What do you think?
Rate this book
Dominaria is faced with a deadly invasion of its ruthless, powerful, and merciless enemies, the Phyrexians, and only the crew of the Weatherlight stands between Dominaria and certain destruction. Original.
311 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 2001
49 people are currently reading
608 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 29, 2016
As the title implies, INVASION finally chronicles the long-expected attack on Dominaria from the Phyrexians out of Rath. If that sentence doesn't make sense to you, this book probably won't either. To get the full story is no simple matter however. You should start with the anthology Rath and Storm, then go on to the Artifacts Cycle (including: The Brothers' War, Planeswalker , Time Streams, and Bloodlines), followed by the Masquerade Cycle (including: Mercadian Masques, Nemesis, and Prophecy). Finally, if you really want to get the full story, read the prequel The Thran. Then you'll be up to speed with the story so far. Some of those books are good, most are only decent, and a couple of them are down right bad. So you'll have to make up your own mind about whether you're willing to give this story as much time and attention as it demands. I'll tell you that the only reason I have kept with it so long is that I simply can't admit defeat and not finish a story. Also, I am a glutton for punishment :)..
Anyway, INVASION finally tells the story of the Phyrexian attack, which is something we've been anticipating and preparing for over the last bunch of books. With so much build-up priming my appetite for this book, I couldn't help but being somewhat disappointed in the execution. While it is undeniably exciting, with plenty of action, dramatic events, and highly emotional moments, the story just didn't live up to my hopes. The characters behave completely predictably, many parts of the book seemed rushed, and too much of an effort was placed on telling about every part of Dominaria. With a very limited amount of space, King tried to tell a hugely complicated story that involved nearly all of Dominaria and many central characters. The result is a hectic and off-putting reading experience.
That being said, the story is still not complete, with two more books in this trilogy apparently detailing further battles between the armies of Phyrexia and Urza's defenders.
Anyway, INVASION finally tells the story of the Phyrexian attack, which is something we've been anticipating and preparing for over the last bunch of books. With so much build-up priming my appetite for this book, I couldn't help but being somewhat disappointed in the execution. While it is undeniably exciting, with plenty of action, dramatic events, and highly emotional moments, the story just didn't live up to my hopes. The characters behave completely predictably, many parts of the book seemed rushed, and too much of an effort was placed on telling about every part of Dominaria. With a very limited amount of space, King tried to tell a hugely complicated story that involved nearly all of Dominaria and many central characters. The result is a hectic and off-putting reading experience.
That being said, the story is still not complete, with two more books in this trilogy apparently detailing further battles between the armies of Phyrexia and Urza's defenders.
December 24, 2025
Starting this book felt like being injected with adrenaline and only after getting accustomed to the brutality and rapidity of a complete planar invasion did it feel normal to read through.
I think this book should have had breathing space between the different conflicts happening across the plane of Dominaria and a deeper look into who is fighting against the invaders. As it is, there is only war, war and war. But, it was probably written to make the reader feel like these invaders are relentless and will not stop until they have all of Dominaria under their control. Great rendition of Phyrexians.
In addition, it had many jaw-dropping moments, later turned into card designs, and only with that card-design knowledge in mind could I determine the direction of those moments. Quite like weaving a spell but instead of the end result being a mystery, the floating lines all point at something on the edge of your tongue. It is a testament to the design of the cards that were mechanically doing exactly what happens in the book and to the suspenseful writing, painting interesting and memorable scenes.
I think this book should have had breathing space between the different conflicts happening across the plane of Dominaria and a deeper look into who is fighting against the invaders. As it is, there is only war, war and war. But, it was probably written to make the reader feel like these invaders are relentless and will not stop until they have all of Dominaria under their control. Great rendition of Phyrexians.
