Rebecca's Reviews > The Abandoned Empress, Vol. 1 (comic) (The Abandoned Empress
The Abandoned Empress, Vol. 1 (comic) (The Abandoned Empress (comic))
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As addictive and frustrating as watching a K-drama but without those pesky real live people, it's a webtoon! And I for one applaud them getting book-length releases, because that's really how I prefer to do my reading. This one is an entry into the increasingly saturated subgenre of isekai known (in Japanese) as the "yarinaoshi loop," where a character dies, usually horribly and unfairly, and is taken back in time to start again in hopes of evading a terrible death. Aristia has it nearly as bad as Violette from I Swear I Won't Bother You Agan: mistreated by her fiance and goaded to the point where she has no recourse but to defend herself, she's then sent to the tender mercies of Madame Guillotine, because of course the jerk is the emperor. Furious with both fate and herself for ever falling in love with the guy, she wishes she could do it all over...and lo, she can.
Of course, that's because the god whose prophecy got her into this mess in the first place screwed up. They're remarkably unfazed by a mistake that quite literally ruined lives, but when Aristia announces that she's through with uncaring gods, she is granted a bit of a boon to use in her attempts to evade her fate. It's both a measure of how uncaring the god is and how smart and determined Aristia is that she takes that and immediately begins to do her best. She was hard to keep down the first time around, maintaining her poise and dignity until Emperor Ass pushed her too far; now she stands to be nigh unstoppable because she knows how bad it can get.
Naturally there are three other handsome young men she could potentially end up with running around, and of course she's going to use her knowledge of the future to put herself ahead of the game. The art is full-color and very pretty, even if the costumes are a very strange pastiche of many centuries: adult women's clothing incorporates fashions from the Tudor years up through the Victorian, while children all wear clothing from the 1860s. But most engaging is the story. After what Aristia was put through, I desperately want her to succeed and be happy...and if she brings down that absolute nightmare of a human being of an emperor? That would be the happiest ending of all.
Of course, that's because the god whose prophecy got her into this mess in the first place screwed up. They're remarkably unfazed by a mistake that quite literally ruined lives, but when Aristia announces that she's through with uncaring gods, she is granted a bit of a boon to use in her attempts to evade her fate. It's both a measure of how uncaring the god is and how smart and determined Aristia is that she takes that and immediately begins to do her best. She was hard to keep down the first time around, maintaining her poise and dignity until Emperor Ass pushed her too far; now she stands to be nigh unstoppable because she knows how bad it can get.
Naturally there are three other handsome young men she could potentially end up with running around, and of course she's going to use her knowledge of the future to put herself ahead of the game. The art is full-color and very pretty, even if the costumes are a very strange pastiche of many centuries: adult women's clothing incorporates fashions from the Tudor years up through the Victorian, while children all wear clothing from the 1860s. But most engaging is the story. After what Aristia was put through, I desperately want her to succeed and be happy...and if she brings down that absolute nightmare of a human being of an emperor? That would be the happiest ending of all.
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