Lira, a Polish girl who lost her parents during the Great War, now lives in a mansion with an immortal being known only as the Count. After witnessing the tragedies occurring across Europe along with Joerg, a German soldier who serves as her guard, she resolves to use the Count's powers in a desperate bid to protect her homeland. Meanwhile, Joerg must make a choice of his own, with the fate of mankind hanging in the balance. Conflict after conflict, humanity's history and deeds are filled with an endearing foolishness.

Lila and the Winds of War is written by Sayuri Ueda. English translation by Michael Blaskowsky. Published by Yen On. (November 25, 2025).

Kevin Cormack
Rating:

“The winds of war don't distinguish between adults and children. They turn everyone into monsters.” So declares Lila, nominal heroine of this unusual genre-bending historical fantasy war story. So meticulous and detailed is author Sayuri Ueda's research into modern (and not-so-modern) European history, with horrific descriptions of the indignities and suffering imposed upon both soldiers and civilians, that many portions of this book will likely stay with me for a long time.

Mostly set in 1916, The Great War has already raged for two whole years, with no end in sight. Millions of men are sent to their deaths on the front lines, wave after wave of sacrifices to the great, pointless machine of war. The book's central protagonist is Jörg, a young German hairdresser called up to become dehumanized within the stinking sodden trenches on the French/German front. He's conflicted between his solemn duty to defend his homeland, his comrades, and honor, and his desire to run screaming from the daily atrocities he must both witness, and commit.

Immortal Count George Silvestri, a centuries-old veteran of Vlad the Impaler's doomed rebellion against Wallachia's Ottoman occupiers, takes an interest in Jörg, splitting his soul in two. He leaves the fervent duty-bound half of Jörg's soul within his original body – his “corpus” – on the battlefield, while housing the conflicted half within a new, supernatural body, a “simulacrum.” The Count periodically plucks the souls of those who interest him, using them for his own amusement, or perhaps for some higher calling.

Now unbound by such limitations as distance and mortality, Jörg embarks on an adventure across wartime Europe as the bodyguard of the Count's ward, the young orphan Lila. Stalked by the disturbing demonic entity Nil, the embodiment of nothingness whose nihilistic ideology drives him to destroy everything, Jörg and Lila seek to bring an end to senseless war, and help the people suffering on both sides of the terrible conflict. To fulfill his purpose, Jörg must choose whether to discard his humanity, and to consider what that even means in a time of unprecedented man's inhumanity to man.

We see the war from the perspective of both versions of Jörg, which is an interesting conceit, especially as they begin to diverge ideologically from one another. One drifts further from stereotypical humanity, in the interests of protecting humans, while the other, driven by duty and pride, while remaining “human” seems to become less so. Jörg, Nil, and the Count aren't the only literal “monsters” in this world, as we meet many others who, sick of war and evil, have renounced their human forms in order to become… something “else.”

Ueda's prose is dense, and full of convincing details, bolstered by the fact there's a several-page bibliography at the end. The reader does not need to be an expert in history to enjoy this story, however, as Ueda's lengthy historical explanations, while didactic, illuminate much fascinating information about this period of time. A particular highlight is a long flashback to the Count's grim experiences half a millennia ago, during the Ottoman expansion across the Balkan Peninsula.

Written methodically, with a constant pace, I'd hesitate to call this an exciting book, but it is very interesting, even upsetting at times. Ueda's frustration at human nature and our propensity for conflict shines through in the words of her characters. At times during some of the drier sections I found my attention wandering, but I'm glad I persevered until the end. The final chapter, which functions as an epilogue detailing the depressing reality of further wars in later European history is quite powerful. A more cerebral and challenging read than the vast majority of light novels, it's worth picking up.