Mirrodin Block Novels

 

I just finished reading the final novel in the three-part Mirrodin block series: The Fifth Dawn by Cory J. Herndon.

If you aren't a big fan of Magic: the Gathering, most of the novels in the series are not going to hold your attention. In general, they aren't that compelling. A notable exception was Agents of Artifice. I'd recommend that book to anyone who likes fantasy.

As a player, I really liked the Mirrodin block. I would have liked for there to be more of the characters and cards from the set in the book series. I wonder if the author has access to the card list before writing the novel. If I was the editor directing the writing project, my primary focus would be on crafting a compelling story while giving page time to as many of the cards as I could.

The newer novels are not split over three books to correspond to the three sets in each block. This change was a huge improvement. But at the time the Mirrodin novels were written, they were split up. It felt like they were dragging the story out over the 1,000 pages they needed to fill. Sadly, (spoiler alert) Geth spends most of his time as comic relief. And the ending was rushed.

I'll leave you with this: "Before you came into my life, I missed you Slobad. I missed you Slobad. I missed you Slo- Slo- bad." You can thank me later.