In addition, it had many jaw-dropping moments, later turned into card designs, and only with that card-design knowledge in mind could I determine the direction of those moments. Quite like weaving a spell but instead of the end result being a mystery, the floating lines all point at something on the edge of your tongue. It is a testament to the design of the cards that were mechanically doing exactly what happens in the book and to the suspenseful writing, painting interesting and memorable scenes.
October 7, 2021
I picked up the book after I saw a classmate reading it. Growing up with MTG, getting the book was a no-brainer for me. In this gritty and gripping series, Robert J. King brings my childhood game to life... with many of my favourite card characters making an appearance!
December 26, 2018
J. Robert King is a good writer, and puts in some wonderful flourishes (see my notes, if you can, for a few nice moments), but overall is hampered by ... I don't know. The necessities of the genre? What WOTC told him he had to put in there?
The plot starts off with a rehash of Mercadian Masques (which seemed ... unnecessary at best, and confusing at second best), but at least it's a linear narrative with the Weatherlight crew vs. Tsabo Tavoc & the boo-hiss Phyrexians. Then they fight.
Also, many, many other characters fight.
My favorite character in the whole saga of M:TG (so far), Teferi, pops in for like three pages, like he does, and the character that shone for me in this book was, I think again, Barrin. Barrin's emotional arc was about the only thing that really shone through as real to me. I don't know why - it got only as much screen time as the other 'oh shit I have seven pages total to try to convey this tragedy and its effects on others' plotlines - but it worked. YMMV.
Urza is full-on 'needs of the many/inhuman' here, which I dig.
I'll admit, I'm getting pretty excited to be done with the Weatherlight & crew. I might make it through this final (ish) trilogy w/them soon!
The plot starts off with a rehash of Mercadian Masques (which seemed ... unnecessary at best, and confusing at second best), but at least it's a linear narrative with the Weatherlight crew vs. Tsabo Tavoc & the boo-hiss Phyrexians. Then they fight.
Also, many, many other characters fight.
My favorite character in the whole saga of M:TG (so far), Teferi, pops in for like three pages, like he does, and the character that shone for me in this book was, I think again, Barrin. Barrin's emotional arc was about the only thing that really shone through as real to me. I don't know why - it got only as much screen time as the other 'oh shit I have seven pages total to try to convey this tragedy and its effects on others' plotlines - but it worked. YMMV.
Urza is full-on 'needs of the many/inhuman' here, which I dig.
I'll admit, I'm getting pretty excited to be done with the Weatherlight & crew. I might make it through this final (ish) trilogy w/them soon!
May 18, 2021
Don't skip the Mercadian Masques Cycle!
This book was action packed and all payoff. The problem was, I did not know about the Mercadian Masques Cycle. So there was a lot of payoff for storylines I did not see the build for. There were fully formed character arcs that seemed thrown in there. The last book I read was Bloodlines (Actually Thran, but that was a prequel).
Otherwise it was good. I liked the theme of Urza's obsession with Yawgmoth. As Alonzo (Denzel Washington in Training Day) would say, "To protect the sheep you have to catch the wolf. And it wakes a wolf to catch a wolf". Many of the character in this book do not like Urza. They make good arguments that he is becoming like Yawgmoth in order to defeat Yawgmoth. But where would they be without Urza?
There are good questions raised in this book? Mainly, how far do you go to fight the enemy?
I still adamantly believe that Urza is a good guy. He may treat his allies poorly and use people to achieve his goal. But his ultimate goal is a just want. He wants to destroy the most dangerous and evil enemy known to Dominaria. Yagmoth wants to take over and destroy the Multiverse. The Multiverse needs Urza.
This book was action packed and all payoff. The problem was, I did not know about the Mercadian Masques Cycle. So there was a lot of payoff for storylines I did not see the build for. There were fully formed character arcs that seemed thrown in there. The last book I read was Bloodlines (Actually Thran, but that was a prequel).
