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The Saga of Tanya the Evil Light Novel #12
幼女戦記 12 Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur
幼女、「最良の敗北」を求める。
戦場で勝利し、戦場で勝利し続け、しかし帝国は破滅へ一直線。
爛れ切った愛国心と、残酷な現実の抱擁を経て
ゼートゥーアは「世界の敵」たるべく舞台を作り上げいていく。
死に逃げることも出来ない参謀本部の責任者として
ゼートゥーアが求めるのは『最良の敗北』なのだ。
言葉よりも、理性よりも、ただ、衝撃を世界に。
世界よ、刮目せよ、恐怖せよ、そして神話に安住せよ。
我こそは、諸悪の根源なり。
なお。付き合わされる幼女曰く、大変辛い。
戦場で勝利し、戦場で勝利し続け、しかし帝国は破滅へ一直線。
爛れ切った愛国心と、残酷な現実の抱擁を経て
ゼートゥーアは「世界の敵」たるべく舞台を作り上げいていく。
死に逃げることも出来ない参謀本部の責任者として
ゼートゥーアが求めるのは『最良の敗北』なのだ。
言葉よりも、理性よりも、ただ、衝撃を世界に。
世界よ、刮目せよ、恐怖せよ、そして神話に安住せよ。
我こそは、諸悪の根源なり。
なお。付き合わされる幼女曰く、大変辛い。
496 pages, Hardcover
First published February 20, 2020
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189 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 13, 2024
In pursuing failure, the state resolves to succeed as best it knows how. For some, the aim is to prove self-worth; for others, the goal is to make their mark on history. For some, the vehicle is violence; for others the tools of the trade is politics. THE SAGA OF TANYA THE EVIL v12 is about upscaling the promise of catastrophe and absorbing every credulous accusation along the way.
General Zettour, more recently the Deputy Director for the Operations and Service Corps in the wake of General Rudersdorf's demise, has since executed the plan to invade the Kingdom of Ildoa. But there's a twist. What one previously feared was a redux of Rudersdorf's directionless plot to prop up the Empire with another distraction has slowly and enviously evolved into another tactical pursuit from a man who dares to make the world his enemy. But why is Zettour pouring resources into Ildoa? Why are his panzer battalions combing the countryside so quickly? Why did he order the 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion to surround and close off the capital city? Is Zettour serious when he says, "As long as I leave nothing to luck, then I can win" (page 118)?
THE SAGA OF TANYA THE EVIL v12 is a suspense novel. The war cannot be won. But Zettour is up to something. He always is. And thus, Tanya and her soldiers, and a few hapless other victims, must figure out what advantages the Empire can reap from this seemingly random military endeavor before it's too late (Zettour: "Let me tell you something. To greedily devour our flesh is no small task. If the world seeks to consume us, then we won't go down before giving the world a dose or three of poison," page 039).
The book focuses on General Zettour's emotional imbalance as he navigates the awkward truths of masterminding his own villainy. One might struggle to properly label the man a sympathetic character, but the author does an incredible job of guiding readers into the web of social, political, and personal obligations that beget the mirage and theater of Zettour's new venture abroad.
Tanya is stuck in the middle of it all (again). Fortunately, her most significant worries have less to do with the uncomfortable and incomprehensible demands she receives from military engineers and more to do with interpreting vague and highly simplified top-down instructions. For the whole of the novel, Tanya frets and complains about her orders, only to think about them for a moment, and arrive at a pared-down conclusion that ends up being far more rational than she had first intuited. General Zettour, Colonel Lergen, and the increasingly prominent Lieutenant Colonel Uger (as Zettour's adjutant) all rely on Tanya and her soldiers to rain down hell on the Ildoan military.
Nevermind the fact that Tanya's artillery personnel are low on ammunition, the infantry lacks experience in narrow and urban combat scenarios, and the mage battalion is short-handed thanks to Zettour requesting Lieutenant Grantz's mage company as his personal guard. Still, Tanya can pull it off, right?
