I just finished reading the light novels (two volumes), and that was the thing that stood out to me the most in the long run - the story was about 30% intrigue/thriller and about 70% weepy melodrama. And that’s just not a very good combination, not only because of the mood whiplash, but because the two are paced entirely differently.

It is a good story all in all, and there were some great twists, but even in the light novels, where it had much more breathing room and context, the melodrama still felt sort of awkward and contrived.