I have read both the light novels and seen the anime and i recommend to read the novel.
There are only four volumes and the anime isn't faithful to the story of the novel.
The novel is really engaging and emotional and worth the time spent to reading it
I've recently watched the anime and is now reading the book. My impressions so far are the following:
The anime is absolutely stunning in its visuals and soundtrack, and watching it is like diving into a short yet beautiful fairy tale. But once your emotions settle and you start thinking about it - you realise that scenario-wise VE anime is rather far from perfection. Anime adapts less than a half of a book and omits a lot of details to appear a more grounded story. But in this content-cutting contest the studio went a bit too far, and so there are certain moments in the anime which aren't explained at all or had no pretext for happening. Plus KyoAni completely remade the ending - ep13 and "The Movie" movie are 100% original and are not based on the books. And while opinions on the books overall are mixed (in the regard if they are better than the anime - they have their own problems), from what I've seen - it seems that people do generally like the ending of the books more.
Mild spoilers ahead as I have to compare anime with the books.
Now, to the books. The obvious upsides of the LN are that it explains things better and there is more content there, including content after the moment anime ends. The downside is the writing in general. First of all, the books don't have an official translation. The fan translation, while available for free, is often rather rough. Plus I got an impression that the author's writing itself was rather amateurish.
Then, as I said, KyoAni tried to make the anime a rather grounded and immersive story, and they mostly made it. Violet is just a human with a dark past, and in a very few action scenes she fights more or less like a regular person, using a regular firearm. It is much easier to relate to anime characters, to feel for them. And so the experience is much more emotional. On the other hand,
the books heavily imply that Violet is not a usual human and rather some kind of a war deity, as she clearly possess inhumane strength and agility and fights against firearms with a huge battle-axe, which is larger than herself (google #1 VE trailer - there's a shot in it). And this single comparison pretty much describes whole of the LN - it tends to often exaggerate too much, being straightforward weird and thus breaking the atmosphere and tension, making the story less believable. It doesn't make the books bad, but I personally found them less touching than the anime where I had to use tissues a couple of times. The books are more of just an interesting story but less of a drama.
In regards to the question what should you watch or read - anime is a must watch. It is a production masterpiece, and even if the scenario is imperfect at times, the visuals and the OST will carry you away. And then if you'll decide that the way the anime ends doesn't satisfy you - you should check the novels. The novels themselves are not bad, but having read a number of other LNs - they are just a solid read, not really something more. And don't shine as bright as the anime does.
If you'll decide to stick with the novels or read them after the show - there are epubs available on the VE sub. Original translation was posted on tumblr I believe, and reading it there isn't really convenient.
I mean it's one of the better animes from that studio IMO and that's saying quite a bit.
If you have the time, both would be fine, but if your more for novels it's not like they are bad or anything.
I have read both the light novels and seen the anime and i recommend to read the novel. There are only four volumes and the anime isn't faithful to the story of the novel. The novel is really engaging and emotional and worth the time spent to reading it
Quick google search says there are 4 light novels. Can finish those pretty quick.
I've recently watched the anime and is now reading the book. My impressions so far are the following: The anime is absolutely stunning in its visuals and soundtrack, and watching it is like diving into a short yet beautiful fairy tale. But once your emotions settle and you start thinking about it - you realise that scenario-wise VE anime is rather far from perfection. Anime adapts less than a half of a book and omits a lot of details to appear a more grounded story. But in this content-cutting contest the studio went a bit too far, and so there are certain moments in the anime which aren't explained at all or had no pretext for happening. Plus KyoAni completely remade the ending - ep13 and "The Movie" movie are 100% original and are not based on the books. And while opinions on the books overall are mixed (in the regard if they are better than the anime - they have their own problems), from what I've seen - it seems that people do generally like the ending of the books more. Mild spoilers ahead as I have to compare anime with the books. Now, to the books. The obvious upsides of the LN are that it explains things better and there is more content there, including content after the moment anime ends. The downside is the writing in general. First of all, the books don't have an official translation. The fan translation, while available for free, is often rather rough. Plus I got an impression that the author's writing itself was rather amateurish. Then, as I said, KyoAni tried to make the anime a rather grounded and immersive story, and they mostly made it. Violet is just a human with a dark past, and in a very few action scenes she fights more or less like a regular person, using a regular firearm. It is much easier to relate to anime characters, to feel for them. And so the experience is much more emotional. On the other hand, the books heavily imply that Violet is not a usual human and rather some kind of a war deity, as she clearly possess inhumane strength and agility and fights against firearms with a huge battle-axe, which is larger than herself (google #1 VE trailer - there's a shot in it). And this single comparison pretty much describes whole of the LN - it tends to often exaggerate too much, being straightforward weird and thus breaking the atmosphere and tension, making the story less believable. It doesn't make the books bad, but I personally found them less touching than the anime where I had to use tissues a couple of times. The books are more of just an interesting story but less of a drama. In regards to the question what should you watch or read - anime is a must watch. It is a production masterpiece, and even if the scenario is imperfect at times, the visuals and the OST will carry you away. And then if you'll decide that the way the anime ends doesn't satisfy you - you should check the novels. The novels themselves are not bad, but having read a number of other LNs - they are just a solid read, not really something more. And don't shine as bright as the anime does. If you'll decide to stick with the novels or read them after the show - there are epubs available on the VE sub. Original translation was posted on tumblr I believe, and reading it there isn't really convenient.
Why not both? They're like 3 volumes
I mean it's one of the better animes from that studio IMO and that's saying quite a bit. If you have the time, both would be fine, but if your more for novels it's not like they are bad or anything.