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Aether Revolt
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 4, 2018
Reading through 'Magic: The Gathering' short stories, I've been enjoying following the Planeswalkers and visiting the different worlds. 'Aether Revolt' continues and concludes the 'Kaladesh' story block. Grand Consul Tezzeret is detaining the inventors who entered the Kaladesh Inventors' Fair and commandeering their inventions for his own nefarious, but unknown, needs and bringing oppression to the city. But with the help of Pia Nalaar, mother to Planeswalker Chandra, and the rest of the Gatewatch, even the necromancer Liliana, they inspire the city of Ghirapur and the other renegade inventors to revolt and turn on Tezzeret and the Consulate, with the aim of returning the city to a place of innovation, ingenuity and optimism it once was before Tezzeret arrived.
I found 'Aether Revolt' to be an exciting read. It does start off slowly with a story about Yahenni, an aetherborn on the verge of the end of their short lived life, then as if waiting for the spark of rebellion to light the revolution, the Gatewatch discover the real purpose of Tezzeret's presence, and the touch paper is lit. It's then full of exciting action packed goings on, as the revolution begins and the Renegades begin to take back their city.
All set in the city Ghirapur, I liked the less epic nature of this collection of stories. A few character focused stories peppered in amongst the revolt, admittedly slowed the overall pacing down, but it didn't detract too much from the flow of the stories. If anything, it added more to the world building and character development of the plane of Kaladesh. As the block is mostly focused on Chandra, it was also great to see her kind of come of age, reconnect with her mother, and recognise the friendships she has with the other members of the Gatewatch, with Gideon and Nissa in particular.
The final story in the collection, 'Renewal', is a feel good story featuring Nissa sitting down with Yahenni and Chandra. To me it ends the story block with a smile.
Looking forward to the next Magic story block, 'Amonkhet'.
I found 'Aether Revolt' to be an exciting read. It does start off slowly with a story about Yahenni, an aetherborn on the verge of the end of their short lived life, then as if waiting for the spark of rebellion to light the revolution, the Gatewatch discover the real purpose of Tezzeret's presence, and the touch paper is lit. It's then full of exciting action packed goings on, as the revolution begins and the Renegades begin to take back their city.
All set in the city Ghirapur, I liked the less epic nature of this collection of stories. A few character focused stories peppered in amongst the revolt, admittedly slowed the overall pacing down, but it didn't detract too much from the flow of the stories. If anything, it added more to the world building and character development of the plane of Kaladesh. As the block is mostly focused on Chandra, it was also great to see her kind of come of age, reconnect with her mother, and recognise the friendships she has with the other members of the Gatewatch, with Gideon and Nissa in particular.
The final story in the collection, 'Renewal', is a feel good story featuring Nissa sitting down with Yahenni and Chandra. To me it ends the story block with a smile.
Looking forward to the next Magic story block, 'Amonkhet'.
December 27, 2018
In a lot of ways, the Kaladesh block story (which I'll be addressing overall) does represent improvement on the recent state of Magic fiction. The overall quality of prose is more consistently solid, unlike some recent blocks where from week to week the quality could range from genuinely excellent to almost challenging to read.
Magic has almost always excelled at worldbuilding and Kaladesh is no exception. Though steampunk is one of my least favorite genres, the world is brought to vibrant life on the page.
The plot is fairly standard fare, as Chandra heads back to her home plane seeking revenge on the man who murdered her family, and the whole Gatewatch becomes embroiled in a local rebellion which eventually involves some of the story's larger-arc villains. The latter are often the more interesting parts, but the local story was certainly more interesting than some of their recent output.
The problem here is what I'd call commitment. Some of the interpersonal conflict among the Gatewatch is genuinely interesting when they're arguing, but the writers (most likely higher-ups at Wizards, not the individual authors) seem unwilling to commit, to carry these conflicts to their natural conclusions.
Liliana Vess wants to murder everybody and raise a zombie army, but she doesn't. Chandra wants to explode in a fiery rage, incinerating the man who destroyed her family, but she doesn't. While you could argue this is simply character growth, I'm not sold. Often these decisions feel more like convenient excuses for these characters to be softer, more accessible, more traditional "heroes" whenever possible.
Still, things seem to be looking up. The story is left in an interesting place, primed for a major confrontation with the series's current main villain. I'll always keep reading, and I can only hope down the road Wizards will commit a little more to their characters, and dare to make riskier decisions with them.
Magic has almost always excelled at worldbuilding and Kaladesh is no exception. Though steampunk is one of my least favorite genres, the world is brought to vibrant life on the page.
The plot is fairly standard fare, as Chandra heads back to her home plane seeking revenge on the man who murdered her family, and the whole Gatewatch becomes embroiled in a local rebellion which eventually involves some of the story's larger-arc villains. The latter are often the more interesting parts, but the local story was certainly more interesting than some of their recent output.
The problem here is what I'd call commitment. Some of the interpersonal conflict among the Gatewatch is genuinely interesting when they're arguing, but the writers (most likely higher-ups at Wizards, not the individual authors) seem unwilling to commit, to carry these conflicts to their natural conclusions.
Liliana Vess wants to murder everybody and raise a zombie army, but she doesn't. Chandra wants to explode in a fiery rage, incinerating the man who destroyed her family, but she doesn't. While you could argue this is simply character growth, I'm not sold. Often these decisions feel more like convenient excuses for these characters to be softer, more accessible, more traditional "heroes" whenever possible.
Still, things seem to be looking up. The story is left in an interesting place, primed for a major confrontation with the series's current main villain. I'll always keep reading, and I can only hope down the road Wizards will commit a little more to their characters, and dare to make riskier decisions with them.
July 27, 2023
Getting back to the Gatewatch has put me in a really good mood. Chandra, Nissa, Gideon, Lilliana and Jace are some of my favorite characters in fiction, and this arc has put exactly why on display. You can take any two of the five characters I mentioned, separate them from the group, and they have chemistry and a compelling dynamic. Chandra, of course, takes center stage for this arc, and coming from someone who already thought Chandra was a top 3 MTG character, this arc solidified it fully. Her development between Kaladesh and now Aether Revolt is impeccable. I can't believe how much they pulled from Purifying Fire as a framework for her character and her relationships in this story. Them making a point that her impulsiveness and temper isn't the character flaw and having her growth center on her self esteem and self doubt instead was such a good call. And kudos to the Voice of All cast for bringing this story to life in the form of an audio drama. They embodied the characters completely and Gen's narration never ceases to hit just right. Almost makes me want to go back and listen to their version of Battle for Zendikar! But, alas, I push on. Because Nicol Bolas has something stirring on Amonkhet, and I'm about to find out what it is...
March 13, 2018
Chandra is my favorite planeswalker, but I wonder if she is my favorite Magic character. Only occasionally do I find myself identifying with her and her actions. This put a damper on my overall enjoyment of this collection of stories. I got stuck for awhile on one of the stories about Yahenni. The overall flow of the story also suffers from too many focus characters.
February 17, 2020
Aaaaaaaand then it takes a dive off a cliff. I particularly hated the arena "battle" with Pia and Tezzeret. Apparently "inventing" is basically those scenes from the lego movies where a builder can make anything instantly.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews