Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos

by Seanan McGuire

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.

Genres: Fantasy, Magic

432 pages, Hardcover

Published April 7, 2026

About the author

Hi! 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. :(

Reviews

[Robin (Bridge Four) · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Dahlia · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Venneh · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Se... · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Me, My Shelf, & I]

DNF @ 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.

[Moon Plays Magic · Rating 4 out of 5]

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!

[susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is now a segante stan account.

[Mari · Rating 3 out of 5]

I approached Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos as someone who has been largely disconnected from the Magic: The Gathering universe for over twenty years. Apart from following the artwork of friends and colleagues associated with the franchise, I am not deeply immersed in its lore. I read the novel in preparation for a podcast discussion at the end of March, curious to see how it would function both as a story and as an entry point into this expansive multiverse.

My first impression during the opening chapters was one of familiarity through association. The academic setting inevitably evokes comparisons to magical school narratives, while the layered structure of the city and its magical institutions carries echoes of other ensemble-driven fantasy worlds. That said, the novel quickly establishes its own tone and aesthetic identity.

One of the aspects I appreciated most throughout the book was the thoughtful and understated inclusion of mental health and queer representation. Alandra’s anxiety and her small drake companion as a form of emotional support are handled with sensitivity and warmth. Similarly, the queer representation through Sergante and Eula feels organic and integrated into the story rather than performative. These elements are woven naturally into the fabric of the narrative, allowing them to exist as meaningful character traits without being reduced to defining issues. This was, to me, one of the novel’s strongest and most consistent achievements.

At the same time, my overall reading experience was mixed. The worldbuilding is undeniably extensive and detailed. The history of Arcavios, the revelation of the Omenpaths, the structure of the colleges, and the different magical disciplines are explained with great care. For readers deeply invested in the multiverse, this level of detail may well feel like rich fan service. As someone less familiar with the broader lore, however, the first third of the novel often felt closer to a handbook or guided tour of a new world than to a character-driven story.

While the five protagonists are introduced with distinct backgrounds and personal burdens, I found myself longing for deeper interiority, more sustained dialogue, and more intimate group interactions. Key moments that seemed emotionally charged such as the threatening graffiti in their dormitory or the hostility directed at the new students, are acknowledged, but rarely processed in depth through conversation among the five. Given that they are marked as particularly special and selected for Strixhaven under unusual circumstances, I expected more speculation, more shared theories, and more bonding over what sets them apart. Instead, the narrative often moves on quickly.

Similarly, certain scenes that might have offered powerful emotional immersion are resolved abruptly. For example, when Alandra is in distress and searching for water before encountering Veil, I was particularly interested in her inner experience - especially in relation to the Prismari waters and what that might mean for her emotionally and physically. Yet the narrative shifts forward in time, and that moment remains largely unexplored. These transitions contribute to an overall sense of emotional distance.

More broadly, the novel frequently prioritizes detailed environmental and procedural description over interpersonal development. In some passages, I felt as though I was following a vivid visual catalogue rather than a story propelled by character dynamics. Conversely, while the world is rendered with great specificity, the personal arcs sometimes feel comparatively underdeveloped. The characters’ traumatic pasts and the broader themes of invasion and loss are present, but they did not fully resonate with me on an emotional level. The conflicts are introduced clearly, and even the larger antagonistic forces are revealed relatively early, which lessened the sense of suspense for me. Although the finale is action-driven and vividly described, it did not come as a surprise.

I also found myself reflecting on expectations tied to the YA label. I had anticipated a stronger focus on questions of identity, belonging, and interpersonal tension explored through sustained dialogue and evolving relationships. While these themes are certainly present, they often remain on the surface. The repeated emphasis on the characters being perceived as “other” and destined to go separate ways is clear, yet the emotional exploration of that isolation sometimes feels restrained.

That said, I can absolutely see how Strixhaven might resonate differently with readers already embedded in the Magic multiverse. The depth of lore, the careful alignment with established magical systems, and the structured exploration of the colleges may offer exactly the kind of immersion long-time fans appreciate.

