Dragon's Maze

The Secretist #3

by Doug Beyer

The many guilds of Ravnica are poised to run the Implicit Maze—and unlock the power at its heart—in this final Secretist novel Stitched into the fabric of Ravnica’s vast metropolis, the Implicit Maze is the legacy of an ancient guildmaster—and the dragon Niv-Mizzet craves the advantages it could mean for his guild. The goal is Discover the secret route and complete the maze. But the bickering guilds will never cooperate, and each sends its own champion to claim the prize. But Jace Beleren believes that the guilds are being tested. The maze hides some deeper truth, and Jace knows that the power balance of Ravnica—and the lives of its denizens—are at stake. Jace’s potential allies have been captured, disgraced, or turned against him. Can he discover the truth behind the maze, while navigating the labyrinth of powerbrokers and conspiracies surrounding it, before the dragon can? Or will dark forces claim its deadly power for themselves?

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Ebooks, Science Fiction Fantasy

149 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Doug Beyer went from being a Magic: The Gathering fan to web developer for magicthegathering.com, then prolific flavor text writer, and eventually, the coordinator for Magic creative text. His background is in philosophy, software design, and amateur ghost hunting.

Reviews

[Steven Cole · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this is the grand finale of the three-novelette Dragon's Maze storyline, where our heroes run the Implicit Maze and deal with the result of that.

There are two things to note: First, writing a "run a maze" narrative is extremely difficult, because so much of the text has to describe the "maze" despite the fact that it's not very compelling. Second, to do that in such a short form means that way too much gets left out anyway, and all that's left is the vague dream it would all be better as a movie.

The Implicit Maze makes it even harder because the story demands ten maze runners plus two planeswalkers. Twelve characters is a ridiculous number to keep track of in a piece of prose this size, and it works very strongly against the story here. The author didn't have much choice, however, as this is a tie-in to a completely different product all together. (The "Magic: The Gathering" trading card game, for those who aren't already familiar.)

So all in all: a disappointing finish to a reasonable story. I can't fathom how else it should have been done, though, so this is more a knock against the constraints Magic puts on the story, than against Beyer as the author.

3 of 5 stars.

[Alex Matzkeit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Empathy as a plot point.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

“You, Jace Beleren, are the living manifestation of the pact between the guilds. You are the Guildpact.”

“What does that mean?”

“You are the one who has proven himself the mediator, the one who can understand the perspectives of the ten guilds. So, like before, when the guilds clash, a code of law will arbitrate between them. The difference is that now, you are that law.”

…“But if the Guildpact is a person, then it will be more fragile than before. All ten guilds will curry that person’s favor—my favor—or worse, they’ll try to kill me. They’ll send the plane back into brinksmanship and chaos.”

“Azor furnished me with a recommendation for the one who became the Living Guildpact.”

“What’s that?”

“The ability that earned you this prize is the one you must employ to maintain it.”

- Conversation between the Bailiff, the spirit of the Implicit Maze, and Jace Beleren (From Dragon’s Maze by Doug Beyer, The Secretist Book 3)

So, I know it’s been a decade and everybody’s sick of planeswalkers and hating on Jace in general – especially for being Ravnica’s Living Guildpact – is supposedly fun or something. But here’s the thing: I really like Jace as a character. I got to know him from the original Ixalan storylines and their aftermath, where I very much empathize with his feeling that he got assigned a job way too big for one person, feeling way out of his depth trying to accomplish the impossible task anyway, and feeling worthless and incompetent for not being able to somehow complete everything regardless. Based on what I’d heard about Jace’s character before the Ixalan block, I’d expected something more…cold, I guess is the appropriate word. Distanced, calculating, less relatable all work too, as basically everything I’d absorbed from ambient conversations seemed to be negative.

That’s not the case, though during The Secretist trilogy, though. The Secretist trilogy is the story of Jace stumbling upon what he – and everyone else – thought to be the path to an ancient weapon of some sort, and Jace scrambling to make it so his personal hobby – looking at the weird symbols on some of Ravnica’s masonry – didn’t end up killing people. In service to this, he tries to destroy research, misdirect others, and eventually follows through to the end of the maze to find and remove it first. When none of this proves enough – others are able to discover enough from other sources to move forward; a shadowy figure put people back on the path to destruction, hoping to see the district leveled and resultant war; the ‘prize’ is less of a weapon with which one guild can bully the others, and more of a lack of punishment for all – he does his best to walk Emmara and some of the other Maze Runners through the challenge, hoping to get all of them to cooperate for the good of their world. He does this without the expectation of power or reward – based on what the Bailiff says, Jace believes that one of the Maze Runners must be selected and hopes that Emmara will be “most worthy shall actualize the Guildpact” – and, moreover, puts his own health, sanity and life at risk to do so.

