Author: K. Haggerty / Tigrin
Title: The Open Door
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts II/Silent Hill
Rated: PG-13 (For violence and horror)
Genre: Horror/Drama
Summary: On the edges of light and dark, Sora and company crash-land on a bizarre new world. Sora catches a glimpse of a figure, and the search for Riku begins in the nightmare realm of Silent Hill. Guided by a mysterious dark figure speaking in riddles, Sora, Donald, and Goofy must battle their way through a horde of horrific creatures. The farther they move through Silent Hill, the further they move from reality.

The weirdest thing about this fic is not the crossover series - but that it's not a crack fic. Very well written: the subtle horror that permeates the atmosphere somehow makes you see the protagonists as serious characters. It's twisted and will turn up the tension to 11. I'm sure it'll leave fans of both games satisfied.

5/5

 

The author is a capable writer. Do Sora, Donald, and Goofy get the keyblade/sorcery back? If not, it's a situation akin to a Harry Potter fic without magic.

Edit: Nevermind. I can handle Sora breaking bones and slaughtering his way through Silent Hill with a steel pipe.

 

How much do I need to know about Silent Hill to read this? I know all about Kingdom Hearts but only played one Silent Hill game awhile back.

 

Only the bare basics: that Silent Hill is a strange, strange town where reality is bent.

 

Okay, I'm ten chapters in so far. I can see that I don't need much back-knowledge to read it and still enjoy it.

This story is f'ing awesome. I'll rate it when I finish reading all of it.

 

Finished it in one sitting. An oddly epic fic. 5/5.

 

Sora graduates to a fire axe.

I finished it too, but I skimmed over the last several chapters because it delved deeply in the Kingdom Hearts 2 and the 358/2 and the offshoot games.

Several moments of character development are misplaced:

Spoiler

A girl named Akiri dies while accompaniyng Sora. In fact, she is pretty gruesomely killed. (Her hearts gets torn out). Later, Goofy is separated from the other two in what is assumed to be a last stand sacrifice. This prompts Sora's realization that "We're not invincible. Magic can't miraculously heal mortal wounds. People can actually die, and their deaths may not be clean." Er, Akiri? Even in the light of the fact that they didn't bond or were familiar with each other, her death marks the first time he's seen character death. The timing is a little misjudged.

Another thing is that I dislike the fic's treatment of Silent Hill. I haven't played any of the games, but the one thing I know is that the franchise loves denying information to keep the mysteriousness and otherworldliness of the town intact. Basically putting it under the control of Organization XIII seems to run against the fundamental nature of the location and diminishes its danger in some way.

Another story element is the disintegrating relationship and deteriorating trust between Sora, Goofy, and Donald as they gradually crack under the pressure of being in Silent Hill.

The execution was... acceptable, but it begs the question, is that really all there is? It's rote, and not given much attention. I find it strange, because the author clearly identified this as an important element of the story, but then backed away from developing it.

It's also oddly dissonant how they can have KH1-style cutesy-snarky banter while going through some horrific shit, and they aren't bothered. It's not a subtle coping mechanism type of thing, it's completely serious.

Sora isn't really pushed to his limits. He doesn't question whether risking his friends' lives is worth finding Riku (the reason he trolls through Silent Hill). Goofy's separation should have sparked that, and Donald himself brings it up with Sora. But Sora never once experiences the slightest bit of doubt.

There was the whole Sora's mother guilt thing that the author made up to justify his being drawn there, but I wasn't convinced. It goes into an incoherent mess of flashbacks and red herrings like nurse-monsters speaking in her voice. Whatever, let the writer try and be artistic.

That said, I love the macabre, claustrophobic setting. Details like veins in the walls, the quest to gather the keys, to find the numbers on the clock-face, and the amusement park are vivid and quite creative. After a while, a dreariness sets in due to the repetitiveness of the descriptions, and the fact that most of the story is (rightfully) comprised of description, but it's a good, industrial kind of dreariness that actually adds to the immersion.

All in all, very well-realized Gothic horror.

4/5.

 

Finished. I almost feel like I have to rate the majority of the story and the final few chapters as separate entities. Somewhere around chapter 19 the story begins to feel disjointed from what was written before it.

The realization of what Silent Hill really is cheapens it like crazy, but until that point, the setting is marvelous.

The characterization of every character other than Sora is great through most of it, but the lack of character development in later chapters is a shame. This story is very much Sora-centric, evidenced by the lengths gone to pulling his psyche apart then build him back up. This story by itself does a pretty good job of showing it, but his rebuilding would really shine through if there was a sequel showing how he acts from there on. Meh :/

Writing is top notch, hands down. The attention to gruesome details sets the mood perfectly and the mutated Nobody/Heartless monsters only add to it.

Can't really say much more about it. 4/5