Rath and Storm

Magic: The Gathering: Anthology #3

by Peter Archer (Editor)

Gerrard's Legacy

A collection of powerful magical artifacts is the only defense against the forces of evil that are arrayed against Dominaria. Gerrard, the heir to the Legacy, together with Sisay, captain of the flying ship Weatherlight, has sought out many parts of the Legacy.

Gerrard's Quest

Sisay has been kidnapped by Volrath, ruler of the plane ofRath. Gerrard stands at a crossroads. His companion is in danger, the Legacy may be lost forever. Only he -- with the loyal crew of the Weatherlight -- can rescue Sisay and recover the Legacy.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Magic, Anthologies

311 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 12, 1998

Reviews

[Tom Quinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah, 1998 sci-fi/fantasy paperbacks. I hope there's a treasure trove of them buried out in some middle school's time capsule for future generations to marvel at. They're like fan fiction from a time before fan fiction was a thing. Before anybody with a dial-up connection could publish their own fantasies. A time when professional authors got paid to write the adolescent heroics so many fanboys craved. Some authors really threw everything they had at these pulpy assignments, treating them super seriously. Some went the other way and wrote lighter, more goofy (but never mean-spirited) fare. This anthology has pieces written by several authors, but all are squarely in the first category here. The highly original cast of characters--a swashbuckling sky pirate captain, a pacifist silver golem, a minotaur with trust issues, and more!--are treated with a hell of a lot of dignity as they face down a melodramatic evil overlord and nothing less than The End Of The World As We Know It. The story is straight from the golden age of Magic: the Gathering, a trading card game I fell in love with in 8th grade and still play to this day. If you don't already have a nostalgic connection to that specific game, and this even more specific expansion set, then you may not thrill to the exploits of the Weatherlight crew quite as much as you could. But for me? Right in the feels, as they say.

3 stars out of 5. Good, pulpy, guilty pleasure fun.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Playing the card game, you get a feeling there's rich lore behind all the characters featured on the cards. This story would have had massive potential if most of the characters weren't so bland. Maybe it's the fact that it is told in chunks focusing on the main characters by different authors.

Most of this book was written poorly, however. The characters were bland and not fleshed-out very well. Also, instead of being told as one story from a singular perspective, it hops around to different perspectives: First, as an introduction as a story behind told by an older man to an apprentice (and they keep jumping to these useless characters in between each character story), and then as a character viewpoint told by a different author each time.

Short summary for those unfamiliar with the characters/world: This book covers the characters in a fantasy world where wizards and dragons and goblins thrive. The main characters in this book consist of the crew of the Weatherlight (an artifact ship that's part of something called a Legacy, tied to the destiny of the main character, Gerrard. I don't think I ever recall them describing what exactly this legacy is.. only that it's tied to his fate. There are many similar weak plot-devices/tropes of this nature throughout the book). Gerrard is a soldier... yup, that's about it. Then you have Hanna, the ship's navigator.. Karn, the Silver Golem. Mirri, the cat warrior. Crovax, the nobleman. All of these characters you learn a little about.. but nothing that's actually substantial to the story, apart from Mirri. She is the ONLY character that has a decent (fleshed-out) story in this book. The rest of these characters feel like filler characters. She has SOME tie-in to Gerrard... who kind of? ties into the main story, but it feels like he's just a main character only because he's tied to "the Legacy" (some artifacts of some... significance... somehow!?...).

I really like the card game and think the characters and flavor of the world feel interesting... but I feel this story could have been told a lot better. I plan on checking out the other books, so I guess we'll see if it gets better. Here's to hoping!

