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Magic: The Gathering #77
Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos
Strixhaven University welcomes you. Begin your magical studies on a faraway plane, encountering new friends, mysteries, and dangers, in this fantastical dark academia.
Eula Blue was supposed to be a mage. That was before the war came—before the fight for the Multiverse devastated Eula’s home, and with it her hopes for a magical education.
But the destruction of the war also brought something new: the ability to travel to other planes. And when Eula receives an invitation to study magic at a distant school called Strixhaven, she leaps to take it.
Eula’s journey brings her closer than she ever thought possible to her fellow students, including the mysterious Segante, a boy whose secrets Eula longs to share. But not everyone is thrilled by the arrival of the new class, and Eula and her new friends quickly become targets.
To make it through their first semester, they’ll have to fight for their place in this new world—or else they’ll be dead before their final exams.
Eula Blue was supposed to be a mage. That was before the war came—before the fight for the Multiverse devastated Eula’s home, and with it her hopes for a magical education.
But the destruction of the war also brought something new: the ability to travel to other planes. And when Eula receives an invitation to study magic at a distant school called Strixhaven, she leaps to take it.
Eula’s journey brings her closer than she ever thought possible to her fellow students, including the mysterious Segante, a boy whose secrets Eula longs to share. But not everyone is thrilled by the arrival of the new class, and Eula and her new friends quickly become targets.
To make it through their first semester, they’ll have to fight for their place in this new world—or else they’ll be dead before their final exams.
432 pages, Hardcover
Published April 7, 2026
About the author
Seanan McGuire
524 books17.4k followersHi! I'm Seanan McGuire, author of the Toby Daye series (Rosemary and Rue, A Local Habitation, An Artificial Night, Late Eclipses), as well as a lot of other things. I'm also Mira Grant (www.miragrant.com), author of Feed and Deadline.
Born and raised in Northern California, I fear weather and am remarkably laid-back about rattlesnakes. I watch too many horror movies, read too many comic books, and share my house with two monsters in feline form, Lilly and Alice (Siamese and Maine Coon).
I do not check this inbox. Please don't send me messages through Goodreads; they won't be answered. I don't want to have to delete this account. :(
Born and raised in Northern California, I fear weather and am remarkably laid-back about rattlesnakes. I watch too many horror movies, read too many comic books, and share my house with two monsters in feline form, Lilly and Alice (Siamese and Maine Coon).
I do not check this inbox. Please don't send me messages through Goodreads; they won't be answered. I don't want to have to delete this account. :(
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 200 reviews
April 17, 2026
This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart
Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
I'm not a huge Magic fan but am vaguely aware of it from a periphery and played casually almost twenty years ago. I am a fan of Seanan McGuire and usually have enjoyed most of her books and series so I was open to seeing what she could do in the world of Magic the Gathering. Strixhaven is a stand alone story set in a well established lore world, you don't need to have a deep understanding of Magic to enjoy the story but it may help, or actually it may hurt if you were looking for something more mainstream.
Five students head off to Strixhaven, an elite school for magic on a different plane of existence. There are Omengates that let people transverse worlds as easily as they used to travel countries. The multiverse has been devastated by wars against a common foe, some planes fared better than others but none were left unharmed. In the wake of war the main protagonist, Eula Blue, escapes from the future her own world had in store for her and finds the potential for a new one through her studies at Strixhaven. She, and her new cohort of four other off plane classmates, explore both the opportunities and dangers that come when you study magic.
The best part of the story were the quirky details each of the students dropped in about the cultures in their home worlds. I particularly found Segante's home plane to be the most interesting and it seemed like the political intrigues and chances to be killed by family more than a stranger to be exciting. Also the use of flowers in that culture was such a cool detail. Jamira is a Minotaur from a volcanic plane and Alandra an aquatic person with an emotional support drake. It is an eclectic and diverse cast.
The plot to the story itself is an okay for an off to a school for magic adventure. I was interested in the different planes and cultures each of the five main students came from. I loved the idea of five people from essentially different worlds being thrown together to test drive a new education program at a school The backgrounds of each felt like they had some great opportunities to explore. Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children's series does this so well. However, I never felt like I connected to any of the characters beyond Eula, due to the single PoV narrative. There are a few interludes with the other students but they only gave glimpses into the other students and their home worlds and didn't really show the reader deeper meaning in their character.
The pacing of the story was really slow and some of the strife with other students just didn't make a lot of sense to me. Not that prejudice should really make sense, but the reason some of the other students wanted the new off planer students to leave just never clicked in my head. It took a long time to get into any action points and I kept waiting for there to be a quest or situation to move the plot forward. Those moments were few and far between. Strixhaven also read like the character were much younger than college age. I honestly forgot that the five students were about nineteen or twenty. For most of the story it felt like they were closer to mid teens.
For some readers, the LBGTQIAP+ of the story will be something they enjoy and wanted added into Magic Lore. I don't really fit that category and I'm at a point in my reading that I'm more interested in the action of a fantasy/gaming story like this than the preferred pronouns and who you are interested in sleeping with. In a lore based story to a widely played game it just didn't seem to fit and I hoped for a more magic, duel or quest type structure.
Seanan McGuire is a talented and imaginative storyteller. I just don't know that she was a good fit for a story in such a well established lore based game. That said, I have not read any of the other Magic the Gathering books by other authors to judge this one against. I will stick to McGuire's other books and series which fit my reading affinities much better.
Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
I'm not a huge Magic fan but am vaguely aware of it from a periphery and played casually almost twenty years ago. I am a fan of Seanan McGuire and usually have enjoyed most of her books and series so I was open to seeing what she could do in the world of Magic the Gathering. Strixhaven is a stand alone story set in a well established lore world, you don't need to have a deep understanding of Magic to enjoy the story but it may help, or actually it may hurt if you were looking for something more mainstream.
Five students head off to Strixhaven, an elite school for magic on a different plane of existence. There are Omengates that let people transverse worlds as easily as they used to travel countries. The multiverse has been devastated by wars against a common foe, some planes fared better than others but none were left unharmed. In the wake of war the main protagonist, Eula Blue, escapes from the future her own world had in store for her and finds the potential for a new one through her studies at Strixhaven. She, and her new cohort of four other off plane classmates, explore both the opportunities and dangers that come when you study magic.
The best part of the story were the quirky details each of the students dropped in about the cultures in their home worlds. I particularly found Segante's home plane to be the most interesting and it seemed like the political intrigues and chances to be killed by family more than a stranger to be exciting. Also the use of flowers in that culture was such a cool detail. Jamira is a Minotaur from a volcanic plane and Alandra an aquatic person with an emotional support drake. It is an eclectic and diverse cast.
The plot to the story itself is an okay for an off to a school for magic adventure. I was interested in the different planes and cultures each of the five main students came from. I loved the idea of five people from essentially different worlds being thrown together to test drive a new education program at a school The backgrounds of each felt like they had some great opportunities to explore. Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children's series does this so well. However, I never felt like I connected to any of the characters beyond Eula, due to the single PoV narrative. There are a few interludes with the other students but they only gave glimpses into the other students and their home worlds and didn't really show the reader deeper meaning in their character.
The pacing of the story was really slow and some of the strife with other students just didn't make a lot of sense to me. Not that prejudice should really make sense, but the reason some of the other students wanted the new off planer students to leave just never clicked in my head. It took a long time to get into any action points and I kept waiting for there to be a quest or situation to move the plot forward. Those moments were few and far between. Strixhaven also read like the character were much younger than college age. I honestly forgot that the five students were about nineteen or twenty. For most of the story it felt like they were closer to mid teens.
For some readers, the LBGTQIAP+ of the story will be something they enjoy and wanted added into Magic Lore. I don't really fit that category and I'm at a point in my reading that I'm more interested in the action of a fantasy/gaming story like this than the preferred pronouns and who you are interested in sleeping with. In a lore based story to a widely played game it just didn't seem to fit and I hoped for a more magic, duel or quest type structure.
Seanan McGuire is a talented and imaginative storyteller. I just don't know that she was a good fit for a story in such a well established lore based game. That said, I have not read any of the other Magic the Gathering books by other authors to judge this one against. I will stick to McGuire's other books and series which fit my reading affinities much better.
April 21, 2026
At first, I found the book charming, and was hopeful it would be better than the last two train wrecks of Magic the Gathering novels … sadly, it was not.
Writhing a few chapters the “cute” college vibes are grating, and the themes of being an outsider are so repetitive that it feels the characters aren’t making an effort to ingrain themselves at their new school.
