Have you ever found a piece of media so good that it becomes a major part of your life? Something that you feel you could come back to reread for years even well into your old age? Something that always lingers in the back of your mind as a permanent resident? Thats what this novel is to me. It is the most beautiful expression of love I have ever read. Torture Princess is a story of love admiration and folly repentence dreams and hatred and the story of a tiny wish following that. All I want to say is even if you dont like this review please just go try reading it once. No matter how much time I take I doubt Ill ever be able to tell you how good this story really is. TLDR: Its peak kino masterpiece peak fiction zenith of the medium fire go read it. And now for the review: The story starts with this 16 yearoldkid whos been physically abused by his father his entire life and finally dies when his dad snaps off at him and strangles him to death. Hes then reincarnated in another world by the Torture Princess Elisabeth le Fanu who forces him to become her servant and work for her. Thats the basic premise. If youre worried about the isekai part dont worry Torture Princess is as unique and innovative as they come. Its a dark fantasy with plenty of gore torture and mindfucking misery so its definitely not your average fluffy video gameesque isekai. Torture Princess is an isekai a genre usually associated with escapism. However this novel is the exact opposite of that. Its not just the fact that the world is gritty and dark its more got to do with the fact that really the story itself tells you to stop trying to escape and instead face reality as one of its themes. Of course I might just be reading too much into it but nevertheless throughout the story the teachings and ideology of the leading faith in this other world a fictional Church revering a Saint is constantly challenged. Its often pointed out the fact that the Churchs followers and its leaders are merely turning their eyes away from reality clouded with grand visions of God rewarding the faithful and damning the sinners which he wont and thus refusing to do any work or put any effort into bettering society all in the name of faith. Much in the same way the story criticizes the nations and races of this other world for their constant fighting amongst each other and victimblaming instead of seeing reality for what it is and not some grand narrative made up by them in their heads. Of course this doesnt mean that its all depressing and pessimistic Torture Princess also shows that life can be made beautiful no matter how depressing your circumstances or what your environment is like by the relationships you create with people and by the way you choose to handle your battles. Its also a story of love. Love is a major theme of Torture Princess whether its love for your partner love for a mother love for your country love for your family love for the world itself or love for your passions. Most of the characters in the story are driven by their love for one thing or another and thats made abundantly clear in the story. And what a fucking masterpiece it is. I was actually uncontrollably sobbing by the end of the last volume and I have NEVER cried reading a book before. I have NEVER cried that hard reading ANY form of media before but this novel manages to achieve it all the same. Finally morality in Torture Princess is shown to be very subjective. Saving the world or destroying it are shown to be matters of merely personal selfishness and the message the story tries to tell is that a person is shaped by their own actions as well as the people around them. One of the most common criticisms I found for this novel was that it was edgy simply for the sake of being edgy and thats just plain wrong. The darkness is used as a tool for world building and to set the atmosphere so to speak not as something shoehorned or forced without reason. Torture Princess is a dark fantasy light novel. Emphasis on dark fantasy whats the point of being a dark fantasy if your setting isnt wonderfully fucked up beyond compare? It really all depends on what your definition of edgy is and if you consider anything dark to be edgy then this novel isnt for you. As far as the worldbuilding itself goes I think its wonderful. Its illustrative with little to no information dumps and more importantly its interesting. It is an isekai after all and while this genre is undoubtedly filled with trash if theres anything good about it its always the world building. More than that Torture Princess is unique. Its got all the classic elements of a medieval fantasy isekai the Church a kingdom anthropomorphic animal races and the common threat to their existence demons. But thats where the similarities end. Theres no gamey or RPG elements like many isekai do in this novel its pure medieval fantasy. Having read so many isekai that are way too JRPGesque in nature for me personally its a welcome and refreshing change. Furthermore the world building is performed through describing scenes Keishi Ayasatos writing is very descriptive and you can more or less infer what the cultures of races in the world are like as she describes their architecture actions and mindset. Its not spoonfed to you the entire time. Theres always the trope of demons and demon lords in isekai series but that isnt the case here. Theres no generic fantasy monsters like goblins or orcs either. Instead in Torture Princess the entire concept of a demon is fucking horrifying like it should be. I wont spoil what it is because thats part of the charm of discovering a world but I will say that theres body horror and mass murder involved. Its also got a pretty unique definition of the entire concept of god and the devil choosing to present them more as fundamental forces of nature rather than actual sentient beings. As far as originality goes this series is firstclass. Also if youre worried about the darker and more gorey parts of the novel becoming plain and boring after a while then dont worry because Keishi Ayasato is a MASTER at keeping the atmosphere maintained. Im used to reading dark stuff having also played Black Souls for those of you who know and even then sometimes there came across a page where I just audibly muttered oh shit. Now to talk about the characters starting with the Torture Princess herself. Elizabeth Le Fanu who like her title suggests is infamous for torturing and brutally killing all of her citizens a peerless sinner condemned to fighting for humanity before being burnt at the stake ironically the only one with the power to defeat the demons who committed acts not unlike herself. One of the best things about her is the way shes portrayed as an irredeemably evil character despite being a major protagonist of the story. Despite her backstory being painfully tragic and there being all chances for the author to show her in a sympathetic or hopeless light shes shown to be a peerless sinner for whom salvation or forgiveness will never come. The story time and time reminds you of the acts shes committed never simply brushing them aside or forgetting them. She herself acknowledges that what shes done will never be forgiven and the only fate awaiting her is a painful and cruel death much like the ones she made countless people suffer. She wears her sins with pride and confidently walks up the steps to the gallows never once calling herself a victim or feeling sorry about herself. Elizabeth is a tragic character sure but shes never treated as such. Its not as if the story is completely hostile to her it just really never tries to spin off her actions as not being her fault. Elizabeth is pretty much the MOST badass woman I have ever come across in fiction. A peerless sinner one beyond salvation and above all a broken woman saved ironically by a man who had committed no sin. And her finishing arc? Well that pretty much solidified her as my favourite character in all of fiction. Im not going to spoil it but it is really really REALLY fucking good. The other protagonist Kaito Sena is just as good as her. Even though the author said in an afterword that she merely made Torture Princess an isekai for the sake of introducing a character like Kaito into the world his past life is never once ignored or brushed off during his character arc. His past life affects his interaction with people his general apprehension towards figures of authority and the way he thinks and acts often without regard for his own life throughout the story. He is by no means a perfect overpowered main character like isekai usually do hes actually pretty weak in comparison to the dangers he faces and more importantly hes a flawed character. He has a flawed sense of justice a flawed sense of danger and a flawed sense of morality on top of being incredibly selfish. Hes also a hypocrite as can be seen when he kills people who were suffering out of mercy yet still tries to act like his conscience is clear and that he hadnt done anything wrong. He kills people without realizing what it means to truly means to take someones life. More than anything he really just cant talk to people and it shows. All of this is addressed throughout the story his character arc lasting an entire six volumes one which I found beautiful and incredibly sad at the same time. Torture Princess is a tragic story and Kaito Sena is a tragic hero or more accurately a tragic antihero. Once you really sit down and think about the motivating force behind all of his actions it shows that Kaito is a very broken yet kindhearted character. A person who was killed extremely cruelly for no fault of his own or for any sins he had committed who was ironically saved by a woman who was beyond salvation. In my opinion the one thing that really elevates these two characters to the next level and which is a huge part of what makes them so good is their relationship. Their relationship is something wholly unique I have not yet encountered before anywhere the relationship between a saviour and the saved or perhaps a relationship between two broken people who saved one another. The author never tries to force an unnecessary love story between the two of them and yet their entire dynamic is honestly something far more meaningful and stronger than any kind of romance could ever have been. Hina is the third most important character and shes a great one. Unfortunately I really cant explain more without delving into spoilers but if you need to be convinced shes an adorable cinnamon roll. Theres also Izabella and Jeanne two more characters I couldnt talk about without spoiling you but all I can say is: They were beautiful. I cried. Coming to my next point the prose if you read the quotes above youve probably seen it by now it is AMAZING. I have genuinely never read a novel with prose as good as this and I doubt I ever will. It is vibrant colourful beautiful and more importantly it works. The novel is mostly serious except for some parts with more lighthearted comedy or sliceoflife scenes but apart from those the books have this sober subtle feel to them that I cant quite describe. The way its written it kind of gives off a constant feeling of hopelessness and despair that the world is supposed to feel like everythings horribly messed up and it feels miserable in a good way. It serves to add to the overall immersion and doesnt feel like a drag at all. Furthermore in the more intense action or story changing scenes theres a fuckton of hype and emotion that the author never fails to deliver which is doubly true for quieter and softer scenes. Some of them honestly made me cry. The entire storys tone is very dark and theres a juxtaposition where you see the characters enjoying their time together lovingly or just having fun together and this serves to add to the storys themes at large. Actually wonderful. Dialogue is first class. Since its easier to just see for yourself here: O Sinless Soul stricken down in a manner most foul. From this day forth you shall be my loyal servant. I am the Torture Princess Elisabeth Le Fanu. I am the proud wolf and the lowly sow. Loathsome Elisabeth repulsive Elisabeth cruel hideous Elisabeth A curse upon you a curse upon you a curse a curse an eternal curse upon you Elisabeth Another cool thing youll notice is that Kaito a person from the modern world is the only one who uses slang language. Small details like these matter in making the story more immersive and theres plenty of that here. I believe this is not just the author but an effort from the translator as well so huge props to him for that Torture Princess translation is some of the FINEST out there. As for the art not much to say here so Ill just show you. https://i.ur.com/S9RykXo.jpg https://i.ur.com/PB7cQit.jpg https://i.ur.com/3s0wNMJ.jpg https://i.ur.com/sWYCi8Z.jpg ...yeah its fucking beautiful. Torture Princess has now ended with 10 volumes in total. Volume 7.5 included This was the most beautiful experience Ive had consuming any form of media. And I have little doubt that the only person who could make me feel like this again is none other than the author Keishi Ayasato herself. It was one of the most heartbreaking yet one of the most satisfying and happy final volumes Ive read. And the ending? Well thats just making me cry again thinking about it. I have nothing more to say about this series. Ill be revisiting it for years to come and I hardly doubt its ever gonna get boring. 10/10.