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Introduction

Violet Evergarden Ever After is the final volume of the light novel series, concluding the series and bringing it to an end. For people who have only watched the anime, this light novel takes place after the events of the second movie. The light novel presents us with five chapters of stories, each crafting a narrative filled with its own characters and plot lines.

Plot

Violet Evergarden Ever After presents its stories in an episodic manner, meaning that the story arcs are loosely tied or lack an overarching plot. The other Violet Evergarden light novels have the same episodic tag, so I assume they present their arcs in a similar manner. Each chapter showcases a completely new and unique story, filled with new characters and events. The plots in each chapter were fresh and easy to get into, and it immediately appealed to me, as one who had watched and enjoyed the Violet Evergarden anime. Each of the storylines were relatively simple, but what made them immersive and shine were the characters and the exceptional manner they were written. The overarching plot that takes place in this volume is the relationship of Violet and Gilbert. Not only are these two fascinating by themselves, but a relationship between the two is just as engrossing, and I was hooked desperately knowing what was going to happen to their relationship. Now, as I have stated in the beginning of this review, I have not read any other light novels up to this point. But the way Akatsuki Kana crafted her words was aboslutely exceptional to me. It easily elicited detailed images of the settings and characters in my mind and how she wrote the characters only made them feel more alive. I was truly taken aback at how well written this was, at least that is how I see it. The scenarios of each chapter were written in a manner that easily made me want to keep reading, and helped suck me into the beautiful world of Violet Evergarden. Much alike the rest of Violet Evergarden, it really knows how to trigger emotions in its audience. My broad opinion on the ending is that

Characters

This light novel gives us a range of characters, from ones that we are well familiar with to new ones introduced in this volume. Characters that were staples in the previous volumes/season make a reappearance, such as Violet Evergarden, Claudia, Gilbert and so on. These characters are just as you know them, even if you have only watched the anime you can still easily see that their personalities are the same and thus they are just as likeable as they were in the anime. Violet Evergarden draws us in with her intriguing personality with ease. This light novel focuses more on her discovering her love for Gilbert, making it so satisfying to see that after her long journey, she is starting to become a "human being who knew love." Gilbert is also another character of interest in this novel. The main focus on him is his love for Violet, which is quite frankly a wholesome part of the novel. His compassionate and caring side of his personality really show in the events that play out in this light novel, something that the other renditions of Violet Evergarden were not able to show. Although the other previously known characters do not take the spotlight, they contribute to the overall enjoyment of the reading experience. However, there is one character that appears in this light novel that never appeared in the anime, which is Sibyl Lux. She is a light novel exclusive character that appears in the second volume of the light novel. Being someone who had foolishly not read the first two volumes beforehand, I was initially confused as to who she was, but even then her character was enjoyable to read even if I had not been exposed to her character development that took place beforehand. The new characters were also a delight to read, as Akatsuki Kana created characters that were not only interesting to read but also helped make the novel more dynamic. There are about two new characters of interest introduced in this volume and even if I am not able to remember their names, I can very easily remember the story around them and their personalities. I will not go into too much detail as to what these characters are like as I believe that is something you should experience for yourself, but they were well written and their development was thought out and deftly paced for characters that only appear in one chapter. Overall, the characters were a big shining point of this light novel, drawing me in and keeping me reading for the entire duration of the novel.

Art

Although art does not appear often, when it does it is clearly great to see. The art compliments the story and characters, and further helps to assist us in crafting the image of the world of Violet Evergarden. I loved the art style in the Violet Evergarden anime, and to be able to see that again was wonderful.

Conclusion and TL;DR

Even though this was my first light novel, I was certainly impressed. The manner it was written absolutely marvellous and crafted magnificent story to read. It is sad to see such a tremendous series come to end, but I am happy that I joined along in Violet's emotional journey. This is an easy recommendation for fans of the Violet Evergarden series, although you should probably read the other light novels first. That said, I was easily able to read this light novel without having read the others and still enjoy it to a great extent. As of the writing of this review, no official plans have been made to adapt this light novel into an anime, but I do sincerely hope it does happen. Bear in mind it took about three years for the original light novel to be adapted and that the most recent movie just came out late last year. In summary of this review:

• The plot is episodic, with each chapter taking you in with their characters and stories, effectively striking emotions in the reader.
• The returning characters are just as likeable as before.
• New characters that appear in this light novel are engaging and had well thought out development.
• Art that compliments the story and characters, further building the mental image of Violet Evergarden's world.

I would like to extend my huge gratitude to dennou-translations who put in the effort to translate this wonderful piece of literature. Without their hard efforts I would not have been able to experience this beauty for myself. Also, I would like to of course thank Akatsuki Kana for creating such a wonderful story. Thank you to those who took the time to read this review. Hopefully you were able to get something out of it. If you did not like this review, then I apologise for wasting your time. I would like to end this review with a great line sourced from the ending of Ever After.

Should you ever feel lonely, by all means, I would like you to call her name. The name of this girl, whom you have seen through until this point.

“Violet Evergarden”.