Violet Evergarden

Description

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“Auto Memories Doll.” It’s already been a long time since that name was first popularized. It’s a machine that Dr. Orlando created that talks in a natural voice. At first, he only made it to help out his loving wife, but before long they spread out into the world. and companies were made to lend them out.

“I’m Violet Evergarden, the Auto Memories Doll who will rush to provide service anywhere you wish.“

That translucent voice comes from a robotic beautiful girl with blonde hair and blue eyes like she came out of a storybook.

Associated Names
One entry per line
ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン
Related Series
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Recommendations
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Recommendation Lists
  1. FL and her Arm Candy
  2. My Library Of Treasures
  3. ALLJP+
  4. The novel whose adaptation made me come here
  5. j novels

Latest Release

Date Group Release
04/09/22 x0401x booklet 12
03/15/22 x0401x booklet 11
02/16/22 Teck’s Treehouse booklet 11
01/20/22 Teck’s Treehouse booklet 12
10/14/21 x0401x booklet 10
10/14/21 x0401x booklet 8
08/30/21 x0401x booklet 7
08/11/21 x0401x booklet 5
08/05/21 x0401x movie fanbook ss
07/25/21 x0401x booklet 4
07/02/21 x0401x movie fanbook ss
07/02/21 x0401x booklet 3
06/20/21 x0401x booklet 5
06/10/21 x0401x v4 afterword
06/10/21 x0401x v4c5
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Review
13 Reviews


youseiki
youseiki
Jan 12, 2018
Status: Completed
"A captivating story which ventures beyond your imagination, almost perfect in every way."

That's what I would use to describe this novel. Even though my expectations were very high before I read this, it still managed to surprise me in every single chapter. This novel has the power to play with your emotions to such extent that you end up thinking about what you read for weeks, let alone days. The really descriptive narration enables the reader to picture the scenes perfectly, as if he/she was really there.

Story: 10
This is... more>> a beautifully crafted story, too good to be the first work of Akatsuki Kana, I do sincerely hope she writes more of these kind of stories. The story is mainly set in a country called Leidenschaftlich, which means 'passionate' from German. I'm guessing the author deliberately done it. Violet travels around the world to help her clients express their feelings to their receivers. Along with that, she learns to understand their emotions as well, ultimately to comprehend something her master said a long time ago.

First of all, I just want to say that Violet's beauty was highlighted so much I can almost memorize her description... Here's one of numerous examples:

"Her soft, braided hair was held by a dark red ribbon, while her slim body was enclosed in a snow-white ribbon-tie dress. Her pleated silk skirt swayed gracefully as she walked, the emerald brooch on her chest glittering in sparkles. The jacket she wore over the dress was of a contrasting Prussian blue. Her long leather boots, worn for practicality, were of a deep cocoa brown."

Chapter 1-5:
Unlike being in a boring chronological order, it starts in a very unusual way: we see Violet carrying out her normal duties as an "Auto-Memories Doll" for the first 5 chapters. We don't get much information about her past, and we only get some slight clues that she was a formal soldier and seems to be following someone's orders.

Each of the 5 chapters are very interesting. They persuade the reader to become very attached to the characters (other than Violet), by showing their pasts in depth and the letters they tell Violet to write. It's as if they're one of the MCs as well. Now the best part about each chapter is that they all have an emotional ending, which never stops from boring the reader. The novel constantly shows completely unrelated, new adventures set in completely different places.

Violet is presented as a beauty compared to no other, a perfect 'doll'. However we are also shown that she does not understand feelings. The way she tries to learn emotions from the letters her clients send was a a very unique part of this novel that I loved so much. Whether it'd be pride, fear, love, sadness, joy... All emotions are covered throughout these first 5 chapters.

Chapter 6-8:
These 3 chapters go back to the past of Violet. I think I liked these chapters the most in the novel. The development of Gilbert's feelings, who cared for her during the war, from a parental love to a different form of love was amazing to me. The depictions of the battles were very detailed and rich too, and emphasized a lot of the contrast between Violet's beauty and the horrible damage she caused to her enemies. She was basically presented as a killing machine. The idea of Violet being a 'tool' or the fact that she is described as 'it' was also interesting, she was not considered human at all by the military. Hodgins appears in this part of the novel for the first time, and we get some development between him and Violet after the war has ended, especially as he tried his best to make Violet adapt to the world away from war.