The novel is highly circumspect about military action precisely because Zettour and Tanya are so exact with their assault strategy. The Empire doesn't have the resources to actually take Ildoa, and yet it must do something to gather, garner, and keep (if not steal) the world's focus. Indeed, what's the point of an invasion if the invading country can't actually win? The answer is all in the details: Ildoa's manufacturing hubs are all in the north; Ildoa's military's readiness is less than half of what the nation claims; Ildoa's intercontinental alliance with the Unified States is only days' old. The Empire is bound to fade away, thanks to its effort at total war. But, until then, until the Empire dies, Zettour will succeed at this inevitable failure, spectacularly, and leave the world in awe. One could call it harassment on an international scale.
Of the book's highlights, THE SAGA OF TANYA THE EVIL v12 offers a brilliant criticism of the myriad (messy) political apparatuses behind war efforts. War is state-sanctioned violence, yes; but to further elucidate the point, whether domestic, national, or multinational, war is an extension of political policy. As such, are not soldiers therefore functionaries of said policy? If war is politics, then soldiers are politicians. And if soldiers are politicians, then they, too, are subject to the numerous, trifling, and aggrandized dogmas that guide or guard the nation-state's image and mythos. There is nothing approximate about this theory.
General Zettour to First Lieutenant Grantz: "You are a conqueror. Say it to yourself, I am powerful. I don't care if you have to trick yourself about this either, just make sure you never let anyone watching get the opportunity to figure out if it's true" (page 163).
Tanya, to herself: "If we're to praise those who have gone far above and beyond their call of duty, we must also rebuke a nation that neglects to fulfill its own" (page 267).
General Gassman, to himself: "Every strange turn the Empire took amounted to a terrifying fog that only grew thicker with time" (page 140).
Colonel Drake, to himself: "Everything always came down to politics [..] Politics. Dirty, rotten politics . . . this was how the world worked" (page 203).
Drake, newly promoted to full colonel, takes particular (and proper) umbrage to this discourse. His multinational combat unit is deployed to Ildoa. The problem, of course, is that his promotion is entirely due to publicity, his assignments change repeatedly (to suit the interests of ambassadors with little to lose), and his operational control over local forces means very little when those very forces are absolute garbage (or have been wiped out before he even arrives). The fact that Colonel Drake doesn't even care if First Lieutenant Mary Sue goes AWOL is both narratively hilarious and predictably tragic.
And that's where the novel's sharpest criticism comes into perfect form. Sue is an ideological simpleton, a war criminal, and a child with a grudge; she's a zealot who absolutely cannot follow orders. But she's an excellent soldier-politician in this cruel reality of war-as-politics. To wit, everyone except for the hard-headed aerial mage seems to acknowledge that pride is poison, no matter the battlefield. Colonel Uger's historical view says it best: "This is a bad time to be a good person" (page 224).
THE SAGA OF TANYA THE EVIL v12 shows readers that Zettour can still fib, con, and purloin to his heart's content, so long as everyone else is distracted, scared, or just plain ignorant. The Empire may be dying, but the general is just fine permitting his wickedness to pull a few other nations down in the Empire's wake. One wonders just how this novel series will end in light of the main characters' constant agglomeration of so-called enemies. The enduring irony that Tanya will never get a payout for all of her hard work feels more and more likely.
General Zettour, more recently the Deputy Director for the Operations and Service Corps in the wake of General Rudersdorf's demise, has since executed the plan to invade the Kingdom of Ildoa. But there's a twist. What one previously feared was a redux of Rudersdorf's directionless plot to prop up the Empire with another distraction has slowly and enviously evolved into another tactical pursuit from a man who dares to make the world his enemy. But why is Zettour pouring resources into Ildoa? Why are his panzer battalions combing the countryside so quickly? Why did he order the 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion to surround and close off the capital city? Is Zettour serious when he says, "As long as I leave nothing to luck, then I can win" (page 118)?
THE SAGA OF TANYA THE EVIL v12 is a suspense novel. The war cannot be won. But Zettour is up to something. He always is. And thus, Tanya and her soldiers, and a few hapless other victims, must figure out what advantages the Empire can reap from this seemingly random military endeavor before it's too late (Zettour: "Let me tell you something. To greedily devour our flesh is no small task. If the world seeks to consume us, then we won't go down before giving the world a dose or three of poison," page 039).