Otherwise it was good. I liked the theme of Urza's obsession with Yawgmoth. As Alonzo (Denzel Washington in Training Day) would say, "To protect the sheep you have to catch the wolf. And it wakes a wolf to catch a wolf". Many of the character in this book do not like Urza. They make good arguments that he is becoming like Yawgmoth in order to defeat Yawgmoth. But where would they be without Urza?
There are good questions raised in this book? Mainly, how far do you go to fight the enemy?
I still adamantly believe that Urza is a good guy. He may treat his allies poorly and use people to achieve his goal. But his ultimate goal is a just want. He wants to destroy the most dangerous and evil enemy known to Dominaria. Yagmoth wants to take over and destroy the Multiverse. The Multiverse needs Urza.
August 6, 2018
This felt rushed. The entire story was nothing but "now Phyrexia is invading, and we're trying to fight back". This might be fine, but it felt like we were just constantly jumping from set piece to set piece. One instance that comes to mind is near the very end....Urza suddenly assembles the planesvengers (of whom the only known name was Freyalise), says it's going to take 2 weeks in a time bubble on Tolaria to train to use the titans.....and then literally fade to black, cut to 2 weeks (real time) later on the next line.
It's not inherently problematic, but it happens constantly, and it makes the entire thing feel hurried with no strong thread holding it all together.
Also of note is I finished this in under three hours. The shortest book previously was about 4. Not sure exactly what that means, but it's definitely a change.
It's not inherently problematic, but it happens constantly, and it makes the entire thing feel hurried with no strong thread holding it all together.
Also of note is I finished this in under three hours. The shortest book previously was about 4. Not sure exactly what that means, but it's definitely a change.
October 4, 2018
Perhaps owing to it's focus on one long battle, I found this book rather boring and difficult to get through. Which is unfortunate since it contains significant events for Urza and the Weatherlight's crew.
May 7, 2024
This book delivers right off the bat. The final invasion of the Phrexians comes full force. I am not sure if the final 2 books of the Invasion Cycle can keep up. If so, it’s going to be a heck of an ending to the Weatherlight Saga.
June 14, 2018
Bombs should take less time to make than soldiers, so why not bomb the entire battlefield before sending your soldiers if they were gonna destroy the place anyway?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 16, 2020
2.5 stars
An okay tale, but I just didn't care about any of the characters (I care more about their MtG cards LOL) and the war just went on. an on.
An okay tale, but I just didn't care about any of the characters (I care more about their MtG cards LOL) and the war just went on. an on.
November 12, 2025
Tsabo attacks weather light crew; phyrexians attack multani and his woods; Urza, Barrin, and Tefari fight together.
Eladamri joins the fight after escaping with Liin Sivi and Takara.
Thaddeus goes after Tsabo Tavoc and loses. Hannah dies from poison.
Urza gathers 9 titans. Blind seer is Urza. Book is mostly about fighting.
Eladamri joins the fight after escaping with Liin Sivi and Takara.
Thaddeus goes after Tsabo Tavoc and loses. Hannah dies from poison.
Urza gathers 9 titans. Blind seer is Urza. Book is mostly about fighting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 21, 2014
Truth be told, I would give the book closer to 2.5 stars, maybe even 2.75 but I rounded down because that cover art is downright ugly. I almost felt embarrassed reading it in public...
This book starts out in the throws of action and doesn't let up for over half the book, and it is distracting. I had to force myself to read the first 160 pages. The battle scenes were well written, especially King's descriptions of the skirmishes of the Weatherlight, but the fact that from page one the reader is mired in some sort of battle makes this book hard to get into. It could just be that it differs so much from the formula laid out from the previous Magic: the Gathering books which generally had a narrative arc that built up to an epic battle at the end. But with the beginning of the book jumping from the invasion of Benalia to the invasion of Yavimaya to the invasion of Shiv, etc., etc., there is no real plot for the reader to latch onto until about page 160.
I also found it distracting having read all the books in order, and having not heard from Gerrard and the gang for three books before this one, about what was going on at the beginning. Are they just coming back from Mercadia? I wasn't sure, and had to go try and look it up.