Chapter 9-10:
These continue with Violet's adventures with 2 more stories, back to the present. Just like the 5 first chapters, they are perfectly crafted stories which were a delight to read. However I did feel like Chapter 9 was a bit odd, the basic idea of this 'Utopia' was completely ridiculous for me. 2 new characters are introduced, Benedict and Lux, who are employees of the CH Postal Company.

Chapter 11-13:
Our last character, Cattleya, who was briefly introduced in Chapter 8, finally gets some interaction with Violet. Violet and Cattleya are two very different characters, and the way their conversations unfolded during the aerial festival helped to expose more of Violet's thoughts for Gilbert and also some of Cattleya's personality.
The last chapter was simply marvelous, almost like a fairy tale, a perfect way to end the novel.

Art: 10
You guys should now this. If I could only give more than 10... I mean the covers are so beautiful I can't describe it in words... Really this is perfection itself... One of those times when you say to yourself, "I wish I could live in that world." I honestly would.

Character: 10
Violet's development is focused a lot, especially her transition from a 'tool' to a more humane person. It only increases my curiosity as to why she was left in that island alone, and why she only understood the word 'kill' when she was first discovered. Gilbert's development is pretty good too, from his family's strict rules and their tradition of being close with the army to his strong determination to protect Violet no matter what, and going beyond that point. Hodgins is a slightly mysterious character to me. We are shown quite a lot of his interactions with Violet, presenting him as a protective guardian, but not much about himself other than the postal company he founded.

The only thing I was disappointed about the novel was the development of side characters like Cattleya, Lux and especially Benedict. I think they were introduced a bit too late in the novel to get enough attention. They still felt like unknown characters to me by the time I finished reading this novel, but I guess that's just me moaning about how short the novel was.

Enjoyment: 10
I definitely enjoyed this novel to the fullest and I would strongly recommend this novel to anyone who cannot bare to wait for the anime adaptation to come out (although it's coming closer now) or after watching the anime, since novels always show more than the anime adaptation.

Overall, this is too good for just a 10... <<less
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HeavensBlade
HeavensBlade
Dec 01, 2018
Status: sidestory
My f*cking god...

I cannot believe I finally finished reading all this f*ckery. it took me 1.5 month to read it all and I'm not even happy about that!

Now obviously I read it just because I was fascinated by anime version of Violet Evergarden, which I really like and think it's a good show, however this novel is something I did not expect. It's actually quite bad in my opinio... well it's a fact actually. It's bullshit. And now the reasons why do I think so:

Anime actually fixed many flaws that... more>> this novel has. First anime setting is fantasy world in a timeline of beginning of 20th century, while novel's world is a mess where modern technologies (such as phones which should not exist yet) are involved. Second I have never f*cking seen such a thick plot armor in any other show or novel or whatever. I mean not even kirito kirigaya the c*nt from SAO had plot armor of this thickness. Like really? A bunch of trained soldiers with rifles cannot shot one a little girl who doesn't even shoot and cover (like she did in anime, thanks god), but instead runs to close range to cut them WITH A f*ckING OVERSIZED AXE!?? are you f*cking kidding me?? Like how thick plot armor actually needs to be to not kill a child with an axe in an open (or even closed!) f*cking battlefield. this novel makes an impression like Violet alone won entire war as all other soldiers just dies left and right so they don't get in a way of Violet-the-all-mighty. You want me to take this sh*t seriously? Not even mentioning the fact that there's no way any human could wield an axe of that size. The plot armor here is amazing (not in a good way. plot armor itself is actually a very very bad thing by default), I have never seen anything like that before and never had read such a bullsh*t ever in my life. The anime version is fixed and is good in my opinion though.

Novel has other problems with logic and common sense in its story, but whatever, I won't get into that because review would be too long if I would write everything what's wrong with it. However one thing I'll note is that Gilberts' and Violets' love is in my opinion supposed to be father-daughter kind of love, not s*xual one as their age gap is too big. And in novel it looks like they ended up f*cking each other, but maybe I just got wrong impression about it who knows.

Anyway, this... this was painful to read. Time wasted. But anime version looks way better, yet still has some issues with plot armor and the fact that bullets cannot cut off humans arms ffs.