“…Perhaps if he could become a kind of bridge, and put them in contact with each other directly—

Jace grabbed his head and cried out. It felt as if his mind was coming apart, disintegrating from the inside out, coming unraveled. Concentrating on multiple minds at once was arduous enough, but letting the family’s thoughts channel through him and into each other’s minds shredded his faculties and caused him outright pain. It was worse even than the feeling of planeswalking; it was as if that form of mind magic was shredding his very soul. He snapped back his senses, disconnecting himself from the family and the family from each other, and after a few long heartbeats, the pain subsided.

He stood there with his hands on his knees, alone at the cusp of the devastated valley, heaving breaths. His entire body throbbed, as if every part of him had tried to flee in a different direction all at once. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but he felt he had touched something new in himself, and it almost killed him. He had attempted mind magic that was clearly beyond him, or perhaps it was inherently deadly, unable to be mastered. He never wanted to attempt that again.”

When Jace has a crisis and temporarily leaves, leading to this encounter on Zendikar, he finds that he can – sort of, but not really – use himself as a conduit to link others, to temporarily allow others to sense the thoughts and emotional states of other persons in the link. The attempt detailed above mends a rift by allowing the kor family to literally understand each other’s emotions and outlook in a way far more fundamental that speech. Unfortunately, it came with severe consequences – painful, and possible near fatal ones – but when push came to shove Jace used that ability again to save Ravnica. When the Supreme Verdict was the delivered amongst the fighting Maze Runners at the very end, he did this again, knowing that it would be agonizing at best and deadly at worst.

“Jace used his own mind as a conduit, connecting all ten minds to each other. He used himself as a bridge just as he had with the family on Zendikar, demolishing the barriers between them, letting them see directly into one another’s souls. Varolz could sense the hotheaded frustration of Exava, who could directly perceive the militant zeal of Tajic, who could share the belligerent rebellion of Ruric Thar, who could see the passion for order and law in the heart of Lavinia. Each guild champion was flooded with the simultaneous thoughts and emotions of every other. They formed a ring of minds, a ring of hopes and beliefs and ways of life, a ring of lives.

The pain rose in Jace’s skull. Jace cried out, and the scream spiraled in on itself, shattering into a thousand pieces and crushing him from every direction. He had merged their minds, let them peer directly into each other, but it was unraveling his own mind in the process. He couldn’t perceive boundaries anymore, as he had broken them all. He had broken himself. He had fused all into one, but the cost was his own identity.”

And this is what makes Jace, who’s not guilded and never has been, worthy in the eyes of the Bailiff: He alone was acting for Ravnica, rather than out of personal selfishness (like Ral) or Guild-related selfishness (like Exava and even Emmara), and he alone was willing to consider and appreciate the perspectives and outlooks of all the guilds, rather than always being on the side of a specific guild no matter the actual circumstances. All of this speaks to a genuine decency that sometimes plays out in the imperfectly as things don’t always go Jace’s way (more often than not things don’t go Jace’s way, arguably).

I think muddling through complicated emotions about founding home and family, trying to make the best decision while feeling as if you always make the wrong one, and persevering in what you know is right in spite of it being easier to abandon ship makes for a classically compelling and relatable character in an interesting story. I really enjoyed The Secretist trilogy both times I’ve read it and, in the aftermath of Niv-Mizzet becoming the Living Guildpact in the aftermath of the War of the Spark, I’d be interested to see a continuation that explores that status of the Guildpact on Ravnica. Considering the Bailiff had to make a choice from among the Maze Runners (which I think Jace was, on the behalf of the Guildless, which is why he could become the Living Guildpact), I’d be interested to see a storyline where Niv-Mizzet struggles with getting the Bailiff, the spirit of the Maze, to see him as legitimate and cooperate with him. I’d be interested to see if Niv-Mizzet, who ruled the Izzet for millennia as a tyrant, can manage being a mediator rather than a dictator, and how that looks for the many characters we know and love on Ravnica. All in all, I hope Wizards of the Coast lets us revisit Jace and Ravnica and the entire concept of the Living Guildpact at some point in the future.

[Revolted · Rating 2 out of 5]

This classification is for the whole trilogy. While I understand that the trilogy only form a pretty short story (around 120 pages long), there are too many plot holes, the characters have no dept, at all, and many of them actually act against their alignment.

Not everything is bad about this trilogy though. The 1st two parts, albeit a bit rushed, created a nice plot, the overall story for the cycle is not bad, and the evil characters can actually act like it would be expected to.

Overall it's not a trilogy I'd recomend, unless you want to keep up with MtG story, like I did.

[Tobias Helgren · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Secretist reaches its conclusion in its third installment, Dragon's Maze.
While the conclusion is satifying and all loose ends are tied up (at least as far as I noticed), I can't help but feel that the story has potential for more and that it at times feels a little forced and very rushed. This I think is aptly represented in the fact that we do not get to see all of the guildgates despite their importance to the plot. All in all I found this book to be an enjoyable, yet somewhat tainted, read.

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow this was hot garbage. I knew the whole "maze" thing was stupid from around when the set came out, but holy shit I wasn't expecting this level of nonsense. None of this makes any sense.

[Cris · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a fantasy setting is nice, but lacks the depth from previous MTG books

[Chip Hunter · Rating 2 out of 5]

The previous two parts of the trilogy had done a good job of building up the mystery and importance of the Implicit Maze as some sort of all-important key for the future of Ravnica. Untold powers or dark secrets would surely be granted to whomever could solve this complex puzzle. As Jace, Niv-Mizzet, and Lazav all tried to crack the code, the guilds were at each other's throats and threatening the stability of the realm. It all felt like a good lead-up to a great final volume, but DRAGON'S MAZE fell far short of expectations. The maze itself was a big disappointment, ending up being nothing more than a sequence of guildgates to walk through, but then turning out to not be a race at all but just a way to get guild representatives together for some final judgement by an artificial intelligence set up to restore the broken guildpact (at least that is how I read the confusing outcome of this book!). It really seems like Beyer lost his way with this story, and I'm not sure who's fault it is. I imagine the creative team helped craft the story behind the Dragon's Maze expansion, including the ending. Another frustrating aspect here was the way Ral Zarek was portrayed. I had hopes that the story would center on him discovering his abilities to traverse the planes, but instead he is presented as a semi-sociopathic madman that already knows his abilities, with no clear explanation of why he would be on Ravnica. There were plenty of other frustrating elements to The Secretist, and I'm really not sure if this model of using e-books to flesh out the stories behind the block designs is a good one. Story-driven novels would be better, even if they don't exactly follow the track of the expansion sets. Hopefully we'll see improvement in this regard with the release of the Theros e-books.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A continuation from my last two reviews:

This part was every bit as exciting as you would expect for the culmination of the story of the Implicit Maze and ended in a way that I personally was not expecting at all.

Overall, the story keeps up with the exciting pace of the first two while giving more face time to some of the guilds that have been passed over in the previous installments and exposes us to more of the history and ideas behind the factions of Ravnica. Jace's story concludes in a satisfactory way that opens itself up to plenty of possibilities in the future that I hope can be covered in future books.

The one thing I would say is that if felt like a lot of big ideas were thrown together here in the end without much build up, though that may be a result of reading this story as a part of a whole with several months in between each.

This was my favorite part of the three, for sure, and leaves me satisfied, though wanting more. As a whole package, I'd give The Secretist 4 stars, with each part entertaining and having their own strengths. I'd certainly recommend to a fan of the card game wanting more information on the story or just someone looking for a quick, entertaining fantasy read.

As a side note: I've been holding off on buying cards since the end of the Innistrad set since I've been trying to be a fiscally responsible adult, but this finishing this story is probably going to result in me wanting to buy lots of the Return to Ravnica set that I've been eyeing, but refusing to buy this entire time. So, it certainly succeeds in making the set seem exciting and worth playing in.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

The final book in The Secretist trilogy is also the weakest. It's basically a series of disjointed events that seem to occur simply to get a predetermined number of battles out of the way. A lot is left unclear, when so much of the first two entries were tightly focused. The ending seems forced, and leaves far too much unresolved. The villain gets away without any fanfare, the hero saves the day but gets only more to do, and the whole series is cheapened because it basically just rotates 360 degrees.