The book focuses on General Zettour's emotional imbalance as he navigates the awkward truths of masterminding his own villainy. One might struggle to properly label the man a sympathetic character, but the author does an incredible job of guiding readers into the web of social, political, and personal obligations that beget the mirage and theater of Zettour's new venture abroad.
Tanya is stuck in the middle of it all (again). Fortunately, her most significant worries have less to do with the uncomfortable and incomprehensible demands she receives from military engineers and more to do with interpreting vague and highly simplified top-down instructions. For the whole of the novel, Tanya frets and complains about her orders, only to think about them for a moment, and arrive at a pared-down conclusion that ends up being far more rational than she had first intuited. General Zettour, Colonel Lergen, and the increasingly prominent Lieutenant Colonel Uger (as Zettour's adjutant) all rely on Tanya and her soldiers to rain down hell on the Ildoan military.
Nevermind the fact that Tanya's artillery personnel are low on ammunition, the infantry lacks experience in narrow and urban combat scenarios, and the mage battalion is short-handed thanks to Zettour requesting Lieutenant Grantz's mage company as his personal guard. Still, Tanya can pull it off, right?
The novel is highly circumspect about military action precisely because Zettour and Tanya are so exact with their assault strategy. The Empire doesn't have the resources to actually take Ildoa, and yet it must do something to gather, garner, and keep (if not steal) the world's focus. Indeed, what's the point of an invasion if the invading country can't actually win? The answer is all in the details: Ildoa's manufacturing hubs are all in the north; Ildoa's military's readiness is less than half of what the nation claims; Ildoa's intercontinental alliance with the Unified States is only days' old. The Empire is bound to fade away, thanks to its effort at total war. But, until then, until the Empire dies, Zettour will succeed at this inevitable failure, spectacularly, and leave the world in awe. One could call it harassment on an international scale.
Of the book's highlights, THE SAGA OF TANYA THE EVIL v12 offers a brilliant criticism of the myriad (messy) political apparatuses behind war efforts. War is state-sanctioned violence, yes; but to further elucidate the point, whether domestic, national, or multinational, war is an extension of political policy. As such, are not soldiers therefore functionaries of said policy? If war is politics, then soldiers are politicians. And if soldiers are politicians, then they, too, are subject to the numerous, trifling, and aggrandized dogmas that guide or guard the nation-state's image and mythos. There is nothing approximate about this theory.
General Zettour to First Lieutenant Grantz: "You are a conqueror. Say it to yourself, I am powerful. I don't care if you have to trick yourself about this either, just make sure you never let anyone watching get the opportunity to figure out if it's true" (page 163).
Tanya, to herself: "If we're to praise those who have gone far above and beyond their call of duty, we must also rebuke a nation that neglects to fulfill its own" (page 267).
General Gassman, to himself: "Every strange turn the Empire took amounted to a terrifying fog that only grew thicker with time" (page 140).
Colonel Drake, to himself: "Everything always came down to politics [..] Politics. Dirty, rotten politics . . . this was how the world worked" (page 203).
Drake, newly promoted to full colonel, takes particular (and proper) umbrage to this discourse. His multinational combat unit is deployed to Ildoa. The problem, of course, is that his promotion is entirely due to publicity, his assignments change repeatedly (to suit the interests of ambassadors with little to lose), and his operational control over local forces means very little when those very forces are absolute garbage (or have been wiped out before he even arrives). The fact that Colonel Drake doesn't even care if First Lieutenant Mary Sue goes AWOL is both narratively hilarious and predictably tragic.
And that's where the novel's sharpest criticism comes into perfect form. Sue is an ideological simpleton, a war criminal, and a child with a grudge; she's a zealot who absolutely cannot follow orders. But she's an excellent soldier-politician in this cruel reality of war-as-politics. To wit, everyone except for the hard-headed aerial mage seems to acknowledge that pride is poison, no matter the battlefield. Colonel Uger's historical view says it best: "This is a bad time to be a good person" (page 224).
THE SAGA OF TANYA THE EVIL v12 shows readers that Zettour can still fib, con, and purloin to his heart's content, so long as everyone else is distracted, scared, or just plain ignorant. The Empire may be dying, but the general is just fine permitting his wickedness to pull a few other nations down in the Empire's wake. One wonders just how this novel series will end in light of the main characters' constant agglomeration of so-called enemies. The enduring irony that Tanya will never get a payout for all of her hard work feels more and more likely.
