Tearmoon Empire: Volume 15

Tearmoon Empire Light Novel #15

by Nozomu Mochitsuki, Gilse (Illustrator)

First, a horsemanship tournament to save Ruby from her engagement to Hildebrandt, and then a cooking party to prevent Sapphias from staging a coup—Mia’s been busy this summer! But it’s not time for her to rest quite yet. Having come face-to-face with Gerta, Patty is despondent and desperate to see her brother. Thus, Mia resolves to take her to the former Clausius domain…and this time, Emperor Matthias decides to come along. It’s a family trip!

But when Patty finally comes face-to-face with the truth, what will become of her? Will she be freed from the Serpents, or will she only fall further into their clutches…?

ebook

First published December 20, 2023

Reviews

[Riri · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐

As summer break draws to a close, Mia makes a trip to the former Clausius domain to find answers about Patty. Her loving father, Emperor Matthias, also comes along this time. I thought it’d lead to something plot-related, but the reason is actually more due to how Mia used to treat her father in her previous life and her regrets after his execution. The plot itself leads Mia and Patty on a search for Hannes, Patty’s brother and Mia’s granduncle, but it doesn’t get anywhere in this volume. Instead, it takes a detour as school resumes and Mia has to gain access to Ganudos in a roundabout way: by befriending their princess, Orania. Sadly, she doesn’t seem willing to be friends so that becomes the main objective for now.

Similarly to how Sapphias made a comeback in the previous book, Esmeralda returns in this one. Just like Mia, she’s grown a lot as a character and the Ganudos subplot really highlights her strength in diplomacy. She has so little appearance and is portrayed as someone who mostly moves behind the scene, but the extra side story with Petra and especially Arshia made up for it. It’s nice to see that some issues need more time before they can be resolved for once.

So basically, this volume is just a set-up for the next one. I was expecting to find some answers in the Clausius domain, but looks like it’s going to take a while. At least Patty has opened up to Mia though. I do think it’s a solid installment even if nothing major happens, but…! I have more translation complaints!

Why is everyone still grinning? It’s less than how volume 14 abused that word, but PLEASE. STOP IT WITH THE GRIN. Are the translator and editor aware that “sardonic grin” is the creepy teeth-baring smile serial killers wear in horror movies? Well, either that or facial spasm… but the terms used here are actually 自嘲の笑み and 苦笑, which are definitely not any of those. Seriously, why can’t we all just smile like normal people?

Also, the translation is stiff and the amount of typo is horrendous. For more than half of the book, Esmeralda’s name turned into Esmerelda. It reverted to Esmeralda in later chapters, only to slip again at the very end. What happened to the QC? Compared to the early volumes, the quality continues to drop significantly and it makes me sad because this could’ve been improved easily with proper editing and proofreading.

[Gregory Moses · Rating 2 out of 5]

The fifteenth book in this series certainly is another book in this series. The thing with Patty is partially resolved, which is good, since it was insane gibberish (the idea was that Patty thought that Mia was a Chaos Serpent who was acting like a princess to train Patty to interact with royalty … I think? But Mia is constantly interacting with other royalty and nobility and visiting castles and stuff, and everyone else acknowledges her rank. A lot of people believe a lot of weird stuff in this series, but this is the moment where I went from “well, it's a comedy” to “no, this is stupid,” because it was never used for comedic purposes) And, uh … a new character is introduced, Princess Oriana of a fishing nation. She's kind of spacey, but likes to fish. A real five-footer, to borrow some TTRPG parlance.

The “grin” count of this book remains high at a whopping 88 grins, but the “bitterness” count is down a little; five grins, smiles, and laughs in this novel are described as “bitter.” In the last novel, that adjective was used basically at random; here, you can sort of see where the translator (author?) was coming from in each of the five cases, but it's never quite right. Mia is annoyed that her father is inviting himself along on a trip with her, not “bitter.” And

“Yes, now’s the time to reveal my lie and tell her the truth,” said Mia with a bitter grin.

is obviously groping its way towards “pained smile” or something similar, but didn't quite get there.

[Marlana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to start out by getting the negative out of the way.

This series does feel a bit like it’s overstayed its welcome. While I do enjoy Mia’s antics, it does feel sometimes like it would have been better to end the series earlier on.

With that said, this volume is still an enjoyable entry in the series and it’s exactly what you will have come to expect from Tearmoon Empire.

Misunderstandings galore, heartwarming friendships, and of course, Mia’s obsession with food and sweets in particular.

It’s enjoyable even if it isn’t groundbreaking.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is great to book