The characters were dull and genuinely unlikable for the most part - most hailing from Planes that had shaped them into self absorbed and status obsessed children. While Strixhaven encourages students to experiment before they choose a college, it was very obvious what school they were going to be shoehorned into, and once they started to lean towards a school they didn’t develop any further.
Speaking of shoehorning, the diverse cast of characters covered most of the Queer umbrella, which I would normally be thrilled about, except that they way it was written about here was clunky, awkward, and mostly didn’t add to the story or deepen the characters or their development - it felt like the author was told to add queerness in to just check a box.
The pet-napping of a service animal was a major plot point, and felt ridiculous as drug the plot towards an anticlimactic ending with a background character from previous Magic lore.
It’s a 400 pages book and nothing truly happens in the first 300 pages. The book also doesn’t integrate into the lore of the new set, outside sharing a name.
I would skip this one or read a synopsis. The best part about buying the physical book was the foil Command Tower card.
Writhing a few chapters the “cute” college vibes are grating, and the themes of being an outsider are so repetitive that it feels the characters aren’t making an effort to ingrain themselves at their new school.
The characters were dull and genuinely unlikable for the most part - most hailing from Planes that had shaped them into self absorbed and status obsessed children. While Strixhaven encourages students to experiment before they choose a college, it was very obvious what school they were going to be shoehorned into, and once they started to lean towards a school they didn’t develop any further.
Speaking of shoehorning, the diverse cast of characters covered most of the Queer umbrella, which I would normally be thrilled about, except that they way it was written about here was clunky, awkward, and mostly didn’t add to the story or deepen the characters or their development - it felt like the author was told to add queerness in to just check a box.
The pet-napping of a service animal was a major plot point, and felt ridiculous as drug the plot towards an anticlimactic ending with a background character from previous Magic lore.
It’s a 400 pages book and nothing truly happens in the first 300 pages. The book also doesn’t integrate into the lore of the new set, outside sharing a name.
I would skip this one or read a synopsis. The best part about buying the physical book was the foil Command Tower card.
April 15, 2026
As an enthusiastic Magic: The Gathering player and someone who loves Strixhaven and magical school settings in general, I went into Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos with high expectations and came away with mixed feelings.
The story follows the diverse cast of five characters from different planes, who are invited to study at Strixhaven. The book doesn’t require deep MTG lore knowledge to follow along, a basic understanding of planeswalkers and the multiverse is enough, but longtime fans will appreciate cameos from familiar faces like Dina, Killian and Liliana, which added a nice layer of nostalgia.
The novel starts quite slowly, focusing heavily on Eula and her home plane of Capenna to establish the broader context of recent MTG events and then one by one the other four students get picked up to start their journey to the school. While I understand the need to introduce each character individually and avoid overwhelming the reader with exposition, this section dragged on for too long with very little action, making the beginning feel rather sluggish.
As the story progresses, the relationship between Eula and Segante becomes more or less the emotional core of the book. Their dynamic was enjoyable, and I found myself most invested in their perspectives. Unfortunately, the remaining three POV characters felt underdeveloped and somewhat unnecessary. Their chapters often came across as an afterthought, and in one case even spoiled what was set up to be a major twist later on, which took away a lot of the impact in my opinion.I feel like it would have been better to just leave their POVs out altogether and just learn more about them through the other two characters building bonds with them.
The conflicts within Strixhaven itself also felt uneven. The presentation of conflicts with other students read very inconsistent in their severity and the main characters reactions often were hard to relate to or juvenile from my perspective. Despite the characters being around their 20s and going to university, their actions and the general tone of the story leaned heavily toward YA, both in content and language. This made the “intellectual elite” of Strixhaven come across more like typical teenagers dealing with school drama, which didn’t quite match the premise and my expectations.
That said, the overarching story had its fun moments, and there were elements I did enjoy that kept me reading on. However, it ultimately felt somewhat low-stakes and lacking in lasting impact, especially considering that neither the characters nor the events seem to play a significant role in the broader MTG narrative going forward.
Overall, Omens of Chaos has an interesting premise and some engaging character moments, but uneven pacing, underutilized perspectives, and a tone that skews younger than expected kept it from fully landing for me.
The story follows the diverse cast of five characters from different planes, who are invited to study at Strixhaven. The book doesn’t require deep MTG lore knowledge to follow along, a basic understanding of planeswalkers and the multiverse is enough, but longtime fans will appreciate cameos from familiar faces like Dina, Killian and Liliana, which added a nice layer of nostalgia.
The novel starts quite slowly, focusing heavily on Eula and her home plane of Capenna to establish the broader context of recent MTG events and then one by one the other four students get picked up to start their journey to the school. While I understand the need to introduce each character individually and avoid overwhelming the reader with exposition, this section dragged on for too long with very little action, making the beginning feel rather sluggish.
As the story progresses, the relationship between Eula and Segante becomes more or less the emotional core of the book. Their dynamic was enjoyable, and I found myself most invested in their perspectives. Unfortunately, the remaining three POV characters felt underdeveloped and somewhat unnecessary. Their chapters often came across as an afterthought, and in one case even spoiled what was set up to be a major twist later on, which took away a lot of the impact in my opinion.I feel like it would have been better to just leave their POVs out altogether and just learn more about them through the other two characters building bonds with them.
The conflicts within Strixhaven itself also felt uneven. The presentation of conflicts with other students read very inconsistent in their severity and the main characters reactions often were hard to relate to or juvenile from my perspective. Despite the characters being around their 20s and going to university, their actions and the general tone of the story leaned heavily toward YA, both in content and language. This made the “intellectual elite” of Strixhaven come across more like typical teenagers dealing with school drama, which didn’t quite match the premise and my expectations.
That said, the overarching story had its fun moments, and there were elements I did enjoy that kept me reading on. However, it ultimately felt somewhat low-stakes and lacking in lasting impact, especially considering that neither the characters nor the events seem to play a significant role in the broader MTG narrative going forward.
Overall, Omens of Chaos has an interesting premise and some engaging character moments, but uneven pacing, underutilized perspectives, and a tone that skews younger than expected kept it from fully landing for me.
May 28, 2026
Omens of chaos? More like omens of garbage
April 15, 2026
this is now a segante stan account.
March 1, 2026
I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity. I almost DNFed this book right before 50%. But I decided to keep reading and something finally happened after 50%. I think that if I had any knowledge on Magic the Gathering, I would have enjoyed this book more. But going in with no prior knowledge made the whole book so incredibly pedantic. I felt like I was being lectured and the world building was just word-vomited in nonstop. It was also so repetitive. The second half did read much faster but it didn’t make up for the flat characters and rushed ending. I was really hoping I’d like this book and it left me severely disappointed.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
it's that time of year again... I received a free advance copy of this book from the Penguin Random House booth at Emerald City Comic Con. Thank you to PRH for the book and for being there, and to ECCC for having them. I also met the author and she was really nice.
I was looking forward to reading this book, because I find the lore of Magic: the Gathering interesting and I've had pretty good luck with books about established IP before from this publisher. However, maybe it was my lack of in depth knowledge of the lore, but I found the whole thing kind of disappointing. There was so much potential there. The world itself was interesting (although I think there was some knowledge of the various planes that is assumed and that I didn't have, so that's a me issue), and the plot could go in a lot of different directions. With a solid group of characters this sort of book could be great. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to the expectations I had when I learned what it was about.
I liked the writing itself. This is my first Seanan McGuire book, and I think she’s a good writer, who gives a good sense of place and time. The world building is fine. The overarching plot is fine. My main problems were the pacing and what I perceived to be lack of compelling characters.
I found their characterization inconsistent to the point where I was more frustrated than concerned about them. In books with consistent characterization I can dislike a character or be frustrated with them, but still understand why they’re doing what they’re doing and care about what happens to them. I was mostly just straight up frustrated and confused by a lot of the decisions they made because the characters weren’t fully fleshed out and their actions were so inconsistent without explanation (or inconsistent with explanations that came after the fact and didn't fully make sense to me) that it was more irritating than exciting.
The pacing of the first 120 pages is glacial. The exposition is thrown out in large codex entry chunks instead of being woven into the story, and the characters are all ciphers by the time they get to school (and even after, but it made it rough to get to the school, where the plot picked up). I found myself thinking about other books that managed to weave world building and character exposition seamlessly into the first fifty or so pages, so that by the time the story kicked in, you not only were familiar enough with the basics of the world that you wanted to learn more (often at the same time as the main characters were) and that you knew enough about the characters and their issues and motivations to care about whether they succeeded.
