I Abandoned My Engagement Because My Sister is a Tragic Heroine, but Somehow I Became Entangled with a Righteous Prince (Light Novel) Vol. 1

I Abandoned My Engagement Because My Sister is a Tragic Heroine, but Somehow I Became Entangled with a Righteous Prince (LN) #1

by Fuyutsuki Koki, Hazuki Futaba (illustrator)

Prince Charming or Prince Alarming?

Leia's life is turned upside down after her younger sister claims she's a cruel villain. Leia's fiance breaks off their engagement, leaving her no choice but to throw herself into her saintly duties. But when confronted by the righteous Crown Prince Eric, she finds herself under his scrutiny. He's determined to suss out her true nature, but why does it involve living in the palace with him?!

Genres: Light Novel, Romance, Fantasy, Manga

268 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2024

Reviews

[FaclessOneLN · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by Fuyutsuki Koki and illustrated by Haduki Futaba, one of Seven Seas Entertainment’s newest light novel titles, I Abandoned My Engagement Because My Sister is a Tragic Heroine, tells of the unfortunate consequences of main character syndrome.

A romantic fantasy, it follows a saint named Leia undergoing an age-old light novel trope. Labelled a capricious villain and her engagement broken off, this is only the start of her newfound troubles. The accusations of her villainy have reached the ears of the righteous Prince Eric. Offered a role as his bodyguard under the guise of keeping a watch on her, Leia is thrust into the world of royalty filled with conspiracies and countless assassination attempts.

The main story begins with Leia starting her new life as a bodyguard for Prince Eric. Introduced to his fraught existence, she quickly discovers that her saint skills also come in handy as a bodyguard, often enabling her to take out assassins well before they’ve reached the prince. Through these scenes, the author paints a strong picture of Leia’s personality. She has a strong sense of self and duty that often plays well with Eric’s overwhelming need for justice. These personality synergies help to ease a level of trust between the two, helping them work together as they fight off opponents, reaching ever higher on the conspiracy train to kill the prince.

The most interesting part of this novel, however, occurs as the perspective shifts towards other cast members. These segments often offer unique insights and key moments of understanding towards a specific character’s motivations. This is first displayed with Prince Eric. Seen as a man of acute justice by Leia, his own thoughts reveal a man under a great deal of strain. His pursuit of justice beyond all else has left him with few friends and many enemies, often leading to curt responses, something for which he constantly chastises himself.

As the novel continues, we also get the story from Jill, the tragic heroine’s point of view. While her main character syndrome is on constant display throughout the novel, these moments reveal the true extent of her delusions. By this point, the damage has already been done, and everything in her perspective is twisted to match the view of her own self-importance. These moments also tie in nicely with the volume’s climax, with the story’s conspiracy coming to a head. Jill’s pie-in-the-sky attitude allows for easy manipulation, something with which the conspirators aiming for Eric and Leia take full advantage of. Unfortunately for them, their plans are also undone by this same attitude.

Overall, I Abandoned My Engagement’s first instalment makes for a good start to the series. Although the plot has been seen before, the series manages to ultimately set itself apart thanks to the author’s strong visualisation of their characters and how their motivations are woven into the story.

[Mariána K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Convoluted and generic

There's a lot of aspects to this story that were interesting but they were frequently derailed by unnecessary shenanigans or very obnoxious villainous characters. It's kind of amazing how many characters in the story are portrayed with very low intelligence and very high skills that are kind of dangerously terrifying. My biggest gripe though is the main two characters are kind of flat and uninteresting. The most interesting characters are really the side characters around them. Another thing that is worthy of complained is that the primary villains seem to be rather inept and unintelligent. Overall there's a lack of sophistication to the writing and story leaving the plot underwhelming. You need a healthy dose of " suspension of disbelief " in order to progress through the story. You never really understand what's going on to the full extent, and only hijinks and shenanigans distracting you keep you from noticing that they never explain what's going on and there's so many plot holes that the story is swiss cheese. I feel like there was a lot of potential but to completely different types of stories were smashed together so the potential kind of got squeezed out.

[Eponine821 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good first volume, but I doubt I’ll read the second

This is a solid story. The Jill POV was actually really funny, since she was a totally delusional “tragic heroine”. Not to mention, an idiot.
I liked the other main characters (Leia and Eric), as well as the secondaries (Johann and Lingsha). Though none of them drew me to the point that I long to see more of them.
The plot was fast moving and the story comes to a satisfying conclusion, while leaving room for a logical sequel. Despite this, I doubt I’ll continue to the next volume. I’d say this story is age-appropriate for a younger audience (teen, or even pre-teen), which means it’s not quite as gripping for an adult. Having said that, I’ll explain that there is the implication of “an affair”, but it’s never clearly stated what that means exactly. It could be that the characters were spending time together, but nothing happened physically. As for violence, even though Eric is plagued by assassins, there’s very little actual violence. Just some dead monsters (no gory descriptions), and some beat-up-but-not-seriously-injured assassins. There’s also a dead dog, which was probably the most disturbing part of the book.

[R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

As usual, the light novel covers much more of the story than the manga edition by the same numbers. This volume ties up the main arc that starts the story rather neatly, though it's revealed there are more plots to uncover and changes to prepare for coming. In many ways at least, the beginning crux of the issues with Leia's family are exposed, though it seems no one else in her family is willing to admit or accept their faults regardless. The last scene with Leia and Prince Eric before the short stories is rather touching and could draw a parallel to something else it could be instead, though readers might think with these two, they would be more direct normally. We'll have to wait for the rest of the story to see how things pan out with their new goals established, but if nothing else, there is hope with this new tight group that serves Prince Eric. It's nice at least for Leia to have a home where she is accepted and not ridiculed constantly.

[Dale B · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is very cliche, like, "can I copy your homework?" "Yes, but don't make it obvious" level of cliche.

That said, if you like these specific cliches, tropes, and dynamics, then I do think this is a good read. I haven't finished reading this yet, but after reading about half way through, the writing feels very intentional.

Ever scene, every flashback, every description is to reinforce the themes of the character. Nothing in the story feels unintentional. It's all there for a reason. This can be both good and bad depending on how you feel. On one hand, being so intentional removes natural idiosyncrasy a person may have. But it also makes the characters very consistent and the story very straight forward.

If all you want is a story where a slandered girl gets her vindication and a better life out of it, then this is a pretty fun read.

[J-Lynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just felt like we kept going in circles with the sister and ex fiancé. Also, the sister felt like the only character that expressed any type of emotion; sure, she was crazy, but she made the story more interesting. Watching paint dry would’ve been more exciting than reading about the Saint and the Prince for another second.

[Cheyenne · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh on writing.

I love the idea of this story. But the writing is hurting me to read. It’s very childish in the way everyone talks and acts. Here’s to hoping the next book is better on the writing. Because if it’s like this one. I’m going to have to DNF. And I really hate to do that.

[Simran Shankardass · Rating 1 out of 5]

this is the best book i've ever read

[Alarna · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was ok. :/

[Payton · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting

This book was a bit of a roller coaster and I’m curious to see what’s next for our leading lady and her righteous prince. Call me intrigued.

[Eman Nda · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice

It would be good go have more romance
Its focus on actions, and resolving the predicament , it would be good to see more romance!

[Kimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this book had no romance in it. There was some but it kept dampening for more political intrigue, i dont think it really needed any to be a good novel. Felt like they are adding it in for the sake of sales when everyone could be happy being platonic. Loved the art in the book but ultimately it was a lot of self righteous prince stuff and him saying he wants to keep FL close. I actually liked how the sister was so conceited and evil that she couldnt see past herself. She bounced around from all her boyfriends so much. I liked how aware of the sisters plot the FL was and decided to leave her at the first opportunity. This felt more stand-alone then other light novels