Cory J. Herndon

I've been playing the game Magic: the Gathering for a long time, and a few years ago, out of curiosity, I started working my way through the novels that have been published based on the game. They tend to fall in the catagory of guilty pleasures. Some have been fairly entertaining, while others have been god-awful. I've just finished reading Ravnica and I have to say it's the best of the ones I've read. In fact, I'll go so far and say that this one doesn't even need the "guilty pleasure" show more label, it's just a very well-done fantasy novel.

What's most interesting about the book is how it manages to blend the fantasy genre with elements of a police procedural. The main plot revolves around Argus Kos, a law enforcement officer on the city-plane of Ravnica, as he investigates a conspiracy that threatens the Guildpact, the treaty/enchantment that maintains the peace between the nine guilds that run the plane. Kos is a cop in the hard-boiled tradition, not your usual sword wielding adventurer. The juxtaposition of the modern, more urban setting and situations with the trappings of fantasy, with the magic and angels and vampires and the like makes for a very compelling world and one that I look forward to revisiting in the next two Magic novels. show less

I've quite enjoyed the Ravnica trilogy of Magic books, and this provided a very strong finish. One of the things that makes the Magic novels so much fun for me as a player of the game is the opportunity to see the characters and places depicted on the cards in action. Dissension did not dissappoint on that count as, along with Kos, who we've followed through all three books, we get to meet Momir Vig, Grand Arbiter Augustin, Rakdos and others. In the past this "geek-factor" hasn't always show more equaled a good story, but Cory Herndon has done a very good job in crafting a pretty compelling fantasy story. All in all, a very satisfying read. show less

The first book of Magic the Gathering's Lorwyn Cycle, the story takes place in a fantasy world inhabited by beauty obsessed elves, primitive and mischievous goblins called Boggarts, elementally attuned people made up of living flame called Flamekin, friendly if not superstitious gnome-like people called Kithkin, giants, faeries, and many more.

The book follows Rhys, an elf who, due to supernatural causes, has been 'deformed' and is now hunted by his former companions. Given a duty by the show more treefolk sage Colfenor, Rhys has to travel across Lorwyn to complete his job before being killed.

It's a pleasant enough read, but it's nothing spectacular. If anything it's good for killing time. show less

Disappointment. This fills in the biggest opinion I had of this book. A book based on a game dealing with spells and magical summonings, this had very little. The mystery portion of the book left much to be desired, and the link to the next book was weak. I can't even begin to detail the problems that I have with the concept behind the book. It gains some ground in the fact that I liked the ending, the finality of the chapters.