“Fate/Stay Night” is one of those tricky series because it comes from a visual novel – that is to say, it has three different possible endings, and each one is totally different from the last. So when I heard (very late in the game, mind you) that Type-Moon, the original game creators, were writing a set of prequel novels – I was overjoyed, to say the least, and had high expectations. And happily, they didn’t let me down.

So now we know a lot of answers already thanks to this first book in what was originally a tetrology (and is now up to six books as of later this year) – why Irisviel is tiny and albino, who Irisviel’s father really is, and why Kotomine Kirei decided to hang around after the end of the last Holy Grail War until the story of “Fate/Stay Night” started. There’s so much history here in these books that Type-Moon couldn’t even hope to squeeze into all three routes of the game/visual novel (which is really long, more than 50 hours of reading/playing time) even if they tried. But I’m really glad that they gave us this backstory since there are so many holes in the “F/SN” story that can’t really be explained without a proper prequel story of the previous Holy Grail War.

One of the really wonderful things about this story is how Type-Moon incorporates all of these old myths and legends and makes them all work together in harmony in a plausible modern-day fantasy story. I don’t think they get enough credit for that, to be completely honest. Yeah, the game/visual novel for “F/SN” has some adult elements in it, and that seems to stop people right away from reading the rest of the story. And it shouldn’t – which is why I think Pioneer/Geneon got the rights to make the “F/SN” anime in 2007 – to make the story available to an all-ages audience. And you know what? Cutting out the adult parts really didn’t make much of a difference. Yes, the story was truncated due to time (I mean, you can’t hope to squeeze in all three different endings in 26 episodes), and that’s the failing of the anime. Which is why it got a movie for its second route ending in 2010. Hopefully 2011 and 2012 will bring adaptations of that final route ending.

So without those adult elements, Type-Moon created this prequel tetrology and made it something totally amazing – epic fantasy where before it had just been a visual novel only known about in rather small circles, making it a cultural phenomenon. We know why the characters of “F/SN” act the way they do because they’re all around four or five years old in this story, and are thus influenced by this fourth Holy Grail War and what happens to their parents.

As I mentioned before, this was originally a tetrology that ended in 2009. But now that an anime (and manga) series has been greenlit, two more novels are being released later this year. I can’t wait until they are, and I can’t wait to read more.

One more thing – I have to give it to the Baka-Tsuki fan translating group – they did a REALLY good job with this. I remember trying to read the original in a bookstore in Tokyo when the first book came out, and it was hard to read for me. I’ve gotten better since then, but it’s still a pretty long book, and I have to commend them with sticking with this project. I really hope that Fate/Zero gets licensed here so we can all enjoy it instead of just having to rely on fan translators. But without them, we wouldn’t have access to this awesome work. So if you get a chance, go and google them and check out their translation of this series. I think you’ll be surprised at how great it really is.

(crossposted to goodreads, shelfari, and witchoftheatregoing.wordpress.com) ( )