I read this a while back, but only read plot summaries of the later books since they weren't translated, so I may have missed details and stuff.

Generally, the premise and idea are really cool. Rather than the usual battle royal of the grail wars, its a 7 v 7 team fight. Many of the servants are neat, with interesting interpretations of their myths and good personalities. I also rather liked the black team's masters, and they form an interesting bunch. Sadly every red master except the enemy mastermind and... more>> one rogue mercinary are put on a bus from the start, making the enemy team just a bad guy monolith. The team battle aspect is also a bit weak, and the story typically breaks into everyone fighting 1v1 battles.

Things done well:
Story is action packed, with bombastic fights and awesome powers. The plot does a good job of subverting expectations, especially with many of the foreshadowed death flags. Most of the Black side characters are good. Astolfo steals the show and is adorable.

Things done poorly:
The main protagonist, while initially sympathetic, is pretty bland and reliant on conveniences. With so many characters, not everyone gets enough action, and plenty of cool abilities don't get full usage. Jack the Ripper and her master, despite being interesting in the oneshot, are terrible and annoying in this. If you are looking for a dark and complex story with deep characters, there is a better light novel in this franchise. The ending flies of a cliff into insanity.

Overall, I had fun with the series. If you liked the fate stories, but wanted everything up to 11 and more cheesy, this is it. If you think the idea of Astolfo is great, this is also it. I don't know what the author was on when he wrote that ending though... <<less