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Secrets of Strixhaven
School Just Got Real
Find your place among the five colleges as we put down the books and delve into the real world! Uncover the Secrets of Strixhaven and prove your college is the best with every spell you cast.
--
Includes prologue ("Off the Record"), the 6 episodes, and the stories:
-"Field Studies in a Future Tense"
-"A Living Flame"
-"Down to the Lake, Alone"
-"Winnowing Season"
-"The Math of More"
Find your place among the five colleges as we put down the books and delve into the real world! Uncover the Secrets of Strixhaven and prove your college is the best with every spell you cast.
--
Includes prologue ("Off the Record"), the 6 episodes, and the stories:
-"Field Studies in a Future Tense"
-"A Living Flame"
-"Down to the Lake, Alone"
-"Winnowing Season"
-"The Math of More"
324 pages, ebook
Published March 1, 2026
3 people are currently reading
3 people want to read
About the author
K. Arsenault Rivera
21 books463 followersPuerto Rico born and New York raised, K is a lifelong fan of all things nerdy. She drew on her love of tabletop gaming for her debut novel, THE TIGER'S DAUGHTER. An out and proud queer, she lives in Brooklyn with her partner.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 25, 2026
Reading my first couple of stories tied to a Magic the Gathering set was definitely a very different experience than I expected. I was expecting a grand, epic story with enough noteworthy and grand moments to fill all the different cards of "Secrets of Strixhaven".
Instead, this anthology of a six chapters to a story, and handfull of side stories told a rather charming story of friendship and painted a vivid picture of the world of Arcavios.
The longer six part story by K. Asernault Rivera was definitely my highlight among these stories, even though I have to differentiate between its first and last three chapters. The first three chapters do an excellent job of introducing us to the main cast and setting up the world and setting, with Titan's Grave of the Witherbloom college as a fittingly mysterious place filled with secrets to set your story. The second half of said story was sadly a bit on the weaker side, as the mystery that was set up so well was rather lacking in its conclusion, and the finale was not only very anti-climactic, it was also a bit out of nowhere for soemone like me, who hasn't consumed any other major storyline connected to MtG.
However, thanks to these stories I switched from Quandrix to Witherbloom for my prerelease and had a blast (I even got to include "Quandrix, the Root" in my deck, which was a nice throwback to my original college of choice)!
Instead, this anthology of a six chapters to a story, and handfull of side stories told a rather charming story of friendship and painted a vivid picture of the world of Arcavios.
The longer six part story by K. Asernault Rivera was definitely my highlight among these stories, even though I have to differentiate between its first and last three chapters. The first three chapters do an excellent job of introducing us to the main cast and setting up the world and setting, with Titan's Grave of the Witherbloom college as a fittingly mysterious place filled with secrets to set your story. The second half of said story was sadly a bit on the weaker side, as the mystery that was set up so well was rather lacking in its conclusion, and the finale was not only very anti-climactic, it was also a bit out of nowhere for soemone like me, who hasn't consumed any other major storyline connected to MtG.
However, thanks to these stories I switched from Quandrix to Witherbloom for my prerelease and had a blast (I even got to include "Quandrix, the Root" in my deck, which was a nice throwback to my original college of choice)!
April 9, 2026
Main story was okay. It felt very melodramatic and a little repetitive (Ajani: "Chandra, you need to listen to reason", Chandra: "I'm sick of people telling me what to do", rinse and repeat). The first chapter that was all epistolary was cute. I found Kirol to be very annoying in this, can't put my finger on why at the moment. Lluwen's struggles to fit in with native elves was kind of interesting, but because he was so poorly set up in the Lorwyn story I don't understand his motivations or care much about him. Like with the Lorwyn story, Sanar is fine, but useless- he's just kind of there. I liked Abigail and Jadzi. Curious to learn more about Fel and Tam. In general what I thought this story did best was leave me excited for Reality Fracture- very intrigued to see what the climax of this arc is going to be.
Thoughts on the side stories:
Loved "The Math of More". Everything Allison Luhrs writes is excellent. The very relatable story of a recent graduate struggling to be a functioning adult and cope with trauma, with a fun magical twist to it.
"Off the Record" was pretty fun. The ending was a little jarring- our protagonists were left with a much darker fate than the tone set by the rest of the story.
"Field Studies In A Future Tense" was a little disappointing. The story itself was fine, but I got excited once the premise was established that we'd get to learn some new tidbits about the Fomori and then we didn't learn anything new except that they had a presence on Strixhaven at some point. The story didn't develop Quint's character in a significant way either, so it kind of felt like a waste of time (unless Stella Lee becomes relevant in Reality Fracture in some way?)
Didn't particularly enjoy "Down to the Lake Alone". Lots of lines that felt like platitudes. Including the name of the monster. The Devotion? Why is it called that? In what way is it related to devotion? Did love this line though: "One of the things she'd learned from Willowdusk, whose thousands of years of life had taught her that most magic is unnecessary, was that the tea got more powerful when people saw you make it." Reminded me of Discworld- sounded like something Nanny Ogg would say.
"A Living Flame" and "Winnowing Season" were fine. No particular thoughts on them.
Thoughts on the side stories:
Loved "The Math of More". Everything Allison Luhrs writes is excellent. The very relatable story of a recent graduate struggling to be a functioning adult and cope with trauma, with a fun magical twist to it.
"Off the Record" was pretty fun. The ending was a little jarring- our protagonists were left with a much darker fate than the tone set by the rest of the story.
"Field Studies In A Future Tense" was a little disappointing. The story itself was fine, but I got excited once the premise was established that we'd get to learn some new tidbits about the Fomori and then we didn't learn anything new except that they had a presence on Strixhaven at some point. The story didn't develop Quint's character in a significant way either, so it kind of felt like a waste of time (unless Stella Lee becomes relevant in Reality Fracture in some way?)
Didn't particularly enjoy "Down to the Lake Alone". Lots of lines that felt like platitudes. Including the name of the monster. The Devotion? Why is it called that? In what way is it related to devotion? Did love this line though: "One of the things she'd learned from Willowdusk, whose thousands of years of life had taught her that most magic is unnecessary, was that the tea got more powerful when people saw you make it." Reminded me of Discworld- sounded like something Nanny Ogg would say.
"A Living Flame" and "Winnowing Season" were fine. No particular thoughts on them.
April 22, 2026
Leuk voor de lore, verder niet erg bijzonder. Kan ook zijn dat ik teveel mis van voorgaande verhalen om bijvoorbeeld de verhaallijn van de planeswalkers Adjani & Chandra echt te waarderen.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 27, 2026
The main story was interesting, but felt rushed and scattered. 3 stars
All five of the side stories were fantastic, dealing with a variety of emotional topics. I particularly appreciated A Living Flame and Withering Season. 5 stars
All five of the side stories were fantastic, dealing with a variety of emotional topics. I particularly appreciated A Living Flame and Withering Season. 5 stars
April 2, 2026
An okay story, I was a bit surprised that we even got a short story for this set since we have a book on the way. It was cool to have a continuation of the story of the Lorwyn 5 at the very least.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews