Tags: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Drama, Tragedy

Sub-Tags: Dark Fantasy, Revenge, Strong Lead

Revenge: The Ultimate Tragedy

Dark, powerful, and utterly spellbinding. From the mind of Yuiko Agarizaki and brought to life through Aoaso’s illustrations, Brunhild the Dragonslayer is more than just a tale of tragic revenge. 

Brunhild is a rarity when talking about light novels. Take away the illustrations, and you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who wouldn’t consider this series a serious piece of literary work. While on the outside the story is one of simplistic revenge, as Brunhild swears revenge on humanity for killing her dragon father, peel away the outer layer and you’ll find a novel that deals with serious and mature struggles. 

At the heart of what makes this series great is Brunhild herself. Her tale of revenge reveals a series of complex inner turmoils as her dragon half (espousing a pureness of heart) and her human half (overcome with rage and hatred) wrestle with the decision to kill her father’s murderer.  

The theme is dealt with well throughout the novel and is best utilised in Brunhild’s scenes alongside Sigrun. It’s through her conversations with him that we get some of the few moments where her mask slips, likely because Sigrun is her older brother and one of the few humans she trusts and sees as a friend rather than an enemy. As they converse, Brunhild litters several apologies—moments where her conscience breaks through as a way to warn Sigrun of the horrible ordeal she is about to put him and the rest of the nation through for the sake of her revenge. 

At the same time as we see Brunhild’s struggles, we also see how her humanity and her gifts from Eden allow her revenge to manifest. By eating the fruits of Eden’s paradise, she has the latent ability to become an expert manipulator. To put these skills into action, the first thing she does when arriving in the land of man is read.

From research articles to newspapers and even fiction stories, she uses these to get a full picture of human society and how humans think—knowledge she wields expertly by the end of the novel, as she controls both Sachs and the members of Typhon to orchestrate a believable final showdown. 

To conclude, Brunhild the Dragonslayer possesses more than the usual light novel. Part religious parable and study of the human condition, its dark and twisted tale of love and revenge will leave you shocked and spellbound.

I’d highly recommend this book to light novel and fiction lovers alike. 

I give Brunhild the Dragonslayer: 10/10