Hunger Games did this expertly. So did The Locked Tomb. In both cases, the author introduced the main characters, the ones who’d be telling the story, and gave you enough about their world and them for you to care. The two narrators in those cases are also strong characters with strong points of view and motivations, so that when the world unfolds from their point of view it's engaging and you care about their place in it and the outcome of their stories. I want Katniss to win the Hunger Games. I want Gideon to get through the Lyctor Trials so she can go join the Cohort and have as many dirty magazines as she wants.
I’ll preface all this by saying this may partly because I know very little about Magic: The Gathering lore. Perhaps if I knew more about it, I’d be able to fill in some blanks and understand better what all these characters are really thinking.
In this one, Eula’s story seems like it should be compelling. She’s from a society that’s controlled by something like the mafia’s five families. Each family has a speciality and controls a different section of the city. Before the Phyrexian invasion destroyed their old home, she and her family lived well. Now their home is destroyed and she has to work on a cleanup crew and has no hope of going to university or joining the family she wants to. Her family also seems to be relying on her and only her to get money and advance themselves back up the ranks. She gets an invitation to Strixhaven, and her father (who she seems to be afraid of), wants her to accept so she can gather intel that will raise their family back up to the heights. Which sounds compelling, but, like the other characters in this book, she’s just not consistently written.
We don’t know anything about her except what I just said above until more than halfway through the book. I don’t know how she feels about her society except that it’s all she’s known. We don’t really know how she feels about her family except that she feels obligated to help them and that she wants to live in a good neighborhood again. She works for the cleanup crew because it helps her family. She goes to university because it helps her family. She’s resigned to joining the Family her father wants because it’s what he wants. Halfway through she’s still essentially being driven by the same things she was on page 1 despite being at the new school and meeting new people from other places.
She says several times that she thinks everything is a transaction and it should be everyone for themselves, but then feels bad when she thinks she hasn’t been helping Alandra enough or hasn’t been paying enough attention to Kequia. She doesn’t go around thinking about what she can get out of them and ignore them for the rest of the time. Segante has a transactional attitude as well, but at least he’s consistent in saying so from moment one. In fact, at one point Segante tries to pay her for something and she’s like “you don’t have to do that” but if she was really as mercenary as she sort of randomly says later, she would be fine with it. I just wish that she was characterized strongly from the first page. But her “everything is a transaction” attitude doesn’t even get stated in detail (or shown in any real way) until almost page 300… when it benefits the plot for her to think that way.
The same is true of the other characters. I feel like this is a book that either needed Eula to have a stronger POV and clearer motivations, or one that needed multiple POVs, Six of Crows style (if you want a book that I believe handles multiple POVs ideally, it’s Six of Crows). As it is I have no idea why any of them is doing anything they’re doing half the time. We know superficial facts about them (what plane they’re from, what the general society of that plane is like), but aside from Segante (who, not coincidentally, is character I found most interesting), none of them really has a personality beyond what they’re required to have in the exact moment or situation you’re reading about.
For example, at one point, a character has a single interaction with a stranger and immediately physically attacks one of the people she's been living in the same dorm with for months by that point. Why? Because the character's mana isn't reacting well to the mana on Strixhaven's plane and it's upsetting her enough that one comment from a stranger sets her against another person. And the comment is about how the plane her dormmate is from is somehow solely responsible for the Phyrexian invasion.
Instead of thinking about this critically, or maybe having some doubt about the words of a complete stranger, the character starts slamming their dormmate walls and accusing them (personally) of knowing about the invasion, an invasion that took place when they were all was literally children.
Even when it’s pointed out that this is ridiculous (I was thinking “this is like blaming a German teenager in 2026 for the Holocaust and punching them in the face for it”), the character refuses to relent until a professor tells her “hey that’s unfair” and even then it's “well, the guy sounded so sure and I’ve been feeling bad lately”. Seriously?
Nothing in her character or any interaction she’s had with Eula indicated she had these issues, that she was quick to temper, that she was that upset about the invasion and what it did to her home plane (I mean, it’s mentioned that the invasion screwed things up, but no more so than anyone else’s plane).
Each character just seems to do what’s necessary for the scene. At one point, one of them is handed a note that tells her to meet an anonymous party in the woods. She immediately admits this note seems vaguely threatening and acknowledges that it could be dangerous, but then proceeds to tell no one about it and to ignore warnings about the location of the meeting, which is known to be incredibly dangerous and fraught with bad history. The book actually says “She doesn’t want to go into her complicated feelings about secrecy now, or why she feels like it’s important to listen to the letter-writer and go to the wood alone” like this is a reasonable explanation. At this point we don’t have any idea what her complicated feelings about secrecy are. She shares some secrets with the other off plane students, but this one, which could get her killed, she just shrugs and says “I feel some kind of way about it”.
In both these cases, it would be fine if at some point in the book, these characters had been set up to act like this. If there had been hints in their words or actions or even information they had in their internal monologue that this was a way they might ask. If Eula was especially secretive about anything other than her sending information back to her father (which was set up and which therefore didn’t bother me). But no. They just… happen seemingly because that’s how the plot needs them to act in that moment for it to move forward.
Also incredibly frustrating is the decision all of our off plane students seem to have made not to tell any authority figure that they’re being harassed. They are the first off-plane students at Strixhaven, and there are people who don’t want them there. They are pretty consistently given the petty bully treatment by some of the other students, but refuse to report this to their student advisor. Now, to be fair, the advisor is set up as someone that they don’t necessarily fully trust, but she is also the one who wanted them there in the first place. She’s the driving force behind the program, and the university has spent a ton of time and effort to make them a specialized dorm room and a whole curriculum just for them. There is absolutely no reason the book gives for them not to tell someone about the bullying, especially when things escalate later in the book (and I mean escalate, to the point where any reasonable person, no matter how secretive, might want to tell someone for the safety of everyone in the school).
Eula thinks things like “the professor won’t notice if her students are gone” when the professor only has five students and the professor is the one who wants them there in the first place. Every person on campus seems to know who they are, and this person who is from a plane with clever strategic people seems to believe no one will notice if she’s gone, and even if they do no one will look for her? The book has given no indication that she and the off plane students are anything other than a huge deal. Why does she think no one will look for her? Of course at the moment she thinks this, she’s also in a bad situation because of an incredibly bad decision she made and which the book has given me no solid reason for, no matter what her internal monologue tells me in the five pages leading up to it. Somehow I’m supposed to believe she’s cynical enough to believe that she can’t count on people’s general kindness, and that she can’t think of any possible other reason why someone would want to find her? Like… justice? Or pragmatism (in the professor’s case). It’s another thing that happens because the plot needs it to and which is not set up in a way that makes me anything other than incredibly irritated with the character. (Later on she’s like “Well on my plane we don’t tell authority figures things” and I’m thinking… if you’d said something like that 50 pages ago, it would’ve made everything make a lot more sense)
Again, it would be fine if the book had given some sort of indication of why they wouldn’t tell someone. If not their advisor, then at least one of the students they are friendly with (and the book tells us they have been engaging with students who do seem friendly). They just… decide not to and go “no we just don’t want to”. WHY? The university has a vested interest in keeping them safe and having them succeed. The book gives us no indication that any authority figure actively wants them to fail. So how could it possibly hurt to say something?
In addition to these sorts of baffling choices, the book doesn’t really build any camaraderie between the five main characters until over halfway through. They spend weeks at the school, living in the same dorm, and while it’s stated that they eat meals together and have classes together, it seems like they barely know each other. We’re told that Eula likes Alandra, but then she beats herself up for not noticing she’s upset. We’re told Jamira and Kequia are friendly, but we only catch this in glimpses and don’t see it being built up because everything is from Eula’s point of view and she doesn’t really seem to notice anything about anyone else.
(Kequia and Jamira are given criminally short shrift the whole book. They are given two isolated POV chapters that hint there’s more to them, but those chapters are never built on. I would’ve loved to have known more about them… I mean, honestly how do you have a minotaur as one of your trans-planar students and not make them interesting or at least central to a sub plot?)
This book would’ve benefited immensely from multiple POVs, because they’re all living entirely separate lives out of view of one another. The book barely touches on them when they interact and some of them hardly ever interact period. The net result is that when one of them does something, good or bad, it comes out of nowhere and feels entirely unearned because I don’t know them. I don’t know what they’ve been doing. I barely know what drives them or how strongly they feel about it. Near the end one of them does something and all I could think was “that would’ve been very dramatic if I’d spent any time learning anything beyond surface details about them”. And the character is one of the five supposed focus characters.
