And Peace Shall Sleep

Magic: The Gathering

by Sonia Orin Lyris

Reod Dai was being paid big money--elf money--to stir up trouble along the Icatian-Goblin border. And the Havenwood elves were getting their money's worth. When the elves abruptly cancel his contract, Reod finds himself low on funds and lower on options, and sets off on his way to Havenwood in a desperate attempt to reason with the elves.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Magic

292 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 12, 1996

About the author

Sonia Lyris's stories have appeared in various publications, including Asimov's SF magazine and Wizards of the Coast anthologies. She is the author of THE SEER, an epic fantasy from Baen Books, and co-creator of the related gambling and divination game, Rochi, from King of the Castle.

Reviews

[Shylos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read that someone said that this story was lifeless and boring. I don't agree. I loved the worldbuilding and I think the author wanted to show darkness, hopelessness and cruelty in a time of war. That is why maybe it may appear to others as "lifeless". But it has feeling in it.
What I do not like about the story is maybe there's not enough character development, from my perspective. There is some, but not much. I understand that it's not easy to do that if you want to present so many elements in so few pages. Maybe this story is too short and of course it could be improved in many ways, but it's one of the pre-cycles novels that I liked the most.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn't a five star read, but I enjoyed how the characters were written and compared to most other MTG books in this generation, this book was much better. The plot for sure tried to do too much and things get a little out of hand, but without taking it too seriously I thought it was a fun read.

[Thom · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was very disappointing. The concept’s decent and I actually like a lot of the worldbuilding, but the writing just feels lifeless and failed to engage me whatsoever.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rather surprised that some would mark this book at 5 stars. It was poorly done on many counts. I understand that this was debut novel, but I suspect that the author was forced to include all the highlights of the Fallen Empires set of Magic: the Gathering. It was a pity really; the general feeling is that the book was trying to take on too much with too little pages.

We have this protagonist, who was once a highly-respected captain of the Icatian army, who landed on the wrong side of the fence, and ended up being branded as a traitor. Somehow, he also became a "mud wizard" (whatever that is) in the process, and able to dabble in invisibility spells and making dragon eggs explode. Rather flabbergasting - you'd think making a dragon egg explode would be the purview of a more powerful mage, yet this Reod Dai isn't portrayed as such - just a dabbler. Also, somehow, he was also able to teach goblins (who supposedly have a low attention span and short memory) how to do this as well.

Essentially, the plot has us following Reod Dai around Sarpadia - creating an army of goblins and orcs, bringing about the rise of the thallids, causing the uprising of the thrulls - basically, being an incredible catalyst for the "fallen" part of the Fallen Empires. And throughout the adventure, we see how this traitor was quite a charismatic and formidable character, well-known in many of places, and an apparently an incredible leader and negotiator. And oh, he "allowed" himself to be charmed by a dwarf female and "decided" to fall in love with her. That last part was really awkward - there was no chemistry at all and I don't think it was justified. And another oh, this dwarf woman has a sister who smells like a dragon - no attempt at explanation, so it's just an excuse to bring dragons (as opposed to just dragon eggs) into the picture.

As we go along, we have elves, dwarves, thallids, thrulls, the Icatians, and the followers of Tourach all getting their share of the limelight. It ends up trying to do too little of too much. The overall plot is not bad per se, rather logical in some parts, it's just the execution that didn't feel right. It's like each "arc" was too short and too rushed.

[Chip Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

All of Sarpadia has entered a time of war and chaos, where nothing but distrust exists between the races and suffering abounds throughout the lands. Amidst all of this, Reod Dai the "mud wizard" and Tamun the dwarf fall in love. And Peace Shall Sleep is a simple story focusing in on this unusual relationship and the adventures the lovers undergo traveling and deal-making between the lands of mountain dwarves, elves, humans, goblins, and orcs. The storyline starts out with a lot of potential, with complex characters having extremely rich histories, but it seems the author may have been a bit overly optimistic about how much she could accomplish with this single novel. The book ends up jumping around a lot and introducing side stories that never get a chance to get wound up.

This novel is centered around the time of the Fallen Empires expansion set, and a lot of effort was made to include creatures from the set. Thrulls and thallids, as well as dragons make strong appearances that flesh out the story and bring more diversity to the MTG landscape.

The writing style is really good, especially this being Sonia Orin Lyris' first novel, but the suspense is for the most part lacking any depth and the story takes on a very predictable (close to boring) feel. Basically, you'll probably like this one if you enjoyed the previous MTG books, but don't be fooled by all the 5-star reviews, its not the best of the series.

[Derp · Rating 3 out of 5]

One thing this book has over any of the other Harper-Prism MTG books is that the rest of them feel like the author knew nothing about Magic, was shown a handful of MTG cards, and then told to come up with a story based off that alone- Lyris, on the other hand, feels like she's actually played and enjoys the game.
The general concept is a cool one for a story too- the tale of how one man's hubris and good intentions caused the collapse of an entire continent. Unfortunately, the execution is middling.


***SPOILERS***
Laughed at the end when Tamun told Reod Dai she still loved him mere hours after he caused the genocide of nearly her entire species.

[Shase Lindell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Familiar setting finally! Sarpadia! It's well written and has an interesting story.