The Abandoned Empress Volumes 8 and 9 Review

We are finally reaching the end of The Abandoned Empress, as Aristia (Tia for short) works toward getting her happy ending, even if she doesn’t know what it entails yet. Should she give Crown Prince Ruveliss a second chance after what happened in her first life, or should she push to become the heir of her house? Well, let’s find out!

In Volume 7, we left Aristia with the news that the true child of the prophecy had made an appearance, and that the temple recognises Jieun as such. Jieun comes from what the readers could consider ‘our’ world, then suddenly finds herself in this fantasy world and obtains divine powers. A fate has been bestowed upon her—one that she thought was her right the first time she appeared in this world in her previous life. In fact, what Tia isn’t expecting is for Jieun to also remember her past life and everything that happened between them.

Tia’s plans always worked because she knew the future and knew how to take advantage of it, but now with Jieun’s knowledge risking to thwart Tia’s plans, she needs to create new ones, but most of all she needs to rely on the people she has become close to since her second life started. Attack after attack is directed at Tia, whether it’s poison or assassins, but there is no way to prove who’s the ringleader, even if Tia and her friends know who he is. However, when the crown prince gets poisoned, all bets are off, and it’s time for Tia to go on the offensive to protect the people she loves. Jieun also has a plan of her own, and what Tia knows of her might not apply to this new Jieun, who’s out for revenge! In fact, Jieun might not be the enemy that Tia originally thought…

The Abandoned Empress concludes at nine volumes and it takes the readers on a journey alongside Tia while she grows and learns that she is loved and that there are people willing to protect her. While readers could have expected the relationship between Tia and Ruveliss, the plot twist I didn’t expect was for Jieun to also remember her first life. As Jieun survived a few years longer than Tia in their first life, she remembers more than our protagonist!  What Tia finds out challenges everything she has ever known and starts to show her the crown prince in a new light. She has been debating her feelings for him for a long time, as she doesn’t want to get burned a second time. But what if the first time was due to external interferences?

Jieun also isn’t what I was expecting. The readers are introduced to the child of the prophecy from the beginning, thanks to Tia’s flashbacks, but Jieun’s motives to act as she does in this new life are for a reason, one that Tia doesn’t know yet. In fact, both girls are casualties of fate and are now planning to create their own destiny.

The series mixes action and political intrigue throughout the volumes, but it’s not always well done. There are some abrupt changes in scenery and chapters that interrupt the reading flow. I believe the volumes would have also benefitted from an extra round of proofreading as sentences aren’t always grammatically correct and don’t flow smoothly, as quite a few times there are repetitions of words in a speech right one after the other.

The Abandoned Empress started as a novel written by Yuna before being adapted into a manhwa illustrated by Ina. The series was one of the original titles picked by Yen Press that showcased manhwa before they launched Ize Press.