The only exception is Eula and Segante, but even that is only fleshed out in comparison to the other relationships. Usually in books like this, friendship building is one of the main throughlines. You get to the new environment and you build relationships with other people and that forms the heart of the book, which helps you as the reader care about what happens to all of them when whatever happens at the end happens. I’ll use Six of Crows again. Although it’s a great heist novel, half the fun is watching the Crows work together and get close and care about one another. It adds stakes when things get really dangerous at the end.
At over halfway through the book, Eula gets this mysterious note, and all I’m doing is furiously scribbling notes that say “WHY is she doing this” rather than caring about her well being. Again. Maybe if I knew more about the MtG worlds, I would have some hidden insight into her character.
The big reveal of what’s truly happening (why they were all brought there to study at Strixhaven in the first place) comes in the final 60 pages and seems to come almost entirely out of nowhere. We were given just enough from the antagonist to feel kind of wary of them, but we don’t really know them. They barely interact with the five main characters (at least in any scenes that we get to actually see), and so when they make their big villain speech at the end, it’s the first time we have any clue of half of what they’re talking about.
What happens at the end is very dramatic, and would’ve been a ton more impactful if the book had built up to it more, if it had spent any time connecting all five characters to one another, if it had set up any relationship between them and the person who ends up being the bad guy. I actually liked the end, but I would’ve liked it a LOT more if I had gotten to know the characters better, both as individuals and their relation to one another. But the characterization is so inconsistent and oddly paced I just felt like I was coming in at the end of an action movie and was impressed by the big set piece ending but didn’t feel any connection to it.
In conclusion, points for the writing itself being good. Points for Professor Vess (who is in, like, four scenes and is the most interesting, clever and likable character in the book, and is also given more character in those four scenes than Eula is in the whole book). Points for a dramatic and well-written set piece scene at the end. Points even for the villain’s motivation. When the big speech comes, the reasons and methods they used are actually pretty intriguing, but they’re all being dumped on the reader in the last few pages with almost no set up. Some previous scenes and interactions with them that had even the slightest bit more substance would’ve made all that happened here much more impactful.
I was looking forward to reading this book, because I find the lore of Magic: the Gathering interesting and I've had pretty good luck with books about established IP before from this publisher. However, maybe it was my lack of in depth knowledge of the lore, but I found the whole thing kind of disappointing. There was so much potential there. The world itself was interesting (although I think there was some knowledge of the various planes that is assumed and that I didn't have, so that's a me issue), and the plot could go in a lot of different directions. With a solid group of characters this sort of book could be great. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to the expectations I had when I learned what it was about.
I liked the writing itself. This is my first Seanan McGuire book, and I think she’s a good writer, who gives a good sense of place and time. The world building is fine. The overarching plot is fine. My main problems were the pacing and what I perceived to be lack of compelling characters.
I found their characterization inconsistent to the point where I was more frustrated than concerned about them. In books with consistent characterization I can dislike a character or be frustrated with them, but still understand why they’re doing what they’re doing and care about what happens to them. I was mostly just straight up frustrated and confused by a lot of the decisions they made because the characters weren’t fully fleshed out and their actions were so inconsistent without explanation (or inconsistent with explanations that came after the fact and didn't fully make sense to me) that it was more irritating than exciting.
The pacing of the first 120 pages is glacial. The exposition is thrown out in large codex entry chunks instead of being woven into the story, and the characters are all ciphers by the time they get to school (and even after, but it made it rough to get to the school, where the plot picked up). I found myself thinking about other books that managed to weave world building and character exposition seamlessly into the first fifty or so pages, so that by the time the story kicked in, you not only were familiar enough with the basics of the world that you wanted to learn more (often at the same time as the main characters were) and that you knew enough about the characters and their issues and motivations to care about whether they succeeded.
Hunger Games did this expertly. So did The Locked Tomb. In both cases, the author introduced the main characters, the ones who’d be telling the story, and gave you enough about their world and them for you to care. The two narrators in those cases are also strong characters with strong points of view and motivations, so that when the world unfolds from their point of view it's engaging and you care about their place in it and the outcome of their stories. I want Katniss to win the Hunger Games. I want Gideon to get through the Lyctor Trials so she can go join the Cohort and have as many dirty magazines as she wants.
I’ll preface all this by saying this may partly because I know very little about Magic: The Gathering lore. Perhaps if I knew more about it, I’d be able to fill in some blanks and understand better what all these characters are really thinking.
In this one, Eula’s story seems like it should be compelling. She’s from a society that’s controlled by something like the mafia’s five families. Each family has a speciality and controls a different section of the city. Before the Phyrexian invasion destroyed their old home, she and her family lived well. Now their home is destroyed and she has to work on a cleanup crew and has no hope of going to university or joining the family she wants to. Her family also seems to be relying on her and only her to get money and advance themselves back up the ranks. She gets an invitation to Strixhaven, and her father (who she seems to be afraid of), wants her to accept so she can gather intel that will raise their family back up to the heights. Which sounds compelling, but, like the other characters in this book, she’s just not consistently written.
We don’t know anything about her except what I just said above until more than halfway through the book. I don’t know how she feels about her society except that it’s all she’s known. We don’t really know how she feels about her family except that she feels obligated to help them and that she wants to live in a good neighborhood again. She works for the cleanup crew because it helps her family. She goes to university because it helps her family. She’s resigned to joining the Family her father wants because it’s what he wants. Halfway through she’s still essentially being driven by the same things she was on page 1 despite being at the new school and meeting new people from other places.
She says several times that she thinks everything is a transaction and it should be everyone for themselves, but then feels bad when she thinks she hasn’t been helping Alandra enough or hasn’t been paying enough attention to Kequia. She doesn’t go around thinking about what she can get out of them and ignore them for the rest of the time. Segante has a transactional attitude as well, but at least he’s consistent in saying so from moment one. In fact, at one point Segante tries to pay her for something and she’s like “you don’t have to do that” but if she was really as mercenary as she sort of randomly says later, she would be fine with it. I just wish that she was characterized strongly from the first page. But her “everything is a transaction” attitude doesn’t even get stated in detail (or shown in any real way) until almost page 300… when it benefits the plot for her to think that way.
The same is true of the other characters. I feel like this is a book that either needed Eula to have a stronger POV and clearer motivations, or one that needed multiple POVs, Six of Crows style (if you want a book that I believe handles multiple POVs ideally, it’s Six of Crows). As it is I have no idea why any of them is doing anything they’re doing half the time. We know superficial facts about them (what plane they’re from, what the general society of that plane is like), but aside from Segante (who, not coincidentally, is character I found most interesting), none of them really has a personality beyond what they’re required to have in the exact moment or situation you’re reading about.
For example, at one point, a character has a single interaction with a stranger and immediately physically attacks one of the people she's been living in the same dorm with for months by that point. Why? Because the character's mana isn't reacting well to the mana on Strixhaven's plane and it's upsetting her enough that one comment from a stranger sets her against another person. And the comment is about how the plane her dormmate is from is somehow solely responsible for the Phyrexian invasion.
Instead of thinking about this critically, or maybe having some doubt about the words of a complete stranger, the character starts slamming their dormmate walls and accusing them (personally) of knowing about the invasion, an invasion that took place when they were all was literally children.
Even when it’s pointed out that this is ridiculous (I was thinking “this is like blaming a German teenager in 2026 for the Holocaust and punching them in the face for it”), the character refuses to relent until a professor tells her “hey that’s unfair” and even then it's “well, the guy sounded so sure and I’ve been feeling bad lately”. Seriously?
Nothing in her character or any interaction she’s had with Eula indicated she had these issues, that she was quick to temper, that she was that upset about the invasion and what it did to her home plane (I mean, it’s mentioned that the invasion screwed things up, but no more so than anyone else’s plane).
Each character just seems to do what’s necessary for the scene. At one point, one of them is handed a note that tells her to meet an anonymous party in the woods. She immediately admits this note seems vaguely threatening and acknowledges that it could be dangerous, but then proceeds to tell no one about it and to ignore warnings about the location of the meeting, which is known to be incredibly dangerous and fraught with bad history. The book actually says “She doesn’t want to go into her complicated feelings about secrecy now, or why she feels like it’s important to listen to the letter-writer and go to the wood alone” like this is a reasonable explanation. At this point we don’t have any idea what her complicated feelings about secrecy are. She shares some secrets with the other off plane students, but this one, which could get her killed, she just shrugs and says “I feel some kind of way about it”.
