Reviewed by sa090 on
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As always the book is broken down into several stories, however, the difference this time is that it's not just about Violet and her adventures as an automemories doll, no. The first two stories cover the same story-lines covered in episode 5 of the anime (Princess Charlotte, story 1) and the full feature gaiden film (Isabella York, story 2), which I overall liked to read about once again. I will put it out there that I enjoyed the film a bit more than the corresponding story because KyoAni are magic to me and their expansion of the story was very very nice. Not saying they didn't live up to their animated versions, because that's not true.
The 3 stories afterwards, gives a closer look on other members of the postal service, Benedict, Cattleya and Hodgins respectively. Now the one detailing Benedict was the one that actually gave background information about him and raised one very interesting idea about him and Violet. Not in a romantic sense, although if I'm being honest, it's 10x more interesting than any romantic subplot ever. Cattleya's story however, doesn't actually reveal any background info about her more so than gives her the chance to come to terms with a few things about herself and act on them. If I compare the two stories and the enjoyment received from them, then I'll lean more towards Cattelya because of two reasons:
1. She has a very fun personality for me
2. Her story was brief and to the point, Benedict's dragged on a bit without adding much to warrant it.
Hodgins was the last to get a focus, and in turn that gives Gilbert focus as well as the story details their days in the academy. Hodgins is fun to read about as well, I'm not a big fan of any character like him usually, but the way Akatsuki Kana-sensei writes him makes him endearing. I enjoyed the stories and even though I kept wishing for other angles to be tackled, it was still very pleasant. I really like the way emotions and feelings about oneself, situations and surrounding individuals remains the main part of the story. It gives Violet growth and in turn gives those around her growth as well, even if it's a small amount anyway. The journey there is the fun part.
The final story of the book is just as ridiculous in proportions as the train hijacking in previous volumes, but I just take that the author's way of ending things with a bang. What matters? it was so fun to read about and seeing multiple people go crazy and not just Violet with Witchcraft was fantastic. I hold a tiny grudge against KyoAni for removing the action/fantasy-ish parts of the book, but the novel is there to fill in those gaps later on.
I can't wait for the final book and film, neither creator nor studio have let me down yet and I doubt they'll start now.