Violet Evergarden

Not a single review? Well, I'll be the first. TL:DR for no one who wants to read the full thing. Story 8, Character 10, Enjoyment 10. Not much art to really judge but seems standard but not relevant. Overall 9. Maybe a 10 after a re-read. Sorry if it seems all-over the place. I'm kinda terrible at reviews. -- Story, 8: In the beginning, there's not much of a story. Violet usually just goes around helping different people as she is an Auto-Memories Doll. To keep it simple, they are personalized secretaries for those who cannot write for themselves. They are tasked with going anywherethat their clients need them to be and they write for them. It's a pretty simple premise and it helps pave the way for us to understanding Violet as a character, but it also will tug on your heart strings a bit as you learn more of the stories of the people Violet work for. Chapter 3 of Volume 1 in particular was very emotional for me. That's the beauty of this series, it's written so clearly that you can vividly imagine everything as it's described and paint the scene for yourself. The mid-way point of the novel does focus solely on Violet as it flashbacks to her life, who she was, she does what she does, and why she acts the way she does. It's a nice origin despite how ridiculous it may come off at some points. Nonetheless, the story never seems to fall flat in any manner. The story may not be the first of its kind with the premise, but that's not what holds this series up. It's the next section, the characters. Characters, 10: This series is a what I consider a character-driven story. The plots that unravel are not the driving force of this series, but it's the people who are involved in them. I won't dwell too much on all of the characters so I'll briefly try to brush over Violet and touch on others. I honestly feel like saying too much would ruin the series and you should want to read it on your own to know of the others. Violet is the main character, for spoiler reasons, I can't say too much about her. She is our main protagonist, the most famous Auto-Memories Doll for the CH Postal company who will go anywhere for the sake of her job. Violet is someone who doesn't seem to understand emotions and at first, she does come off as a robot of sorts. Her mannerisms and the way she goes about everything is very unnatural, as if she wasn't raised, but created in a factory. It's interesting because you want to know the who, the what, the when, and the why of what made her this way. Despite all of that, Violet comes off as more human the more you get to know her. It's an interesting development to see someone so ignorant to what it is to be human, but also someone so grounded in that same way. And as you get to know Violet's life, it all seems to fall into place. Which I must give the author credit for. To be able to write a character like Violet is impressive to me. That being said, Violet will not be the only character. Even characters in smaller plots, like in the beginning, are just as fleshed out and real. But I'd say those who are the most involved in Violet's life are some of, if not, the best support characters to anyone's story that I've read of. It's even more impressive that the author can make you care for and or sympathize with almost every character and their motives and reason. Development, 10: This isn't a MAL category, but one I try to include when rating something because it matters is the development of story and characters. The story does time skip a bit and some transitions are a bit awkward, but nothing too major. As I've stated before, the plot doesn't exactly exist in the beginning for no other reason than letting us know about Violet and what she does. Which is fine, I don't mind the beginning being filler of sorts, as long as its written well. Which it is. Just expect a change in format as it progresses. Development of major characters is great. Everyone gets some and they feel so real. You can feel their pain, understand their thoughts and conflicts. It's nice. Enjoyment, 10: I've cried, I've smiled, and I've enjoyed every bit of this novel. Every chapter kept me interested and I liked it all the way to the end. I don't read novels often. I'll hardly read a novel for an anime that's coming out, but Violet Evergarden is one of those series I've made an exception for. If you like character-stories then this is a series you'll enjoy. There's not much else I can express that I haven't touched on. I dare say that this series is a masterpiece.