In the end, I leave the novel with mixed feelings: admiration for its inclusive representation and ambitious worldbuilding, but a personal sense of emotional distance from the characters and their journeys. I am genuinely curious to hear how more lore-familiar readers experience the story, as perspective may play a significant role in how one connects to this installment in the multiverse.

[Pixie's Book Den · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Aidan Avila · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.1/5 stars

Rant time

As someone who recently is getting into the lore of magic and the stories around it, this book helped boost that want to continue into the game’s lore. Honestly I think my personal enjoyment was what led me to 4 stars. Yet, I didn’t really know what expectations I was supposed to have when coming into this book because I have never read a Magic novel prior and haven’t read any work from the author as well.

It was a pleasant surprise that most of the book was much so a strixhaven worldbuilding plot and an introduction to some very important details about Magic lore. It covers some important characters and important planes along with details of the Phyrexian Invasion. I think that it also having a slice of life and collegiate plot line with another kind of “people trying to find their place a new world” troupe was fitting for the genre it seemed to be going for.

Now I did have a minor disappointment that the book didn’t have more action until the second half. I found the writing the author did for the action scenes were fun and would have loved to see more. I think that wasn’t the main focus of the book and what the true intention of the writing was actually more important to the plot as a whole.

The development of the five characters and the world(s) around them seemed to be the main point and as a new lore enjoyer: it was exactly what i wanted. I’ve always loved school setting but now that I’m older, seeing the setting be in college is so extremely refreshing. Highschool settings really limit things personal enjoyment on older readers (or at least I hope so) so I found a college based one fits that we know our characters are young adults. With the young adult theme, their responsibilities and sense of duty to their families is a lot grander at this stage in my opinion. The choice of work vs college is very real to them more which makes the stakes interesting throughout the story, it’s like a “this is my last chance” versus the forgiving nature of stories towards highschoolers. Now getting the college tangent out of the way, Strixhaven as a school is such a cool setting and, somewhat referring to my prior take, is cooler than Hogwarts. I do not mean to hate in Hogwarts but I do think that the delineation of the schools is cooler. The fact that your innate magic defines more of who you are and it shows more outwardly than just the robe you carry. The idea of it is more my speed and the age demographic fits me more now than it did when I was enjoying the Harry Potter series. Shoutout Harry Potter though, it really is an amazing series.

To wrap up, I gave my opinions as a whole without revealing really anything of the story that would take away from the plot. I hope you enjoy the story like I did. MTG lore is so cool, I will be doing internet deep dives and maybe read the other of the Seanan written MTG novels.

[Phoebe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating- 3.5 stars
(E-ARC)
- Queer and Anxiety Representation
Many thanks to Random House World and the author and Netgalley for inviting me to read and review this early access copy. All opinions down below are my own thoughts and feelings.

This book focused on five different characters- Eula (Shield mage), Alandra (mermaid), Kequia (psychometry), Jamiara (minotatur) and Santagte who loved flowers and had earth magic. They were all from different omenpaths in the universe. It was set in a school where they had to pass their first year and then pledge themselves to a choice of five different colleges. They had been handpicked which you began to learn the reasons on why they were picked. This book was filled full of different fantasy creatures. In some worlds, they had the same creatures but mostly many were new to even the characters. It was also refreshing to see that there was queer and anxiety representation. The anxiety representation was done well where one of the characters had a emotional support animal. There were sprinkles of queer representation in but could have been expended on a lot more.

The Premise of this book sounded really promising. I was really excited to start this book. It sounded really good and for the most part it did keep me engaged. The world building was unique and was different from a lot of books out there. It was immersive and I really enjoyed that different planes were known as different worlds. As time went on, this started to get me confused though. In part, it felt like it acted like I had previous context and I often kept looking to see if I had missed something previously or if this was a sequel to a previous book. It only became obvious when I researched this that this was part of Dungeons and Dragons. I had no previous knowledge it was part of or was told when I got a ARC for it. For the most part you could read this without knowing but I did feel that at times context was needed. From what I did read, this was set before the universe of Strixhaven and focuses on five different students. If this information was conveyed at the start this was part of Dungeons and Dragons I would have been in two ways whenever to pick this up

[Monica Hills · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved all of the elements of this novel! I am obsessed with these characters and their lives. I truly hope there will be more books to come.