In both these cases, it would be fine if at some point in the book, these characters had been set up to act like this. If there had been hints in their words or actions or even information they had in their internal monologue that this was a way they might ask. If Eula was especially secretive about anything other than her sending information back to her father (which was set up and which therefore didn’t bother me). But no. They just… happen seemingly because that’s how the plot needs them to act in that moment for it to move forward.
Also incredibly frustrating is the decision all of our off plane students seem to have made not to tell any authority figure that they’re being harassed. They are the first off-plane students at Strixhaven, and there are people who don’t want them there. They are pretty consistently given the petty bully treatment by some of the other students, but refuse to report this to their student advisor. Now, to be fair, the advisor is set up as someone that they don’t necessarily fully trust, but she is also the one who wanted them there in the first place. She’s the driving force behind the program, and the university has spent a ton of time and effort to make them a specialized dorm room and a whole curriculum just for them. There is absolutely no reason the book gives for them not to tell someone about the bullying, especially when things escalate later in the book (and I mean escalate, to the point where any reasonable person, no matter how secretive, might want to tell someone for the safety of everyone in the school).
Eula thinks things like “the professor won’t notice if her students are gone” when the professor only has five students and the professor is the one who wants them there in the first place. Every person on campus seems to know who they are, and this person who is from a plane with clever strategic people seems to believe no one will notice if she’s gone, and even if they do no one will look for her? The book has given no indication that she and the off plane students are anything other than a huge deal. Why does she think no one will look for her? Of course at the moment she thinks this, she’s also in a bad situation because of an incredibly bad decision she made and which the book has given me no solid reason for, no matter what her internal monologue tells me in the five pages leading up to it. Somehow I’m supposed to believe she’s cynical enough to believe that she can’t count on people’s general kindness, and that she can’t think of any possible other reason why someone would want to find her? Like… justice? Or pragmatism (in the professor’s case). It’s another thing that happens because the plot needs it to and which is not set up in a way that makes me anything other than incredibly irritated with the character. (Later on she’s like “Well on my plane we don’t tell authority figures things” and I’m thinking… if you’d said something like that 50 pages ago, it would’ve made everything make a lot more sense)
Again, it would be fine if the book had given some sort of indication of why they wouldn’t tell someone. If not their advisor, then at least one of the students they are friendly with (and the book tells us they have been engaging with students who do seem friendly). They just… decide not to and go “no we just don’t want to”. WHY? The university has a vested interest in keeping them safe and having them succeed. The book gives us no indication that any authority figure actively wants them to fail. So how could it possibly hurt to say something?
In addition to these sorts of baffling choices, the book doesn’t really build any camaraderie between the five main characters until over halfway through. They spend weeks at the school, living in the same dorm, and while it’s stated that they eat meals together and have classes together, it seems like they barely know each other. We’re told that Eula likes Alandra, but then she beats herself up for not noticing she’s upset. We’re told Jamira and Kequia are friendly, but we only catch this in glimpses and don’t see it being built up because everything is from Eula’s point of view and she doesn’t really seem to notice anything about anyone else.
(Kequia and Jamira are given criminally short shrift the whole book. They are given two isolated POV chapters that hint there’s more to them, but those chapters are never built on. I would’ve loved to have known more about them… I mean, honestly how do you have a minotaur as one of your trans-planar students and not make them interesting or at least central to a sub plot?)
This book would’ve benefited immensely from multiple POVs, because they’re all living entirely separate lives out of view of one another. The book barely touches on them when they interact and some of them hardly ever interact period. The net result is that when one of them does something, good or bad, it comes out of nowhere and feels entirely unearned because I don’t know them. I don’t know what they’ve been doing. I barely know what drives them or how strongly they feel about it. Near the end one of them does something and all I could think was “that would’ve been very dramatic if I’d spent any time learning anything beyond surface details about them”. And the character is one of the five supposed focus characters.
The only exception is Eula and Segante, but even that is only fleshed out in comparison to the other relationships. Usually in books like this, friendship building is one of the main throughlines. You get to the new environment and you build relationships with other people and that forms the heart of the book, which helps you as the reader care about what happens to all of them when whatever happens at the end happens. I’ll use Six of Crows again. Although it’s a great heist novel, half the fun is watching the Crows work together and get close and care about one another. It adds stakes when things get really dangerous at the end.
At over halfway through the book, Eula gets this mysterious note, and all I’m doing is furiously scribbling notes that say “WHY is she doing this” rather than caring about her well being. Again. Maybe if I knew more about the MtG worlds, I would have some hidden insight into her character.
The big reveal of what’s truly happening (why they were all brought there to study at Strixhaven in the first place) comes in the final 60 pages and seems to come almost entirely out of nowhere. We were given just enough from the antagonist to feel kind of wary of them, but we don’t really know them. They barely interact with the five main characters (at least in any scenes that we get to actually see), and so when they make their big villain speech at the end, it’s the first time we have any clue of half of what they’re talking about.
What happens at the end is very dramatic, and would’ve been a ton more impactful if the book had built up to it more, if it had spent any time connecting all five characters to one another, if it had set up any relationship between them and the person who ends up being the bad guy. I actually liked the end, but I would’ve liked it a LOT more if I had gotten to know the characters better, both as individuals and their relation to one another. But the characterization is so inconsistent and oddly paced I just felt like I was coming in at the end of an action movie and was impressed by the big set piece ending but didn’t feel any connection to it.
In conclusion, points for the writing itself being good. Points for Professor Vess (who is in, like, four scenes and is the most interesting, clever and likable character in the book, and is also given more character in those four scenes than Eula is in the whole book). Points for a dramatic and well-written set piece scene at the end. Points even for the villain’s motivation. When the big speech comes, the reasons and methods they used are actually pretty intriguing, but they’re all being dumped on the reader in the last few pages with almost no set up. Some previous scenes and interactions with them that had even the slightest bit more substance would’ve made all that happened here much more impactful.
June 20, 2026
trigger warning
Reduced review brought to you by heatwave.
Five people are invited to a magical school on another plane of existence. This book (slow slow slow book) is about their first semester and the problems they face. And lots of infodumps (so many infodumps).
What I expected as plot happened in maybe the last 100 pages, if I am generous. Somehow, I did not expect a school of magic type book to be this characterdriven, or rather, I could have lived with that if the author had decided for themselves whether to go for characterdriven or book about the history of a fictive world. The pacing is way off, and I think one could condense quite a bit in various parts.
Still okay for a library book where it did not matter if it is a win or a loss, because I spend no money either way. And now I am realising that that what I've liked by this author were novellas, and every single novel was not that much for me.
High 2 stars rating rounded up to three because I think I wanna be generous.
Reduced review brought to you by heatwave.
Five people are invited to a magical school on another plane of existence. This book (slow slow slow book) is about their first semester and the problems they face. And lots of infodumps (so many infodumps).
What I expected as plot happened in maybe the last 100 pages, if I am generous. Somehow, I did not expect a school of magic type book to be this characterdriven, or rather, I could have lived with that if the author had decided for themselves whether to go for characterdriven or book about the history of a fictive world. The pacing is way off, and I think one could condense quite a bit in various parts.
Still okay for a library book where it did not matter if it is a win or a loss, because I spend no money either way. And now I am realising that that what I've liked by this author were novellas, and every single novel was not that much for me.
High 2 stars rating rounded up to three because I think I wanna be generous.
June 29, 2026
This book should've been called Phyrexian Invasion PTSD Trauma support group at Strixhaven.
It was a decent story but I felt like it ultimately went nowhere and Strixhaven itself (somehow) was heavily underused.
It was a decent story but I felt like it ultimately went nowhere and Strixhaven itself (somehow) was heavily underused.
February 1, 2026
So, I am someone who is vaguely aware of Magic lore, and once attended a Magic convention to watch the live D+D session that the BG3 cast was doing. This got me interested in deeper Magic lore, and honestly, I think WotC chose the best possible author to bridge the two worlds. Seanan already is great at doing magical boarding school, and that's one of the best ways you can use as a worldbuild rapid download, and I now know way more about Magic lore than I did before. I would absolutely read more of this cohort if more were greenlit. Extremely here for this.
June 4, 2026
As a magic the gathering (MTG) fan and a fantasy reader, I really enjoyed this book! It was predictable at points, but I think I needed that cozy magic school vibe. And it was fun to see characters I recognized from MTG come to life in this book. The author does a good job explaining the world so I think those who don’t know MTG wouldn’t be lost reading this book but those who know the references can enjoy it too. I would definitely be interested in reading a sequel if one comes out.
September 5, 2026
Huh. Well, if you’ve seen any of my reviews you know that 3 is about the lowest I go just because I hate to give books “bad” reviews. Just because it wasn’t for me doesn’t mean no one else should read it. I’d put this at a 2 1/2 stars honestly. The concept was fun. I love all things DnD and am just getting into MTG (this was my first introduction to any mtg novels) so the book itself was right up my alley. But the dialogue felt so unnatural- not JUST the dialogue, but the third party narration was just as awkward. I want to be open-minded and say maybe it’s just that I don’t vibe well with this author’s style of writing, but idk. Plot points felt muddied, “big reveals” felt too easy as it made me feel like the narrator didn’t trust the reader to get to the right conclusions so we had to be pushed into a certain direction and then explained to 3x over what the reasoning was behind it without actually going into major detail. It was over explanation of the mundane but not detailed in the lore. From what I understand, MTG books are supposed to dive deep into the lore of the world. This felt like I was given a magic the gathering themed Harry Potter that focused more on a small group of individuals that up until the last 60 pages were honestly kind of unlikeable. Lol
I appreciated the attempt at inclusivity with queer characters and subjects you don’t see often touched in fantasy, like panic attacks, anxiety and even an emotional support companion, lol, BUT I think it could’ve all been done way better. This entire cast of characters just faced FULL ON WAR a few years ago. There’s no PTSD there? And the teacher trying to “spark their embers” thinks that children that have been through war and seen their homes fall and loved ones die didn’t get their “spark” during all that but will now because of some bullies? nah. I don’t buy it. These kids come from worlds that are much more brutal than that. Albeit, these jerk classmates were literally trying to argue the deportation of them because they’re different. So that was relevant. But again, could’ve all been done better I feel.
I guess the best part for me was the weird, “cute because they both are kinda messed up from their sucky planes and don’t know how to be nice but that bonds them together and they somehow find love in all this” relationship budding between Eula and Segante. #enemiestolovers Lol but I’m just trying to find my silver linings. As much as I rag on this book, I can honestly say I didn’t hate it. But that’s because I don’t know if I’ve ever read a book that I hate. It was interesting and now I enjoy picking it a part. 😅
Read it if you like ‘snotty teens at a magic school’ vibes. But maybe not if you want to be over explained to a million times throughout…ironically kind of how I did in this review. Oops. 🤷♀️
I appreciated the attempt at inclusivity with queer characters and subjects you don’t see often touched in fantasy, like panic attacks, anxiety and even an emotional support companion, lol, BUT I think it could’ve all been done way better. This entire cast of characters just faced FULL ON WAR a few years ago. There’s no PTSD there? And the teacher trying to “spark their embers” thinks that children that have been through war and seen their homes fall and loved ones die didn’t get their “spark” during all that but will now because of some bullies? nah. I don’t buy it. These kids come from worlds that are much more brutal than that. Albeit, these jerk classmates were literally trying to argue the deportation of them because they’re different. So that was relevant. But again, could’ve all been done better I feel.
I guess the best part for me was the weird, “cute because they both are kinda messed up from their sucky planes and don’t know how to be nice but that bonds them together and they somehow find love in all this” relationship budding between Eula and Segante. #enemiestolovers Lol but I’m just trying to find my silver linings. As much as I rag on this book, I can honestly say I didn’t hate it. But that’s because I don’t know if I’ve ever read a book that I hate. It was interesting and now I enjoy picking it a part. 😅
Read it if you like ‘snotty teens at a magic school’ vibes. But maybe not if you want to be over explained to a million times throughout…ironically kind of how I did in this review. Oops. 🤷♀️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 10, 2026
I got a free copy by Random House Worlds and knew I'd LOVE THIS.
Spoiler free review: a better Harry Potter.
I loved this book and hope WoTC continues to write more side stories like this one!
Spoiler free review: a better Harry Potter.
I loved this book and hope WoTC continues to write more side stories like this one!
September 21, 2026
It may have been a mistake to be a Strixhaven fan before reading this Strixhaven book.
For a story about a college of aspiring wizards, the campus feels incredibly mundane and what few students we see act more like young high school kids who exposit & lecture at each other rather than young adults in a fantastical environment. The first quarter of the book is devoted to the protagonists’ transportation to campus, the middle half is set almost exclusively in one dorm, a cafeteria, and the Biblioplex library, and the final quarter is where some mildly interesting events happen. The stakes are both boringly low (Slytherins Lorehold are bullying the new kids because they’re the new kids), and bizarrely high (attempted murder goes unreported by the protagonists because… reasons?). Characters’ personalities & motivations change according to the needs of the plot, culminating in an abrupt finale that left me not caring about whether either side won.
At least the book came with a card for my Lorehold deck.
July 9, 2026
1.5 stars, rounded down.
I'd have mistaken Omens of Chaos as a for-hire job if not for Seanan McGuire's well-known love of Magic: The Gathering, which makes it all the more baffling that it turned out so badly.
It is undone early and often by the pedantic prose - every thought the characters have, every bit of backstory and observation about their situation, is spelled out to the point of obliterating even the semblance of nuance. This is marketed (and priced) toward adults but has a writing style suited to advanced grade schoolers. Ironically, McGuire made a Tumblr post addressing her inclination to overexplain, suggesting that some readers' attention spans need it just to comprehend what's going on. Which...seems reasonable enough, considering how Netflix-ized our brains have become. But I never shook the feeling that the book was essentially reading itself.
Worse, this didacticism stunts the pace badly, as there barely seems to be a plot for better than half its 400 pages, while the last 20 cram in an absurd number of reveals just to make sense. And this is compounded further by what seemed like first-draft issues - a scene in a dining hall contains some of the most awkwardly-constructed sentences I've read in a long time, repetitive and unfocused. By the end, I barely remembered anything that happened and cared nothing for the characters, who left just as little impression as the worlds they inhabited.
Unless you are a massive MtG enthusiast or relative lightweight in the fantasy genre, there is nothing to recommend here. And for someone who has had a very mixed track record with McGuire, it was a mind-numbing experience. This is probably a harsher judgement than the book deserves, but only time and distance can soften that.
Content warning: xenophobia is a major theme, usually taking the form of anonymous harassment but at one point escalating into open violence.
I'd have mistaken Omens of Chaos as a for-hire job if not for Seanan McGuire's well-known love of Magic: The Gathering, which makes it all the more baffling that it turned out so badly.
It is undone early and often by the pedantic prose - every thought the characters have, every bit of backstory and observation about their situation, is spelled out to the point of obliterating even the semblance of nuance. This is marketed (and priced) toward adults but has a writing style suited to advanced grade schoolers. Ironically, McGuire made a Tumblr post addressing her inclination to overexplain, suggesting that some readers' attention spans need it just to comprehend what's going on. Which...seems reasonable enough, considering how Netflix-ized our brains have become. But I never shook the feeling that the book was essentially reading itself.
Worse, this didacticism stunts the pace badly, as there barely seems to be a plot for better than half its 400 pages, while the last 20 cram in an absurd number of reveals just to make sense. And this is compounded further by what seemed like first-draft issues - a scene in a dining hall contains some of the most awkwardly-constructed sentences I've read in a long time, repetitive and unfocused. By the end, I barely remembered anything that happened and cared nothing for the characters, who left just as little impression as the worlds they inhabited.
Unless you are a massive MtG enthusiast or relative lightweight in the fantasy genre, there is nothing to recommend here. And for someone who has had a very mixed track record with McGuire, it was a mind-numbing experience. This is probably a harsher judgement than the book deserves, but only time and distance can soften that.
Content warning: xenophobia is a major theme, usually taking the form of anonymous harassment but at one point escalating into open violence.
May 5, 2026
For a fantasy world novel based on the epic lore of Magic: The Gathering, one would think the story was an easy softball pitch for the author. However, this was the most disappointing thing I've read in a long time. The writing was atrocious. It read as if a teenager had written it, and as if the main character were in high school. For an epic magic school, Strixhaven, there was nothing epic about it. It was all drama, and the main character was whining about nothing. There was such potential for building deep characters with flaws and triumphs. The writing was very surface-level and juvenile, so the reader never really connected with or cared about the characters. There are so many epic fantasy novels out there that the author could've studied their writing styles and imbued this novel with a deep rhetorical tone. That did not happen. Disappointing.