The last half of the book, however, almost makes up for the convoluted first half. You finally get a lull in the action and there is finally some narrative. The battle for the Caves of Koilos is a really well-written battle scene that becomes a surprising page-turner (though well-written end fight scenes from King are something I've come to expect having read his other installments in the franchise). And he ends the book on quite the cliff hanger.
Also, between Prophecy and this book, I just feel bad for Barrin...
This book starts out in the throws of action and doesn't let up for over half the book, and it is distracting. I had to force myself to read the first 160 pages. The battle scenes were well written, especially King's descriptions of the skirmishes of the Weatherlight, but the fact that from page one the reader is mired in some sort of battle makes this book hard to get into. It could just be that it differs so much from the formula laid out from the previous Magic: the Gathering books which generally had a narrative arc that built up to an epic battle at the end. But with the beginning of the book jumping from the invasion of Benalia to the invasion of Yavimaya to the invasion of Shiv, etc., etc., there is no real plot for the reader to latch onto until about page 160.
I also found it distracting having read all the books in order, and having not heard from Gerrard and the gang for three books before this one, about what was going on at the beginning. Are they just coming back from Mercadia? I wasn't sure, and had to go try and look it up.
The last half of the book, however, almost makes up for the convoluted first half. You finally get a lull in the action and there is finally some narrative. The battle for the Caves of Koilos is a really well-written battle scene that becomes a surprising page-turner (though well-written end fight scenes from King are something I've come to expect having read his other installments in the franchise). And he ends the book on quite the cliff hanger.
Also, between Prophecy and this book, I just feel bad for Barrin...
May 11, 2013
Love every scene with Barrin, battle or not.
The fight scenes with Multani are excellent. I had mixed feelings about the sections with the weatherlight crew and Eladamri. Liked the scenes with Agnate and Thaddeus.
This book does a great job establishing the real scope of this world wide invasion. A lot of books say "its a worldwide invasion" and there are only one or two battles going on. It is really cool to see all of Urza's plans finally come to fruition after literally thousands of years of preparation.
The fight scenes with Multani are excellent. I had mixed feelings about the sections with the weatherlight crew and Eladamri. Liked the scenes with Agnate and Thaddeus.
This book does a great job establishing the real scope of this world wide invasion. A lot of books say "its a worldwide invasion" and there are only one or two battles going on. It is really cool to see all of Urza's plans finally come to fruition after literally thousands of years of preparation.
May 28, 2013
I'm a gigantic fan of the whole arc as it feels like a pivotal point in the development of the universe. The entire series, at least for a long time before and after, revolves around the events of this book, and two others in the same arc. If you like fantasy that isn't your typical dungeons and dragons-style concepts, then you'll enjoy this.
November 7, 2013
A very interesting book, for being a tie-in. You don't have to be a fan of M:tG to love it. These yellowed pulpy pages tell an epic thrill ride is girded with a tight plot and stocked with with surprisingly deep characters. This series introduces one of my favorite antagonistic races of all, the Phyrexians.
May 29, 2012
i thought this book was going to be really bad because it is a Magic book and even though i am a fan of the game i didn't expect much. Yet this book was awesome, tons of great battles, you get the feel of the war happening and the characters are fun and engaging.
worth a read
worth a read
August 6, 2010
The war strategies I'm picking up from this book make it 3 stars. I've been reading too many of these books lately, and it's all war, war, and more war. It gets a little depressing after a while!
September 14, 2014
Beter dan Prophecy, maar uiteindelijk veel van hetzelfde (oorlog).
January 21, 2016
I've posted a full review of this book on my blog here:
http://www.geeky-guide.com/2010/12/bo...
http://www.geeky-guide.com/2010/12/bo...
November 21, 2016
Awesome to see Urza's plans be brought to fruition after thousands and thousands of years of his meddling. Great, action packed book that transitions easy to the next book.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews