Yay or Nay?: Crimson Empire (Manga)

What's not to say about this fantastic manga? After Alice in the Country of Hearts I was a little apprehensive, to say the least, to start another Quinrose manga based off of another otome game. But when like the bonus manga at the back of the original manga you're reading (of which was how I discovered this one), that says a lot, so I ordered it the first moment I could! Evidently, what books I planned to make my summer reads are not turning into the smash hits I remember, but the ones that seemingly appear out of nowhere. Also, last Monday was Canada Day! Lots of great fireworks, and fun times (Olga came down and we ended up hiking some trails and ending the night with some good K-drama and Jeopardy!). But I digress, without further ado, this is my review of Quinrose's Crimson Empire. 

The Story

Sheila has been raised and trained in an assassin's guild and has been sold to become the guardian and bodyguard of the famed Prince Edvard, under the guise of Royal Housemaid. As a result, Sheila's life has been anything but easy, as in her childhood a demon foretells that she is a human who is destined to do great things, which she seeks to understand what those will be while trying to discern friend from foe in the courtly goings on with Prince Edvard. While she may be a master with a blade, Sheila knows very little of matters of the heart. 

So yeah...not the most complex or in-depth story but one still interesting, yet light-hearted, romantic, yet tortured, and funny, yet serious. 

I won't say if it's a quality story or a good pay-off yet since I've jumped the gun only having read one volume of the three available. It's not a serious story by any means but one that I've found is a guilty pleasure and a light, enjoyable, read. 

My Thoughts

Well, for once we get a strong, back-boned, no-nonsense main character. I enjoyed reading along and Sheila is so funny! She actually has interesting qualities and is generally competent at her job, actually reminding me of a female Sebastian Michaelis (from Kuroshitsuji by Yana Toboso). She's funny, witty, and has a tragic backstory. She's also a character with a steely resolve and her own motives from what I can see (the demon subplot with Sheila comes in halfway through so it adds an interesting layer to her backstory later). With more volumes, I expect her motives will be more fully revealed, but for now, they have piqued my interest. For an otome-based MC, Sheila is also a dynamic, well-rounded, and dimensional character. For all the cast that we do get introduced to, they are either dimensional, have a hint of being more than they are, or will be explored further. Contrast to other otome, I can't decide who I like to go with more. 

Now for the story, I thought it would be fairly simple, but no it's fairly complex. You have fantasy and romance, meets mystery, murder, politics, and all of these clashings with her demon-friend Michael who has come to court. Her background comes to haunt her then, while she's trying to discover the motives of courtiers, and discover the assassin who attempted to kill Edvard. In between these, we get glimpses of Sheila's life growing up as an assassin, as well as how other key characters, such as Edvard himself came to be. You even have set-ups into the future volumes, with Edvard's brother Justin, admitting he will one day attempt to kill his brother to Sheila, which I expect will lead somewhere interesting in following volumes to come. So you never have a dull character or dull moment, as the story moves rather fast. You only have unexplained characters for the time being. 

Which brings me lastly, to the negatives. I mentioned earlier how Sheila demonstrated herself to be quite capable of her job. This is true. The story's shortcomings (I focus on Sheila mostly for this review because the first volume of Crimson Empire focuses mostly on Sheila) is that it makes it awfully convenient for her to be the "damsel" in moments where it suits the story but not the character. For example, towards the end, Sheila loses the assassin to Prince Edvard she was searching for, and it is Justin that has to not only save her ass and help her but tell her secret intelligence that she supposedly had not been told. This seems to be very out of character for her as an all-amazing assassin, born and raised. It also makes her seem very dim-witted, of which the rest of the story will show she is not. Perhaps a slight bit naive, but not stupid. But it is for the sake of the genre, I would say, and that disrupts the flow of the story. 

My Rating

So I would give this manga series by quinrose some support! It's definitely a buy or a borrow (probably a buy since I had trouble finding this series in public, well-known stores), but I know Amazon has a few copies! 

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Go check it out! 

~Meghan