Rath and Storm was a good, if awkwardly told beginning. The prequels (The Thran and the Artifacts Cycle) were great. The Masquerade Cycle was 2/3 good, although structured a little strangely. How does the finale hold up?
In one respect, it holds up pretty well. We knew a massive invasion was coming and the Invasion Cycle more than delivers. It does a very good job of conveying the sheer scale and size of the invasion and of the horrific evil of the Phyrexians. It brings together many characters from the saga and really gets across the feeling of a whole world at war. At times it nearly collapses under its own weight - one terrible battle after another - and indeed the constant escalation of threats becomes almost comical after a while. For instance, take the dragon engines - back in The Brothers' War, a handful of dragon engines was enough to destroy an entire city. In this cycle, Weatherlight alone takes on twenty dragon engines - and not only survives, but destroys them all. Every character becomes a badass warrior capable of superhuman feats of strength and endurance.
Still, there are many great character moments - Eladamri inspiring the elves of Llanowar, Thangarth earning the respect of the minotaurs of Hurloon, Barrin realizing the costs of his devotion to Urza. Best of all is Urza's storyline - it's dark and shocking, yet somehow, looking back, it seems inevitable. It's a shame, then, that in the final novel it all goes to hell.
More than anything, Apocalypse (and to a lesser extent the rest of the trilogy) feels like a videogame, with characters getting new superpowers out of nowhere for the final battle. There's a strong whiff of deus ex machina as the Weatherlight evolves beyond even Urza's designs. There are also serious lapses in logic - for example, Yawgmoth - making his only full appearance after The Thran - turns out to be so powerful that it calls into question his need of an army. Why he needed to go through the trouble of orchestrating the previous phases of the invasion is beyond me.
Ultimately then, the Weatherlight Saga disappoints. However, there were a lot of good moments along the way, and I'll always remember it fondly.
Literature A not quite satisfying conclusion to the Weatherlight Saga
Rath and Storm was a good, if awkwardly told beginning. The prequels (The Thran and the Artifacts Cycle) were great. The Masquerade Cycle was 2/3 good, although structured a little strangely. How does the finale hold up?
In one respect, it holds up pretty well. We knew a massive invasion was coming and the Invasion Cycle more than delivers. It does a very good job of conveying the sheer scale and size of the invasion and of the horrific evil of the Phyrexians. It brings together many characters from the saga and really gets across the feeling of a whole world at war. At times it nearly collapses under its own weight - one terrible battle after another - and indeed the constant escalation of threats becomes almost comical after a while. For instance, take the dragon engines - back in The Brothers' War, a handful of dragon engines was enough to destroy an entire city. In this cycle, Weatherlight alone takes on twenty dragon engines - and not only survives, but destroys them all. Every character becomes a badass warrior capable of superhuman feats of strength and endurance.
Still, there are many great character moments - Eladamri inspiring the elves of Llanowar, Thangarth earning the respect of the minotaurs of Hurloon, Barrin realizing the costs of his devotion to Urza. Best of all is Urza's storyline - it's dark and shocking, yet somehow, looking back, it seems inevitable. It's a shame, then, that in the final novel it all goes to hell.
More than anything, Apocalypse (and to a lesser extent the rest of the trilogy) feels like a videogame, with characters getting new superpowers out of nowhere for the final battle. There's a strong whiff of deus ex machina as the Weatherlight evolves beyond even Urza's designs. There are also serious lapses in logic - for example, Yawgmoth - making his only full appearance after The Thran - turns out to be so powerful that it calls into question his need of an army. Why he needed to go through the trouble of orchestrating the previous phases of the invasion is beyond me.
Ultimately then, the Weatherlight Saga disappoints. However, there were a lot of good moments along the way, and I'll always remember it fondly.