May 17, 2026
This was an all around unenjoyable read. I was hoping that a story about a magic school in the Magic the Gathering universe would’ve had something interesting to say. The five characters we follow are distractingly flat. Nothing interesting happens between them but when something interesting does chance to happen, the characters forgive each other unreasonably undoing anything that was potentially risking treading into the domain of storytelling. Me knowing MTG lore was almost a prerequisite to glean anything from the book. Without that, I’m not sure if there would’ve been more intrigue or not. There’s a spell in this book that literally is just, take me to the next plot point.
June 24, 2026
Took me so long to finish because there was very little plot or character development. I'm a big Magic: The Gathering fan, so I pushed through anyway.
Stiff dialogue and prose is unfortunately common in fantasy writing and there's no exception here. Way too much repetition about the invasion and Park Heights falling.
Worse: so much of Strixhaven is depicted as any normal University with cafeterias, grades, and sports practice, but with funny names. I didn't pick up this book to read about college kids playing hacky sack.
Stiff dialogue and prose is unfortunately common in fantasy writing and there's no exception here. Way too much repetition about the invasion and Park Heights falling.
Worse: so much of Strixhaven is depicted as any normal University with cafeterias, grades, and sports practice, but with funny names. I didn't pick up this book to read about college kids playing hacky sack.
August 5, 2026
No significant events happen for the first 3/4 of the book, and the events that do eventually happen aren't interesting. There isn't even really anything of interest here about Strixhaven as a school or culture. For a book about magic it's incredibly unmagical; the students barely do any magic and none of it is exciting. I genuinely don't know why this book exists.
June 23, 2026
It's been 7 years since the last novel set in the Magic the Gathering multiverse (War of the Spark) and another 8 years before that was The Quest for Karn - so really its been 15 years since we have had consistent storytelling in novel format. Honestly that says a lot about WOTC's care for the long history of magic lore - it feels like it's all but been abandoned in favour of blending in franchises that often fit poorly for the sake of increasing profit and at the behest of many entrenched fans. So when this was announced, as an avid fan and player I HAD to purchase it to show my support of what I love about Magic and (hopefully) encourage more of this moving forward. I thought the book was great. Arcavious is one of my favourite planes, and who doesn't love a book about students learning to use magic (I think JK Rowling proved that thoroughly). But make no mistake, despite what critics might say, this is no Harry Potter rip off, and I think the theme of displacement and dealing with the hardships of racism (or is it plane-ism?) were well explored. I thought the novel started abruptly, it felt like we were thrust quickly into the story and I initially felt like I didn't know Eula (the protagonist) at all before things got moving. Soon I realised that actually most of the book is focused on exploring these themes of character and less about an action packed or epic plot, and I found the mini story beats a bit low stakes feeling. I kept wondering when the big conflict or war would begin, but soon let it slide and was able to simply enjoy what was being presented. The final showdown really felt like it only involved the final 10 pages of the book (slight exaggeration) and it wasn't insanely satisfying, but it tied things up nicely and left things open for a possible sequel which I like the idea of - even if it feels unlikely. The thing stopping this book being 5 stars for me is there weren't any really clever moments, jaw-dropping revelations or really suspenseful moments (in my opinion). It's kind of a problem with soft magic systems because of course the characters can just do the right type of magic at the right moment to solve whatever problem is presented. But this is how the multiverse works so overall I was fine with it, but I kind of hoped for just a little more ingenuity. That said, I really hope there are more MTG books commissioned, because there is so much potential there, and at the very least this is a good start and a fun way to help bring some context, meaning and enjoyment to the cards in the game. I also think if you don't play the game, the novel stands alone too, but the game makes me want to read the books and ideally the books should enhance the game too. I think this is the secret sauce and hopefully WOTC will come round to seeing it too.
April 4, 2026
I struggled with this one. I almost dnf-ed it.
I do enjoy fantasy books, I like to read about imaginary worlds and characters where the impossible becomes real.
In Strixhaven, I really appreciated the diversity of the characters. The Multiplane universe and the fact that the main 5 characters are off plane from different species was refreshing, where someone different sparks genuine curiosity and interest rather than hostility. There were hostile situations, but as a reader you are led to root for the 5 off plane students, regardless of their origins and how different they are from us.
I also enjoyed the interludes: these windows into each single character’s point of view, inner agenda, thoughts and struggles. The interludes brought the characters closer to my heart.
What didn’t work for me is the pace, oooooohhhhh soooooo slooooowww.
I like descriptions to help me imagine the setting, but here it felt that the detailed descriptions were subtracting from the story. Going from A to B to do C took forever and I got lost in all the details. I couldn’t bring myself to care anymore.
The other students felt like a big background noise. Fading characters strolling around campus, making the experience unrealistic. Like a building fit for a thousand people where only 5 really matter. In school fantasy settings there are usually more side characters that help you get an understanding of the daily life of the main characters and what is their thought process towards the diversity and other students.
Towards the end it picked up the pace a bit more, but I don’t feel the pull of something ominous to be fought or revealed that I absolutely want to find out about in the next book. It just felt like a big “so what?”.
Maybe I haven’t tried hard enough, but I wish I would have not had to try at all and that I had been swept in, which I obviously haven’t.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
I do enjoy fantasy books, I like to read about imaginary worlds and characters where the impossible becomes real.
In Strixhaven, I really appreciated the diversity of the characters. The Multiplane universe and the fact that the main 5 characters are off plane from different species was refreshing, where someone different sparks genuine curiosity and interest rather than hostility. There were hostile situations, but as a reader you are led to root for the 5 off plane students, regardless of their origins and how different they are from us.
I also enjoyed the interludes: these windows into each single character’s point of view, inner agenda, thoughts and struggles. The interludes brought the characters closer to my heart.
What didn’t work for me is the pace, oooooohhhhh soooooo slooooowww.
I like descriptions to help me imagine the setting, but here it felt that the detailed descriptions were subtracting from the story. Going from A to B to do C took forever and I got lost in all the details. I couldn’t bring myself to care anymore.
The other students felt like a big background noise. Fading characters strolling around campus, making the experience unrealistic. Like a building fit for a thousand people where only 5 really matter. In school fantasy settings there are usually more side characters that help you get an understanding of the daily life of the main characters and what is their thought process towards the diversity and other students.
Towards the end it picked up the pace a bit more, but I don’t feel the pull of something ominous to be fought or revealed that I absolutely want to find out about in the next book. It just felt like a big “so what?”.
Maybe I haven’t tried hard enough, but I wish I would have not had to try at all and that I had been swept in, which I obviously haven’t.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
May 27, 2026
The two stars doesn’t necessarily mean it was bad. I had an okay time with it. It just felt kinda small. I’m gonna chalk that up to modern WotC management not working cohesively with their Hasbro overlords. The book itself was very readable, the characters were interesting and clearly a lot of thought went into how all the different cultures would clash and it made for interesting reading BUT, this entire narrative felt totally disjointed with the marketing and feel of the actual Strixhaven set that released alongside it. The books characters were nowhere to be found within the depictions on the cards, Likewise, there was no appearances from Tam, Jace, or the other Omenpath travelers from the main focus of the game’s storyline here aside from Liliana who is nice to see but mostly just around to be the memberberry. Not that there’s any problem with an unrelated side story but it just felt like if they truly wanted this to help expand or promote the brand they might have done a better job of communicating that to the author? Because the set is about the wonder and secrets of the big magical multiverse school! Wow! And this book is about the perils of being a singular representative of a culture in an otherwise homogenous culture in the wake of a force of nature tragedy? Both cool ideas but reading this book did not feed my enjoyment of or texture my experience with the set which feels like a big miss? For all the pressure I’m sure Hasbro puts on WotC their actions sure feel short sighted and profits over all, including the consumer so much of the time. Idk what events conspired to make this book happen but I did ultimately enjoy it and I would love to see the company put out more physical literature alongside the game again. Just maybe put a little more care in next go, and maybe let the author do something a bit more grown up.
May 7, 2026
Magically rich, narratively flat!
Can a book be both captivating and frustrating at the same time? The Strixhaven certainly fits that paradox. While the introduction pulled me in, much of the prose felt dry and lacked the charm I’ve come to expect from Seanan McGuire. The characters felt flat and one-dimensional, almost robotic, which made it hard to connect with them, and I often found myself debating whether to set the book aside.
But then there was the world. And that’s what kept me going. The magic here is genuinely exciting. It is less whimsical than Hogwarts, but not nearly as grim as the Scholomance. It struck a refreshing balance, with layers of complexity in the planes, the people, and even the little scientific touches that made the magic feel oddly believable.
The book also suffers from overcrowding. Too many background characters clutter the scenery and make it difficult to follow. The lack of real character growth left me wanting more. With tighter focus and richer personalities, this could have been something special.
So, I’m torn. The world-building enchanted me, but the execution left me cold. The Strixhaven is a book that shines in its setting but stumbles in its storytelling, a magical idea that never quite reaches its full potential.
Thanks to Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore, and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.
2.5/5🌟.
Can a book be both captivating and frustrating at the same time? The Strixhaven certainly fits that paradox. While the introduction pulled me in, much of the prose felt dry and lacked the charm I’ve come to expect from Seanan McGuire. The characters felt flat and one-dimensional, almost robotic, which made it hard to connect with them, and I often found myself debating whether to set the book aside.
But then there was the world. And that’s what kept me going. The magic here is genuinely exciting. It is less whimsical than Hogwarts, but not nearly as grim as the Scholomance. It struck a refreshing balance, with layers of complexity in the planes, the people, and even the little scientific touches that made the magic feel oddly believable.
The book also suffers from overcrowding. Too many background characters clutter the scenery and make it difficult to follow. The lack of real character growth left me wanting more. With tighter focus and richer personalities, this could have been something special.
So, I’m torn. The world-building enchanted me, but the execution left me cold. The Strixhaven is a book that shines in its setting but stumbles in its storytelling, a magical idea that never quite reaches its full potential.
Thanks to Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore, and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.
2.5/5🌟.
Did Not Finish
April 9, 2026DNF @ 72%
This is the 18th book I've read from Seanan McGuire and apart from the thoughtful handling of explicitly queer characters, I wouldn't be able to tell you this was her writing. It's far more barebones than her normal prose and for most of the book I felt like I was in the opening episode of a TV series where it has to setup the world and large cast of characters and largely falls back on cliches (the sort of thing the Mean Girls cafeteria scene was referencing/spoofing).
Overall this didn't capture my intrigue and it's been pulling teeth trying to finish it for this review. I'm very grateful to the publisher, but I think I can only say that I don't recommend this for someone who is wholly new to the lore of Magic nor for someone who wants a dark academia read. This is much more suited to a YA audience who enjoys boarding school fiction, Magic: the Gathering, and some light Fantasy elements.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This is the 18th book I've read from Seanan McGuire and apart from the thoughtful handling of explicitly queer characters, I wouldn't be able to tell you this was her writing. It's far more barebones than her normal prose and for most of the book I felt like I was in the opening episode of a TV series where it has to setup the world and large cast of characters and largely falls back on cliches (the sort of thing the Mean Girls cafeteria scene was referencing/spoofing).
Overall this didn't capture my intrigue and it's been pulling teeth trying to finish it for this review. I'm very grateful to the publisher, but I think I can only say that I don't recommend this for someone who is wholly new to the lore of Magic nor for someone who wants a dark academia read. This is much more suited to a YA audience who enjoys boarding school fiction, Magic: the Gathering, and some light Fantasy elements.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
June 24, 2026
Well, the first reason are my personal convictions about some aspects of the book but that's not super relevant cause I could have pushed through that. I have read a few books that I personally dont agree with.
However, two things stand out: the dialogue is not natural to life and the main thrust of the book is not exploring Magic lore but the lives of these random students. First, the dialogue felt terrible. No one I have ever talked to talks like that. Nothing could just be left ambiguous and tension could not be made cause everyone just talked their exact feelings for everyone to know exactly. It didnt feel real. They also felt super entitled to the craziest stuff which I could get over but nah. Not 200 pages in still.
Second, I really like learning about very specific Magic lore and characters. This felt like a slice of life anime about random people. Some lore was dropped that was important and I was excited to hear about but most was just "college" life. Although, I felt like it was more like high school life with how everyone acted. Sure, they are supposed to be young people but come on. What college, even magical, would be that high school like. I really wanted to like this book and may even try to finish it later. But it just sucked the life out of reading.
However, two things stand out: the dialogue is not natural to life and the main thrust of the book is not exploring Magic lore but the lives of these random students. First, the dialogue felt terrible. No one I have ever talked to talks like that. Nothing could just be left ambiguous and tension could not be made cause everyone just talked their exact feelings for everyone to know exactly. It didnt feel real. They also felt super entitled to the craziest stuff which I could get over but nah. Not 200 pages in still.
Second, I really like learning about very specific Magic lore and characters. This felt like a slice of life anime about random people. Some lore was dropped that was important and I was excited to hear about but most was just "college" life. Although, I felt like it was more like high school life with how everyone acted. Sure, they are supposed to be young people but come on. What college, even magical, would be that high school like. I really wanted to like this book and may even try to finish it later. But it just sucked the life out of reading.
April 24, 2026
Thank you to Random House Worlds and Netgalley for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway.
While I have a rough idea about Magic: The Gathering I mainly picked up this book because of Seanan McGuire being the writer. From what I gather, my opinion wouldn't change if I was a big Magic player. Unfortunately this did not work for me.
Eula was always meant to be mage. Until the war. Now she is working a dead end job. Then an invitation comes to study magic at a distant school called Strixhaven. But this new school isn't as great as maybe intitially thought?
I wanted to like this but at no point did I actually care about Eula. At no point did the world come alive for me (and even if this is set in a known world, you still have to sell it).
The first 50% trudged on before something really happened. By then it was too late to get anything moving from me though.
As you can see I don't actually have a lot to say about this book. I was pretty apathic towards this book. I read it. That was it unfortunately.
While I have a rough idea about Magic: The Gathering I mainly picked up this book because of Seanan McGuire being the writer. From what I gather, my opinion wouldn't change if I was a big Magic player. Unfortunately this did not work for me.
Eula was always meant to be mage. Until the war. Now she is working a dead end job. Then an invitation comes to study magic at a distant school called Strixhaven. But this new school isn't as great as maybe intitially thought?
I wanted to like this but at no point did I actually care about Eula. At no point did the world come alive for me (and even if this is set in a known world, you still have to sell it).
The first 50% trudged on before something really happened. By then it was too late to get anything moving from me though.
As you can see I don't actually have a lot to say about this book. I was pretty apathic towards this book. I read it. That was it unfortunately.
September 25, 2026
This book wan't exactly what I was expecting but I really quite enjoyed it as an exercise in fleshing out the planes of the setting. The story itself felt accessible to newcomers whilst also dropping a lot of fun lore for those already immersed, although I felt much of the joy to be had with the book was located here as opposed to the narrative. Its a classically tropey YA romp through a fantasy setting, and I believe its unfair to judge it by other standards as it succeeds really quite well here (if a little rushed towards the end). The diverse cast really shines through in this, I could happily take another book on each of them!
May 27, 2026
Magic the Gathering has held a place in my heart for years. I love playing with my friends. I got into Magic more around the War of the Spark era so I got the chance to read the Worlds of Ravnica book as well. The amount of joy I got when I saw one of my favorite authors was then writing a book in the MTG world?! Made my day.
The book itself was super fun. The school setting, the magic of Magic, mixed well with Seanan McGuire's whimsical writing style. I only want more.
The book itself was super fun. The school setting, the magic of Magic, mixed well with Seanan McGuire's whimsical writing style. I only want more.
June 9, 2026
Its a nice book if you love the lore from magic the gathering like me. It has its flaws as it is slow paced and the action happens at the end of the book and kind of has a classic and simple plotline. Some of the actions of the characters are a bit out of place if you look at their actual intentions in my opinion. The details about certain planes and backgrounds of known characters is delighting to read about.
June 17, 2026
This was a lot more college academia and world building than I thought it would be. I was expecting more magic and adventure. I wasn't expecting to literally be following the characters throughout their course schedule. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the characters and story, despite feeling like kequia and jamira were kind of underdeveloped and the story lacked a real conflict. Something about this book kept me pulled in though. Maybe it was me hoping for more romance aspects. I was really under the impression this would have more romance, but I don't know where I got that idea. I do wish there was more flirting and tension between eula and segante. I feel like he wasn't that interested in her, and she had a surface level crush, but then suddenly they're into each other. Well, I guess that's just a budding romance.
I don't play magic the gathering or know lore so I don't know any of the references, but it was fun debriefing with my boyfriend and talking about commonalities with the game like strixhaven, the colleges, the pests, the founder dragons, the planeswalkers. Getting more insight into his interest in MTG is probably also partly why I really enjoyed this book.
I don't play magic the gathering or know lore so I don't know any of the references, but it was fun debriefing with my boyfriend and talking about commonalities with the game like strixhaven, the colleges, the pests, the founder dragons, the planeswalkers. Getting more insight into his interest in MTG is probably also partly why I really enjoyed this book.
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