Magic the Gathering - 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 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, High Fantasy, Young Adult, Magic, Fiction

480 pages, Kindle Edition

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.

[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.

[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.

[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!

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is now a segante stan account.

[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.

[Trisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

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🌟.

[Levi H. · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[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.

[Annemieke / A Dance with Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[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.

[Zach Brawner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this book rather quickly, but I can't say that it had me gripped. I'll admit that I haven't read YA books for a while and that may be why some it feels a bit lacking, but my overall impression of the book is mixed. I'm very familiar with Magic as a game and the stories inside of it. I don't think it is 100% necessary to go into this book with that background knowledge, but I think it makes a lot of the world more interesting.

The book's biggest issue, for me, is pace. I felt that even in parts I enjoyed, the book dragged a bit. There were very little, if any really, tensions building until maybe the 50% point. There are some conflicts and inner turmoil, but it all feels so minor and quickly passed through. There is quite a bit of world building, and it makes sense since the story is about 5 students from different planes coming together on a plane new to them all for school. This lets a lot of the explanations feel natural even if someone is already familiar with faucets of the background lore. I didn't personally feel like it was an exposition dump or boring, however because so little ends up happening until later on it makes this in the beginning standout more negatively.

I liked all the characters overall. Eula, the main POV character, has good motivations and I quite like the plane she is from, New Capenna. Perhaps because she is the main POV character though, I felt like her characterization was inconsistent. The plane she is from, and she says as much numerous times, is about building influence and favor with other people. It's something she is very familiar with and actively enjoys doing it seems. It's weird to me then when several times throughout the story she suddenly becomes aware that she has perhaps not spent much time with two of the people in her group. This is odd, because she also strives to make keen observations about people's relationships and understands greatly the need to build relationships. She mentions several times that she does this with her school of interest, Silverquill, but neglects those literally next door to her. Also, for someone from a plane of cunning and secrecy she is remarkably witless even while her inner thoughts seem to indicate that she is always thinking of alter motives and lies. This is particularly jarring when a key point in the story is her receiving an anonymous note that seems like a threatening trap, she reasons is a threatening trap, but decides to walk straight into it without the slightest plan for not explained reason. She simply decides to put those concerns to the side. It honestly took me by surprise because even the other character's inconsistencies (which we'll get to, trust) are not nearly as egregious as hers. I can only assume it's because the story needs to happen that she does some of the things she does and that is disappointing. That said, her New Capenna culture shines through in a very positive way and I do enjoy that.

Alandra is the second of the five students we're introduced to. She is someone that people familiar with Magic will enjoy seeing as well as getting nameless references to her father Talrand. She is introduced as shy and anxious girl, effectively a princess because of her father's position of the seas., but with great magical abilities. I like the depictions we get of her dealing with her anxiety and I appreciate her struggles at Strixhaven as is she clearly the one least interested in being apart of this program. She is, sadly, another character that I find to bounce around for character consistency. Each of the 5 students naturally fit into one of the five colleges on the campus and this is explicitly by design with their recruitment to the school. It is stated that Alandra was assumed to go into the Silverquill school to build diplomacy and other debate skills as she is effectively a princess on her plane. This makes some sense as we do see moments where Alandra is clever and observant, but she ends up going with Prismari because she enjoys developing her explosive storm magic. There's never really a reason given for this beyond "Prismari likes explosions and storms are explosive" basically which is disappointing as the students in the school are all expressly artists at heart. The create in many different ways, but we mainly see sculpture, music, and design. Alandra never shows an affinity for anything like that nor any interest in the school beyond the "explosive" streak the students in the college tend to have. It is strange because she does not shirk away from her assumed responsibilities of being Talrand's daughter and presumably needing to lead the merfolk on her plane, which diplomacy skills would be incredibly important for. Further, it's shown to us that the drakes and the merfolk on her plane have a link where they can be asked to help them. It is only described as "asking" and "charming" which further establishes Silverquill as a better fit for her talents and ambitions. Eula makes complete sense for the school as well, as do the schools for the other students, but Alandra seems to be missing reasoning the most for her school choice. This is a minor gripe, the major issue I take with her character is how she mainly seems to be something there for the story to happen and not a character herself. A surprising number of conflicts in the book stem from Alandra in some way. Alandra fights another student because a stranger shared a lie that she instantly believed despite having spent weeks if not months with them and would presumably have the slightest of grace to at least hear the other student out. No, instead we learn that she is physically suffocating from the lack of mana on this plane compared to her own. I think this is supposed to excuse her lashing out, but greatly misses the mark to me and her friends are remarkably quick to forgive and move past the incident. However because of this, they got a swamp for her and because of that have a confrontation with our main "antagonists" in the book. Then, later, she randomly suggests a duel with a friend as a way to blow off some steam which results in another confrontation with our antagonists that is especially strange because Alandra has shown no interest in combat, duels, or even using her magic outside of confrontations so how she would even suggest something like this to a student that has equally no interest in combat and duels is beyond me. Then, after that, her companion drake, who I find quite charming honestly, is taken as bait so that all 5 of them can be taken to the big finale of the book. It's especially convenient and strange that this drake companion who is always by her side to help her anxiety and who she has a deep bond with in general is unnoticed as missing long enough to be taken. I think Alandra has the room to be a very interesting character, but this book is not the place where that was realized.

