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Magic: The Gathering
Arena
As the fighter-mages of the four great Houses prepare for their annual battle, a powerful stranger arrives and he is interested in the fifth House, destroyed a generation ago--but why is the Grand Master afraid of him? Original.
298 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 16, 1994
About the author
William R. Forstchen
120 books1,777 followersWilliam R. Forstchen (born 1950) is an American author who began publishing in 1983 with the novel Ice Prophet. He is a Professor of History and Faculty Fellow at Montreat College, in Montreat, North Carolina. He received his doctorate from Purdue University with specializations in Military History, the American Civil War and the History of Technology.
Forstchen is the author of more than forty books, including the award winning We Look Like Men of War, a young adult novel about an African-American regiment that fought at the Battle of the Crater, which is based upon his doctoral dissertation, The 28th USCTs: Indiana’s African-Americans go to War, 1863-1865 and the "Lost Regiment" series which has been optioned by both Tom Cruise and M. Night Shyamalan.
Forstchen’s writing efforts have, in recent years, shifted towards historical fiction and non fiction. In 2002 he started the “Gettysburg” trilogy with Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich; the trilogy consists of Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War, Grant Comes East, and Never Call Retreat: Lee and Grant - The Final Victory. More recently, they have have published two works on the events leading up to Pearl Harbor and immediately after that attack Pearl Harbor, and Days of Infamy.
In March 2009, Forstchen’s latest work, One Second After, (Forge/St. Martin’s books) was released. Based upon several years of intensive research and interviews, it examines what might happen in a “typical” American town in the wake of an attack on the United States with “electro-magnetic pulse” (EMP) weapons. Similar in plotting to books such as On the Beach and Alas Babylon, One Second After, is set in a small college town in western North Carolina and is a cautionary tale of the collapse of social order in the wake of an EMP strike. The book has been optioned by Warner Bros. and currently is in development as a feature film. The book was cited on the floor of Congress and before the House Armed Services Committee by Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R.-MD), chair of the House Committee tasked to evaluate EMP weapons, as a realistical portrayal of the potential damage rendered by an EMP attack on the continental United States.
Forstchen resides near Asheville, North Carolina with his daughter Meghan. His other interests include archaeology, and he has participated in several expeditions to Mongolia and Russia. He is a pilot and co owns an original 1943 Aeronca L-3B recon plane used in World War II.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/willia...
Forstchen is the author of more than forty books, including the award winning We Look Like Men of War, a young adult novel about an African-American regiment that fought at the Battle of the Crater, which is based upon his doctoral dissertation, The 28th USCTs: Indiana’s African-Americans go to War, 1863-1865 and the "Lost Regiment" series which has been optioned by both Tom Cruise and M. Night Shyamalan.
Forstchen’s writing efforts have, in recent years, shifted towards historical fiction and non fiction. In 2002 he started the “Gettysburg” trilogy with Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich; the trilogy consists of Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War, Grant Comes East, and Never Call Retreat: Lee and Grant - The Final Victory. More recently, they have have published two works on the events leading up to Pearl Harbor and immediately after that attack Pearl Harbor, and Days of Infamy.
In March 2009, Forstchen’s latest work, One Second After, (Forge/St. Martin’s books) was released. Based upon several years of intensive research and interviews, it examines what might happen in a “typical” American town in the wake of an attack on the United States with “electro-magnetic pulse” (EMP) weapons. Similar in plotting to books such as On the Beach and Alas Babylon, One Second After, is set in a small college town in western North Carolina and is a cautionary tale of the collapse of social order in the wake of an EMP strike. The book has been optioned by Warner Bros. and currently is in development as a feature film. The book was cited on the floor of Congress and before the House Armed Services Committee by Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R.-MD), chair of the House Committee tasked to evaluate EMP weapons, as a realistical portrayal of the potential damage rendered by an EMP attack on the continental United States.
Forstchen resides near Asheville, North Carolina with his daughter Meghan. His other interests include archaeology, and he has participated in several expeditions to Mongolia and Russia. He is a pilot and co owns an original 1943 Aeronca L-3B recon plane used in World War II.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/willia...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 148 reviews
April 29, 2017
Wow - I was just surprised by this book popping up on my Goodreads screen. I was doing a review of The Final Day by William R. Forstchen, I saw that he wrote Arena as well. I haven't thought about this book in years.
When I was in high school in the mid 90's, I was kind of obsessed with Magic: The Gathering. I had thousands of cards, played all the time, and bought several books in the series - which had just started coming out. While it has been years since I played and read this book, I remember both the game and this book fondly.
Very cool to be surprised by the same author writing a totally different kind of book years later.
When I was in high school in the mid 90's, I was kind of obsessed with Magic: The Gathering. I had thousands of cards, played all the time, and bought several books in the series - which had just started coming out. While it has been years since I played and read this book, I remember both the game and this book fondly.
Very cool to be surprised by the same author writing a totally different kind of book years later.
February 10, 2016
As a 12 year-old, when "Magic" was the center of my world, I was in love with this book. Re-reading it now, 20 years later, I cannot summon (get it?) the same enthusiasm. The characters are paper-thin and the plot is pretty pulpy, inspired - as several reviews have pointed out - by the timeless tale of Yojimbo. It might make a decent dumb movie.
There is one thing it has going for it, though, which sets it apart from most game tie-in novels. Rather than simply explore the fictional world the game is set in with any old story, "Arena" actually tries to recreate the experience of playing "Magic" games as a big part of its setting. The exhilaration of reading about characters actually fighting each other in much the same way the game was played in the early days - when it wasn't yet as specialized as today - is still incredibly strong. I would love to hear the story of how Forstchen conceived of these magical fights one day. They are clearly based on actually studying the card mechanics of the basic set.
Then again, Forstchen went on to write political thrillers, work with Newt Gingrich and these days is spewing hate against Muslims on Twitter. With that in mind, it's hard not to see the weird nihilistic bent of the novel, with a strange disdain for humanity and "the mob". When the protagonist's plan is to incite everyone to slaughter each other in droves in order to revert things to "the old ways", it makes you wonder, what his creator's idea of world politics must look like.
There is one thing it has going for it, though, which sets it apart from most game tie-in novels. Rather than simply explore the fictional world the game is set in with any old story, "Arena" actually tries to recreate the experience of playing "Magic" games as a big part of its setting. The exhilaration of reading about characters actually fighting each other in much the same way the game was played in the early days - when it wasn't yet as specialized as today - is still incredibly strong. I would love to hear the story of how Forstchen conceived of these magical fights one day. They are clearly based on actually studying the card mechanics of the basic set.
Then again, Forstchen went on to write political thrillers, work with Newt Gingrich and these days is spewing hate against Muslims on Twitter. With that in mind, it's hard not to see the weird nihilistic bent of the novel, with a strange disdain for humanity and "the mob". When the protagonist's plan is to incite everyone to slaughter each other in droves in order to revert things to "the old ways", it makes you wonder, what his creator's idea of world politics must look like.
February 24, 2010
It's... readable.
The melodramatic emotional fireworks are very annoying, but fortunately the author partitioned most of them off into small one- to two-page segments. Hammen somehow manages to be both out-of-character and cliched at the same time (what was with him unconsciously transferring to calling Garth "Master"?), the background characters (and women, too) are cardboard, Garth (hero/main character) is hypocritical but mercifully bland in this respect, the villains are annoying stereotypes ("Varnel" has a weakness for women and carnal pursuits; "Ravelth" is unrealistically obsessed with wealth; Kirlen fears death more than anything; Tulan apparently has compulsive overeating disorder and is very rotund). Don't worry about Kirlen so much; women are pretty much nonexistent in this novel in any meaningful way.
It's traditional high fantasy; Fortschen usually chooses to remain outside of the realm of flashbacks or the showing of inner emotional development, which is probably a blessing, since the few times he slips with this are quite jarring. The way he avoids backstory or emotional reactions is similarly relieving, because he can't manage to be consistent with it, and it's annoying to have to think of the author as The Emotionally Retarded Man. This was apparently one of the first Magic: the Gathering series books, though, so it's not as bad as it seems. Again, it is readable.
The major point that I kept getting perturbed about was Fortschen's lack of understanding, or talent, for logistics. Within the city this novel is set, there are no cars, and carriages are used rarely, with the first mention placed firmly in the middle of the book. Presumably, they have old-style (small) streets and walkways. And yet, at some point during a battle scene, there is a mention of (paraphrased) "thousands tried to flee while thousands tried to push forward to watch the fun" and I don't think he actually understands that this would be literally impossible in the physical specifications he implies and puts forth.
Another point that irritated me to the point of tics was his description of Benalian society. Although I understand that Hammen is supposed to be a socially-inept, chauvinistic failure of a man (and Turquoise member, the reveal of which was neither revealing nor surprising, but rather insulting), I wanted to leap into the pages and start beating the shit out of him for how he spoke to Norreen. Aside from that, however, the Benalian societal dynamics were a farce described by an unimaginative capitalist man who doesn't know the definition of "privilege". The reasons are thus: 1) cyclical power castes generally prevent power-madness, rather than encouraging them as Fortschen suggests; 2) cultures that allow/encourage women to become warriors are not rape-happy, ever; 3) cultures that allow/encourage both sexes to become warriors don't have the kind of sexual inequality that Fortschen asserts with the line, "Women of the lowest caste cannot refuse the demands to mate with one of the highest caste." This would only make sense if a) the power system were not cyclical (faced with the possibility/certainty of being on the receiving end, people are far more liberal and sympathetic than they would otherwise be) and/or b) it were not limited to sex or sexual orientation. That is to say, if women could do the same to men, women to women, men to men, etc.
However, the most subtle annoyance was also the only one that could be considered in any way constant: Fortschen's use of "the mob". This "the mob" is everyone in the city that is not one of the named characters or fighters, and it serves as a thinly-veiled excuse for never - ever - characterizing or individuating a single blessed one of them. "The mob" is a forest of cardboard, with a laugh-track attached to supply danger, moral disgust (from the reader), plot diversions or whatever else is needed to board up the holes.
Also, as the bit with Garth dogged by "the mob" when trying to get away from the Grand Master's army so he doesn't get fucking killed shows, "the mob" is merely a group of 500,000 hyperactive Downies with no care aids - or shotguns, because I sincerely wanted to jump in and force Garth to start frying the assholes - in sight.
So, in other words, William Fortschen doesn't know as much as he thinks he does.
But... it's readable.
The melodramatic emotional fireworks are very annoying, but fortunately the author partitioned most of them off into small one- to two-page segments. Hammen somehow manages to be both out-of-character and cliched at the same time (what was with him unconsciously transferring to calling Garth "Master"?), the background characters (and women, too) are cardboard, Garth (hero/main character) is hypocritical but mercifully bland in this respect, the villains are annoying stereotypes ("Varnel" has a weakness for women and carnal pursuits; "Ravelth" is unrealistically obsessed with wealth; Kirlen fears death more than anything; Tulan apparently has compulsive overeating disorder and is very rotund). Don't worry about Kirlen so much; women are pretty much nonexistent in this novel in any meaningful way.
It's traditional high fantasy; Fortschen usually chooses to remain outside of the realm of flashbacks or the showing of inner emotional development, which is probably a blessing, since the few times he slips with this are quite jarring. The way he avoids backstory or emotional reactions is similarly relieving, because he can't manage to be consistent with it, and it's annoying to have to think of the author as The Emotionally Retarded Man. This was apparently one of the first Magic: the Gathering series books, though, so it's not as bad as it seems. Again, it is readable.
The major point that I kept getting perturbed about was Fortschen's lack of understanding, or talent, for logistics. Within the city this novel is set, there are no cars, and carriages are used rarely, with the first mention placed firmly in the middle of the book. Presumably, they have old-style (small) streets and walkways. And yet, at some point during a battle scene, there is a mention of (paraphrased) "thousands tried to flee while thousands tried to push forward to watch the fun" and I don't think he actually understands that this would be literally impossible in the physical specifications he implies and puts forth.
Another point that irritated me to the point of tics was his description of Benalian society. Although I understand that Hammen is supposed to be a socially-inept, chauvinistic failure of a man (and Turquoise member, the reveal of which was neither revealing nor surprising, but rather insulting), I wanted to leap into the pages and start beating the shit out of him for how he spoke to Norreen. Aside from that, however, the Benalian societal dynamics were a farce described by an unimaginative capitalist man who doesn't know the definition of "privilege". The reasons are thus: 1) cyclical power castes generally prevent power-madness, rather than encouraging them as Fortschen suggests; 2) cultures that allow/encourage women to become warriors are not rape-happy, ever; 3) cultures that allow/encourage both sexes to become warriors don't have the kind of sexual inequality that Fortschen asserts with the line, "Women of the lowest caste cannot refuse the demands to mate with one of the highest caste." This would only make sense if a) the power system were not cyclical (faced with the possibility/certainty of being on the receiving end, people are far more liberal and sympathetic than they would otherwise be) and/or b) it were not limited to sex or sexual orientation. That is to say, if women could do the same to men, women to women, men to men, etc.
However, the most subtle annoyance was also the only one that could be considered in any way constant: Fortschen's use of "the mob". This "the mob" is everyone in the city that is not one of the named characters or fighters, and it serves as a thinly-veiled excuse for never - ever - characterizing or individuating a single blessed one of them. "The mob" is a forest of cardboard, with a laugh-track attached to supply danger, moral disgust (from the reader), plot diversions or whatever else is needed to board up the holes.
Also, as the bit with Garth dogged by "the mob" when trying to get away from the Grand Master's army so he doesn't get fucking killed shows, "the mob" is merely a group of 500,000 hyperactive Downies with no care aids - or shotguns, because I sincerely wanted to jump in and force Garth to start frying the assholes - in sight.
So, in other words, William Fortschen doesn't know as much as he thinks he does.
But... it's readable.
March 7, 2009
Take Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (one man plays two rival groups against each other), now put it in a fantasy setting based off the Magic: The Gathering cards, turn the two rival groups into four (or five), and you've got Arena. It's a clever tale of one man's revenge against an entire city run by magical guilds that fight each other once a year in a spectacle called "Festival". I don't want to give away anything, but the treachery and twists make this a fun read. It's a guilty pleasure of mine.
June 25, 2022
One measly star, because while the plot was an entertaining story of revenge and whatnot, the novel "has not aged well" to put it nicely when it comes to representation of women and minorities. In addition to which the main character felt flat in comparison to the old man helping him, and until the very end I was left waiting for something that would've made me relate to the mysterious fighter more, but alas.
January 15, 2022
I've played Magic: The Gathering the card game since around '94, my interest in the franchise seems to wax and wane a bit. I've known novels have existed, but I was always too obsessed with TSR publications when I was younger, so I primarily read that material, but as usual, I like to start at the beginning for things, if I can. So, rather than jump into more recent publications, which they don't seem to be publishing as novels anymore, instead as short ebooks, I tracked down a copy of the first Magic book ever published a while ago. Part of my, sort of, disinterest is that I've come to find a lot of Fantasy novels to be really formulaic. There's not a ton of new things to do in the genre and, hell, Lord of the Rings kind of fleshed out everything that genre really ever needed to a certain degree. So, having a cool world build can't carry a mediocre novel that much for me these days, since all the world builds just have the generic overarching similarity to them. But, a fun story is a fun story at the end of the day and if you can pull that off, I'm there for it and I have to say Arena is a pretty fun story, but that might be the nostalgia... I certainly didn't walk in expecting anything ground breaking, especially from a 1994 novel.
There are serious problems throughout, such as the general sexism... which I don't know how much that is just "oh, medieval times were like..." and a general disregard for general people, or "the mob" as Forstchen only sees them. The constant killing and disregard for the mob did get kind of annoying, I have to admit. But modern novels have changed pretty drastically since I started reading them in the 90's, and so has this card game.
I confess, I was interested on how Magic would translate into a novel, given the fact at this time there was no real overarching story for the card game. The game was more about cool fantasy things in a game format other than an RPG like D&D. So, that was kind of the allure of the game, but to make a novel out of it, seemed a bit of a tall order. Well Frostchen managed to meld the worlds somehow and I don't know how much this first novel shaped the future of the stories or game, because at some point Magic really transitioned into having themed based card sets and made them based around a story of sorts in the block format, so novels during that setup are very clearly interwoven with the story of the card set. When Arena was published that's really not how the cards were setup. The entire Ice Age block was retconned after the fact, but this novel was published around the release of 4th Edition, so the book would probably be based on cards from the Revised era.
Forstchen actually managed to write a novel that tied the cards and the game concept into a pretty fun story. The whole point of the card game is to have dueling mages, so he created a backdrop motivation of having a Festival where mages in a particular city are pitted against each other to find out who is the best. This is super in line with the actual game format where tournament play is one of the biggest aspects of this game, so he wrote that into the novel. On top of that he created five magic houses that compete, but wait, one was destroyed years ago! This doesn't really work with Magic's five color concept, but suddenly a mysterious stranger, Garth One-Eye, enters the city and starts to create controversy. The grand master who presides over the festival feels threatened, while Garth sows chaos amongst the Houses. We journey through the city with Garth as he enacts a careful plan he'd been arranging for years outside of the city. Throughout this journey there are quite a few magic duels, as any fan of the card game would expect. One thing I quite appreciated is the names of the spells were drawn from actual cards, I figured that would be the case, but I wasn't sure at first, because the House colors are not those of the colors in magic. Like they have an orange House color instead of red, I wasn't sure what the point of changing the actual colors was, and they never said, but at least the names of the spells are directly from cards.
The only thing I didn't like as much was around the middle of the book things started to feel a bit repetitive. Garth went from House to House, basically doing the same thing, every encounter wound up being a Magic duel, so it felt like dueling was being replaced with character development at some point. In some ways I wound up being excited for sections where there was no duel, since it had been done so often. Since Garth was playing with his deck, the duels got repetitive as well, because he used a similar strategy to defeat a lot of opponents. But Garth's deeper powers were only revealed at the end when faced off against a Planes Walker who was basically bleeding that world dry of its mana. The whole end of the book was really good in that regard.
I think if you're a fan of the card game you'll find this novel a rather fun read. I think it would be more fun for people that played this along time ago like I have. Some of those old cards are pretty nostalgic for us and seeing them in the novel is pretty fun. Newer players may not get the same feelings, but the story could still be fun anyway.
It doesn't seem Forstchen ever returned to the world of Magic and I do wonder if this novel was meant more as a fun one off, but then the novels just kept coming. So, I'm sort of expecting drastic changes in the coming novels compared to this, especially as the Magic cards, as a series, had a more solidified stories with recurring characters and themes.
There are serious problems throughout, such as the general sexism... which I don't know how much that is just "oh, medieval times were like..." and a general disregard for general people, or "the mob" as Forstchen only sees them. The constant killing and disregard for the mob did get kind of annoying, I have to admit. But modern novels have changed pretty drastically since I started reading them in the 90's, and so has this card game.
I confess, I was interested on how Magic would translate into a novel, given the fact at this time there was no real overarching story for the card game. The game was more about cool fantasy things in a game format other than an RPG like D&D. So, that was kind of the allure of the game, but to make a novel out of it, seemed a bit of a tall order. Well Frostchen managed to meld the worlds somehow and I don't know how much this first novel shaped the future of the stories or game, because at some point Magic really transitioned into having themed based card sets and made them based around a story of sorts in the block format, so novels during that setup are very clearly interwoven with the story of the card set. When Arena was published that's really not how the cards were setup. The entire Ice Age block was retconned after the fact, but this novel was published around the release of 4th Edition, so the book would probably be based on cards from the Revised era.
Forstchen actually managed to write a novel that tied the cards and the game concept into a pretty fun story. The whole point of the card game is to have dueling mages, so he created a backdrop motivation of having a Festival where mages in a particular city are pitted against each other to find out who is the best. This is super in line with the actual game format where tournament play is one of the biggest aspects of this game, so he wrote that into the novel. On top of that he created five magic houses that compete, but wait, one was destroyed years ago! This doesn't really work with Magic's five color concept, but suddenly a mysterious stranger, Garth One-Eye, enters the city and starts to create controversy. The grand master who presides over the festival feels threatened, while Garth sows chaos amongst the Houses. We journey through the city with Garth as he enacts a careful plan he'd been arranging for years outside of the city. Throughout this journey there are quite a few magic duels, as any fan of the card game would expect. One thing I quite appreciated is the names of the spells were drawn from actual cards, I figured that would be the case, but I wasn't sure at first, because the House colors are not those of the colors in magic. Like they have an orange House color instead of red, I wasn't sure what the point of changing the actual colors was, and they never said, but at least the names of the spells are directly from cards.
The only thing I didn't like as much was around the middle of the book things started to feel a bit repetitive. Garth went from House to House, basically doing the same thing, every encounter wound up being a Magic duel, so it felt like dueling was being replaced with character development at some point. In some ways I wound up being excited for sections where there was no duel, since it had been done so often. Since Garth was playing with his deck, the duels got repetitive as well, because he used a similar strategy to defeat a lot of opponents. But Garth's deeper powers were only revealed at the end when faced off against a Planes Walker who was basically bleeding that world dry of its mana. The whole end of the book was really good in that regard.
I think if you're a fan of the card game you'll find this novel a rather fun read. I think it would be more fun for people that played this along time ago like I have. Some of those old cards are pretty nostalgic for us and seeing them in the novel is pretty fun. Newer players may not get the same feelings, but the story could still be fun anyway.
It doesn't seem Forstchen ever returned to the world of Magic and I do wonder if this novel was meant more as a fun one off, but then the novels just kept coming. So, I'm sort of expecting drastic changes in the coming novels compared to this, especially as the Magic cards, as a series, had a more solidified stories with recurring characters and themes.
May 6, 2025
The plot is entertaining enough, although the prose is rather clunky at times and every character other than Garth and Hammen is as flat as can be. What really gets me about this book is that you can tell it's based off Magic: The Gathering. While today's MTG stories on the blog feel like stories that take place in the MTG universe, featuring MTG characters, Arena actually draws from the game itself in a way that I appreciate. There are references to lands, spells, manaburn and ante (mechanics that no longer exist in the game), and specific effects like lifegain, land removal, and looking at an opponent's hand. The card Armageddon was even directly name-dropped. This is a book that was written for fans of the game, rather than fans of the lore.
September 11, 2008
As mentioned elsewhere, this story is something like Yojimbo or the more recent Last Man Standing. I found this in my parents attic the other day, and I read the reviews here so I decided to read it. I had never read it, even though I bought it when it came out (copyrighted 1994). The last page was cut where the coupon for the two free cards was, but I think I got the last line of the book.
This book was written not necessarily before Magic had a story line associated with it, but before they put so much of the story onto the flavor text of the cards and wrote the books to accompany each set as it is released. The way mana and spells and planeswalkers seemed a little inconsistent after having read a considerable amount of the more recent novels, and sometimes the description of the spells and mana felt a little cheesy, but all in all a very good read I thought.
My father read this book some time ago, and having never played Magic or understanding anything about it he said he enjoyed it and planned on reading it again. So I guess people who like fantasy but are not familiar with Magic might enjoy this.
This book was written not necessarily before Magic had a story line associated with it, but before they put so much of the story onto the flavor text of the cards and wrote the books to accompany each set as it is released. The way mana and spells and planeswalkers seemed a little inconsistent after having read a considerable amount of the more recent novels, and sometimes the description of the spells and mana felt a little cheesy, but all in all a very good read I thought.
My father read this book some time ago, and having never played Magic or understanding anything about it he said he enjoyed it and planned on reading it again. So I guess people who like fantasy but are not familiar with Magic might enjoy this.
October 2, 2021
Complete drivel. This book is exactly what you think it is - a pure cross marketing opportunity. Wooden characters that you don't care about, a thin plot, and an overabundance of mentions of as many Magic: The Gathering cards as often as possible. There are even some blatant stolen quotes from other books and movies. The only possible redeeming quality of this book is that it is technically the very first Magic: The Gathering piece of fiction - but that isn't enough to save it.
Avoid this at all costs.
Avoid this at all costs.
March 6, 2016
This is not imaginative, ground-breaking fantasy nor does it claim to be. For me, this is a five star read because it knows what it is and the author indulges in every word of it. I don't always need or want to read nuanced, complicated novels with twists and turns that keep me guessing. This novel was an enjoyable, quick fantasy story that is well told and has plenty of action. This is just what I wanted from it.
August 27, 2022
I mean it's the first fantasy story that fell off the truck with some card references winking at you furiously, what do you expect.
March 22, 2020
I didn't know what to expect from a 25-year-old book based on a card game, but as a casual fan of MTG who has loved some media tie-in novels for other franchises (ahem, Star Wars) in the past, I had hoped this would be good. For the most part, it disappointed.
The plot itself wasn't inherently bad, but the author chose to remain completely detached from the protagonist's internal monologue throughout almost the entire book. He did this because many of the characters had secret pasts, and he didn't want the reader to find out those secrets until the end, but to me, the payoff of learning secrets I could have guessed with a fair amount of accuracy from about halfway through the book wasn't worth feeling completely distanced from and unable to anchor myself in the world. I would have preferred the author take a different angle, where we as readers knew everything from the beginning and instead followed the protagonist through an emotional roller coaster of attempted revenge instead. Of course, the protagonist was also written as a veritable Gary Stu, practically unstoppable no matter who he was set up against, so there probably wouldn't have been much emotional conflict in that tale, either; just success after success.
A more personal complaint with this book that I had was the detail that every fight scene seemed to get. I should have foreseen this in a book version of a card game about magical fighting, but in the majority of the battles, fighting is described in a fairly blow-by-blow manner, which tends to bore me in general in any book. I did perk up a little bit when the Festival itself started because I do like game and tournament elements in books, but it wasn't really enough to completely save the novel for me.
Another strange thing about this book was the way it treated women. When the first female character appeared on the page, I was excited, because it turned out that women of this world could be strong fighters and warriors, and men and women fought without any notable distinction between them. This isn't something I see every day in books from the nineties, so I was immediately impressed and excited. Even today, a lot of fantasy writers don't do this. However, to my dismay, as I read further I discovered that the cultures described in this book also had a lot of disturbing views surrounding women. Sexual harrassment against the two main female characters by one of the main male characters was played for laughs, rape potions and rules about men having sex with whatever women they wanted were commonplace in the realm and not looked down upon at all that I could tell, and some characters seemed to treat women like property. None of these topics were the main focus of the book, but they were dropped into the background casually and without any signs that the author knew how disturbing or gross they were. It was all a bit confusing, and turned me off from this writer's work quite a bit.