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RenTheWitch
RenTheWitch
Apr 01, 2018
Status: v2c13
I came after falling in love with the anime, but what I found its ten times better than what I was expecting.

Poetic writting style, makes you feel like swimming in a beautiful landscape painting. Full of emotion and development for the characters, each the protagonist of their own letter.

I cant wait for Violet Evergarden - Gaiden, to be translated!
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SleepingAtDawn
SleepingAtDa
Feb 07, 2018
Status: v1c2
It is a wonderful story that centers around the POV of multiple individuals on their perspectives of the main character Violet Evergarden, the Auto Memory Doll. It is very touching and the writing style really draws you into a sense of wonder, as if you were reading a fairy tale.

Warning, if you came to read this after learning about the anime it'll spoil the show for you.
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yuukine
yuukine
Jun 23, 2020
Status: side story
Final rating: 4.75/5

This book is amazing, wonderful and gorgeously written.

It's a combination of short stories of people with whom Violet Evergarden, the protagonist, comes in contact with.

... more>> Her job is simple - to write and deliver letters to people who can't afford to do it on their own. Therefore she meets many different kinds of personalities, and slowly recovers herself.

Being Violet Evergarden was never simple. She was raised as a weapon, abnormal creature and not a human, until someone saved her.

And now, years after, after she experienced loss, she goes on journey to deliver the intentions and hearts of other people, while also discovering herself and her emotions in the process.

Many stories will make you cry. Many people that Violet Garden goes through differ, including soldier, serial killer, a father, an astronomer...

There is also anime adaption of it, with gorgeous effects, but I prefer to suggest reading the book. It's much more interesting knowing what's going on inside her head! And I was shocked and kind of disappointed with all the changes in the anime... (they removed her giant axe... i'll never stop being bitter about it).

OVERALL:

  • Characters: 5 - Violet is amazing, she goes from feeling nothing to feeling so much.
  • Side characters: 5 - also great, so many feels around them.
  • Story: 4.5 - easy to follow, with timeskips in between. Top notch translation and beautiful dialogues.
  • emotional impact: 5 - I cried a lot. This book is a journey of rediscovery of emotions and what it means being human being
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mochiyuzu
mochiyuzu
Feb 18, 2020
Status: Completed
I find that the novel filled out a lot of blank spots and questions that I had about characters when I watched the anime. Loved it!
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Nyaa.23
Nyaa.23
May 25, 2021
Status: Completed
The novel is as good as the anime. I prefer the anime more just because of the beautiful animation. The anime also managed to capture all of the emotions and it's such a wonderful anime to watch. It's been a long time since I read this but definitely a yes
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chande
chande
Feb 17, 2021
Status: Completed
This story is heartwarming yet heartbreaking at the same time. It's beautifully written and its words are simply evocative. It successfully aroused my imagination and moved my feeling. I mostly feel sad after reading each chapter but then I feel some joy too, especially after reading Gilbert and Violet story.

I love how the author potrayed the 2 main leads as an imperfect person (I don't know if Violet is considered a person. I tend to believe that she is the demigod as suspected at chapter 10). Violet is stunningly beautiful... more>> but she lacked of emotions. She couldn't understand love, sadness, or even joy.

Spoiler

Although till the end, Violet still couldn't understand fully what love is, she somehow managed to understand a little her feeling towards Gilbert.

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Gilbert is not some hunk who is adored by many women. He has a stern facial and not visually attractive (after the war, she even lost a limb and one of his eye) but he has a kind heart. His love for Violet is one of the most beutiful thing in this novel.

Spoiler

He faked his own death so Violet could live her own life. He was aware that if Violet knew that he managed to live, she'll stuck by his side as a "tool" for him. He let go of her so she could live away from battlefield and also so she could love herself more.

As much as I hate him for leaving her alone, I know that this is necessary for Violet. It's not for naught though. She managed to know many emotions along the way and she also gained herself many friends.

[collapse]

If I have to point at one thing I'm disappointed about this story, then it would be the ending.

Spoiler

Why must you made it as an open ending? I really want to see Gilbert and Violet live together happily, away from the battlefield. Well, maybe there will be a 3rd volume? Or maybe there will be a conclusion in the animation version? Whichever one, just show me more of Gilbert and Violet's scene.