This fantasy novel sets five different students from different worlds together in the same magical school. Each student has magic and has been recruited to attend Strixhaven. Eula, our main character, can make magical shields and wants a better life than the one set out by her father. Alandra is merfolk who hopes to learn more magic to help protect her homeland. Segante is from a dangerous world where every day it is about survival. Kequia is from Dominaria and can touch things to learn their history. Lastly, Jamira, is a minotaur from a planet that was destroyed by the Phyrexians. Each student has their own secrets and different reasons for attending this school. However these trans-planar students are not wanted by everyone on the campus. Threats mount against them and the five must use their wits and magic to keep themselves safe.

I loved the world building in this novel. I know absolutely nothing about Magic: the Gathering but it made no difference to me reading this book. I was quickly able to grasp what was going on and how all of the character's worlds worked. I really enjoyed learning about the different aspects of each of their worlds from the customs, creatures, fauna, and lifestyles. This novel had all the elements I look for in a book. There was mystery, action, magic, a little romance, but most importantly great characters. I have never gone wrong reading a book by Seanan McGuire and this one did not disappoint. I really hope to read more!

I highly recommend this fantasy novel especially if you love novels with great characters, magic, dark academia, wonderful world building, fantasy, or just enjoy a great story!

Thank you to Random House Worlds and NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

[Meredith Katz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a delight. It accomplished what I think IP fiction's greatest goal is: making you want to play in that space. Admittedly, even more than playing the set, it made me want to pick up the Strixhaven D&D ttrpg again -- but you can bet I'll be getting the set as well.

The characters were fantastic. I'm not usually all about the Next Generation, but it wasn't a case of Children Of Previous Main Characters for all of them, and in the cases where it was a direct relative, it was someone who wasn't a recent major face character or who did have kids (or grandkids) who would logically have feelings about their inheritance.

Eula is a great protagonist, both highly flawed but very easy to empathize with. The other four leads were also all intriguing. I found myself most drawn to the poisonous, twisted courtesies of Segante, but I think they all had something going for them. Also, always fun to see Liliana!

I also appreciated how queer this book is, and how it made it very clear that trans characters exist and are welcomed in this magical university.

The writing was really fun and sharp, though it tended to repeat key points multiple times throughout (plot wise, character wise, "she knew that it wasn't against the rules but she shouldn't be doing this" over and over). The main flaws I don't think were due to the writing but simply one of the risks of IP fiction that has to fit an established storyline, ,which is that even if there's not a logical reason to not bring authority in to help in situations where they should be, but the plot relies on it, the best that can be done is give an emotional reason for it and push past it quickly.

I look forward to reading more of their adventures, and to the upcoming set, and to picking up my dumb vampire in our Strixhaven campaign someday.

Thanks to NetGalley and to Del Rey for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[L. Lawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for advance access to this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I am a casual Magic: The Gathering fan. I’ve been playing for about a decade and have dipped in and out. I am interested in the lore of the world, so I figured I I’d pick this up in an advance of the new Strixhaven (Magic’s Hogwarts) set coming out.

This novel does what it set out to do. It explains the world of Strixhaven. It explains the lore of Magic. It explains how mana works, and how folks draw mana to fuel their magic. This story focuses on five students coming to the college to learn about magic. These five students are outsiders to the world and they are treated as such. They band together and experience adventures and life at the college. Things eventually go awry, and they’ve got to work through that together for the most part. The author absolutely understood the brief coming from Wizards of the Coast. The author did exactly what the company would want a novel based around the lore to do.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t make for a very interesting novel. What you think will happen in the novel based on the synopsis is pretty much what happens. The characters don’t get a lot of room to breathe. And the conflict doesn’t really start to grow until probably 60% of the way through the novel. The opening is a lot of lore. I found it rather dull, and I would have put it down, except for the fact that I never put down NetGalley books. I want to review the ones that I’ve been lucky enough to have advanced access to, and I owe it to the author in the publisher to read the whole book before I give a review.