November 29, 2023
This is once again a case where I wish Goodreads allowed me to give half star ratings as well as full stars. While I definitely enjoyed this novel roughly as much as I enjoyed all the others, something about this one just felt off for me, to the point that if I could, I'd lower my rating by half a star. It doesn't deserve three stars at all, but I don't think giving it four stars is necessarily right either.
For the most part, volume 12 of "The Saga of Tanya The Evil" does just about everything I've come to love about the series. Complex characters, deep political intrigue, and an interesting dive into morality and beliefs and how they shape the world around us. It does just about everything I've come to expect.
But at the same time, its missing an important piece of the puzzle.
Personally, two of the things I've come to love about Zen's writing is his ability to easily switch between multiple protagonists and multiple points of view without resulting in anything jarring, and his ability to give an excruciating amount of detail on something that seems innocuous. These two elements are what helped keep his novels interesting for so long to me. And sadly, this novel is lacking the latter to a large degree.
Despite being on the longer side, this volume just isn't as detailed as Zen's usual work. There were several points where the story just outright skipped over an entire fight, discussion, or some other important part of the plot and just went straight to the aftermath. I found myself wondering if I read the pages wrong or if I missed something, because it felt so incredibly jarring to see Zen skip over so much of the story out of nowhere. I'm pretty sure he had done stuff like this before, but never to this degree. It was just so bizarre to me, and it made reading this volume less engaging then his previous ones.
Still though, even with this in mind, the rest of the volume is still fantastic; everything else I had come to love about the series is still here. And my god I absolutely loved the final chapter, especially everything from Mary Sue's point of view. It feels like she's finally developing into something more, I can't wait to see what she does next! Hopefully the next volume will provide!
For the most part, volume 12 of "The Saga of Tanya The Evil" does just about everything I've come to love about the series. Complex characters, deep political intrigue, and an interesting dive into morality and beliefs and how they shape the world around us. It does just about everything I've come to expect.
But at the same time, its missing an important piece of the puzzle.
Personally, two of the things I've come to love about Zen's writing is his ability to easily switch between multiple protagonists and multiple points of view without resulting in anything jarring, and his ability to give an excruciating amount of detail on something that seems innocuous. These two elements are what helped keep his novels interesting for so long to me. And sadly, this novel is lacking the latter to a large degree.
Despite being on the longer side, this volume just isn't as detailed as Zen's usual work. There were several points where the story just outright skipped over an entire fight, discussion, or some other important part of the plot and just went straight to the aftermath. I found myself wondering if I read the pages wrong or if I missed something, because it felt so incredibly jarring to see Zen skip over so much of the story out of nowhere. I'm pretty sure he had done stuff like this before, but never to this degree. It was just so bizarre to me, and it made reading this volume less engaging then his previous ones.
Still though, even with this in mind, the rest of the volume is still fantastic; everything else I had come to love about the series is still here. And my god I absolutely loved the final chapter, especially everything from Mary Sue's point of view. It feels like she's finally developing into something more, I can't wait to see what she does next! Hopefully the next volume will provide!
December 27, 2024
Gripping. On the edge of my seat eager to read more.
September 20, 2025
Due to me reading the series in order currently it really gets hard to distinguish what was in this book and what came prior. For the review I always have to check and flip through the book.
With practically all of the Ildoan campaign in this novel alone I am very satisfied with both the combat and the politics in this one. Zettour morphed into a very interesting character and seing the outside view of the other powers of him is very cool.
There were however some time jumps completely glossing over fights or little campaigns that I did not enjoy. There were two segments in the later half of the book where I didn't even realize that time was actually progressing, because I thought it was only the thought process of the narrating character about what could or should happen.
With practically all of the Ildoan campaign in this novel alone I am very satisfied with both the combat and the politics in this one. Zettour morphed into a very interesting character and seing the outside view of the other powers of him is very cool.
There were however some time jumps completely glossing over fights or little campaigns that I did not enjoy. There were two segments in the later half of the book where I didn't even realize that time was actually progressing, because I thought it was only the thought process of the narrating character about what could or should happen.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews