Tearmoon Empire: Volume 6

Just as the cover suggests, the main focus of this book is Bel and Citrina. Mia still plays a prominent role, but since Citrina is a close friend of Bel's, their friendship becomes the highlight of this Yellowmoon-centric volume. In vol. 4 we learned about the Greenmoons, and in vol. 5 we were introduced to the Redmoons via Ruby. The Yellowmoons have been mentioned since the beginning of Mia's summer vacation, but it is only in this book that we finally meet them, learn about their role, and also see the consequences said role has brought upon their lineage.

As you might expect from the previous volume, Mia is preparing for her impending death during the Holy Eve Festival. It wasn't that hard to predict who's behind this whole ordeal, the narrative makes it clear enough from the beginning. What I didn't see coming, however, is how their plan links to the mass poisoning that caused Rafina to go mad in Bel's alternate future. I think it's a really nice way of tying up that loose end rather than just labelling it as the Chaos Serpents' plan and not divulge the details. Since Mia actually does get in danger this time, we also see quite a lot of action scenes. The last time Mia got this much action was back in vol. 2, so it's a nice change of pace.

Since the book takes place in autumn, there's also quite a lot of fun seasonal activities. Mia goes mushroom hunting. And eats a poisonous mushroom. And eats... other food. A lot of food. Truly the season for eating. Unfortunately, this leads to quite a lot of fat jokes, so that's the only thing I'd suggest to keep in mind if you're sensitive about that. We also didn't get to experience the Holy Eve Festival itself since Mia is busy trying to save Bel, but hopefully we'll get to see more fun events in the next books.

The bonus short story this time is showing Ruby joining the Princess Guard with a number of female warriors provided by her father. We already got the hint that Ruby and Vanos will get a happy ending in the future, but it seems like they're not the only ones with a budding romance. There are new characters, one of which is a guard who proved to be loyal to the empire in the previous timeline. It's a rather cute addition, which makes it quite exciting to see who will get developed next in the bonus stories.

Also, I'm now caught up with the series and it's a long wait until March for vol. 7. Cries.