This was a well written book. The author understood the brief and executed it perfectly. Unfortunately, it didn’t make for a very interesting book. This one was pretty much as straightforward as could be.

[Nadine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos because I’ve grown deeply invested in Magic: the Gathering lore and was hoping for an exciting, magic-rich story. Instead, the novel delivers a dull coming-of-age narrative featuring young adults who read more like children, set in a magic school that showcases surprisingly little actual magic.

Everything about Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos is stiff and rigid. The characters speak and move around the world like cardboard cutouts of the Planes they’re from and the dialogue is stilted. There are times when there were pages of text between one character asking a question and another answering.

While Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos includes a significant amount of worldbuilding it comes at the expense of an interesting story and engaging characters. The characters are walking representations of their Planes with no other personality or traits.

The novel devotes much of its attention to exploring cultural differences among the characters and the issue with the Planeswalkers. However, given how the story ultimately concludes, Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos would have benefited from being told from a Planeswalker’s perspective, as this central conflict is emphasized throughout the novel yet results in little meaningful plot progression.

Overall, Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos prioritizes rigid worldbuilding and thematic concepts over compelling storytelling, leaving both its characters and plot feeling underdeveloped. While longtime Magic: the Gathering fans may appreciate the lore on display, readers looking for a dynamic, magic-driven narrative are likely to come away disappointed.


***I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Ariana · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author's prose was lovely, the five students introduced into the world of Strixhaven were engaging, and the Strixhaven campus made for a compelling setting where I would love to see more stories. Unfortunately, too much of the work felt constrained by what I can only assume were demands from Magic: The Gathering, wanting the story to introduce Strixhaven as an additional story for their latest trading card set but also not wanting it to do anything more than simply exist.

This resulted in a great deal of exposition and a thin plotline. The first 100 pages of the book involved the students getting gathered up, brought to Strixhaven, and toured around campus. What followed were a few stories that built up the friendships and resentments between the five new students, and then culminating in revelations and a confrontation at the end that I did not feel invested in. Not only were other characters on Strixhaven campus opposed to the five students joining the school--it felt like the book itself was opposed to the idea, not wanting the main characters to leave any lasting impact by the end of the novel.

From what I've seen of the trailer and spoilers for the new Strixhaven set, it appears that Magic: The Gathering isn't invested in these new characters either, which I find frustrating and tragic. I would've loved it if I could see Eula and her classmates appear in the card artwork or in the animated trailer -- but it appears to be wholly new characters and antagonists. I really wish Magic: The Gathering would invest more trust into Seanan McGuire's talents to expand on Strixhaven, as I do feel there is a seed of an incredible story (and what could be more stories to come, if they let that happen), but as it was, I didn't not enjoy how limited this story felt.

[Cass · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

Having read the Wayward Children series, I knew exactly why Seanan McGuire was hired on for this tie-in novel. Colorful characters from all sorts of weird worlds with their own magic systems, going to a boarding school together? Yeah, that checks out for McGuire!

Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos is very much a book for Magic: The Gathering fans, and it comes off a bit inaccessible to non-fans, especially at the beginning as the world is explained to us. I just took things in stride and did a bit of research every time something got name-dropped, and it was smooth sailing from there. I'm sure that MTG players will get a real kick out of all of the references that are flying over my head.

But that's where McGuire's own storytelling skills come into play. Amidst the lore and vast magic system, the book keeps a good focus on the characters themselves, namely Eula Blue and those around her. Segante, especially, is a delight. The pacing for the first half is admittedly rough, bogged down by the introduction to these worlds, but the plot picks up in the second half. Eula is a charming yet clumsy (don't let her hear you say that) narrator, although she does need to fight the worldbuilding itself to make her character journey. It's not just her story, though, that deals with this balancing act of letting the characters shine vs. showing off the cool world of MTG.

Overall, I'd say that this novel does a good job of piquing my curiosity about the world-building in MTG and the fun cast of characters McGuire created, but at times it misses the mark in execution.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC!