Jace Beleren, planeswalker extraordinaire, finds himself in yet another sticky wicket from which there is little hope of escape. However, escape he does, in time to run interference with the running of the Implicit Maze. Somewhat easily, he figures out pretty much the entire plot, figures out that all the runners need to make it to the end, and goes through a series of trials as if they were nothing. Being put on trial by the Azorious? Nothing much. Battling another planeswalker? A simple illusion gets him past that. Trying to keep a group of bloodthirsty warriors from killing each other? Apart from one or two incidents, they appear to be doing a good job of that themselves. And oh look, the thing he needs to do at the end of the book mirrors some random thingamabob he did at the beginning for no reason whatsoever. It's contrived.

I really liked the first two books, but this one killed it for me. I wish I hadn't read them now, as I was only being set up for disappointment.

[Sherwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fitting end to Magic the Gathering's Return to Ravnica!

I enjoyed every moment of the novella. The maze is in full swing and the reader is thrust into the race as they follow Jace and Emmara's quest to unite the Guilds of Ravnica. While I love the bits and pieces of each Maze Runner we were given, I would've loved more (especially about Teysa and Lavinia). I was surprised at Ral Zarek and Jace's confrontation, but love seeing two Planeswalkers clash, knowing full well the consequences of their actions.

The inclusion of Azor's Supreme Verdict was absolutely awesome (for lack of a better word). Players are aware of the card and when I read the words "verdict", I got chills; Doug Beyer is so flavourful and so brillant. The brief interlude on Zendikar was an intriguing choice of plane to revisit, but it was great to see the Eldrazi-ravaged world once more. The ending was hinted at throughout the trilogy (by the bonds Jace unknowingly forges, his desire for home, and the Kor-family on Zendikar) and I am interested to see how it'll affect future MTG sets in terms of including Jace (or not).

In the end, Doug Beyer achieved, at least in my mind, the triumphant return of Magic the Gathering companion novels/novellas and I hope Wizards continues in this vein with sets to come!

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent end to The Secretist, cheapened by the restrictions placed on Beyer. There were too many things to cram into a book of this size - too many characters had to be represented to make this a valid tie-in novel. The result is a third act that feels like a disjointed series of short conflicts and a rushed, underexplained ending. The result of the Maze was clever enough, but I felt it needed more exposition. The running of the Maze itself was a little too convenient: all the guild champions that have had any prior importance, regardless of where they were in the race, manage to beat Jace to their guild's specific gate and confront him.

Still, it's good to have some kind of story told for this block of Magic: The Gathering, and despite the strict line he had to walk in this part I still respect Beyer as a writer and as the ascending mastermind of Magic's Creative division.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Better than the previous two in the trilogy but still primarily disappointing. The details that should be there are not. Most characters are barely there, just filling in a place. Even the primary threat to all that is good and Ravnican is not well done. The story needed more in depth scheming and POV from other characters.

In the end I rate this work better than the previous two because it does wrap things up a bit but leaves open myriad possibilities for my imagination.

Could be better. Could be worse.

[T.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did appreciate the way this trilogy ended. I felt that the series was a decent read, albeit quick. The story felt rushed and had some confusing scenes to where I didn't understand what was happening or how they got to that point.

I would've liked a little more length, I understand what Wizards was going for though. This was a fun story to be told despite not a lot of depth. Will miss Ravnica.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I found the ending to be a bit, blah and flat. Jace, Emmara, etc. the characters that were so dynamic and full seemed to lose their true motivations and I left the book feeling like the characters I cared for no longer understood why things were so important and the gravity of the situation.

A major scene near the end was lacking as well where the events simply didn't make sense. At all.

For what started as a great series, I was extremely surprised and disappointed in the ending.

[James Berghout · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really fun story. Doug Beyer is a first rate author. The story flow, both action and dialog moved at a great pace. This, along with the preceding two novellas in the series really brought the world of Ravnica to life. Playing Magic the Gathering is made even more interesting with the weaving of story, and this is no exception.

[Clay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a solid conclusion. The story was a little less forced by including a bunch of cameos, as we had already met all the maze runners and guild leaders. If you want to dig into the Return to Ravnica storyline then I recommend them.

[Andy Ishida · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a great novel i have ever read about such a nice fantasy story, especially flavorful

[Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

All in all was a good book. Really enjoyed it. I don't really have any critiques or criticisms.