Oct 7, 2022
Garden of Avalon serves as Type Moon's official interpretation of Arthurian legends in the grand scheme of the infamously grandiose lore of the Nasuverse, starring best girl Saber as it tackles her origins, her reign of Britain and her eventual downfall.
For whom is this novel written for? Do I need prerequisite reading before reading this? While GoA serves mostly as a lore piece to not really explain but elaborate on Saber's character prior to Fate Stay Night, there isn't much of a need to read anything related to Fate before jumping right in, though the last chapter might be a bit confusing without
...
knowledge of the Fate route in Stay Night, but hey, all the more incentive to read the Visual novel eh?
If you're someone who's already a Fate fan and want more Saber content, this novel is for you. As much as I loved Saber in Fate route, I did want to see more of the kingly side of Artoria, which this novel provides. If you're someone who has watched the Ufotable adaptations and still don't understand why Saber is best girl, while this novel might not fully convince you since Fate Route is the route that fleshes out her character the most, it will still hopefully make her a more interesting character in your eyes. If you're someone completely new to Fate and just want a good old Arthurian story, I can't say that it is for you, but it is an interesting reinterpretation of Arthurian legend in my eyes nonetheless.
The various narrators that tell the tale each shed light on the different sides of the story, painting the canvas that is the King of Knights. Is Saber an unfeeling, inhuman machine that possesses no feelings of her own? Or is she a tragic, misunderstood king that only hoped for the best of her people? Nasu has always been one of his best amongst his peers in conveying a sense of mysticism and romanticism in his works, and the way he portrays the tragedy of Artoria feels like something straight out of Shakespeare, with elegance and deftness that sets him apart from his contemporaries.
If I had any complaints, it would be that it wasn't any longer. GoA is an incredibly short read for the amount of content it could have covered, however I understand the reasoning behind its lack of coverage on other more important events in Arthurian lore. The focus is and has always been on Saber, not the exploits of the Knights of the Round Table, but even then my inner Arthurian fanboy does crave more. Also, while I am thankful to the translators, the translation itself is not the best, with a lot of awkward phrasing and grammatical issues, which does impact the prose of the story and therefore the enjoyment.. However, it is still decent enough to not be too big of an issue.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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