The ending of one of the secondary characters was also left a little too open-ended, in that she simply disappeared and no explanation or closure was given. If this were a series all written by the same author, I would be fine with this, assuming it would come up again in the next installment, but I'm taking this to be a standalone, which left that decision a bit disappointing.
Long story short, if William R. Forstchen wrote the rest of the MTG books, I wouldn't be continuing with them, but because I'd already picked up 6 (thankfully, for a very low price) I will give the next one a chance and hope that its author did better.
The plot itself wasn't inherently bad, but the author chose to remain completely detached from the protagonist's internal monologue throughout almost the entire book. He did this because many of the characters had secret pasts, and he didn't want the reader to find out those secrets until the end, but to me, the payoff of learning secrets I could have guessed with a fair amount of accuracy from about halfway through the book wasn't worth feeling completely distanced from and unable to anchor myself in the world. I would have preferred the author take a different angle, where we as readers knew everything from the beginning and instead followed the protagonist through an emotional roller coaster of attempted revenge instead. Of course, the protagonist was also written as a veritable Gary Stu, practically unstoppable no matter who he was set up against, so there probably wouldn't have been much emotional conflict in that tale, either; just success after success.
A more personal complaint with this book that I had was the detail that every fight scene seemed to get. I should have foreseen this in a book version of a card game about magical fighting, but in the majority of the battles, fighting is described in a fairly blow-by-blow manner, which tends to bore me in general in any book. I did perk up a little bit when the Festival itself started because I do like game and tournament elements in books, but it wasn't really enough to completely save the novel for me.
Another strange thing about this book was the way it treated women. When the first female character appeared on the page, I was excited, because it turned out that women of this world could be strong fighters and warriors, and men and women fought without any notable distinction between them. This isn't something I see every day in books from the nineties, so I was immediately impressed and excited. Even today, a lot of fantasy writers don't do this. However, to my dismay, as I read further I discovered that the cultures described in this book also had a lot of disturbing views surrounding women. Sexual harrassment against the two main female characters by one of the main male characters was played for laughs, rape potions and rules about men having sex with whatever women they wanted were commonplace in the realm and not looked down upon at all that I could tell, and some characters seemed to treat women like property. None of these topics were the main focus of the book, but they were dropped into the background casually and without any signs that the author knew how disturbing or gross they were. It was all a bit confusing, and turned me off from this writer's work quite a bit.
The ending of one of the secondary characters was also left a little too open-ended, in that she simply disappeared and no explanation or closure was given. If this were a series all written by the same author, I would be fine with this, assuming it would come up again in the next installment, but I'm taking this to be a standalone, which left that decision a bit disappointing.
Long story short, if William R. Forstchen wrote the rest of the MTG books, I wouldn't be continuing with them, but because I'd already picked up 6 (thankfully, for a very low price) I will give the next one a chance and hope that its author did better.
September 4, 2013
I think one of these stars is for nostalgia, but I do still find the book reliably entertaining after over a decade and quite accessible even for someone who doesn't know anything about Magic: The Gathering (that said, some quirks of the magic system will make more sense if you're familiar with the card game).
This isn't the most original story, but it doesn't pretend to break new ground -- it just romps with fierce joy over the old stuff. So you have a mysterious one-eyed stranger show up in town just before the Festival, when fighters (although they mostly rely on magic) from four houses battle each other until one is declared the best, in view of bloodthirsty crowds. Garth One-eye gains enough notoriety in illegal street duels to join a house and therefore the Festival. And although he doesn't hesitate to lie, bribe, or kill, he does possess a peculiar sense of honor -- and, it's increasingly clear, a mission: to win the Festival, and prove himself worthy as an apprentice to the god who strides between worlds. He'll make plenty of enemies along the way (almost as though checking them off a list), and gains a few amusing allies.
The voice nearly veers on modern at times, but I think that's what's responsible for a great deal of the humor:
This isn't the most original story, but it doesn't pretend to break new ground -- it just romps with fierce joy over the old stuff. So you have a mysterious one-eyed stranger show up in town just before the Festival, when fighters (although they mostly rely on magic) from four houses battle each other until one is declared the best, in view of bloodthirsty crowds. Garth One-eye gains enough notoriety in illegal street duels to join a house and therefore the Festival. And although he doesn't hesitate to lie, bribe, or kill, he does possess a peculiar sense of honor -- and, it's increasingly clear, a mission: to win the Festival, and prove himself worthy as an apprentice to the god who strides between worlds. He'll make plenty of enemies along the way (almost as though checking them off a list), and gains a few amusing allies.
The voice nearly veers on modern at times, but I think that's what's responsible for a great deal of the humor:
...he made sure that his cowl still concealed his face so that he looked almost like a holy dervish of the Muronian order. The Muronians made their livelihood by passing out tracts promising that the entire universe was doomed and generally annoying the rest of the world so that some people wished it would end just to get rid of them.And the writing isn't sophisticated by any means, but it's quite serviceable. If you're looking for an unapologetic fantasy with battle and intrigue but not too much grit, this might do you well.
Several city warriors slowed as they approached Garth, as if they recognized him. He reached into his pocket as if to pull out a tract and they quickly hurried on.
"I like this disguise," Garth said.
November 7, 2014
In my experience, early books from the Magic: The Gathering Collectible Card Game series of novels fell into one of two categories: those that were so entrenched in the game aspects of the CCG that their worlds suffered, and those that used the idiom of the CCG to build up a complete world from the flimsy structure presented by the cards themselves.
This book falls into the latter category. The author created a relatively complete world, replete with customs and a mythos to support it. Even though the book itself is little more than fluff with an adventure-film plot that can, at times, seem rushed, it is still very entertaining. I would have liked to have seen the protagonist's actions against his enemies play out in a somewhat more subtle and devious manner, but I can guess that a page-count limit or publishing deadline would prevent something like that from happening. As a result, Garth One-eye's darting from place to place seems rushed and unplanned, but still manages to sustain the action relatively well.
Overall, I recommend this book for people who are familiar with the M:TG CCG series, since it seems to build a world while using the cards as tools, rather than being locked into building the world around the cards. Either way, this book is a decent read, but don't really expect anything new.
This book falls into the latter category. The author created a relatively complete world, replete with customs and a mythos to support it. Even though the book itself is little more than fluff with an adventure-film plot that can, at times, seem rushed, it is still very entertaining. I would have liked to have seen the protagonist's actions against his enemies play out in a somewhat more subtle and devious manner, but I can guess that a page-count limit or publishing deadline would prevent something like that from happening. As a result, Garth One-eye's darting from place to place seems rushed and unplanned, but still manages to sustain the action relatively well.
Overall, I recommend this book for people who are familiar with the M:TG CCG series, since it seems to build a world while using the cards as tools, rather than being locked into building the world around the cards. Either way, this book is a decent read, but don't really expect anything new.
March 28, 2007
Based on the popular card game of the same name, this was the first book written using the MtG world as a backdrop.
The main character is a mysterious, one-eyed magic user by the name of Garth One-Eye. He has to come to an annual festival where magic users of many different houses compete for honor, glory, and the right to walk alongside a powerful Walker who promises that all will be revealed to the winner of the tournament.
While some people who have never played the card game before might scoff at the quality of books written in this style; the core plot, characters, and themes of this book are very well told. I later realized that it may borrow some themes from ancient roman times, but this did not take away from the story in any way.
This is probably my favorite book. Everyone I've lend it to has loved it as well. It's cheap as heck too. ;)
The main character is a mysterious, one-eyed magic user by the name of Garth One-Eye. He has to come to an annual festival where magic users of many different houses compete for honor, glory, and the right to walk alongside a powerful Walker who promises that all will be revealed to the winner of the tournament.
While some people who have never played the card game before might scoff at the quality of books written in this style; the core plot, characters, and themes of this book are very well told. I later realized that it may borrow some themes from ancient roman times, but this did not take away from the story in any way.
This is probably my favorite book. Everyone I've lend it to has loved it as well. It's cheap as heck too. ;)
July 18, 2020
If you have played Magic: The Gathering, as I have, then it is truly a great tale and a fresh take on the game! A simpler read than I am used to and one of much conflict, but still a wonderful read.
January 31, 2023
This was an ok snapshot and first entry into the Magic universe. The story seemed a bit repetitive at times and tended to drag on a bit. Part of my issue was that this written prior to the development of an immersed storyline filled with known and developed characters. Instead what we have here is a brief look into the arena life which is filled with constant competition, betrayal and intrigue amongst a few select characters. Essentially what you are reading is a magic game from the characters perspective. Interesting, but I am looking forward to getting into the books with more of a developed plot which are on my to read list.
August 2, 2011
I know this book is far from awesome, however, I still enjoy reading it. I get such a kick out of when a spell is cast, and I know what card they are referring to. I really think that the MtG novels got the short end of the stick, when thinking about how people view them. They are entertaining. And for me, the wife of a (former) avid Magic player, they offered me a way to be involved in the game, as I did not play that often, insight into the characters and places that were being battled over on the table top.
October 3, 2009
The writing style of this book is not really very good but the story itself is interesting. At the time the book came out, there is still a lack of deep lore regarding the world of Magic: the Gathering so this author pulls through and managed to realise an entire city. At times, it does try a little too hard to tie the magic back to the game system and comes across as unrealistic. If you're a fan of the game, this book is a good read.
August 18, 2022
No extensive review or anything, but this is one of my all time favorite books. I'm not sure that there is anything all that great about it, but being a fan of both fantasy and Magic: The Gathering, the story of Garth One-Eye blew me away.
I read this for the first time as a freshman in high school back in 1994 and have re-read it so many times since that I've lost count.
I read this for the first time as a freshman in high school back in 1994 and have re-read it so many times since that I've lost count.
October 8, 2010
I read this book a long, long time ago (more than 15 years or so)in that time i was an avid Magic: The Gathering player so this but i didn't have much hope for this book.
I don't remember the argument very well, but i remember that i loved this book. I think it's one of the main causes for me to enjoy fantasy so much.
That well deserves 5 stars :D
I don't remember the argument very well, but i remember that i loved this book. I think it's one of the main causes for me to enjoy fantasy so much.
That well deserves 5 stars :D
December 21, 2019
Believe it or not but this is one of my favorite books! Pure entertainment and I have re-read it atleast half a dozen times, a crazy world with tons of fantastic beasts and cool battles!
I wouldn't recommend it to many people but for me it doesn't get any better than this entertainment!
I wouldn't recommend it to many people but for me it doesn't get any better than this entertainment!
August 4, 2011
Read this when I was really into playing Magic and reading about it. God, that was over 10 years ago. Man I am old. Anyway, this book was a lot of fun and probably the best Magic based book there was.
January 16, 2009
This is a great fantasy book.. When you start reading it, you may find yourself hard to put it down. Like the magic itself, it'll consume you.
May 23, 2014
This is, far and away, the best MTG book I have read. They go down hill so fast, I am not sure I'll pick up any more.
April 19, 2024
I love this book so much. None of the others in the first wave of MTG books got their claws into me like this one. I’ve read it at least half a dozen times and surely will again.
April 16, 2024
When I first found this book randomly in a lending library, I was excited to delve into the first published MtG novel. I had low expectations, and in many ways I was right to. But in a few ways, this book kind of blew me away. Let me explain.
Let's get the bad out of the way first. Forstchen cannot write women. This probably isn't surprising for a male fantasy writer in the 90s, but it's worth mentioning. The women are all defined by their relationship to a man, and the characterization for two of them barely differs. Bechdel test=failed (though to be fair, every conversation in this book is about one guy). There's other concerning politics in the book as well. I sure do wonder what Forstchen means, that we have to be protected by the violence of the mob and return to how things were in the past, when we were more civilized. Let's just say I wasn't shocked to learn the author had right-wing politics. There's a series of characters who's only personality is a character flaw that's just one of the seven deadly sins, and it'd feel odd and moralizing if it weren't so ridiculous. There's also less political writing issues. The main character is a total Mary Sue, he's basically perfect and does well at everything, and the only fights he loses are the ones where he's ridiculously outmanned or the ones he willingly concedes, and every woman he meets wants to sleep with him, and he basically ascends to godhood at one point, and it's a lot.
I wanted to briefly mention the mechanics of the world. It's very different from what MtG lore would become, and the internal logic is very different, which is interesting to read. The fights in this book take the format of actual matches of the card game. A few elements remain from the earlier rules (mana burn, ante) but otherwise it's pretty similar. It's very interesting to read, because it's interesting to think about how MtG lore could have been different if it followed this trend. The book contains references to several actual cards, such as Llanowar Elves, Armageddon, a lot of Circles of Protection, and Goblin Balloon Brigade (I would've skipped that one, but to each their own), which is interesting.
