Fate/stay night

If Fate/Stay Night had less tedious dialogue sections and a more snappy pace to the narrative I'd have no problem putting into the pantheon of visual novels that I truly enjoyed.

I mostly consider this a 'book' I picked up during the pandemic; I wouldn't say I was invested or thoroughly entertained with the action or intrigue. I tend to follow-through with books I get halfway into, no matter how much I dislike them. I found the Rin / Archer /Shirou relationship somewhat interesting, but that relatinoship / rivalry is only a focus in the second of the three 'story routes'.

In any case, Fate/Stay Night is a really neat sword and sorcery time story that injects just enough of teen melodrama to keep itself humble. I would mostly recommend this as your first visual novel; it is really long, however, and the animé adaptations are arguably much stronger, and much more enjoyable interpretations of this story.

Putting my adoration to this excellent piece of work into words is difficult to say the least.

For one, I think it's an incredible delve into a character's complex and ideals, working around with the machinations of said ideals, deconstructing them, spitting in the face of them, evaluating them, and then bringing in characters about as interesting and three-dimensional as those ideals all tied neatly into a plot that never falters or grows old. Said plot is even spectacularly structured around world rules that are never broken (although definitely weirdly explained at the start, some real D4C instant retcon level) and perfectly reflect the motivations and passion behind those motivations onto each battle.

Secondly, it's astonishing how well Nasu writes dialogue and has a great sense of pacing, making sure to intertwine moments of calm and creating a central emotional point of ground zero to return to after each bombdrop of a story event. From the breaking apart of Sakura's inferiority complex all the way to the well worded exposition spouts that write in the rules of the world and turn the tides of the reader's perspective, Nasu understands exactly how to space these out.

Lastly, it's probably the best piece of work I've personally read this year, and probably my favorite read just in general. That's probably hyperbolic praise, but even still I didn't regret a single moment from Fate to Heaven's Feel.