Surrounded by the hate-filled gazes of her people, the selfish princess of the fallen Tearmoon Empire, Mia, takes one last look at the bleeding sun before the guillotine blade falls… Only to wake back up as a twelve-year-old! With time rewound and a second chance at life dropped into her lap, she sets out to right the countless wrongs that plague the ailing Empire. Corrupt governance? Check. Border troubles? Check. Natural calamities and economic strife? Check. My, seems like a lot of work. Hard work and Mia don’t mix, so she seeks out the aid of others, starting with her loyal maid, Anne, and the brilliant minister, Ludwig. Together, they strive day and night to restore the Empire. Little by little, their tireless efforts begin to change the course of history, pushing the whole of the continent toward a new future. And why did the selfish princess have a change of heart, you ask? Simple—she didn’t. She’s just terrified of the guillotine. They hurt like hell, and Mia hates pain more than work.
General Impressions
Tearmoon Empire is rather long for a light novel (and according to the translator, becomes even longer as the series progresses) and tells us the story of Mia and her quest to stay alive.
I read this at first solely for content for the blog. J-Novel Club announced a new label called “Heart” that was for shoujo and josei titles and I joined intending to review every one of them. After the first chapter, this one had me positively hooked!
The key star of the novel is the fantastic duo of Mia and the Narrator. The Narrator, who often interjects the “truth” of the matter, lays open the misunderstandings with a hefty dose of snark.
This is how it usually happens: Mia, remembering in her past life something as something that leads to her death, does the opposite. Another person, seeing Mia’s act as something of a wise sage, becomes enraptured in her wisdom and charm. The Narrator:
Mia is every bit as selfish as she was in her previous life, but in trying to prevent her death she’s doing a lot of good things. Could it be that she’s also learning how to be a good person?
There isn’t much romance in this novel, after all, Mia is only concerned with preventing her death, but during the school arc there are crushes afoot. I’m sure in the later volumes there will be more of the same.
The last chapter, a side story featuring other characters, seems to be setting up some crazy political stuff. I don’t think Mia will have a hand directly into it until much later, but the fact that the author is going that far into worldbuilding and foreshadowing is always a plus in my book!
Books aren’t often written in an omniscient third-person point of view anymore, but this POV works great with the style of story. I’m glad I can see into the minds of those enraptured (foolishly) by Mia as well as Mia’s hilariously wild conclusions to prevent her death.
Favorite moments
Any scene involving Abel and Sion. The two “love interests” have a good rivalry and there’s comedy when they meet. The last fight, especially, took a turn I didn’t predict!
The ball and dance scenes were also fun, especially since we see things from Mia’s POV and her partners’ POV.
Ah, and the moments when the characters fall in love with Mia, the rapt delusion and the snark mix perfectly!
I also liked how friendship between the girls was portrayed. There isn’t any real maliciousness between them and I appreciate that!
Art
Because it’s a light novel, there are illustrations peppered throughout the novel. I liked most of them! The only downside to them are the moments I wish had an illustration but didn’t!
Heart Rating
My heart scale is defined as follows – 5 hearts = a story everyone will fall in love with, regardless of preferences; 4 hearts = a well-done story that people who love the concept will adore, and people who don’t may end up liking it; 3 hearts = if you like this type of story or this type of hero, then you will enjoy this, but those who do not like either of those things will probably not; 2 hearts = it had potential, it squandered it; 1 heart = just a waste of time from the get-go; 0 hearts = why was this made?
Purchase
Note: These are not affiliate links.
J-Novel Club (read the first chapter now or the entire thing by becoming a member)