Unfortunately, I have a lot to yap about before I get into my thoughts about this book, as usual. It's pretty much impossible to come at this with no biases whatsoever because I've already seen the anime, read a previous fan translation, and generally have positive feelings towards the series due to it's beautiful artwork, enough to have collected the artbooks by Akihiro Yamada-sensei. 

So it's pretty much impossible for me to give any fresh impressions on a book like this. If you're interested in this series, I highly recommend watching the anime first before reading the books. It's not absolutely necessary, but I think the slow burn of the plot is better able to be tolerated in anime form, which has other charms such as the music and voice acting. 

The book itself cuts to the chase fairly quickly. Youko, a goody-two-shoes doormat of a high-school girl, gets isekai'd (no trucks this time, this is the 1990s) by Keiki, a mysterious man with blonde hair, who proclaims himself a servant of Youko. He uses summoned beasts (which are often more like chimeras that can talk) to whisk Youko away to another world. However, they get separated in the process, and Youko is left to fend for herself, with only a magical sword and a creepy body-controlling demon that gives her martial abilities. 

Due to the age of this series and the author's pedigree, nothing about this series follows the regular tropes of isekai light novels as we know them today. Rather than a power fantasy, Youko is left practically helpless, lost in a new world. She spends the entirety of the first book fighting physical and mental anguish. Rather than wanting to help her, most people are trying to hunt her down for her perceived sins. 

It makes for a compelling first book, but it's also only half of the story. I dislike when English Publishers do this, splitting up volumes of a story that is meant to be read together. Japanese publishers will often release multiple volumes either on the same release day, or barely a month apart, like the original publication of Shadow of the Moon, Shadow of the Sea.

So this book ends with no clear "ending". Anybody who is used to light novels that were polished from webnovels will be familiar with this, but just a word of warning. Since I read this fairly late (I was in no hurry since I've already read it before), the 2nd part of Shadow of the Moon, Shadow of the Sea is out tomorrow. Anybody reading this should buy both volumes before starting this series!

It's hard for me to recommend this series based purely on the merits of the first book, but in some ways, it represents a unique time period and a unique author in the light novel space. Twelve Kingdoms is a prestige work with an award-winning author, and the character writing in the first book clearly shows it. Youko is in no way prepared for the harsh world that she's been thrust into, and her insecurities continue to plague her. However, in this volume, she slowly starts to fight her way through her struggles, and establish herself as the main character.

This is not an author who is pressed to get to the "good stuff" right away. She has a world to build, and a story to tell, and it's worth putting in the effort to consume. 

Extra Thoughts

I wanted to save the discussion of the translation for after the main impressions, since it's a bit tangential to the point. Tokyopop initially licensed the series for the U.S., and produced the most hamfisted localization you can imagine, courtesy of the early 2000s "jelly donuts" style. Generally, nobody likes this translation due to a myriad of weird choices. 

I think the Seven Seas translation by Kim Morrissy did a great job; it was snappy and to the point, and kept my attention while reading. While I can read some Japanese, I'm not fluent enough to judge how accurate or inaccurate this translation is. 

However, I do want to let readers know that there is an alternative to the current official version. In the years where Tokyopop went defunct, and nobody had the license or intent to republish the series, Eugene Woodbury took on the massive project of re-translating The Twelve Kingdoms and did a fantastic job at it. He finished translating up to the most recent book (Hills of Silver Ruins as of now), but he unfortunately passed away recently in January 2025. He never got to see the re-release of The Twelve Kingdoms, but I earnestly believe that his hard work is what led this series to get licensed again. 

Woodbury's translation contains notes and reference material about the particular historical and cultural aspects that Ono included in her work. I'm not sure how much of this is something that the average Japanese reader is supposed to be aware of, but I found it really helpful, and edifying. I don't want his hard work to disappear, he literally kept this fandom alive! But I also don't want his work to be a replacement for supporting Fuyumi Ono through official means. 

Please, if you're interested in reading this series, support the official release by Seven Seas (even by checking it out from the library!). Once you've read that, do consider checking out the Woodbury version for some interesting additional context and alternate interpretations of the source. 

I fall into that demographic, and I found it highly entertaining. This book wasn't always "happy and funny", but I could tell it was using its tragic moments for not only shock value, but as almost a parody of those tropes to begin with. Gory, outrageous, humorous, and sometimes, adorable. Honestly, this entire series is representative of Binghe himself, since his personality change from revenge seeking stallion to yandere, but cute and lovable male lead is basically what this series is about.

One of the difficult things about giving my impressions on this series is that I genuinely don't know where it's going, or even what to compare it to. Since it's a long Korean webnovel (with at least 18 books of content), I know the story will only continue to build from here. But the content and tropes of the story don't fit into any story structures or overarching plots that I can identify right now. 

Cale Henituse is now well and truly past the point where his previous knowledge about the Birth of a Hero novels will help him navigate this world. However, he's navigating it well just with his "selfish" nature and scheming. We're aware that there will be a war in the future due to intelligence that the northern countries are building up their armed forces, so Cale has no choice but to help his country and his region build up defenses as well. 

Cale's main character ability (other than all the other random magic tools, skills, and ancient powers that he's picked up) must be persuasion, because he never falters in a single negotiation. The Prince of Rowoon, Albert, knows this, which is why he drags him in as part of his political entourage. As much as Cale hates this, he's really good at it!

Of course, people without knowledge of his internal thoughts continue to view him as a saintly nobleman who only cares about the good of his country (lol). He certainly cares about the people around him. His bleeding heart is obvious to everyone but him, especially when he can't ignore the two Saint twins of the Sun religion, one of whom was previously with the evil secret organization Arm, before defecting. We get their backstory, and Cale tries to help them out, even despite everyone else's misgivings. He also ends up helping the Tiger tribe and the Whale tribe get their revenge on Arm as well. 

Oh, I also can't forget about the other dragon that ends up joining Cale for the time being. He's just recruiting and adding people to his crew left and right, even when he doesn't want to. He's literally collecting weirdos in his family like Pokemon!

I've been enjoying the political machinations; it's still fun to see Cale prepare and then trounce people in negotiations. As much as I'm enjoying the various side quests that he chooses to take, I am curious about the bigger picture. 

Edit: I also forgot to add, we got a new cover artist this volume! I really like their style, Cale looks as regal as one would expect. 

If you're interested in my liveblog for this series, you can read it here (beware spoilers). 

This is the 3rd book in the series, but it's actually the last book of the main plot, since Volume 4 is side stories and "falling action", I presume. 

In the last book, Shen Qingqiu gave himself up to Luo Binghe in order to prevent the attack on the sect. He basically enters house arrest under Binghe's control, but that doesn't last for long, as he is called back to his real body, which was stolen from it's resting place at the sect. 

When this happened, I couldn't believe that these two had been separated so quickly after barely coming together. However, although Shen Qingqiu is stolen away or kidnapped multiple times, the main story-line is advanced thoroughly and we learn a great deal about the side characters and the "villain" of the story. It felt much less frustrating because there's so much plot instead. Also, although Shen Qingqiu is "separated" from Binghe several times, in reality he follows soon after, so their separation doesn't feel as frustrating as the previous book.

Shen Qingqiu is tasked by the System to "fill plotholes" from the original Proud Immortal Demon Way novel, and plotholes were definitely filled. It was an emotional roller coaster, learning about Shen Jiu's true origins, as well as the true backstory behind Binghe's parents, and the circumstances that led to Tianlang-Jun's current villainy. This book wasn't that much longer than the other ones, but it was consistently paced and constantly moving forward. 

For a series where the two main characters can barely have a proper, honest conversation for 2 minutes, the plot stresses the tragedy of being unable to communicate your true feelings to your loved ones. In this way, I feel like Bing/qiu finally beat the odds, in the most painful way possible.