Warning: This review may or may not contain spoilers but I will try to conceal any spoilers as much as I can. 1. Characters: As characters aside from Violet herself changed each chapter, I would like to describe them as major characters that helped Violet in her adventure throughout her lifetime. The reason I have such thought are due to them being the main focus of the story in each chapter instead of Violet and they are being developed more than her. Violet, in the other hand, mostly serve as a person who helped connect between those who love and those who are being loved. As allof those characters have different personality, I would not really go into details for each of them. As for Violet, who is the main character in the light novel, I could only described her as a girl who are naive about the world that are new to her and especially about her quest. So it is no question to the reason she was a little bit emotionless (or a person who could not understand her emotions properly even though she could feel them). While her life journey from the past to her present as a 'doll' is more or less like a female version of Tarzan with the addition of her as a military personnel. At first I assume that she was not being developed properly but after having a long thought, I could see that she was being developed indirectly with the help of the major characters. While I have doubt whether Violet was a doll or a human (I do believe she was the latter), I still could not help myself from feeling surprised during the revelation in chapter two. Meanwhile Major Gilbert (Gil), as far as I could think of, is a male main character who had tried to help Violet throughout her early years. Due to his military profession, he had a hard time to help her to become 'someone' while he tried to free her or to teach her about life. This was being executed properly in my opinion as the situation during Gil's time was not the good time to teach her anything other than military teachings. As a main character there was no doubt that he was the one who Violet love and Violet was the one that he love. I could not describe more about him due to one or more reason that I may mention later on. Story: I would have to say that while the concept used in Violet Evergarden's story is not something new and had been used, I could not disagree that the novel did succeed in making me feel mesmerized with the story. By concept I am referring to Violet's encounter with different people in every chapter, which had already been used by light novel such as Shinigami no Ballad or anime such as Shigofumi. Since they are more or less the same, I did not have any problem with how they are being executed; the pace of the story, the revelation, the development etc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- With all the praise and positive remarks on my analysis above, someone might feel surprised and questioned as to why I gave an overall five (5) out of ten (10) score for the light novel. The problem in my opinion lies on the revelation on chapter six or seven that affected the overall ending of the story. As you can see when it comes to romance, I have a strict (or more accurately fussy) demand(s). I was taken aback when I found out that miracle happened in the said chapter. This had affected my interest to read the novel which led me to just skim through the rest of the chapters until the end. I do understand that readers would like to see such miracle happen in the story, and I do understand the author or the publisher would not take a risk to do something different. But every time I encounter such miracle I could see that I failed to differentiate between Violet Evergarden and story like The Beauty and The Beast for example. Even though happily-ever-after ending filled other readers need and satisfaction, I was hoping for a bittersweet ending instead. That way it will make Violet Evergarden more memorable and different from the rest of the stories ever presented. So I was disappointed with such cliche plot and ending which had made me dislike Violet Evergarden LN. Honestly I would like to give an overall score of four (4) or lower but due to the fact I like the first five chapters, I'm willing to give my score as stated earlier. But by any means it will not go above five (5). my apology goes to Violet Evergarden light novel, its author and fans.

This review contains no spoiler. Violet Evergarden is Kana Akatsuki's first novel, and she toiled incessantly creating this beautiful and melancholic novel. By reading her afterwords, one can tells that she really channels her everything into the book, and I can sometimes see the author's own reflections in her writing, which further concretes the proof that she put her soul along with a huge amount of effort into the novel. The story follows the eponymously named Violet Evergarden; a travelling Auto-Memories doll (an amanuensis. In short, clients call upon her services to transcribe their thoughts and words into letters, books, documents, etc), and her journeythroughout the country of Leidenschaftlich. As the story progresses, Violet learns more about her clients - their stories and emotions, which also enrich Violet's personality and experience as well, and it doesn't end there. The structure of the novel is quite unusual, and in a good way. The first chapters are told from different places and settings, and the main story of these chapters revolves around Violet's clients and while Violet is involved, she is not the center focus. But during these opening chapters, through the clients' stories and interactions with Violet as she helps them carrying their tasks and wishes, it reveals little by little about Violet's character and personality in an indirect way. As the story progresses, Violet's involvement gradually grows more significant; the focus is now shifting towards her; aside of Violet's current traits and personality, her backstory and her past are partially unveiled, and when the readers have an overall picture of Violet's past and present, the story shifts