So as I was nearing the end, I found the book decently enjoyable but mostly flawed. The politics were concerning, and the characterization was weak. If there was something I did enjoy though, it was the political dynamics of the world. The city of Estark, where the book is set, stands in a delicate balance. The four houses train their fighters for the arena competition run by the Grand Master. The grand master is strong enough to defeat two houses combined, but three or more would overwhelm him. The Grand Master then has an incentive to stoke division between the houses. The Grand Master serves a Planeswalker and collects mana tributes for him, but it's an open secret that the Grand Master wants to gain enough mana to become a planeswalker himself and leave. All the leader seem vaguely aware of the politics, but they're all shackled by it, which makes for some intriguing dynamics. They kind of fall apart towards the end, but while it lasts, it's very fun to read the main character manipulating the political state of affairs against basically everyone. Another thing I liked is how the main character's actions are actually interrogated (sort of). He indirectly causes an unimaginable amount of death and suffering, and no one really questions it with the exception of one scene. It was surprising, but welcome and well-executed. The book kind of goes back to defending his actions after that though. What I really liked was the ending.
[[SPOILERS]]
At the end of the tournament that is the main focus of the book, the planeswalker returns to take the winner to another plane and reveal secrets about the world or something. However, we learn that the entire tournament is actually way of finding and eliminating the strongest warriors, who could pose a threat to the planeswalker. When he takes the winner of the tournament, he kills them. So our main character, Garth, is aware of this and intends to kill the planeswalker in revenge for his father. He wins the tournament and the planeswalker takes him away, and we learn that the planeswalker, the powerful being whom everyone in Estark virtually worships, rules over...a desolate and empty plane. While the planeswalker has the capacity to visit any of the countless worlds in the universe, but since he had conquered so many peoples in trying to obtain more power, he was under constant threat from uprising. Maintaining his seat of power required constant diligence, and he had to remain in a desolate plane because it was the only place where he could be aware of all threats. It's an honestly striking commentary on the nature of power, and how the endless pursuit of power requires exponentially more effort the more you gain. The imagery is potent; the planeswalker has gained more than anyone else the city could even dream of, yet his life is miserable. I can't really fully express how well this works, but let's just say it was surprising for this book.
[[SPOILERS OVER]]
So in summary, this book is concerningly conservative, oddly sexist, and the characters are paper-thin, but it also has one of the best reflections on the nature of power that I've read in a while. So it's kind of a mixed bag.
Let's get the bad out of the way first. Forstchen cannot write women. This probably isn't surprising for a male fantasy writer in the 90s, but it's worth mentioning. The women are all defined by their relationship to a man, and the characterization for two of them barely differs. Bechdel test=failed (though to be fair, every conversation in this book is about one guy). There's other concerning politics in the book as well. I sure do wonder what Forstchen means, that we have to be protected by the violence of the mob and return to how things were in the past, when we were more civilized. Let's just say I wasn't shocked to learn the author had right-wing politics. There's a series of characters who's only personality is a character flaw that's just one of the seven deadly sins, and it'd feel odd and moralizing if it weren't so ridiculous. There's also less political writing issues. The main character is a total Mary Sue, he's basically perfect and does well at everything, and the only fights he loses are the ones where he's ridiculously outmanned or the ones he willingly concedes, and every woman he meets wants to sleep with him, and he basically ascends to godhood at one point, and it's a lot.
I wanted to briefly mention the mechanics of the world. It's very different from what MtG lore would become, and the internal logic is very different, which is interesting to read. The fights in this book take the format of actual matches of the card game. A few elements remain from the earlier rules (mana burn, ante) but otherwise it's pretty similar. It's very interesting to read, because it's interesting to think about how MtG lore could have been different if it followed this trend. The book contains references to several actual cards, such as Llanowar Elves, Armageddon, a lot of Circles of Protection, and Goblin Balloon Brigade (I would've skipped that one, but to each their own), which is interesting.
So as I was nearing the end, I found the book decently enjoyable but mostly flawed. The politics were concerning, and the characterization was weak. If there was something I did enjoy though, it was the political dynamics of the world. The city of Estark, where the book is set, stands in a delicate balance. The four houses train their fighters for the arena competition run by the Grand Master. The grand master is strong enough to defeat two houses combined, but three or more would overwhelm him. The Grand Master then has an incentive to stoke division between the houses. The Grand Master serves a Planeswalker and collects mana tributes for him, but it's an open secret that the Grand Master wants to gain enough mana to become a planeswalker himself and leave. All the leader seem vaguely aware of the politics, but they're all shackled by it, which makes for some intriguing dynamics. They kind of fall apart towards the end, but while it lasts, it's very fun to read the main character manipulating the political state of affairs against basically everyone. Another thing I liked is how the main character's actions are actually interrogated (sort of). He indirectly causes an unimaginable amount of death and suffering, and no one really questions it with the exception of one scene. It was surprising, but welcome and well-executed. The book kind of goes back to defending his actions after that though. What I really liked was the ending.
[[SPOILERS]]
At the end of the tournament that is the main focus of the book, the planeswalker returns to take the winner to another plane and reveal secrets about the world or something. However, we learn that the entire tournament is actually way of finding and eliminating the strongest warriors, who could pose a threat to the planeswalker. When he takes the winner of the tournament, he kills them. So our main character, Garth, is aware of this and intends to kill the planeswalker in revenge for his father. He wins the tournament and the planeswalker takes him away, and we learn that the planeswalker, the powerful being whom everyone in Estark virtually worships, rules over...a desolate and empty plane. While the planeswalker has the capacity to visit any of the countless worlds in the universe, but since he had conquered so many peoples in trying to obtain more power, he was under constant threat from uprising. Maintaining his seat of power required constant diligence, and he had to remain in a desolate plane because it was the only place where he could be aware of all threats. It's an honestly striking commentary on the nature of power, and how the endless pursuit of power requires exponentially more effort the more you gain. The imagery is potent; the planeswalker has gained more than anyone else the city could even dream of, yet his life is miserable. I can't really fully express how well this works, but let's just say it was surprising for this book.
[[SPOILERS OVER]]
So in summary, this book is concerningly conservative, oddly sexist, and the characters are paper-thin, but it also has one of the best reflections on the nature of power that I've read in a while. So it's kind of a mixed bag.
July 1, 2023
’I wish all you bastards had but one neck.’
In the first book inspired by the Magic: The Gathering trading card game, there’s not much MTG flavor. Arena is much more meta – I’m guessing because the game designers probably didn’t give author William R. Forstchen much to go on as he began writing the inaugural story – describing a world that is only marginally connected to mythos of the original cards. Wizards (oxymoronically called fighters in the book) play real-life version of the card game, collecting spells, summoning mana, and beating opponents, mostly for the delight of the crowds and a villainous Grand Master, whose ambition is to become a dimension hopping Planeswalker.
And while this isn’t the deep-dive into the MTG lore that hardcore fans craved even when it was originally published – and when I read this book for the first time -- as a stand-alone fantasy novel, Arena is actually pretty good. Forstchen weaves an entertaining tale about a rogue magic-user who is able to put the four vastly powerful houses of magic, the arena’s Grand Master, and the puppeteering Planeswalker Kuthuman at one another’s throats mostly through guile and sarcasm. I always like clever protagonists who can walk into a lion’s den with just a smirk on their face and survive, and it’s fun to watch Garth One-Eye play the establishment like chords on a lute.
