Reviews for The Brother's War

The average rating for The Brother's War based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-03-05 00:00:00 Jeffrey Bush I loved this book, not for its content, but because of the impact it had on me. I read this book for the first time 15 years ago, when I got the entire Artifacts Cycle for Christmas. I have to admit, above all else, that it has not aged as well as I would have liked. My entire life I would have called this my favorite book, but now that I've got so many more stories under my belt and given this a critical look, I'm inclined to reconsider. First of all, this story had to exist. If you know anything about Magic: the Gathering, you probably know that the epic continent-spanning battle between Urza and Mishra is one of the most iconic and integral elements of Magic's history. I used to claim that you don't need to know anything about Magic to love this story, and while that's technically true, it seems like this novel was actually written with the assumption that every single card in the entire Antiquities expansion must get name-dropped, no exceptions. In my first reading, I was excited to see the plot unfold, but this time I found myself stopping to point out, "oh that's this card" every single time an obligatory name is mentioned. Sometimes it's awkward and feels forced, but if you have no prior knowledge of such old Magic: the Gathering lore, you won't even notice. The plot is great. It's a well-developed and deeply-intertwined sequence of events with all the right payoffs and "aha" moments. In a lot of ways, this is a story about getting older, and seeing that from the lens of my 13-year-old self and present day, the story hits me in a different way. I'm glad for that, because it made the reread worthwhile, but it's also quite sobering as it prompts a reflection on one's life choices and brings to light how quickly things change. Now that I'm older, a lot of the themes make a lot more sense to me: character motivations political machinations are a lot clearer and easier to follow than when I was younger. The editing is absolutely dreadful. Many sentences flow awkwardly, and words and punctuation are often doubled or misused entirely. It's a really long book for what it is, but in my opinion, it sets the stage for much more important stories. If you've ever been curious about Magic's 20+ year backstory and you want to dig deeper into the story that started it all, I would recommend this. But if you're not a Magic storyline enthusiast (or a 13-year-old SciFi enthusiast) this book is not for you.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-05-09 00:00:00 Chak Kin Ngan By far my favorite book from the Artifacts Cycle. The characters were well written and the world rich in imagery and invention. The Brothers War is a how-it-all-started piece, and while not all the information is given up-front, the twists at the end weave events together adequately. The writing itself was a bit erratic and slow to start, but the story was captivating and the characters believable. The end seemed somewhat rushed, which I found forgivable since the loose ends were tied up without the story seeming forced. I would definitely recommend this book to any fan of Magic: The Gathering, and will even go so far to say it is a must-read if you like the game. If you're not a big fan of the game, it also does well on it's own (it would be much like watching a Star Trek movie and missing out on all the references from the show), and I would still recommend it.