Segante is a shiny and refreshing character in this story. He is very consistent throughout and I would say has the most growth out of all of the characters, which to say any. His plane is very interesting and the ways the culture comes in is both natural and charming. His interests in flowers, his consistent actions and thoughts that everyone is around to betray each other, and even his budding romance with Eula are all handled well. The scenes he is are the best because he adds a real voice to what are otherwise mild characters. It's fortunate that he is in the majority of them because of this. The handling of his identity is done very well in the story. In the larger world of Magic (beyond the scope of this book so it in no way is the fault of the author) it comes off as strange because there is never a point where someone is judged for their identity like it happens in the real world. This representation is nice and well done, but feels a little off when in stories like this because I think it mixes the real world prejudice into the fantasy where that prejudice doesn't occur. The interlude we get with Segante is far too short for me personally and I wish this book featured multiple POVs just so we could see more through his eyes.

The last two characters I'm going to put together because very little time is spent with them in general. The characters as a whole are fairly flat (Segante being the only exception) and these two come across that way especially because we get so little of them.

Jamira and Kequia are roommates and are both family with planeswalkers and have complicated relationships with that. Jamira is a minatour and even on her own plane they as a race were looked down on intellectually. This is a chip she carries with her clearly as she demonstrates she is more than just strong and that makes her choice of Quandrix college make sense. Kequia's magic is psychometry and that's basically the only reason she goes with the Lorehold school, but that's enough for me. These two are only here, I presume, because they needed 5 students for the 5 colleges. I like what we get from them, but that little bit just makes me realize how little they tie in to the others. Eula notices this herself as she doesn't spend time with them outside of meals and she is the most social of the group. Kequia doesn't undergo any change or really any character conflicts throughout the story, thus the reveal of her cheating to change some of her grades comes across as forced. She comes from a very notable family so her already high grades is sometimes not good enough is the excuse but that seems rather weak given that despite the numerous times we get blurbs from her grandfather (Planeswalker Teferi) or her mother there is nothing like this pressure. It's even revealed to us later with the scholars from Tolarian West that she wasn't on their radar for admission (despite her legacy and intelligence) until Strixhaven has taken her in, meaning that this wasn't tied to some sort of scholastic rivalry or anything. Kequia is pleasant and has potential but never has the space to do more. Jamira is much the same way, but I would say has a jarring characterization change near the end. She betrays her friends because she fears becoming a Planeswalker like her father and firmly believes the planes should be separated. That is one thing, but her actions support the group of people who try to kill Eula and though Jamira believes that Eula wasn't in serious harm (which is factually untrue and Jamira is left unchallenged with that naive thought) it is rather jarring that she would work with people who resent her friends. Jamira does resist the attack at the swamp, even though at the time she would be working with them towards their end goal, so she does have first hand knowledge that this group will physically harm them if they need to, but still works with them. This only changes after it's revealed that Kamina lied to her to get her to help their cause, a change that her friends are again awfully quick to accept even if it takes a breath longer than the last confrontation. The change is still strange though because Jamira is depicted as an observant and thoughtful person, one who carries heavy grief and an ingrained stigma that others look down on her intelligence and yet allows herself to be yanked around by people who openly resent her being here on a chance. Kazmina does lie to her, but even that is a bit of a stretch because Kazmina herself presents it as a possibility rather than a true promise to me. Ultimately Jamira is left confusing at best, but mainly just not fleshed out to the point I can't really say her characterization changes through the story, but we get so little of her that I can't really explain these actions.

