I have read way too many Magic books, and looking back, most of them weren't exactly worth my time or money. However, a number are enjoyable and of those, Jeff Grubb's The Brothers' War is by far the best. It's one of the very few Magic novels that I would recommend to other readers.
The Brothers' War is both epic and very human. Epic, because the plot spans fifty years and involves all nations of a continent going to war, while being influenced by dark forces from another world. Human, because it is centered around a fairly small cast of characters: Urza, his assistent Tawnos and his wife Kayla. Mishra and his assistent Ashnod. The interesting thing is that Urza, who initially seems less sympathetic than Mishra, is the main character of the cycle. And as anyone who knows his Magic lore is aware, Urza may be a good guy, but he's not a nice guy. He's socially withdrawn, negligent toward his wife and distant toward his son. The only person he really seems to love in the whole world is his brother Mishra, yet his inability to talk to him leads to an unbridgeable chasm.
It's also a good book in the wider context of the Weatherlight Saga. Although not all books in the Saga are equally good, I like its wide, epic sweep, spanning thousands of years and dozens of characters. This epic war spanning fifty years and ending with the destruction of an entire island is in fact only the prologue to the entire saga.
The bottom line is that The Brothers' War is often cited as the best of all the Magic novels and that I can only agree.
Literature The best of all the Magic: the Gathering books
I have read way too many Magic books, and looking back, most of them weren't exactly worth my time or money. However, a number are enjoyable and of those, Jeff Grubb's The Brothers' War is by far the best. It's one of the very few Magic novels that I would recommend to other readers.
The Brothers' War is both epic and very human. Epic, because the plot spans fifty years and involves all nations of a continent going to war, while being influenced by dark forces from another world. Human, because it is centered around a fairly small cast of characters: Urza, his assistent Tawnos and his wife Kayla. Mishra and his assistent Ashnod. The interesting thing is that Urza, who initially seems less sympathetic than Mishra, is the main character of the cycle. And as anyone who knows his Magic lore is aware, Urza may be a good guy, but he's not a nice guy. He's socially withdrawn, negligent toward his wife and distant toward his son. The only person he really seems to love in the whole world is his brother Mishra, yet his inability to talk to him leads to an unbridgeable chasm.
It's also a good book in the wider context of the Weatherlight Saga. Although not all books in the Saga are equally good, I like its wide, epic sweep, spanning thousands of years and dozens of characters. This epic war spanning fifty years and ending with the destruction of an entire island is in fact only the prologue to the entire saga.
The bottom line is that The Brothers' War is often cited as the best of all the Magic novels and that I can only agree.