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked:
-character-driven storytelling with a strong main cast that play well off each other
-timely plot with themes that are relevant to the world today, with enough subtlety that it didn’t feel preachy
-narrative that uses the setting to tell a story that doesn’t just revolve around “mage fights mage” like many Magic the Gathering stories fall into

I disliked:
-weak supporting cast beyond the main quintet, many of which “one-note” would be a generous description given how little time and development they get
-the lack of developed supporting cast means most characters fall into one of two categories: authority figure (Professor or older student) who is somewhat stern but ultimately helpful/supportive, or antagonistic peer
-continuing off the above, if you just read this story without having some exposure to/knowledge of Strixhaven, I don’t think you’d come away loving the setting: reflecting on what’s in the text and not just pulling from what I know via the card game and D&D book, it ends up feeling like the school is mostly full of bigoted bullies and we hardly see any actual magical learning/classes

Other thoughts:
-I enjoyed my time reading this, and if there’s a continuation I’d be happy to read that
-very happy to see a return to Magic the Gathering novels, and I’m glad I supported this and I’m hopeful others will too
-this felt very YA to me in both good and bad ways, but I haven’t powered through a YA book in ages so it was a refreshing break
-if these characters don’t eventually get their own MtG cards, I’ll be very disappointed

[Collie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve never played Magic: The Gathering and know nothing about it other than it exists, but I found Strixhaven to be an accessible entry point into its world. The magical school is filled with intricate spell work, enchanted writing, and ever-watchful owls (I love an owl). The atmosphere is playful, textured, and brimming with imaginative detail.

Marketing to me as dark academia (I was offered an arc because I liked the Scholomance books so much), the novel leans more toward a character-driven magical school story than the gothic intensity of YA novels in the same basic genre like Boys with Sharp Teeth or adult dark magic school books such as The Incandescent. The tone is approachable and emotionally grounded. At its heart, this is a story about belonging, about students entering a new world, navigating social hierarchies, and figuring out how to define themselves within systems that don’t always make room for outsiders. Those themes are handled with clarity and directness, and I think this book will be accessible to readers looking for a magic school book. The book's emphasis on world-building should really please both existing fans of the Strixhaven setting and 'fandom blind' readers who like immersive environments.

Seanan McGuire’s work is always strong. The prose is polished and confident; you feel from the outset that you are in the hands of a seasoned storyteller. Readers who love Wayward Children series should love this one too.

[Decoy Swann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me get this out first: I probably wouldn't recommend this to anyone who doesn't know anything about Magic: the Gathering. The novel does well to explain the basic premise (what a plane is, the cause of the Omenpaths and all of the pain that came with the Invasion), but there are a lot of parts to the book that either won't make sense to an uninformed reader, or they just won't understand the significance of it.

With that being said, I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who IS familiar with M:tG lore, or is willing to read it alongside a primer. The main characters are interesting and fresh and give an amazing insight into the multiverse post-Invasion. The narrative addressed the colors of magic and the differences between planes in a unique way, and it was fun seeing the interpretations of the various mana color combinations. There were also approximately three-hundred-million easter eggs hidden throughout, handled in a way that made them noticeable but did not distract from the story itself.

I am biased for several reasons. I do love the M:tG story, especially Strixhaven, and I'm a sucker for queer people in fantasy being allowed to live their lives and use magic to feel more comfortable in their body. However, I will admit that the storyline became a bit cluttered around ~60-80% way through the book, with just one or two plot threads that could have been cut for time. Overall, for me, a very solid 8.5/10, rounded down to a 4/5.

[Carla · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to begin thanking the publisher, Del Rey, the author, Seanan McGuire, and Netgalley for letting me read this eArc in exchange for an honest opinion.

After a failed invation that left portals connecting all multiverses, five students are invited to study to Strixhaven, a school of magic, in a full scholarship. That being a perfect occasion not only to get a change at an education, but to explore another universe, Eula Blue takes all her things and goes to her new school.

I have mixed feelings about this book, on one hand, it could have been really good, the first 15% (the trip to the school) was really interesting and, although I don't know a thing about Magic: The Gathering, I felt like I got every piece of information I needed to follow through. But... on the other hand, the rest of the book is filled with information that I guess wants to be world-building, but is useless for the plot and there is no action until the last 15% of the book. This makes every conversation a bit tedious and forced and slows the book a lot. I wanted to know more about the sport Jamira plays, to see more about the classes they went to, see the build up for the romance that was clearly comming and feel how their friendship was growing.

I am a bit disappointed but I hope you have a better experience with it if you decide to give it a try, maybe you have to be a Magic player to really enjoy it and all the unnecessary information are little winks to the game.

[Opal Edgar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've played a lot of Garfield games, but not Magic: The Gathering... and you probably need to enjoy the game to enjoy the book.
As is, it felt like a lot of exposition to me, which made the reading slow. It is needed to understand the rich context, but it probably speaks a lot more to people who see the references. As it was, I wondered if a lot of that couldn't have been cut out.
But my big issue with the book was the 3rd person present tense. It read really weird to me. It's obviously a conscious choice to bring readers closer to the immediacy of the events, but I didn't enjoy it.
The plot is well crafted, good pace, some of the characters are intriguing, one particularly, but it just wasn't my style.
I'd recommend it to fans of the IP.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

I nearly gave up on this two or three times and in the end I'm not sure if I should have. It's a rare misfire from McGuire; there's just so much lore, delivered at various skill levels, and I kept wanting her to lay off the worldbuilding and focus more on character and story. It picks up around two-thirds of the way through, but by then it's too late--the characters are sketched too thinly (this feels like a college with five students and two professors; everyone else gets just the vaguest motion towards characterization, and even the main characters could have been developed more). Then, just when I think the lore is surely over, the villain introduces yet more into their monologue at the end.

Yay for trans representation, boo to nearly everything else.

[Zivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos because Strixhaven: School of Mages Magic the Gathering card set was one of my recent favorites.

The book is set in a magical college with different disciplines for students to choose from. Centered around five students from five different planes within the magic multiverse, dealing with the differences between them and the troubles they have with other students in the school.

The book is a very quick and easy read and while I enjoyed the book, someone who doesn't know the Magic the Gathering lore might have some trouble understanding a lot of the references in the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC.

[London Summers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly this read like an abridged novel. There is huge potential with these characters and this story, but I never felt like there was time to really get invested.

The MC leaves something to be desired, but that is mostly because her culture and orgins are a bit vague, specified but not detailed. Her magic is similar, with her being "incredibly promising" but then struggling to actually be useful in times of need.

The interludes were my favorite part, but at the same time I wish there were a bunch more of them as they could have helped with more worldbuilding. I wish that every interlude was actually 5 interludes, one for each other the main 5 and one for a random side chracter.

[Madyson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Review to come but god this is making me want to play a Strixhaven d&d campaign. The lore and world building was very interesting especially with all of the characters and their abilities and their growth. Maybe I should get more into mtg

[Bevany · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up. this book has a lot of magic and some interesting characters with some fun relationships but I didn’t love the story overall.
This book is ya as well as adult appropriate as it is a clean fantasy book.

[Paula Lyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know anything about Magic the Gathering, so perhaps this was not the book for me. Teens learning about magic has definitely been done before. This is fine, but doesn't seem to stand out from the others enough.

I received an eARC through NetGalley.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm completely new to the Magis: the Gathering world but I do love McGuire's work so... the idea that the multiverse could be collapsed and that there were people who could travel between the planes but who no longer could due to the arrival (presence?) of other ways to travel them was intriguing. One of the things I liked most was the different worlds that the four students invited to Strixhaven came from and how the school was able to create different environments (like Alandra's watery world) for them.

There was so much info dumping here! Inviting students to a school in a different world provides the opportunity to do that, but I did wonder if it was the author trying to bring people who don't know Magic into the fold or if it was just convenient. Honestly, I think I would have caught on even without that.

eARC provided by publisher via Netgalley.