These 5 characters are the main cast of the book. Their main struggle is against students at Strixhaven who don't want them here. That's totally fine, except they don't handle it well at all. For the most part they just ignore this, which seems out of character for basically all of them. To a degree that makes sense, but as the threats ramp up and become more serious it makes no sense that these adults wouldn't seek help with this. Especially given the fact that we're told and somewhat shown they have positive relationships with students at the school. This isn't really fleshed out sadly to give us more concrete proof, but is certainly there and only adds to the strangeness that they don't even complain to them about it. It's kept surprisingly insular for mostly no reason as far as I'm concerned. That said, it's also barely anything more than petty school dynamics up until the end, but in a story that reminds us a few times that the characters are adults their way of handling this is strange. The story could've definitely benefited in showing us, even a little, the cast interacting with students in specific positive ways to show them building relationships we're only, if anything, told about happening. The story takes place over the course of months (I think it's one semester but may be two?) and yet they don't really seem more at home on the campus than they did at the start.

That brings us to the final character worth going over, Kazmina. She is ultimately revealed to be the main antagonist in this story. Her plan is to restore the multiverse to how it was, viewing the omenpaths connecting planes as scars left from the Phyrexian invasion, and more selfishly wanting to reignite her Planeswalker spark. She truly does believe this is the best for the multiverse at large, thinking that the separations of the planes is what keeps the Blind Eternities, a sortof great infinite connective tissue between realities, stable. This is fine motivation, but comes so late (literally the last ~50 or so pages) that it's less of a surprise reveal or twist and more of a "well we need someone to be the big villain so...). It's unclear if she leads the Preservationists or just uses them towards this goal, but it is very strange as someone so cunning and manipulating as Kazmina would be assumed to have better strings to pull. Liliana is juxtaposed to her, being a former Planeswalker who seems indifferent to losing her spark, embracing the new interconnected planar future ahead of them. Both of them are delightfully written overall, and I enjoy any scenes they're in, but it again leads to a further confusing characterization of Kazmina. Kazmina would be well aware of Liliana's interest in the 5 students and she is also aware of Liliana's history to know she is clever enough and powerful enough to be who she is. Kazmina not considering this factor in her plans shocks me entirely and goes unaddressed in the book, presumably because there really is no reason. The ending fight is flashy but somewhat boring honestly as Kazmina is defeated (whether that means died or simply elsewhere in the multiverse is unclear) but happens as a result of "chaotic magic" in the snarls which does make sense but feel more like a cop-out than a satisfying ending to the battle.

All together, I found the book to have enjoyable highs and benign lows. I think some of my enjoyment and disappointment stem from me knowing the characters of Magic more and thus having questions around some of the ways they're portrayed, but I don't think that takes away from the experience for the average reader. It was an enjoyable read, certainly the type of story to fill in as a mild story between more dramatic ones. The pacing is slow and doesn't really pick up until the latter third of the book, but if you get through it you are rewarded with some good character moments and a complete story that could continue on into more. The world building is a mix of vivid descriptions and insightful questions for the changing universe, but that is at odds with the rather shallow and sometimes out of character cast.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read, but I had higher expectations knowing the author's previous (more compelling) work. Still, if you like MTG, you will (likely?) enjoy the time spent here.

[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.

[Corv · Rating 2 out of 5]

Came to this book as a Magic the Gathering fan and a fan of Seannan McGuire, so I had pretty high hopes for it. I had no real love for Strixhaven specifically — given how I was over Harry Potter long before its author had her evil turn, I had not really been looking for a new wizard school to replace it — but I was certainly willing to be convinced. And the book started just fine! We met our main characters and got some fun glimpses of what their home planes were like, we got settled in at school, and I was tentatively hopeful that I would come to like these characters!
And then nothing of any consequence happens for about 200 pages. It’s excruciating. Chapter after chapter of things that seem like they might lead to a plot, but instead fizzle out, or being reminded that our main character, End User License Agreement Blue is canny and manipulative while watching her make stupid decision after stupid decision, or hearing about more interesting things that happened while the characters were in class, but never actually seeing them in class, where we might have gotten more natural worldbuilding (instead of just the repetitive “wow, New Capenna and Fiora are similar but also different!” we get every time Eula and Segante are in a room together. I GET IT. THEY’RE BOTH ITALIAN!) or gotten to actually see how the characters differ from the people around them, instead of just being told it. Our group of inter-planar students experience a parodic level of bullying from their peers, which they inexplicably never tell anyone about. Look, I understand how stories work, so I know they shouldn’t trust their advisor. But at no point do I understand why Eula doesn’t trust her. If it’s just because she has her own reasons for bringing the students to the school, you’d think Eula (as smart as we’re TOLD she is) would maybe consider that would mean the teachers would have a vested interest in ensuring the safety of these students. One of the group reveals later that living on the plane has made her sick, and they don’t tell any of their teachers about it because… why? They were told at the beginning that the school needs the students, because they lost too many during the Invasion. Why would the teachers not need to know that it might make a student sick? What is gained by sneaking around? What would have been risked by being honest? The book never told me, even though this secrecy is the only thing propelling the book forward.
Also, while it’s fun how diverse the cast is, the thoughtlessness of it sometimes frustrates me. It doesn’t escape my notice that the only Black member of the cast is also the one that gets the least amount of focus, and at one point is grabbed and screamed at by one of her friends, and afterwards, joins the rest of the group in being more concerned about said friend than the fact that she was assaulted in her own home. Sorry, Kequia. You deserved a better book.
When we finally get to the story’s conclusion, it’s exciting and fun. The pace picked up, for once, and things actually happened. I liked it! The book wasn’t without merit, but it WAS without enough substance to fill over 400 pages. It feels like they plotted out a really solid webfiction for the recent Magic the Gathering set, and then filled it out with a bunch of nothing until it was novel length. It if had been a novella, it would have been really good, maybe even great. But sadly, it’s a novel, and it’s awful. 2 stars.

