Title: Echoes of the Void
Author: AlfheimWanderer
Rating: T
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Status: Work in Progress
Fandom: Familiar of Zero/Kara no Kyoukai
Summary: Scorned as "the Zero", Louise de la Vallière has never cast a successful spell in her life. With the Familiar Summoning Ritual her last hope to prove herself a mage, what will result when she summons someone else inextricably linked to the void?
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6442829/1/Echoes-of-the-Void

Right, so basic premise is, as most Familiar of Zero crossovers go, Louise summons someone other than Saito as her familiar. In this case, she summon Mana Ryougi from Kara no Kyoukai (who, in this fic, has a lot of her mother's fighting abilities - minus the Mystic Eyes).

One of the main reasons I think this is library worthy rather than a guilty pleasure is unlike most fics in this fandom, it doesn't just rehash the events of canon. Particularly the last few chapters seem to provide a very major divergence.

Being a crossover with Kara no Kyoukai, as you can expect this is darker than the usual ZnT fic (which are often quite lighthearted). Most of the characters (especially the support ones) are portrayed as more three dimensional than they usually are written. Eg, loving how Wardes is being portrayed (where in most fics he's a stereotypical villain, here he is a ruthless idealist).

Main downside I would say is that sometimes the writing can be a tad wordy at times, and some paragraphs can feel a bit awkward - sometimes not enough 'show not tell' (not all, just a few here and there). The wordiness does mean that if you've never seen Kara no Kyoukai, you should still happily be able to understand this fic. The other issue is Mana is potentially too strong - which could hurt any semblance of struggle later in the plot - but we'll see how it goes.

It's still only 70k words, and the update rate is unfortunately a tad slow, but I'm seeing a lot of potential here. For the moment 4/5 with the potential to go up once we get into the real plot.

 

Do you need to be familiar with Kara no Kyoukai to understand and enjoy this?

 

Not really. It describes most of the abilities and mechanics well enough. And since it's all set I'm Halkgenkia, you don't really need to know more than that.

 

Never seen either one although I have read enough Familiar of Zero crossovers to know what it is about and I did like it, very much so. Can understand the complaint that the author is a bit wordy at times but I liked that, actually. Have a soft spot for talking about certain abilities, moments and legends like that. Fitting for a type moon setting.

As to the story, yeah, concur with Jarik. It deviates from the original plot of the books quite soon, showing a huge difference, both in tone and in story. It did something that I wished the other crossovers would have done. The obligatory fight at the beginning, in which the new summon humiliates the Guiche (spelling?), is finally realized in a way that I vastly prefer to the other options we have seen. (outside the one with Iskander, because that just made sense)

So yeah, approve of the story. 4/5