Customer Reviews

Artifacts Cycle I: A Magic: The Gathering Omnibus

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've just finished the Thran section of the book. And if the Brothers War is as good as the Thran this book would be one of the greatest books i've read this year. Yawgmoth was an incredibly well written character. A monster and angel. I loved every page. J. Robert King did a fine job of introducing players of the game to the novel format. I never thought, being a serious player of the game, that the novels could be this engrossing. Spectacular. I look forward to the next omnibus and hope that Wizards decides to format the entire series in such a manner. R.A Salvatore's Drizzt Collection isnt the only story line that deserves HARDCOVERED attention!!!!!

I read these books when they first came out and enjoyed the tie ins to the card game and the back story. The story itself is far reaching and entertaining. It isn't deep but a good read for those fans of Magic the Gathering and fantansy.

This is one of the most exciting books I ever read.

For the fans of MTG this book will lighten up most of the doubts on how it all started: the birth of Phyrexia (The Thran) and the ascencion of Urza ( Brother's War).

The books are well written and the action is great in both. Non stoping fights, creations of war and the birth of magic itself, together with the artifacts we all see in the TCG is constant.

I'm not really good at writting reviews, but here is my advice:

If play MTG you MUST buy this. If you dont, this is a GREAT fiction book, with a nice setting and characters that should hold your attention for sometime, if you are into magic related histories.

The Artifacts Cycle I contains two of the best books published in the M:TG multiverse: The Thran and The Brothers' War. Not only are these two books incredibly well written; but they are also two of the most important events in the history of Dominaria and the rest of the M:TG multiverse. I would absoultely, with a doubt, love to give this volume 5 stars; however, I can't even find myself the courage to give this book more than two stars (and even that is stretching it).

THIS BOOK IS HUGE! I don't mean it is huge as in thousands of pages; I mean HUGE as in mass and bulk. If I remember correctly The Thran was around 300 pages and The Brothers' War was closer to 400. Put these two mass market paperbacks together and you have a 700 page book (and we all know that many fantasy books are well over 700 pages this is not impossible for the printing press). Just sitting on your bookshelf the spine already curves because of the sheer girth, without ever reading it. Artifacts Cycle I is so cumbersome that I would never recommend it to anyone who actually wants to enjoy these great books. It is too annoying to hold and too annoying to read.

Additionally, for your standard price of $15 you could (hopefully) find both The Thran and The Brothers' War at a local bookstore and save a dollar. If not, get them used and save two dollars! The mass market paperbacks are much sexier books. The cover art is better, they are a better size, and the paper quality is much better.

The content of this book is above 5 STARS; the presentation should be 0 STARS. Wizards of the Coast should be ashamed of themselves for publishing not one, but two of these bohemiths (Artifacts Cycle I: A Magic: The Gathering Omnibus and Artifacts Cycle II: A Magic: The Gathering Omnibus). I'm sure there is an army of these monstrosities coming out (one for each cycle in the M:TG world).

Good reading,

J.Stoner