Tearmoon Empire: Volume 12

Tearmoon Empire Light Novel #12

by Nozomu Mochitsuki, Gilse (Illustrator)

After saving the King of Sunkland, reuniting the thirteen clans of the Equestrian Kingdom, and defeating the High Priestess of the Chaos Serpents, Mia has finally returned to Saint-Noel for some much-needed respite…until that’s interrupted by two girls magically appearing before her. If Bel wasn’t enough, Mia must now also care for the mysterious Patricia. Just where did she come from? Bel doesn’t seem to know, and the only clue they have is her last name: Clausius.

As Mia tries to dig into the girl’s past, she discovers a terrifying truth. Patricia’s education has been raising her into a Chaos Serpent! To keep this under wraps, Mia resolves to tell her a minor fib—she isn’t Princess Mia Luna Tearmoon, but a teacher sent by the Serpents. Mia uses this pretense to raise the girl right, and somehow, it works! But as smiles begin to return to Patricia’s lips, the case of a stolen sacramental item throws her morals into question…

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Romance

242 pages, ebook

First published January 10, 2023

Reviews

[Riri · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the events in the previous book, vol. 12 marks the beginning of a new arc. Bel has returned, but this time with a mysterious girl who may or may not be Mia's grandmother, Patricia. Since last time Bel very clearly died in front of so many people, the day has finally come for Mia to tell her friends about Bel's identity and origins. This comes with a brand new theory by Ludwig about the different timelines, which also explains why a lot of the characters have been seeing dreams from the guillotine world.

The book's main focus lies on the new SEEC program, established by Mia to educate children who are vulnerable to the Chaos Serpents' influence. The main reason is because Patricia seems to have been indoctrinated by the serpents due to family circumstances, and despite supposedly being her granddaughter, Mia doesn't remember much about Patricia's house. Or maybe she just doesn't want to remember. There's a number of new characters introduced, and the now 16-year-old Mia spends a lot of time thinking about the best way to run the SEEC program smoothly.

Speaking of Mia, the important decisions she makes are gradually becoming less accidental and more intentional. She's still highly powered by sweets and her motivations are still mostly selfish, of course, this is Mia after all… but there's been less moments of people simply misunderstanding her intentions and more of her actually leaving things up for interpretation on purpose. I really like how her character growth is undeniable, and yet Mia is still Mia at the core.

This book ends in a cliffhanger though, so I waited until vol. 13 was out to pick it up. Since it's the start of a new arc, it spends a lot of time laying the foundations and setting things up. There's also a bonus short story about Mia's personal maid from the previous timeline, which gives some more depth to not only the maid but Mia as well. It made me realize once again that Mia might have made terrible choices in that timeline, but she's always been so much more than just a selfish princess. I love her, and I will never get tired of reading about her.

That being said, I have to take off one star because of the translation. So far the series has been brilliantly translated and edited, but what happened to the QC for this one? There are so many errors that shouldn't have passed the editing stage. For example:

⇢ When Patricia was bathing they mistranslated 白い肌 to "ebony skin" while it should've been pale or ivory.

⇢ "このクッキーを少し持って行っていただけるかしら？" was translated to "Do you mind if I share some of these with them?" Failing to grasp context. This was Mia asking Lynsha to go deliver the cookies, not asking for the permission to do so herself. Japanese is a very context-heavy language, so this sort of translation fail is fatal because it could change the meaning entirely.

⇢ "Mia’s expression made a three-sixty, becoming an ebullient grin." …Isn't it one-eighty? Three-sixty would be the exact same expression, no? The original only says Mia's expression turns into a radiant smile, so this part didn't even exist.

It didn't ruin my enjoyment or anything, but this sort of errors can be quite distracting. I hope it'll be better for the next book, since it was never an issue before this particular volume. If you need proofreaders, hire me.

[Abi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun, if not outstanding, installment in the series. It finished on a cliffhanger, so I look forward to seeing the next volume. I enjoyed the focus on educating children, avoiding punishing them for their parents' sins, and Mia's emphasis on blaming their parents, feudal lords, etc. for their crimes instead of the kids themselves. I can't wait to see the change that her words will bring! I also found Patricia an intriguing, although very mysterious, character. I hope we get to know her better in later volumes. She reminds me a lot of Rina. Mia and Abel's date was adorable. Bel getting to tell people who she really is was very exciting, whether or not they fully believe her at this point. Rafina was great as usual - she and Malong are so cute together! Bel hinting at Rina's future husband had me in fits of giggles. Overall, this was a solid volume and I'll be reading the next one soon. 4 stars.

[Gregory Moses · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite of these in a while. After the drama of the last volume, this feels a lot more like early-era Tearmoon Empire, although Mia has obviously developed a little since then. Parts of the plot don't really make much sense (are we really to believe that the new kid doesn't know who Princess Mia is? Her lie is nonsensical), but the story (which basically is that they start a program to let some poor students enter aristocrat school, but then the poor kids become suspects in a theft) feels like it's operating on a more appropriate level for this series than the last volume did.

I am suffering a bit from the fact that this series introduces characters, ignores them for volumes, and then years later I'm meant to remember who all these people are.

[Christopher Morton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mia's Grandmother and Granddaughter Visit?

The last volume left us on a cliffhanger as two new (or one new and one returning) guide appeared. This volume keeps us at St Noel's but gives lots of fun time for Mia being Mia, another revolution to the culture of their day, and plenty of mysteries playing out before us. Thankfully, the Mia-First philosophy once again pays off for everyone but Mia!

[Marlana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a little hesitant about this volume because volume 11 seemed like a good stopping point, but Tearmoon Empire continues to be fun and I hope it goes on for a while longer.