[collapse]
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nekomamushi
nekomamushi
Oct 27, 2018
Status: side story
All in all, the novel itself is such a heartwarming story where a girl who tries to live and find the purpose of her life after missing her closest person, which is Major Gilbert. I watched the anime and of course, they differ from each other but I do love both endings nevertheless. Oh, forgot to mention that if you do read this one it does spoil a bit more for anime but I can tell you the story has a bit different plot towards the end. In the end,... more>> it's simply 10/10 for me. <<less
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trippy-chan
trippy-chan
Jun 22, 2018
Status: --
Came to read the light novel after every episode of the anime made me tear up. I had heard that the artistic direction the anime took was different, but somehow I did not realize the extent of that difference. That is not to say that it's bad! Rather, I think these two permutations of the story of Violet Evergarden simply have shifted focuses--both of which are incredibly touching and heartfelt. The novel version tends to center more on how Violet affects the lives of those she encounters rather than on... more>> the interior of Violet herself.

A large part of why this works is the mesmerizing writing. There is a delicacy to the words that the author chooses; the fairytale dream persists at the surface but nonetheless moments can pierce through your heart. How can it be like this, you wonder? How can it manage to twist the most tender parts of your heart? This is a novel ultimately dealing with loss and healing. "You are not alone." The author really gives us such a beautiful message.

Spoiler

ALSO the ending fully satisfied my heart in a way the anime wasn't able to. Good god, I needed that reunion.

[collapse]
<<less
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Aoi_Tan
Aoi_Tan
Apr 17, 2021
Status: side story
I came here after watching the anime, since some stuff had been omitted from there (why she had killed sailors, what the training ground scene was). I think the adaptation improved the material substantially.

The structure of the story felt weird, maybe as a consequence of the anime. We are thrown into the first stories without knowing who Violet is, and it feels like we only get to know her much later in the first volume.

Furthermore, ... more>>
Spoiler

once her military past has been explained Violet goes from a super-soldier unable to understand the subtleties of language to a proper Auto Memories Doll very abruptly. One chapter finishes with her being introduced to the staff, the next starts with her being a proper doll. The "training" arc of the firsts episodes of the anime is actually a huge improvement there.

[collapse]

Violet is too OP.
Spoiler

She is a literal demigod of war (strongly hinted in ch 10), so strong that she not only wields a giant axe, but she apparently already has lifted a tank (casually said in ch 5). She is also protected by quite the plot armor, allowing her to remain untouched when attacking an enemy camp alone and mostly in the open. Sure, there is a smokescreen at the beginning, but come on... It actually feels unnatural when she does take damage.

[collapse]

When it comes to the stakes, they are quite lowered by
Spoiler

the Major being alive. It's obvious that he'd come back which actually denies Violet part of her evolution during the story. She has to learn feelings, autonomy and acceptance of losing her loved one. But in the end, when she just begins to have independent desires, the Major comes back, likely bringing her back to be hyper-dependent on him. I probably read too much in it.

[collapse]

More nitpicking than a real problem, but some technologies feel inconsistent with the world.
Spoiler

Violet has access to miniature long-range wireless communication (chapter 3) which should radically change the world they are in. The Auto Memory Doll machine of the book is actually a voice-to-text device which should have made most amanuensis services automated. While the author attempts to justify it by people liking the old way, it doesn't really make sens.

[collapse]

Despite these shortcomings, I did like this light novel. The Past of Violet was much more detailed, there were stories that weren't in the anime, and I liked discovering the differences with the anime, even when some were not to my liking. <<less
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xuevie
xuevie
Apr 06, 2021
Status: Completed
Oh man, this was a roller coaster. It encompasses a super beautiful and very heartwarming journey of Violet Evergarden getting to know what emotions are as well as what love and "I love you" mean. So, it's a must read!!!
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OkamiRissi
OkamiRissi
Nov 08, 2020
Status: --
Ahh... I read the novel some time back after I finished watching the anime when it aired and

I've never cried over a book, but this? This one made me cry in the best way (as in feelsy pain but, we love that, don't we)

I just love everything about it

... more>> Violet is such a great character and I adore how the individual stories were handled.

Each of them felt like their own little complete bit, with Violet added as an overarching red string.

I love it, and I have reread it a few times just because I wanted to experience it again

10/10, I recommend this to anyone <<less
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