For the most part, MTG is (as in the card game) just the novel’s combat system which only works so far. It’s often hard to discern whether cast spells or the fighters’ powers actually have an analogue to the card game, and as summoned creatures come and go, it’s never really clear whether these creatures are simply spell-stuff or if the users are actually stealing living creatures from some faraway world and mass murdering them. There’s also a surprisingly healthy bit of sleaze; old man Hammen – before his redemption anyway – is quite the letch giving part of the book a sword-and-sorcery skin flick kind of feel. Trashiness in the horror and fantasy genres never really bothered me – and I bet I liked it even more when read this as a teenager – but if you are looking for strong female characters who keep their clothes on, they are not really here in this one.
For MTG fans, I’d still start at Jeff Grubb’s The Brothers’ War as the best place to dig into the compelling backstory and rich game lore of Magic: The Gathering. Arena is more a vestigial curiosity … like Alan Dean Foster’s Splinter of the Mind’s Eye is to Star Wars. I think the book disappointed me when I read it the first time – keeping me from reading any of the other books in the series – but coming back to it decades later, I kind of like it for its own merits, the quirks of its construction actually making it more endearing now than then.
November 18, 2017
This felt like two books, or rather a short story someone said, "Hey, stretch that into a paperback."
The second half was great, as far as these go (I've read way worse Star Trek and Star Wars EU novels at any rate). It was really entertaining. I did feel like the protagonist was a bit invincible and wasn't really risking much, but what do you expect from a binary good vs. evil plot.
The action in the arena was entertaining, though a lot of that may have derived from reference after reference to actual cards in the game (Wall of Wood, Psionic Blast, Circle of Protection, Craw Wurm, Lord of the Pit, Llanowar Elves, and so on...). The author was almost slavishly literal in his depiction of these as spells, and it was quaint.
It's very clear this was THE first novel in this multiverse. There was very cursory establishment of things that, reading this in 2017, I know were changed years later. It was really weird reading of spells as things contained in amulets that were passed around so easily (and evidently required no practice to master?). But that did amuse me since this was printed before Ante was abolished in the game.
The first half of the book was just....boring. At first I was struggling to figure out who the hell everyone was and why I should care. It suffers from a problem in a lot of fantasy I've read by so-so authors does: throwing way too many fantastical weird names at you in quick succession in lieu of actual deep development of the world. It makes it hard to get invested when I just don't see why I should care to push through to learn more.
It was predictable. Our protagonist was an unknown badass who I didn't worry at any point would fail in his not-so-mysterious hidden agenda. He joined a house, stirred up some shit, then joined its rival....at which point I predicted (correctly) that we would see this two more times as he somehow joined all four houses prior to the Festival.
Unfortunately none of that led to any greater understanding of this world that I didn't already have, and felt like just going through the motions.
I'm just really critical of things like this because I can see a much better book here, but what we got was mediocre. Paperback tie-in novels are always assumed to be garbage, but I've read enough of them to discover a few well-written gems and to know this doesn't have to be true. You can write about the worst, most ridiculous premise possible and still turn it into a well-written story if you try.
Overall, though, this was entertaining, if you can just push through the first 150 pages or so.
The second half was great, as far as these go (I've read way worse Star Trek and Star Wars EU novels at any rate). It was really entertaining. I did feel like the protagonist was a bit invincible and wasn't really risking much, but what do you expect from a binary good vs. evil plot.
The action in the arena was entertaining, though a lot of that may have derived from reference after reference to actual cards in the game (Wall of Wood, Psionic Blast, Circle of Protection, Craw Wurm, Lord of the Pit, Llanowar Elves, and so on...). The author was almost slavishly literal in his depiction of these as spells, and it was quaint.
It's very clear this was THE first novel in this multiverse. There was very cursory establishment of things that, reading this in 2017, I know were changed years later. It was really weird reading of spells as things contained in amulets that were passed around so easily (and evidently required no practice to master?). But that did amuse me since this was printed before Ante was abolished in the game.
The first half of the book was just....boring. At first I was struggling to figure out who the hell everyone was and why I should care. It suffers from a problem in a lot of fantasy I've read by so-so authors does: throwing way too many fantastical weird names at you in quick succession in lieu of actual deep development of the world. It makes it hard to get invested when I just don't see why I should care to push through to learn more.
It was predictable. Our protagonist was an unknown badass who I didn't worry at any point would fail in his not-so-mysterious hidden agenda. He joined a house, stirred up some shit, then joined its rival....at which point I predicted (correctly) that we would see this two more times as he somehow joined all four houses prior to the Festival.
Unfortunately none of that led to any greater understanding of this world that I didn't already have, and felt like just going through the motions.
I'm just really critical of things like this because I can see a much better book here, but what we got was mediocre. Paperback tie-in novels are always assumed to be garbage, but I've read enough of them to discover a few well-written gems and to know this doesn't have to be true. You can write about the worst, most ridiculous premise possible and still turn it into a well-written story if you try.
Overall, though, this was entertaining, if you can just push through the first 150 pages or so.
February 3, 2023
The One-eyed Stranger
After 10 years of playing Magic: The Gathering, I have yet to learn the extent of lore. Magic: The Gathering: Arena by William R. Forstchen is about the in-depth journey of Garth, One-eye. Before I read Magic: The Gathering: Arena, I read other Magic: The Gathering novels that were really well-written. When Garth’s card came out, I really enjoyed how his card felt to play, and I was interested to learn more about him.
In the city of Estark, a yearly competition between the four fighter-mage houses occur to see who is the strongest, and will award them the privilege to serve the all-powerful Planeswalker. Garth grew up in the Teal house, and the King of Estark is trying to cover-up what really happened to the fifth fighter house. All is normal until a mysterious stranger beats one of the beloved mages from the Orange house in a street duel. At first, Garth is a nobody, but as his reputation as “One-eye” grows, the King of Estark gets increasingly worried, and will do anything insure that the Garth is dead by the time Festival rolls around. Garth meets many characters on his journey to unveil the truth, some of whom are allies, while others pretend to be allies, but they seek harm for Garth. Garth’s plan to uncover the truth will not be easy, with giant creatures, fighter-mages, and the King of Estark in his way. Wisdom allows people to complete strenuous tasks even when everything is working against them.
I rate this novel a 5/5 stars for the amount of dynamic characters, the intense fight scenes, and for the twists and turns. Garth’s story is told at a nice pace, and the novel focuses on multiple parts of Garth’s life. Even though this is a fantastic novel, I would have liked if the author wrote more about the Planeswalker’s life, and how his actions affect Estark.
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