Brunhild the Dragonslayer Review
Everyone has had their eye on Brunhild the Dragonslayer, as it won the Silver Prize in the 28th Dengeki Novel Prize and is definitely not your average fantasy series. This light novel from author Yuiko Agarizaki has proved popular in Japan and has now made its way to the English market, thanks to Yen Press. Does it live up to its reputation? Let’s find out!
Our story follows a young girl called Brunhild, who’s been abandoned on a small island known as Eden (where everything is like the Garden of Eden we’re familiar with) at just three years old. There she meets a mighty dragon who realises Brunhild is yet to be tainted by the world of man and welcomes her into their home. Several years pass and Brunhild continues to happily live on the island, but this life isn’t without issues as the island is constantly targeted by humans for its resources and the dragon has to fend them off. And as the years go on, the weapons of man are only getting more formidable.
Ultimately, one tragic day, the dragon is killed and pleads with Brunhild not to seek revenge so that they may be reunited in the afterlife. Brunhild has been injured in the attack as well, but having drank the blood of the dragon, she’s somehow still alive and gets taken captive by the humans.
Back in the city of Nibelungen, Brunhild learns she’s a daughter of the Siegfried family who are well-known among the populace due to the current head of the family Sigebert being a Dragonslayer and he is also the one responsible for killing the dragon Brunhild lived with. Having survived the attack and coming from the island, Brunhild is subjected to many tests and then drafted into the army where they hope she’ll help protect the city from dragon attacks in the future with her superhuman strength (granted due to the dragon blood she drank), but Brunhild only has one thing on her mind and that’s killing Sigebert…
Right from the beginning you can tell that this novel is not going to have a happy ending, no matter how it strives to change Brunhild. Sigebert is well aware that Brunhild wants to kill him, so spends most of the book absent after his initial introduction. Instead, it’s left to his best friend Sachs to take responsibility for and watch over Brunhild. There’s also Sigebert’s son and Brunhild’s biological brother, Sigurd, who wants to prove himself to his father and is frustrated to watch Brunhild gain all of his attention (and a higher military rank).
What neither Sachs nor Sigurd understands is that Brunhild truly loved the dragon who raised her and as she asks about Sigebert’s whereabouts or for her ‘father’, it’s not because she misses her biological parental figure, she’s pining for her real father, the dragon. The cast spends the majority of this book under the misconception that Brunhild can be integrated into society and be an enemy to dragons, never once suspecting the dark feelings she holds inside. Or perhaps they simply don’t want to see it. Sachs thinks of Brunhild as a surrogate for his own daughter while Sigurd is starting to have romantic feelings for her, despite them being siblings. Right until the end. the reader is left guessing as to what Brunhild’s real feelings are and what she says and does in a bid to deceive those around her.
Despite this being an ongoing series with 4 volumes to its name in Japan, this first novel is self-contained as it tells Brunhild’s story from beginning to end. The next two books in the series are prequels, which will expand on the worldbuilding (which there isn’t a lot of time for here). I think that will work out relatively well for the series as I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to see this tale of revenge drag on book after book. This is a compelling read, but it’s not emotionally moving for me in the same way something like Agents of the Four Seasons is (which is similarly dark). This is a dark fantasy in a very traditional sense, which means it’s going to appeal to a specific crowd and not necessarily the mass market.
I will say that for being Yuiko Agarizaki’s debut work, it’s a very polished story. There’s a defined beginning, middle and end-point as well as a small enough cast where it feels like everyone is given their moment to shine. I appreciate for me this is also in stark contrast to the amount of based-on-a-web novel series I read, but honestly even disregarding that, I was impressed by Agarizaki’s skills here.
As mentioned Brunhild the Dragonslayer has been brought to the West thanks to Yen Press under Yen On and has been translated by Jennifer Ward. The translation reads well with no issues to note. The physical version of this release is a small attractive hardback, complete with colour pages by illustrator Aoaso. This is certainly a nice addition to anyone’s collection in this format.
The next entry in the series, Brunhild the Dragon Princess, is currently scheduled for a release later this month with Kriemhild and Brunhild following in February. There is also a manga adaptation of this first novel in Japan, but that so far hasn’t been licensed for the English market.
Overall, Brunhild the Dragonslayer is an interesting dark fantasy that keeps you on your toes until the very end. Given the grim premise and progression it won’t appeal to everyone, but if you can stomach it, there’s something interesting (and perhaps more importantly quite different) on offer here.
Our review copy from Yen Press was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.