[Michael T Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

By far my favorite of the M:TG novels I've read so far, but also one of the strangest. First off, I guess it counts as a novel, not an anthology, since it's basically one (enormous) ongoing story, rather than just thematically or world-related short stories. But it's odd because a) most of the action seems to get glossed over in the interstitial sections, b) the interstitials seem far more interesting, and c) many of the stories seem to be there simply to let us know about characters who have little to no impact on the plot. Sadly, I thought the stories diminished in quality over the course of the book (except the last one, which was pretty stand-out good, if a little melodramatic). I'm really torn on whether I want to bother keeping going with this stuff. I don't particularly like anything I've read, but I see Teferi's going to show up in at least one of the Mercadian Masques books, so ... maybe? Sigh. And this book showed promise, but ... do I care? Very difficult to gauge. I'm not even playing the damn game these days.

tl;dr: Don't read this unless you're interested in the whole Weatherlight saga. This on its own, though the best of the bunch so far, is really just a kind of ... intermediary novel (even though like seven million things happen here).

[MajesticalLion · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an extremely cool concept. While marketed as an anthology, Rath and Storm is undeniably a single interconnected story. The only thing that makes this book an anthology is that each chapter is written by a different author. This idea, while full of potential for disaster without the proper coordination between authors, ends up giving this book an extremely unique flavor. Every chapter has its own style and voice. Each character feels rich and fully realized as if they are all the main character of the story, which is true, in a way. My favorite story was Gerrard's tale, but I have to give a shout-out to the formatting of Greven's tale, which was written in reverse and one of the coolest reads of the book. It was surprising to discover that this book was actually written before Time Streams, making it the first story appearance of Karn and Gerrard. While not extremely surprising for Gerrard, seeing as his only appearance earlier than this chronologically was as a baby at the end of Bloodlines, I was shocked that Karn's debut predated his appearances in Time Streams and Bloodlines. Next, we return to the cyclical format with the Masquerade Cycle, starting with Mercadian Masques.

[The Entertainer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lmao this book is so bad. I've been reading the MTG books lately, and to put it simply... most of them are bad. Despite that however, I've almost always managed to power through and finish the book. Notice I said almost. This book is the only exception. I read a summary of MTG lore that was really well done and thought "Hey, this is really good. I should read the books to get a more detailed version of the story." Unfortunately for me, 50% of this book is literally a summary of the story it's SUPPOSED to be telling in great detail, while the other 50% plops you into a REAL story with no context whatsoever, leaving you confused and annoyed. I put this book down after the first few chapters, and was greatly frustrated when I realized it was an important part of the lore and I'd have to pick it up AGAIN and TRY and finish the book without collapsing. If you're not bound to the lore like I am, PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. It's incredibly boring and just gives you a summary that you could easily find somewhere else for much cheaper and, frankly, the other summary is most likely better anyway.

[Carlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I've been reading the mtg books in order to get to this point because I grew up with my first mtg set being tempest so I kept wondering what Urza and the crew of the Weatherlight were like. I kept reading that this books were "stories" but it's the whole story from Tempest to Exodus!

While I kinda knew what the story entailed because the cards themselves tell it, it was still cool to read it in it's entirety. I thought I was a big fan of Gerrard but he's kinda whatever, I'm a big fan of Urza now though.

I'm going to keep reading up until the apocalypse book and see where this goes. Mayyyybe after if I see that it's connected... we'll see.

[Iain · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best MTG tie-in novels I've read. It benefits from the anthology format wherein each story follows the over-arching story arc, yet not one author is asked to write 310 pages. As with any anthology, some of the members are stronger than others, and here unfortunately the later members tended to be weaker, otherwise it would have rated five stars. Still, solid pup fantasy and recommended for anyone interested in the Weatherlight Saga.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story itself was fine, I just don't think this anthology style and the clunky framing device are for me. It's just really distracting when the POV, voice, and style in general just shift every dozen or so pages and it prevents me from becoming immersed.

It's not bad, it's just not something I enjoy.

[Mart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun for those interested in the game's lore but in terms of fanasty writing it is a bit disappointing. Worldbuilding is good with some interesting creature/monster descriptions but the general plot is vague in places and some important plot moments are mentioned in passing. I also disliked the narration style between a teacher and his pupil.