a gear, focusing fully on Violet's backstory, unfolding her whole past and it's aftermath. During these chapters, we will finally get a grasp of what kind of person Violet was which explains her unusual 'doll-like' behaviours and her circumstances, her struggles and sufferings. We will also understand her drive to become an Auto-Memories Doll, and most importantly her ardent, almost hopeless yearning towards that one entity along with the key value that she does not yet possess and understand. And in the end, when we piece all of it together, the result is an arduous but beautiful transformation of Violet Evergarden - sorrowful, bittersweet, melancholic, sometimes straight up tragic; but ultimately, a poignant ending. The writing is well executed for a fantasy setting - the world is described vividly, which helps readers visualize and imagine with ease. The characters' thoughts and emotions are described with precision, and also very emotion-based, told through both first and third person, while effectively goes along with the dialogues that are refined, minimal with no excessive lines, devoid of drama, yet very intense at times, to the point of gouging the reader's heart as much as it gouged the character's. All formed together, creating a reading experience that exudes a very melancholic atmosphere but strangely not heavy. This, along with the carefully laid-out story structure makes reading this novel very engaging until the end. All the main characters are well fleshed out, their development is satisfying to see from beginning to end. The supporting characters all fulfilled their roles as well, each directly or indirectly influence Violet's actions and her emotions; and some of them even though appear in only one chapter but their story and developement is quite enjoyable and memorable. While there are a lot of things to praise about this novel, there is also a thing or two that fall short. Since this novel is heavily character-based, it should be point out that while Violet's backstory is fully explained, her origins remained a mystery. There were attempts to cover it up but personally I think it is clumsily executed. But given the context and circumstance of Violet, it is not a big problem and can be turned a blind eye. There is also one side character whose purpose is to help uncovering Violet's past but comparing to the rest of the cast, this character falls short in terms of depth and their ending came in all of the sudden but poorly explained. Overall Violet Evergarden is a magical fantasy novel; a very emotional story of self discovery through insurmountable pain and sorrow. While the depiction isn't something everybody can relate to because of the immense melancholy along with bizzare characters and circumstances, I'm sure everybody can feel, sympathize, endear and embrace the characters throughout their journey.

Violet Evergarden ( Published By KA.Esuma bunko, Write By Kana Akatsuki, Illustrate By Akiko Takase ) I have read this for the first time back in middle of 2018, around may, my mother bought me this novel, two volume with belt on it that promoting the aired anime-adaptation series of "Violet Evergarden" and i have finish this series novel countless time here's my thoughts of it humble or not, expressing in alphabet to my dear reader : What actually make this Light Novel "Great" or "Magical" is the subtle use of "Reference/Inspiration" from some of Classic Literature ( west and east combine ) thatmake you get the "Fragrance of classic stories" little bit out of this, little bit out of that, like "Fairy dust" combining-complimenting with Akiko Takase quite iconic and unique illustrated cover and art at that time, making "Violet Evergarden" one of the "Great" piece of modern time Light-novel literature. this light novel is rather "Worth a shot" not a "Must" like common conception of people who may know about this have if you are out of the spell and string feelings that "Violet Evergarden" cast and pull on you and think about it deeply. there's perfection in imperfection, we all can enjoy the beautiful seas of word, that this work have to offer. Light Novel "Violet Evergarden" will manage to surprise or answer to some of your question, it will satisfy your hunger regarding the beautiful world of "Violet Evergarden" ( Telesis, how it is, and some of, if not all of the country, everything it consisted in ) or perhaps will make you questioning things even more, but more or less, it all in a "concept" or "quality" of a "Great" piece of novel anyway. Light Novel only lack in the quality of writing and "everybody can enjoy" aspect, in later chapter of Volume.1 and some chapter of Volume.2 ,but dear reader, though it does, scare not, shape or form it does not have negative effect on your appreciable- experience of regarding "Violet Evergarden" Light novel in anyway shape or form, you are here for the "Light Novel series" not a "Novel series" anyway. "Perfection often lie in Imperfection" This is a "Great" piece of work written by Kana Akatsuki and illustrated with Akiko Takase beautiful work, and it conclude. Some note from me before our parting my dear reader, despite everything, I am sorry that I refrain myself from giving traditional rating because I, myself don't think value of literature can be estimated by number that gonna represent value of it. "Violet Evergarden" Light novel is "Fantastical-Great" piece of work, even in reality there's some struggle here and there with how Kana Akatsuki want to really shape/write this story, it still turn out to be "Great" piece of her work. Through all of this word, dear reader, are you still fine? any thought of this, my word is bothering you? if so and it is about "Violet Evergarden" Light Novel?, if it is then there's no to be certain about it but to find-out by buying the work and read it or reading the fan-translation right?! right!?!, I left it as that, do what you have to do. To my dearest reader, I hope you have a great and all-inspiring day, Thank you for your precious time that took to read this. Sincerely Me.