The Villainess Turns the Hourglass Volumes 4 and 5 Review
Aria is shocked to have discovered the true identity of Lord Asher: Prince Asterope Franz. She couldn’t have even dreamed about this ‘surprise’, and now she can’t stop thinking about how badly she’s treated Lord Asher in their previous meetings. Thankfully Prince Asterope doesn’t mind—whether because Aria intrigues him or because he fancies her is still to be seen.
After this bombshell, Aria is not sure how to proceed anymore. Revenge is not up for discussion, but she’s been taking advantage of Lord Asher to reach her goals, and now that she knows he’s the prince, she can’t… or can she? Asher has his own plans, and now that he knows his and Aria’s goals align somehow, he’s ecstatic. Moreover, he enjoys both her cute and scheming personalities; he’d like her to be more ruthless and act as a villainess toward the ‘flies’ (aka suitors) that start swarming her way.
Aria is getting closer to destroying her scheming stepsister Mielle and is dealing with Mielle’s allies one by one— either by turning them over to her side or by getting rid of them. Moreover, every plan that Mielle hatches against Aria backfires, thanks to Aria’s insights into Mielle’s true personality. It also helps that she has Asher on her side, who is willing to show her over and over again how helpful he can be.
There are quite a few surprises awaiting in Aria’s future, and it won’t be much longer before they all implode—whether it’s Lady Isys organizing a secret coup d’etat with the help of the neighbouring kingdom or Aria’s biological father making an appearance (if the hints the readers have been given come true).
Aria has grown as a person and as a schemer. While I’m still not a fan of her character, I appreciate how the authors have made her become more decisive; she’s no longer the spoiled child she seemed to be in the earlier volumes. She still has quite a way to go before she can become a mastermind schemer, but the puzzle pieces are slowly fitting together. She tries to be the villain and not the villainous marionette that she was in her past life, but even though she’s improved, she still has a way to go. Mielle, however, remains somehow a clichéd character: she looks cute on the outside but is rotten on the inside. And she fits into the role of a B-rated villain.
The love story between Aria and Asher also seems to be progressing. Aria realises she wants Asher in her life as a romantic partner and not just as a comrade to help her get revenge. And it’s now Aria’s turn to come clean about her secrets: her past and her powers. The two are getting closer and no one who sees them interacting with each other can deny there is something more going on. While there are some who couldn’t be happier for Aria, there are still others who don’t want to see the two together, especially as Aria comes from a commoner background. Or does she? The readers are introduced to a secret that Aria doesn’t know about yet, but I’ll assume it will be revealed pretty soon, and I have an inkling that will change Lady Isys’ plans for the worse.
What surprised me the most in this couple of volumes was Aria’s mother. She used to be a prostitute and decided to marry the count to become the new Countess Roscent to achieve a life full of luxury for her and her daughter. In previous volumes, she gave the impression that as long as her lifestyle wasn’t endangered, she wouldn’t care much about anything else, not even her daughter, but there is more to her than meets the eye… after all Aria’s scheming must have taken after someone! While the countess enjoys her life of luxury, she won’t stand for people harming her daughter, so she and Aria decide to destroy the rest of the Roscent family from the shadows. When the original members of House Roscent realize, they’ll be too late and too penniless to do anything about it!
The illustrations continue to fit the shojo genre, with light and pastel colours. The illustrator only switches to darker colours to showcase ‘evil’ moments when the characters adopt the role of villains and villainesses against Aria.
Both volumes are quite word-heavy as the author has a rather more ‘tell’ than ‘show’ approach, so the readers know what a character is saying and thinking at the same time. I also found the character-building lacking. While there has been some character growth in the latest volumes, which I’m pleased about, the way the characters were originally set up made them look childish and easy to figure out. Compared to other similar series, I was expecting more complex characters and a new spin on the usual clichéd revenge trope.
The ‘tell’ and not ‘show’ approach and omniscient POV means that we always know what’s happening thanks to these direct hints of what’s about to come; the only person who doesn’t know what’s going on is Aria. Aria’s overturning of Mielle’s conspiracy is more down to luck rather than being Aria’s idea. Some mystery to tie it into Aria’s supposedly scheming personality might have helped us to be more invested in the story.
The English translation from Kakao Entertainment reads smoothly but compared to other similar series, we don’t get previews of what’s to come or translation notes.
The Villainess Turns the Hourglass is written by Sansobee and illustrated by Antstudio. It was released as a web comic on TappyToon, before being published in volume format by Ize Press. Volume 6 is already out.
Our review copies from Ize Press were supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.
