Godsend Part II

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

We've just finished the newly released eBook by Jenna Helland, Journey Into Nyx, Godsend Part II and are ready to provide a review.  For a sample chapter to whet your appetite, pop on over to this post on the Daily MTG Magic Arcana.  Journey into Nyx Part two provides an epic conclusion to the first Theros Godsend eBook, and is available on Kindle and Nook for just $1.99 as well as Google Play.

 





If you've been reading our almost daily posts here on MTG Realm since 2008, then you will know that we are deeply appreciative of storyline ('vorthos') which is part of the Magic: the Gathering game.  In fact, we've had a handful of fun casual games at the kitchen table where a house rules required a player to read the flavour text on a card if it had it in order for the spell to resolve.  Anywhoos, let's get on with our brief review of the latest eBook Journey Into Nyx, Godsend Part II by Jenna Helland.

In the previous eBook, the stage was set and gods, heroes, monsters and other denizens of the ancient Greek mythology inspired Plane of Existence  were introduced.  Our hero, the Planeswalker Elspeth had joined forces with the Meletian oaracle Daxos who had defeated a mostrous Hydra at the book's conclusion.

The Akroan royal couple Anax and Cymede are introducted at the opening of Godsend part II and provides us with an insight of the chaos and turmoil now being experienced in every corner of the mortal realm as the gods of the pantheon move to indifference or to outright malevolence to the mortal inhabitants of the world.

The power of the Satyr Planeswalker Xenagos grows as does his insatiable appetite for power.  An army of creatures is fabricated by the Nyx-born creature Petros for Xenagos to sweep away humans.  A contrived allegiance is struck with Xenagos and Minotaurs but there appears to be concealed dark agendas at work here.

Daxos and Elspeth make a brief and perhaps unproductive foray into the underworld which we feel if expanded would have added wonderfully to the story.  Back in city of Meletis, Daxos and Elspeth learn just how bad things are becoming further afield from Anthousa of Setessa and seek guidance from the Sphinx Medomai the Ageless.

Events move rapidly which culminate in a wonderfully described siege and battle of Akroas by the Minotaur hordes.  The day is won by the humans but all appears lost as Xenagos harnesses enough mystical energy to ascend into the god realm of Nyx.  Jenna had constructed a solid understanding of the mechanics employed by Xenagos to propel the mortal creature into Nyx. 

At approximately the third quarter mark the story introduces a variety of other lesser but no less important storyline characters including Brimaz, the leonin King of Oreskos, the Planeswalker Ajani, and the Planeswalker Kiora as well as a number of notable locations.  We personally feel that at this point, the author was directed / required to deliver a conclusion very soon.  It almost feels that there was a list that needed to be checked off and events constructed to invite just about every outstanding character to the storyline.  We think readers would have enjoyed an expansion into a third novel to accommodate additional material on Brimaz, Ajani and Kiora.  Those characters like King Macar, Tymaret, and even Ashiok not addressed in the first or second book may have been provided a measure within a third novel.  

At the conclusion of this book, we feel that George RR Martin was providing counsel to Jenna in concluding the book which although provides much speculative fodder to the Magic: the Gathering community / fans but left me wanting more of an assurance as to the final state of characters and their environment.

In all, we most definitely enjoyed reading this and provide a '3/5 stars' suggest that Magic: the Gathering players like us who love the storyline, pick this up.Jenna Helland is a writer and editor for Wizards of the Coast in Renton, Washington. Before moving to the Northwest, she was a journalist in Missouri, Virginia, and California. She has a history degree from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, and a journalism degree from the Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia, Missouri. 
 
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Return to Ravnica Novel

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

We were planning on posting a few EDH and modern lists but as you have come to expect, we really wanted to have all the physical Magic: the Gathering cards in hand and play out a few games first before posting.  We are just waiting on a few last minute additions we have ordered from MTG Mint Card before we write something up for you.

Anywhoos - chances are you like to read as you are actually reading these words.  Don't worry, we won't tell - we like to read too.  We are most definitely a big fan of MTG flavour and of course, those magic novels.  We were rather happy to hear a while ago that Return to Ravnica would get a novel - well here's the news . . .

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This fall, Magic: The Gathering fans returned to the most revered plane in the Multiverse – Ravnica, a plane covered entirely by city and inhabited by 10 guilds all vying for control.

Ravnica is a plane of intrigue, mystery and few answers; however, Magic fans now have the opportunity to get a glimpse of the fabled plane like never before.  Wizards of the Coast today released Return to Ravnica, The Secretist Part 1, the first of a three part e-book in the form of a novella, written by Doug Beyer, writer and creative designer on the Magic: The Gathering R&D team.

In this first e-book, fans follow Planewalker Jace Beleren as he returns to his adoptive home of Ravnica to find all of the guilds preparing for battle. In his journey, he discovers evidence of disturbing gaps in his memory and a series of assassins on his trail. He also tries to reconnect with an old friend, but when she turns up dead, he ends up embroiled in a mystery that implicates all ten guilds and an ancient secret. While battle rages on across Ravnica, Jace finds himself fighting his own battle, with his own challenges and obstacles.
                  
Return to Ravnica, The Secretist Part 1 is available beginning today in the U.S. and Canada for $1.99 at Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo. A brief description is included below and a sample chapter can be found here. 
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Magic: The Gathering eBooks
Return to Ravnica: The Secretist, Part One

A Planeswalker Novella

Jace Beleren has the power to travel between planes of the Multiverse, but with this gift comes isolation. He is one in a million. He is a planeswalker. And he is on the edge of a mystery that could alter the face of his adopted home—a vast, world-wide city known as Ravnica—forever.

Faced with a magical code that is built into the very foundations of the city-world itself, Jace marches into the numinous depths of Ravnica's underbelly in search of the promise of powerful magic. What he finds is perhaps more burden than boon.

Once buried in past, the code resurfaces as Ravnica's power-hungry mage guilds, unbound by the Guildpact that had once maintained order, struggle for control of the plane. But in the drive for primacy, there is no neutral ground.

Jace knows that he can't crack the code on his own, not while the guilds task teams of mages to unravel the mysteries, but he also knows that the danger of the quest is too great to include his friends. As the mystery begins to unravel, the choice may not be his alone.  

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