[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.

[Trent · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wrote this review as someone who loves Magic the Gathering and its lore.

I was initially very excited at the announcement of this book. I really want more novels in the future, but I have issues with a few things in this book. You would think that after decades of the Dark Academia genre being popular, a Magic the Gathering Dark Academia story would be easy to add conflict, mystery, and fun but unfortunately this is not the case.

As stated in other reviews, the pacing is horrible. The first half of this story is fluff and slice of life. No conflict, antagonists, and hardly any sort of magic in your Magic the Gathering story. The beginning spends too much time talking about the characters and treading on previously discussed topics “My family always tries to kill me” “I’m shy and my drake is important to me” “I’m doing this for my family’s betterment” and other statements that will be repeated throughout the story.

The characters are 2.5 dimensional. They have desires but they’re stand ins for tropes seen ad nauseam: brunette self insert character who’s going to be the best she can, the shy artist, the edgy plant lover, the athletic LGBT girl, and the intelligent and experienced POC girl. Which brings to another point: lack of male characters. There are only maybe five or so named male characters in this story. Which for a book directed at young girls isn’t bad, but I thought I’d mention it for anyone thinking about giving it to a younger boy as he may not relate to any of the core characters. The character lineup also looks like it was made in 2019 where it’s just a little too diverse to the point where it feels unauthentic and like a checklist rather than characters that were created out of love. For anyone who is even a little tired of the kind of story where “Every girl is supportive and likes each other” this may get tiring if you’ve seen it too much.


There are things within this story for Magic fans. Returning characters and lore drops throughout, but the story is not strong enough to really enjoy them for long as you will be brought right out of it and into a slice of life discussion about character goals that are said rather than shown.

I would recommend this book to two people:

- Young girls who want to get into reading and maybe like Magic the Gathering.

- Magic fans who want to know more about the lore and what some characters are doing.

But if you’re looking for an exciting story with compelling characters, you may just want to look elsewhere. I feel bad giving it a 2 Star review, but unfortunately the story is just not that good.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This isn't what she wanted. This isn't the way it's supposed to be. This isn't right.

The Phyrexian Invasion left more scars than there were stars in the sky, a permanent reminder of what was lost and what would never be. From the moment the biomechnical monstrosities of Phyrexia set out on their crusade, they set the Multiverse asunder, painting nothing but death and destruction in their wake.

Eula Blue knows this as well as anyone. A daughter of New Capenna, her entire life has been shaped to maximize her chances of getting a formal offer from one of the five families—the infamous crime syndicates that rule the city.

All of that came crashing down with the fall of Park Heights.

Now here she is, sharing a too-small apartment with her entire family and working as a construction crew shield mage on the lowest level of New Capenna. Her hopes for a better future crushed to pieces like the Phyrexian skeletons littering the city floor.

Until an acceptance letter from a school she's never heard of shows up at her door.

Omens of Chaos follows a group of mage-students who leave their home planes to study magic at Strixhaven University, the premier magical university on the plane of Arcavios, as a part of an experimental exchange student program.

Eula, a shield mage from New Capenna who brokers in knowledge and secrets.

Segante, the guarded nephew to the queen of Fiora, a plane infamous for conspiracy and sabotage.

Alandra, a fiery-tempered merfolk storm sorcerer from Shandalar and her emotional companion drake Orestes.

Kequia, a brilliant psychometrist from Dominaria and the granddaughter of the legendary ex-Planeswalker Teferi.

Jamira, daughter of the Planeswalker Angrath, a blacksmith who lost her entire plane to the Phyrexians.

Handpicked for their potential, their ragtag group wants nothing more than to learn everything Strixhaven has to offer.

Of course, nothing is ever that simple.

Not everyone is happy to welcome them and all too happy to make that known.

