Read Online War of the Spark Ravnica Magic The Gathering eBook Greg Weisman

Product details File Size 5304 KB Print Length 363 pages Publisher Del Rey (April 23, 2019) Publication Date April 23, 2019 Sold by Random House LLC Language English ASIN B07GVPZBDZ

War of the Spark Ravnica Magic The Gathering eBook Greg Weisman Reviews

• At first a lot of fans of Magic The Gathering’s story were miffed that the main beats of War of the Spark were revealed from the card set’s preview season before any of the literature was released itself. Dack Fayden got his spark ripped out? Wait, Niv-Mizzet died in the first place? Gideon sacrificed himself to save Liliana, the only one who can turn the tide (a la The Last Hope during Eldritch Moon)?
  
  However, now I’m glad I was able to see the framework built by Wizard’s in-house design and creative teams before I read Wiesman’s take. I avoided leaks and discussions of the novel because I wanted to be surprised and mystified by twists and unforeseen happenings. However, I needn’t have bothered, as the book offered… none of these.
  
  The story was, simply, conveyed better between the set trailers, art, and flavor-text. War of the Spark’s premise is rife with stakes and emotion, and the animation and cards wonderfully illustrated Nicol Bolas’s cruel mechanizations, the darkness and destruction befalling local Ravnica, Liliana’s inner conflict and decisive resolve, Gideon’s emotional sacrifice and well deserved rest, and many more struggles, plans, and tragedies. Even Ral and Tomik’s relationship got an endearing nod with Dawn Murin’s art direction via the inclusion of wrist cloths in their card arts.
  
  The frame and setup of the story was all there, and it was solid. While fans were waiting for the novel’s release, we were welcome to fill in the narrative gaps with our speculation and imaginations.
  
  Regardless, Wiesman’s own imagination didn’t do anything particularly good or interesting with what it was given. He covered all the key events and all of the characters, but that’s pretty much it. Cleverness, surprises, emotional tracking, the book had none of these. Things that should have been grandiose and exciting fell flat. The Gatewatch, which by all means should have been ready with a crafted plan a la the endings of the Ixalan and Dominaria blocks, ran around with their heads cut off for over half the book.
  
  There was no good reason for Jace and Vraska’s plan to not come to fruition, and no reason why the rest of the Gatewatch to be caught so unaware. This was the finale, and most characters were set back character-development wise for it, when they should have been forged and triumphant from their previous successes and failures. The book suffered from character overload, and it wasted time covering relatively inconsequential moments of low-stakes battles with the Eternals (who seemed to also be powered-down from how we knew them).
  
  Teyo and Rat were meant to act as a lens for readers new to MTG story, but I don’t think this intention was achieved. The sheer amount of names and locations were probably inconceivable to follow from someone not familiar with MTG’s dense lore.
  
  I much prefer the looser canon of War of the Spark’s set art and trailers over Wiesman’s novelization of it. I have to wonder if leaving the novel to some of the writers of the web fiction such as Alison Luhrs, Kate Elliot, Doug Beyer, Nicky Drayden, etcetera, would have resulted in a War of the Spark novel with a little more passion and heart.
• If you're a big enough Magic fan to ignore the sloppy writing and weird characterizations, this book is fine. If not, stay far away from this mess.
• Let me get this out in front do not make this your first entry into Magic's lore. On their website there is a "story" section that contains a lot of free reading, which is really necessary because without it this book loses a lot of its oomph. If you just want to read enough to catch up with what's going on in this book, I recommend reading the following story blocks on the website
  
  Battle for Zendikar/Oath of the Gatewatch (details the formation of the Gatewatch, the main heroes of the novel)
  Shadows of Innistrad/Eldritch Moon (not super necessary for the novel but bridges the Gatewatch story and brings another main character into fold)
  Kaladesh/Aether Revolt, Amonkhet/Hour of Devastation, Ixalan/Rivals of Ixalan, and Dominaria (more Gatewatch adventures and starts directly laying the groundwork for the novel)
  
  There's other lore interspersed there that is interesting and will add some context to the novel but is not strictly necessary. But without this primer, you're going to be underwhelmed when characters like Ugin or Nissa show up on the page without introduction and start doing their thing.
  
  As for the novel itself, as a Magic fan I found it to be an enjoyable read. Nicol Bolas has been laying the groundwork for his master plan over the past several years of story and it's really neat to finally see all the pieces interlock. There is a satisfying conclusion to this particular story arc (if you're up to date on the lore anyway, otherwise it feels out of left field), and you see a couple seeds planted for where the story can go from here. Don't expect The Next Great Novel, but if you've been enjoying the lore posted on the website, you'll enjoy War of the Spark because it's written in the same style.
  
  A lot of characters get name-dropped to the point where you're keenly aware they're being named-dropped and, perhaps more infuriatingly, the Sorin/Nahiri feud, one of the great conflicts in the current lore, is explicitly pointed out and then is promptly forgotten about. We're introduced to several new characters, some of whom are only in a couple paragraphs (like The Wanderer) and some who are central characters in the story (Teyo).
  
  The novel also glosses over a huge lore point between Jace and Vraska that had been built up as a key to the Gatewatch's plans, only to have it hand-waved away here. I found that happening a little more than I would have liked in that it feels like there was a lot of threads were left basically unused. The core story is pretty good, but I can't help that if a few of those threads had been tugged a bit more it would have been excellent.
  
  Overall, if you're an existing fan of Magic lore, this won't rock your world but it's a satisfying continuation to the story and the conclusion of an arc that's been set up over the past several years. But as the first novel to come out in quite some time, it doesn't make a good entry point.