Customer Reviews

Prophecy (Magic the Gathering: Masquerade Cycle, Bk. III)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

Prophecy was a great book on its own, but it fit in the Masquerade Cycle awkwardly, at best. It contains some vital plot advancement for the series (The Artifacts Cycle, Rath and Storm, and the Masquerade Cycle), but it seems to be tangled up in a relatively unrelated story. I'm hoping it all gets tied together in the upcoming Invasion Cycle, and this book doesn't prove to be relatively random...

Posted reviews seem to rate the Magic books based on their faithfulness to "official" storylines or whatever's supposed to be written on the back of the cards. In other words, detail over the body of the tale. Let me remind you: Magic is a fantasy world, a world is a living thing, not subject to unbending rules culled from tournaments nor trades; and as fantasy, is meant to give life to drama, not just the cast. As one who has served in the military, I salute Mr. Moore's achievement of depicting real, desperate human emotions despite the temptations of a patently fantastic setting. An immersing read that stands on its own merits.

This book was definately OK as a story that learns you more about the background of the card set. I don't think it's the best one in the series though (but then I haven't read many Magic books yet).

I liked this book. It was good because it had lots of detail. It is the third book in the Masquerade Cycle. It is based on the card game Magic: The Gathering. You do not have to read the other books in the series to understand. All you have to know was some things about the game.

The book is about a war between Keld and Jamuarra. It features characters from the cards. It is a very detailed book and is very violent.

This book is by a different author than the other books in the series because the company uses different authors. You would like this book if you play the card game. You may not like this book if you do not like books that are long with small print.

Every title in the series of Magic: The Gathering novels has been wonderful. This book is the main exception. This book is horribly written; instead of the exciting spellcasting and creature duels of the previous books, there is political debate and horrid plot changes.

Mageta, The Lion (a hero of the cards) is written to be a machine wielding coward, and a beloved character is horribly murdered. The other legendary spellshapers make cameo apperances, put in only by demand of the Magic team. The author changes characters, warps the plot, and basically ruins the ideals of this set.

If you want to buy this book to learn Magic's storyline, save your money. There's no storyline here whatsoever. The only possible reason to buy this book would be to complete your set of Magic novels, and if you buy for that reason, I urge you not to read it.

The book was fabulous. It gave depth to the game known as magic. I found my self not wanting to put it down. I did get confused at parts but, eventually figured it out. Overall if you are in to magic this is a book you must read.

This book HAS been out for a few years, and, having gone back and re-read the Mercadian Masques cycle, i must say, after the first two GREAT books in this cycle, Prophecy is a bore.

Jumping from Rath (Books 1 and 2) to Keld (Prophecy) was a bit of a headache.... a BORING headache... the storyline itself is FAR removed from the importance of the actual planned INVASION, and instead, for some reason, chooses to focus on a very boring SIDE story (not even a back story) to the Magic realm.

I would only suggest this book if one was a RABID fan of the game, or just liked the Prophecy set of cards (and there were/are not many...)

If you go by the Amazon reviews for MTG books, you would assume that this one is the worst of the lot. Don't believe it for a second. This is actually an above average novel for the MTG series, presenting an exciting tale of war on Dominaria. It looks like most of the reviewers here hated this book because it seemed to divert from the primary storyline of the happenings on Rath and Phyrexia. While this may seem to be the case, I'll give the editors at Wizards of the Coast the benefit of the doubt and assume that events chronicled in this book will be relevant to the continuing story. Also, the whole point of this book was to give the readers an idea of what was occurring on Dominaria at the time of the other two books in the Masquerade Cycle. While Gerrard and the Weatherlight are busy (with their own little side story) on Mercadia in Mercadian Masques, and Crovax and company fight for control of Rath in Nemesis, Urza's protege's become distracted from the threat of Phyrexia and embroiled in the war between Jamuraa and Keld in this book. Now the stage is set for the Invasion Cycle, with readers aware of what is going on with all of the characters involved.

I actually thought Vance Moore did an excellent job in telling this story. While the characters were mostly new and won't likely play significant roles in the future books, telling the story from their perspectives was highly effective here. Also, some aspects of this book represent fairly subtle clues about the roots causes of the conflict told within. Where did Creel come from? Who is the real brains behind Latulla's obsession with war? What manner of plague is beginning to spread in Dominaria? I'm sure these questions will be answered in the upcoming books, but I highly suspect Phyrexian involvement here. This book also chronicles the advances in weaponry for the forces of Dominaria. The many battles throughout this book between Jamuraa and Keld are excellently written and display some great new battle techniques and hardware. Props to Vance Moore for his fine effort in his first novel. Highly recommended for fans of the MTG universe.

The book is well written, but it seemed to be that does not belong to the right cycle; actually, not even the right story line. I found it difficult to connect it to the weatherlight cycle and especially with the upcoming plot, Invasion.

Dark story, anyway, full of "black" mana, which is not my favorite.

I am an avid magic player, and have been reading the books behind the card game since I was seven, and frankly, this book was horrible. I've read all of the magic books, save for 3, and I must say this was hard for me to get into despite the fact that it is from my favourite series. The fact is, Vance Moore, in my opinion, did not take the time to develop the characters enough. In other magic books, the characters show emotions, and personalities, the characters in this story felt almost dead except for a few rare moments in the book. Also as mentioned before, this was the fartherst from the cards I've seen a magic book. I would only reccomend this book to someone who didn't like to mis a bit of the storyline behind the cards.