Soon, they're thrust into a flurry of near-death situations and forced to fight to prove their place in this world, all while managing their classes and digging into why they were chosen in the first place.

Omens of Chaos is an exciting yet heartfelt story chock-full of compelling characters, rich lore, and the silly appeal of magical university shenanigans and the power of friendship. It's a great read for Magic the Gathering fans or fantasy lovers in general.

[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.

[PsionOverlord (Thomas Stedman) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a person very excited by magic lore and this was kind of a dart aimed right at me. Everything hit me exactly as I think the author wanted it to and I got every lore tidbit the book has right away without feeling them intrusive. I think this book needed some stronger themes or counter motivations for it's main characters, but I assume there will be more. The motivations are kind of just stuff bad not happening to them, I feel like it'd be more interesting if they were broader advocates for the planer exchange stuff, or engaged with the villains counter arguments when possible to disagree with the points they made as I feel like it wouldn't have been out of character for a character who wants to go into debate to do.

I enjoyed it's main characters quite a bit though I wish 3/5 of them weren't just humans, I find that pretty boring, and it's two non-human protagonists are the ones the story is most willing to make into villains briefly for it's mid and endpoint conflicts which is kind of boring. Also I found the final conflict kind of boring and flat compared to the rest of the book.

I think this book was excellently paced for me, I never wanted to put it down except near the beginning and end, everything flowed pretty smoothly to me, though that could just be me being excited to read the first MTG book in a long time. Overall I loved it, but it was kind of enjoyable with little to challenge it's readers. The good guys are good, most of the characters who seem bad are bad, it elevates the magical school tropes far above the potter standard, though I can't say I've read too many other magical school books so I feel unqualified to curve it based on that genre, of the ones I've read it' my favorite and I think it gets way closer to the fantasy Potter was going for, I think the world is a little more lacking then I'd like though, only have 5 very specific and narrow colleges feels very restricting, though again better then harry potter.

[Lawrence 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.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is hard to go wrong with a magic school - even though most magic schools tend to come with some kind of evil plot and Strixhaven is no different in that regard. We follow Eula Blue from New Capenna (a plane where the five families rule everything) across the planes to attend a magic school she'd never heard of on a plane that she'd never heard of. It is a big risk and she is joined by four other students who make up Strixhaven's first ever trans-planar class of students. Upon attempting to settle in at school the group begins to experience what starts as harmless pranks and eventually leads to full on attacks by those who don't want students from other planes at their university.

I think Omens of Chaos is a fun read and definitely helped get me a little be more into my husband's hobby of MTG but having at least known a little lore helped a lot. There is a ton of info-dumping happening at the beginning of this book to the point that we don't even get to Strixhaven for a while, so much time is spent on Eula's journey to school and picking up each new member of their group and establishing what their home plane is like. Even as someone who knows a little about MTG lore it got to be a bit too much at times - again also working within an established canon and lore of MTG I think creates some limitations of what could be done. The story dragged for a long time before one big battle where a character betrays the group for a reason that is just immediately logic-ed into improbable within one conversation with their friends (and this was the character who was supposedly good at logic and math).

I do stan Strixhaven though and as my friend said we all stan non-transphobic Hogwarts. It did inspire me to want to join in on pack openings and dig deeper into the MTG lore though so that is a definite win.

[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.

[MCZ Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I joked to my husband that I was excited to learn how Mage Tower worked after seeing it on Secrets of Strixhaven cards. Over 400 pages later and I still couldn't tell you about Mage Tower, because we never learn what the sport is. We only attend about two classes and a meeting in a book about going to a magical school. This would have been a great opportunity to spend time with characters in the Magic: the Gathering universe, but mostly we end up hearing them discuss the same topics repeatedly.

The novel started off strong with the introduction of the five students attending Strixhaven from other planes. While Eula is the main character, the other characters from diverse backgrounds made for an interesting, well-rounded group. And then the book stalls for about 200 pages before escalating quickly at the end.

My main complaint is that the tone of the book and the sense of stakes never quite match up and vary wildly throughout the book. These characters are supposed to be young adults attending the Magic equivalent of a college, but their mentalities and problem-solving skills are more like those of teenagers. Tonally, there's a sense of dread and apprehension in the atmosphere, but the challenges the characters face don't justify that tone until the events at the very end of the book. I blame the tonal disconnect on the fact that it's not clear who this book is for. If it's for young readers or those new to Magic, seeing the characters engage with their setting would be more appealing than discussing events in the past. If it's for Magic fans, it would have been nice to get a more dynamic storyline set in a familiar plane.

That being said, I would still read another Magic: the Gathering book or another book from Seanan McGuire.

[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