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Magic: The Gathering: Lorwyn Cycle Part II: Shadowmoor Cycle #2
EVENTIDE - Shadowmoore Cycle - Magic - The Gathering
The final volume exploring The Gathering's darkest world yet.The elves of Shadowmoor live in a world of perpetual gloom, but a single ray of hope may bring light to a race struggling on the brink of survival.Co-authors Scott McGough and Cory J. Herndon have immersed readers in a world of perpetual day, then plunged them into a world of endless night. As with previous The Gathering titles, Eventide gives readers a sneak peak at what will be coming out in the next card set.
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First published June 3, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 2, 2025
The pacing is very messy, the character development is hit or miss, and the exposition is near constant. I’m glad to be done with this.
August 31, 2016
Summary review (no spoilers): I'm glad I only paid $0.99 for this book. The authors have skill as writers, but I was looking for good storytelling instead. And I didn't find it here.
Longer review (mild spoilers): While it's clear that the authors know how to write a novel, they didn't manage to tell a good story. Here are the things that turned me off:
1) General lack of direction in the plot (and it seemed to be a plot-driven, rather than character-driven book, in which case, you sort of need a good plot);
2) General lack of clarity as to why things were happening (which also killed the ending for me);
3) Uninteresting (and, sometimes, even ridiculous) characters. In fact several characters were entirely unnecessary (e.g. Jack Cheiragh; sp?), and their inclusion was superfluous and distracting. And there was pretty much no character development;
4) Too many loose ends at the end of the book, despite the obvious set up for a potential sequel;
5) Unfulfilled "promises" and expectations throughout (e.g. setting up a betrayal that... never materializes, or saying "They'll come back to kill us" only to never see those characters again);
6) Too little explanatory exposition (see point #2 above).
I understand this is a novel based on a card game. I started playing M:tG in 1995, so I'm familiar with the game, and passingly familiar with some of its universes. This novel almost seemed like an attempt to just throw in as many game references as possible with little regard to whether they had any impact on the story (and yes, I looked up several of the character, and, yes, the ones I searched all have their own cards).
While game mechanics are handled decently in the novel, the lackings I listed above were just too big a burden to be overcome by the skillful way the authors put gameplay in "real life" terms.
Though it appears that Eventide is part of a series (though I saw no indications of that on the cover), it felt as though I were tossed into the middle of an ongoing story (not inherently a bad thing), and then... left to drown. But hey, I guess that worked for Mass Effect, right? Again, so many things seemed to happen "just because" and the story kept rolling right along, dragging me behind it in a dusty cloud of constant confusion.
At any rate, the book was a disappointment, and I finished it simply for the sake of finishing it. I thought about elaborating on the list of my points above, then realized it simply wasn't worth my time.
I really think the authors probably have enough skill to write a compelling story. It's just that Eventide wasn't that story.
Longer review (mild spoilers): While it's clear that the authors know how to write a novel, they didn't manage to tell a good story. Here are the things that turned me off:
1) General lack of direction in the plot (and it seemed to be a plot-driven, rather than character-driven book, in which case, you sort of need a good plot);
2) General lack of clarity as to why things were happening (which also killed the ending for me);
3) Uninteresting (and, sometimes, even ridiculous) characters. In fact several characters were entirely unnecessary (e.g. Jack Cheiragh; sp?), and their inclusion was superfluous and distracting. And there was pretty much no character development;
4) Too many loose ends at the end of the book, despite the obvious set up for a potential sequel;
5) Unfulfilled "promises" and expectations throughout (e.g. setting up a betrayal that... never materializes, or saying "They'll come back to kill us" only to never see those characters again);
6) Too little explanatory exposition (see point #2 above).
I understand this is a novel based on a card game. I started playing M:tG in 1995, so I'm familiar with the game, and passingly familiar with some of its universes. This novel almost seemed like an attempt to just throw in as many game references as possible with little regard to whether they had any impact on the story (and yes, I looked up several of the character, and, yes, the ones I searched all have their own cards).
While game mechanics are handled decently in the novel, the lackings I listed above were just too big a burden to be overcome by the skillful way the authors put gameplay in "real life" terms.
Though it appears that Eventide is part of a series (though I saw no indications of that on the cover), it felt as though I were tossed into the middle of an ongoing story (not inherently a bad thing), and then... left to drown. But hey, I guess that worked for Mass Effect, right? Again, so many things seemed to happen "just because" and the story kept rolling right along, dragging me behind it in a dusty cloud of constant confusion.
At any rate, the book was a disappointment, and I finished it simply for the sake of finishing it. I thought about elaborating on the list of my points above, then realized it simply wasn't worth my time.
I really think the authors probably have enough skill to write a compelling story. It's just that Eventide wasn't that story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 29, 2008
More like 2.5 stars. I really liked Corey J. Herndon's Ravnica Cycle, but there were only glimmers of the things I liked in the Lorwyn/Shadowmoor Cycle. Also in Eventide Rhys is not as central of a charater in the previous two novels.
September 11, 2016
More engaging than I'd expected. It was a bit overwrought, with too many twists and turns; and poor proofreading with misspelled words (that would pass a spell checker), repeated words, and poor grammar throughout.
September 15, 2012
Pretty good with entertaining characters. =)
May 2, 2015
Nigh perfect if you are a serious player of the game.
Pacing speed up a little in this one and has one of the best endings in a fantasy book I have ever read but left a lot of pointless questions.
Pacing speed up a little in this one and has one of the best endings in a fantasy book I have ever read but left a lot of pointless questions.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews