Fate/Apocrypha

One volume read

Where to start, hmm... Well, first, regarding the previous review so far: congratulations, you have read the Unbirth, which you can consider the first of 2 prologues.

Unbirth, the introduction of Jack the Ripper and his appearence and personality really, REALLY, is upsetting. It could have been done in many ways, but I really can't express the disappointment with the Assassin's character.
However, I can't simply judge a book by the first chapter. And so, I decided to read ahead. Whatever was ahead couldn't be bad than the prologue, otherwise we wouldn't have over 3 volumes, right?
And I was right. What was ahead wasn't bad. It was GOOD, it was GREAT. It gave me the same feeling of reading Fate/Zero.
What was ahead was a story in a battle royal style with sides in it. A war actually organized. Characters well developed. You could see that even the most prepared one to the war had flaws in his arrogance, and see that the weakest master actually made a few countermeasures to compensate for it.
It wasn't a story with growing characters, the characters in it already knew their own power and limits to them. What was left was strategy to use such limited strength in hand to defeat their opponents.
The story by itself is on the first volume, so I can't directly judge something that barely started. However, the development that happened so far led me to like it. There are no antagonists or protagonists as I have seen it. The hero on one side is the enemy of the other and we see it happening periodically on both sides. A battle is occurring but the reader doesn't have someone to root for exactly.
That aside, same Fate/ that happens: masters summon servants and they fight among each other. Although there is the faction concept (Black and Red sides), even the weakest master noticed that such thing would probably be over when one side loses and a fight among each other would happen.
Story - So... 8. I would give it a 9, but... Well, a 10 can't be given after only one volume and... Jack the Ripper in the way it was made really isn't good. To me, Unbirth was really bad.
Art: It's a light novel... I don't think I can judge art, so this here will be NULL.
Characters: 8 - Even with the least amount of information, the personality can be grasped with their actions. You can see that no one is perfect and the behavior shifts according to the personality. Some are likeable, some aren't. Some are strong, some are weak. All of them have the strategical prowess to make the right choice the right time, but the situation clouds the judgment of them and lead to events that may compromise the entire victory of one side. Not 9 for the same reasons of ''Story''.
Enjoyment: 9 - What can I say? Even with how bad Unbirth was, the enjoyment was good. It was something I haven't felt for a while. Events where you have information at hand and can deduce what will happen, but there is unpredictability at the same time are hard to dislike. I mean, if it only applied for battles, this would have received a lower rating, but considering what happened during Saber of Red summoning, Berserker of Red's battle and Rider and Saber of Black at the last chapter was enjoyable. And the mystery surrounding Kotomine Shirou is one that intrigues anyone who read a previous Fate/
Overall: 8,3. Hopefully, the next volumes won't disappoint me and this rating will rise