Tearmoon Empire: Volume 13

Another great installment to the series.

Vol. 13 starts by wrapping up the incident in the previous book, delivering a conclusion to Julius and Barbara's story, before Mia returns to Tearmoon for summer break. This year, she brings some of the SEEC program children home to figure out why Patricia was sent to the future. That question remains unanswered for now though, as this book is still setting up the plot for the upcoming climax. There are new characters introduced, as well as a new conflict that will have to be settled in a horsemanship contest. Can't have a Tearmoon Empire book without horses, you know.

This volume is also hinting that Ruby's romance with Vanos might see some progress soon, as well as giving Keithwood a potential future partner. It's been a while since we saw Ruby after all. Keithwood's focus had always been on Sion, but Sion has resolved his own issues a few books ago so they finally have room to breathe now. Not gonna lie, I actually really enjoy seeing all the side characters finding their own romance. Especially since Mia and most of her friends have been nicely paired off with each other.

Oh, and while this is shown in a really subtle way… this book proves that Bel, after receiving a better life and education in the future, has also become more clever overall. She can read the room and think for herself much better than she used to. Even if she's still struggling with her academic grades, at least she no longer has to spend the whole summer at school due to bombing her exams. Baby steps, but it's still character growth.

My only complaint is that while the overall translation quality has improved from vol. 12, there are still a few mistakes and typos. They're not that bad, but it'd still make you wonder how they got past QC. Mistaking the word "wary" for "weary" should be something basic, and yet it happened twice in a single chapter. Hopefully this will be improved in the next book. As always, if you need proofreaders you can always hire me!