Customer Reviews

Scourge: Onslaught Cycle, Book III

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

 

 

This was an excellent end to the Onslaught book cycle. Even though I am sorry to see it go for now, this book was a good end to the entire series taking place in Dominaria. Yes, that's right, they are leaving Dominaria for a few cycles and card sets and will be back later. If you haven't read Onslaught and Legions yet, then read them before you read this book. You will need to.

This final book in the Onslaught cycle is a diffenate grand finale to the other exciting novels by J. R. King. This book will hold your imagination all the while. I read the book in a day and one night. Highly recommended.

Probably most of us who buy these things will buy them regardless of quality, but I have just about reached my limit. I am disappointed in the quality of this novel. Much like the old joke about army chow, "It was terrible and the portion was too small."

1. The novel was much thinner than I am used to. If the prices are going to be raised, I would like to at least have as much reading material as before.

2. Considering the writing quality, maybe the author was pressed to even fill as much space as he did. The characters are almost universally as two-dimensional as the "unmen" were in the story and their static personalities clashed with the dynamism of the setting; the plot was repetitive, and the comic relief relied on juvenile body humor. Karona's personality was the only bright spot in the novel, displaying a dynamic character throughout the story.

3. This wouldn't bother me so much if it weren't that I know that WoTC can do better. The Artifacts Cycle and the Ice Age Cycle were much better than this. The Brothers' War novel, for instance, had compelling characters that developed through the story, with real psychological drama, etc. I really felt something reading it, other than "Gee, was that it?" Maybe the target market has shifted for the novels, but nobody told me.

Well, you've been warned.

Usually, I love the Magic books, but this cycle of books was one of the worst I read. The plot wasnt that bad initially in Onslaught, and even into Legions it still made sense, but Scourge completely ruined it. All of this just happened to result in a thousand something prophecy with ancient gods? The best things I really liked about this book, besides the end, and why I gave it 2 stars was it reintroduced other forgotten characters in the series and went back to a few familiar places, and it ended where Mirrodin began. Other than that just read it if you like Magic as a whole, not for this book specifically

Back in the Invasion Cycle, the books and cards really had their storyline coincide. You could even see some of the major events on the cards! Not here, not anymore.

The two characters Sash and Waistcoat were apparently only added so that the book would be long enough. They could easily have been snipped out, with only a few rewrites. If they had to take up that space, why not show the events of the Riptide Project? As I stated previously, the Slivers (which the Riptide Project created, but the Slivers took over the island) should have been included in Legions, and here. They could have removed the "Dumb Adventures of Sash & Waistcoat", who never even appeared in the cards, and add some information on the Slivers. True, maybe it doesn't contribute to the major storyline, but it would be interesting to see.

Also, in this book Karona seems more like someone just trying to find their place...but in the card game she seems more evil, urging all of Dominaria to fight each other for her behalf. Why can't they stick to the CARDS? I mean, that's what it's based on!

Also, supposedly Scourge is the last set to take place on Dominaria. You think they could have wrapped it up better. The ending isn't very good for the final event that we'll see on Dominaria, at least for a while.

Of course, I blame WOTC for this. Come on, Wizards, why can't you fit the storyline with the card game, instead of leaving 90% of the story up the imagination of the authors (which often isn't very good).

Oh, and overall this wasn't that great a book anyway.

King deliveres a smashing ending in the sixth book about Kamahl and his quest for power, then salvation.

Otaria is bleeding. During the events of the battle at Sanctum, Kamahl was able to destroy his sister and Akroma, but that resultet in a new Diety beeing born. Karona, The False God. Made up by nothing but Mana, she is destined to be the destroyer, and the world's savior, all in one.

King has a vivid and living language, making it easy to fall in love with the continent of Otaria and it's people. The descriptions of both Kamahl's and Karona's struggle to find answers. She wants to find how who she is, and he want to know how to stop her. The people of Otaria sees her as a diety, but he knows she is not what she seems. This is what i would call an epic conclusion to a great saga. Worth the read.

Scourge is one of the most imfamous Magic books, but I feel it is vastly underrated. It is a dramatic narrative that features a very intriguing, godlike character in Karona. Karona remains one of Magic's most interesting villains, as a descent portion of this book is told from her perspective.

Most of the controversy against this book comes mostly from the not-so-subtle hint that Yawgmoth may in fact still be alive. Now this has been proven false, but many fans still resent the novel for bringing up the point in the first place and giving rise to hundreds of debates and theories as to whether or not Yawgmoth should and would be brought back. Now that the matter is settled, I invite everyone to return to the Onslaught Cycle and re-read it; they really are engaging books. The story diverges a bit from the printed cards, but hey, that was all back in 2003. Read the books and enjoy them as novels. If you don't let yourself be troubled by the additions to (and ommissions of) various plots outlined on the cards, you will see them for what they are -- good books.

i think this book looks extra good!!! it has its own card set same name in sears good cards! thin im gonna read it? pleas write next review viewers ok

This book is called Scourge. This book takes place on a continent named Dominaria where the five colors of magic ,red, fire, blue, island, black, swamp, green, forest, and white ,plains, have their territories.
Over the past 2,000 years, Dominaria has had many upon many scourges. The newest scourge being Karona. Karona is a She-God. Her powers come from what people believe that she can do. Kamahl, an ex-pit fighter, slayer of the mighty Chainer, sets out on a quest to retrieve the famed Mirrari Sword,the sword he used to destroy the evil Merfolkian, Laquatas.
Any where Karona goes, all races of beings swarm her, kill each other, just to touch her radiant skin. Even the most powerful of lords fall pray to her radiant light. When Kamahl goes into the cave deep wihin his homeland, he finds the corpse of Laquatas, with the Mirrari Sword imbedded in his heart. Kamahl took the sword, but awakened Laquata as he did so.But, since Laquata was already dead, he awakened as a zombie. Kamahl ran out of the cave, and into the desert.
Meawhile, Karona, on her quest to find another god like equal to her, fell cities in her wake.Wherever she went,her aura sucked the magic out of everything, stones, lamps, causing buildings to fall over and cataclysm wherever she went.
Kamahl soon figures out that he needs to fing the three ancient sorcerers. With the socerers combined powers, they could destroy Karona. Kamahl saves the first sorcerer from the belly of a wyrm.The second sorcerer is the young ruler of the Colisseum. The third sorcerer is an incredible city, where the final battle will take place.
After Kamahl gathers three of the sorcerers, he takes them to the third sorcerer/city to form a plan to take down Karona. Kamahl lures Karona to the city, so the plan to 'banish' her from Dominaria could take place. But instead of 'banishing' her, the sorcerers were going to 'kill' her. So, remembering he had to believe in Karona for her to be able to do anything, he believed she that she could break out the killing spell. So instead of dying Karona was teleported out of Dominaria but not banished. Not knowing that she wasnt banished, Karona wandered from world to world looking for a place for herself. While on her quest, she came upon a world made entirely of metal, where the god Karn recided. She learned from Karn that she was actually a plainswalker, a so-called 'super god' who has the power to heal or even destroy whole worlds. So with her new found power and knowledge when goes back to Dominaria. In a last, selfish, fight to destroy Karona the three sorcerers get killed by Karona. Kamahl then convinces her to become good and stop killing people.
So instead of killing, Karona has resorted back to rebuilding Dominaria, and making it better than it once was.