama, which is a genre where the jokes often feel like filler between plot beats.
- The full-color art is clean and expressive, and handles the story's tonal swings between comedy and the genuinely dark stakes (execution, a dying emperor, court intrigue) without feeling jarring.
Weaknesses
- The core setup — time rewind, one person retaining memories, a family to save from a wrongful execution — is extremely well-trodden ground in this genre, and the story doesn't reinvent it so much as execute it competently.
- With only 57 chapters out as of this review, the wider political plot (a missing prince, a succession dispute, a crown prince's revenge arc) is still being set up rather than paid off.
- The romance elements are present but currently take a back seat to family and political plotting, which may undersell the series for readers coming in primarily for the romance side of the genre.
Similar Titles
Similar court-intrigue backdrop and a sharp-witted female lead navigating family and political stakes at once.
Same regression-to-save-the-family shape, from the other side of the genre's usual gender roles.
Where to Read Officially
| Platform | Format | Pricing | Region notes | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tapas | Digital chapters (free with wait, or unlocked with Ink) | Free + Paid | Region availability varies | Open |
Frequently Asked Questions
Who actually goes back in time in The Villainess Makes Amends?
Kiana's cousin Melissa is the one who rewinds time by a year, but only Kiana ends up retaining the memories of what happened — including her family's wrongful execution — leaving her to fix things essentially alone.
Is this a romance-focused villainess story?
Romance is present, but the story currently spends more time on Kiana's family relationships and the unfolding political conspiracy than on a central romantic pairing.
Where can I read it officially?
It's available in English on Tapas, with new chapters free after a wait or unlockable with Ink.
