This is my favorite type of story. It's definitely fantastic - no way are you going to think this is real by the end, but in the beginning it LOOKS real. There's cars and shadow puppets and desert sandstorms - understandable real world things. You sink into the complex magic and history of the worlds, see beasts that do amazing things, and think how is this happening? This makes no sense. Does the plot need something? There's a magic beast for that. The characters and their interactions pull you through this part. Excellent acting all around. The villains are not one sided. The female lead is amazing. I love strong women. The male lead is smart and puts things together - l like smart men. Then the plot hits a crescendo and all the things start coming into place, and suddenly all the stuff that didn't make sense sort of does. For this part, you have to pay attention. You have to have held on to all the pieces in order to piece them together. You might need to re-watch it to see what you missed. It's that complicated. If you like straightforward stories that don't deviate from the real world much you will not like this. If your blood sugar is low, or you're pulling an all-nighter and you're tired, you probably will be too confused to like this. If you want mindless entertainment, watch something else. The love story is beautiful and heartbreaking and wonderful in all the right places. One can argue that the end of certain characters was not ideal - in the same way that second lead syndrome can make one dislike a straight romance, but that's you, not the story. Not everyone will make the same choices you will. Even in a fantasy. The only thing I didn't like (and it was minor) was that the ending was poorly fleshed out. They showed you where it was going and then didn't show it. I would have liked to see it. I felt like it needed maybe 1-2 more episodes of denouement. Not enough to detract from the show.