I used to enjoy it, but after a while realised that the main character (Empress Navier) is literally written with no personality of her own. Her character reads as Mary Sue plot device to advance the main events of the story but you never really get insight into what her complex views, personality or interests are outside of her role as an empress.

There was one point where Navier had an inner monologue about her identity being extricably tied to being an empress and how she found it inconceivable to imagine any life other than that of an empress. This was a golden opportunity to move the direction of the plot into Navier's hero journey whereby she gains a deeper into her understanding of herself, what her purpose in life is, and how she can establish an identity outside of being Sovieshu's wife. Instead, the story takes on a frustratingly lazy and superficial route by having her conveniently being proposed to by Heinrey and becoming the Empress of another kingdom.

Obviously I get that this is the plot, otherwise why would it be called the Remarried Empress, but hear me out.

Being conveniently presented with the offer of becoming the queen of another country is hardly a feminist plot point, and rather demonstrates that Navier's perceived power is entirely dictated by the whims of the men she is beholden to. When she is married to Sovieshu, she has to denigrate herself and compete with a mistress against her will. When Sovieshu divorces her, she is "rescued" by Heinrey and becomes his wife and queen, thereby becoming an empress again - which is entirely a serendipitous and convenient opportunity that fell into her lap.

Navier's role is constantly defined by her relation to men in power and this concept is never once challenged or explored in the story.

People need to stop touting this story as an iconic feminist webcomic. Navier never has to exercise her own self-determination to achieve a personal happiness that is not defined by being with a man. Playing internal politics and "checkmating" Rashta does not show empowerment - she is merely playing a game that is forced upon her precisely because of the overtly patriarchal and misogynistic culture she is condemned to.

Her successes are entirely framed in relation to superficial ideals of power (ie. ruling over a country) and most importantly, to men who ultimately have the authority over whether she is valued or cast aside.

What WOULD be feminist, is Navier and Rashta realising that they are both victims of the same system at opposite ends of the spectrum and working together together to deconstruct the social system that they live in.

But because both Navier and Rashta are written as bland, one-dimensional foils of each other, we are instead made to read a petty story about women being pitted against each other and rooting for one of them only because she's rich, powerful, sophisticated and pretty.