[Kevin Griese · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is written from the perspective of a teacher retelling the story of the Wrath cycle to a student. The beginning and end of each chapter cut to and from the teacher telling the tale of the Weatherlight from an outside perspective, before cutting into the tale from the perspective of the Weatherlight crew members. I absolutely loved how this story was told!

[J.R. Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting anthology building from the other books. I actually felt a little emotional with Mirri's story.

"I'll take what love I can get"
Jesus Christ imagine people having the guts to use this kind of line Ina children's book. Well done Liz Holiday.

[Scott C. Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great!

Solid stories written from different points of view. I like the “Dark Room” summaries in between chapters. Nice way to fill in details without long exposition.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Covers storyline of going to rescue Sisay as well as many origins. Most interesting stories was of Ertai and Crovax. Ends right before Mercanian begins

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leave a few un answered questions but those questions are interesting enough that you start down a google rabbit hole.

[GINO · Rating 5 out of 5]

good read

Even though it short stories, it tells great adventures of Gerard and his crew. Now I understand more about MTG lore.

[R.K. King · Rating 2 out of 5]

As an anthology, I was interested in the way the various stories were told to cover the same event but from differing perspectives of the characters. While this was a unique approach, the stories themselves for the most part were not very interesting.
It's been a minute since I read the Artifact Cycle, and only knew a little about the Weatherlight crew, but I just couldn't really come to care about most of the characters and their stories here. Save maybe Gerrard and Karn. And maybe Miri.
I had made a goal to read more media-tie-in fiction, but unfortunately this one was a bit of a dud.
Join the RK King readers' list for an exclusive FREE short story, plus inside info, musings, promos and more: RK King Writes

[Chip Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

As far as anthologies go, this is one of the best I've ever read. That's probably because it doesn't really read like an anthology at all. All of the individual stories tie into one another to make up the complete story of Gerrard's quest to Rath, where he rescues Sisay and confounds Volrath's plans of conquest. This story is the focal point of the Weatherlight, Tempest, Stronghold, and Exodus expansion packs for MTG. Additional resources for this story include the graphic novel Magic - The Gathering: Gerrard`s Quest and the beautifully done ART OF MAGIC, THE (Magic the Gathering Artbooks). These two supplementary volumes help flesh out the characters and their mission in better detail (and in full color). I'd recommend them to gain a better understanding of the story.

Gerrard and his companions are some of the coolest characters up to this time (publication date) in the MTG novels. Complex and highly intriguing interactions between the characters and their individual motivations make for an interesting read with lots of side stories to interest the reader. While not all of these are brought to a conclusion, the overall story was wrapped up rather nicely at the end of the book. The most impressive thing to me was how all of the different authors were able to mesh their individual contributions into the whole to make a very satisfying and complete feeling novel. Peter Archer's intermission scenes, where an old librarian is relating the tale to a young student, aid in filling in many important details and are a necessity for the true story.

One of the better MTG novels I've read, and definitely the best of the anthologies.

[Justin Kern · Rating 3 out of 5]

several short stories about a certain artificial plane of existence - Rath. Rath is a dangerous, scary place. It's not as god-damn insane as Phyrexia, but it's like a twisted little cousin to that place. In Rath, there aren't just elves - there are RAZOR elves. They aren't evil, but rath is such a dangerous plane to live on, even the elves there have to deck themselves in spikes and razors like you usually see with orcs.

[Julian Milam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great lore

Sadly the writing is very poor, the story is a bit of a torn tapestry, but if you have played through these magic blocks and read the cards, you can get an idea of where the story is going. I think if the story had one single writer behind it then it would have blended together better.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly just as good as I remember

I read this when I was a kid and I loved the story. Back then, most of the fun of playing Magic for me was following the story through the cards in each new set.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've posted a full review of this book on my blog here:
http://www.geeky-guide.com/2010/11/bo...

[Filipa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a pity that is only little tales. This book could be two or three with well developed parts. I would like it more!

[L J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great read. It really sets the sage for the next three books. See how real heroes are forged...

[Jocelyn Montalvo Cullum]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12438463