Guildpact

Magic: The Gathering: Ravnica Cycle #2

by Cory J. Herndon

When conflicts arise between the guilds of Ravnica, it’s up to Agrus Kos to prevent the disaster that is sure to come One guild ravages the streets. Teysa—a high-ranking lawmage and Matriarch of the Karlov family—leads another to "cleanse" them. Now the baroness of the desolate and remote Utvara, Teysa is tasked with destroying the plague that ravages the land. But in gaining control of Utvara, Teysa lights a fire beneath archmage Zomaj Huac, who sees the wasteland as a means to conquering all of Ravnica. At first, Agrus Kos couldn’t care less. But as he watches the guilds nip and tear at each other like snakes . . . something clicks.Now his mind is clear, as are his options. A disaster grows under the city's crowded streets. He alone knows what he must do.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Magic, High Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Novels

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 10, 2006

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was so boring, it actually astounds me that the author was able to pull it off. The setting in Ravnica is ripe for rich stories with conflict and interesting characters, but this book somehow managed to capture none of that. What a disappointment, but at least Ravnica was revisited. Hopefully subsequent stories are much better.

[The Book & The Drink · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this to get familiar with the world of Ravnica and it's lore in order to better DM a D&D campaign I'm running.
The author does a great job of describing the world and gradually over 3 books making the reader more familiar with the 10 guilds that occupy Ravnica.

However he doesn't excel at building story arcs nor describing in prose what is happening in a way that makes the reader feel like they understand everything that is going on.

I ended up reading the whole trilogy, which did help understand the world, but at times it was a bit of a struggle to get through some chapters.

[Harrison Delahunty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cory J. Herndon's Guildpact is slightly less successful than the previous novel of this cycle, Ravnica, but it still manages to be a good time with some good dramatic twists.

Guildpact mainly follows Teysa, an Orzhov Baroness who is soon to be in power. She is a skilled 'advokist', which is this world's version of a lawyer. In fact, she is able to magically create truth-telling circles called 'verity circles', which she uses throughout the novel to great effect.

The previous novel's protagonist, Argus Kos, is still present, and his role in this book is natural and great. Having had it put in his face the damage that his alcoholism and 'drop addiction were doing to him in the previous novel, Kos has 'retired' by taking a job as security with his imp friend Pivlic (also from the prior novel), who owns a bar in the Utvara province. Unfortunately, the province has recently been infected with a plague that is killing off its denizens.

Through the course of Guildpact, we get to see Teysa, Kos, Pivlic, and a goblin courier named Crix, and have all of their stories intertwine. Despite a somewhat slow beginning, the book manages to get into the action pretty quickly and is paced decently well. I found myself thoroughly entertained and, unprecedentedly, I was rather moved when Kos was killed in the final battle. Overall, I'd highly recommend this book to those who liked the first novel.

[Parish · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure I like the way they wrapped up the various plot threads. It felt very info-dump-y. But overall, I enjoyed the story, and I like Teysa a lot. As the last book was mostly about Boros, Selesnya, and Golgari, it's nice that we get a good intro to Izzet, Orzhov, and Simic in this one.

It's a solid book, maybe not quite as good as the first one, but a fun read all the same.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introduction of three more Guilds of Ravnica as well as another prime character of the Magic world - nice to learn more about her.

[Ramón · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entretenido pero mejorable, y un poco inconexo con el anterior

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

An exciting tale of adventure and action. I liked Cory Herndon's style of writing, the way each character is described by the author, and the setting described. The way the setting is described is had to relate to anywhere that you would find on earth but the use of imagery helps you visualize the way it affects the characters and the conflict. The Utvara Wasteland is described as a treacherous unexplored land that is occupied by tribes of humans and humanoids known as the Gruul clans. The Gruul make up most of the creatures living in the almost uninhabitable terrain known as the Husk. Some of the Utvara Gruul have fallen on hard times and some tribes have resorted to cannibalistic behavior and the other are falling prey to vicious attacks. But the gruul aren't the worst threat of the Utvara Wastelands. Many years before the time that story takes place, the land had been purchased by an Orzhov known as the Patriarch. The Patriarch ordered that the inhabitants of Utvara be exterminated to prevent the spread of the Kuga; a deadly plague that runs rampant in the land. The Izzet guild had been assigned to carry out this mission. They succeeded in destroying everything in the valley and creating and ominous tear in the sky called the schism but they didn't prevent the plague from mutating and becoming air-born. Many Gruul still survived but their expected lifespan had been cut shorter than it already was. The land was condemned for many years before it could be settled. The only settlement is controlled by the orzhov There is rumors of treasure to be found in the ancient ruins that have become decrepit and unstable. The control of this land would make someone very wealthy. Some would risk their lives just to seek out these treasures and those who do find it would rather die than let someone take it from them. Teysa Karlov wants to make this land her own, treasure or not and nothing will get in her way of making this land her own. That is of course, if disaster doesn't strike first.

[Steven Cole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I think this was pretty pedestrian. If you care to follow along with the "Magic: The Gathering" world known as Ravnica, this is solid. If you're coming to the scene from outside MTG, then I can't see why you'd care.

This story takes place many years after the first book in the Cycle, with a significant number of new characters and locations. Reading the first book first adds some context to what's going on, but not a whole lot. It's certainly not a requirement.

The book's largest problem is in its environment. Ravnica is supposed to be a world entirely covered by city, and has been for thousands of years. Some places become uninhabited from time to time due to environmental or other issues, so there's both maintained locations and ruins, but city is supposed to be the thing.

This book takes place primarily in one of those ruined places. Yet the descriptions given don't really make this clear. The image in my head kept going back to the hills of coastal California (that's where I live), and *not* some kind of ruined and thus wild cityscape. A *lot* more effort really needed to be placed into describing how this world looks, because I clearly didn't get it. I began to wonder if the *author* got it (this is commissioned work with someone else's world-building having already been done).

In any event, this is a reasonable book. It's fiction-for-hire, and clearly shows the disadvantage of that model, but for those who care about this plotline, there's interesting intrigue being laid.

3 of 5 stars.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another solid MTG book, but I think, not as good as the previous book.

The book proceeds after the events in the first. Kos is no longer a Wojek but a guard for Pivlic. However, the book takes place in a little area known as Utvara. Teysa Karlov is made the baroness of this by the leader of the Orzhov and is now in charge of cleansing it from the plague that ravishes the land. And of course, Kos manages to find his way there and get involved in the problems they've got.


This book just isn't as action packed as the first. The first book followed a few different plots which made it possible to skip many of the rudimentary parts that we didn't want. And the ending was very action packed as it contained many twists in it. There are good parts to the book but a lot of it seems quite dull and what twists there are in the book just don't come to heart.


It is likely worth finishing the series if you've read the first one. And if you read this one, you'll want to read the next one, knowing what happens at the end of this book. Yes, something happens at the end of this book that you probably wouldn't guess (unless you read the back of the next book, SO DON'T!).

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guildpact was a fun albeit somewhat disappointing read. I was primarily disappointed by the characters for whom I had a harder time becoming vested in. With that said, some old familiars appear throughout this book and I am very glad that I read to the end for some welcome surprises.

Guildpact focuses it's storyline on Utvara, an desolate area of Ravnica outside of the city. They don't make the relationship between the city and this area as clear I would have liked, but it was enough to get you to understand what it was and why it was. The use of the guilds and the guildpact was small yet the times it came of use it was of the utmost importance. This combined with a fabulous complex and interesting guild system made it fun and easy to identify characters by their guild or assume certain characteristics about characters based on the guild they were in.

Overall, this is a fun and interesting book that talks about a side of Ravnica that is often left untouched. I would recommend it, but be ready to have to invest some time into the novel before it really becomes engaging. With that said, once it gets you, you're hooked.

[Noppy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Writing a modern magic novel must not be easy. You get a ton of predetermined characters, relations, creatures, and places which you somehow have to wrangle in a compelling story. This book doesn't always manage the story part or the describing part. At one point the poor writer had to describe a battle with multiple Nephilim. I'll let you google 'mtg nephilim' to see what the man was up against. That bit did not read nice. But ultimately it wrangled just fine.

See, Magic novels have one thing going for them and that is, compellingly or not, they fill you in on a wonderful world in a way you just can't get from just the cards. Both on and offhandedly dropping details about customs and clothing and whatnot and reading these greatly improves your Magic (and now also DnD!) experience. That is what you should aim to get out of this book. Finishing the book is the setup, that next time you play Magic and can point at a card and say "yeah that is an imp that runs a tavern",that is the payoff.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't be fooled by the title of the book. Guildpact is name of the 2nd expansion set of the Ravnica block (Magic: the Gathering card game) and really has nothing to do with the story. It is actually a continuation of the plot from book 1 and is told from the perspectives of Kos (book 1 protagonist), Teysa (a young noble), and an intelligent goblin. It does highlight the special traits associated with the cards of the 3 guilds that were released as part of the expansion set.

[Christie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this story although it did have some parts that tended to drag and some parts needed a bit more detail. The characters were easy to follow on how they thought or on their personalities. There were some parts of the story that were a little hard to keep my attention, but all in all, it turned out to be an entertaining read for me.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid continuation after the first. The plot was a tad simplistic and the Izzet villain a tad underdeveloped, just twirling his mustache over some dragon eggs, but otherwise it acted like a book (the bar is so low for this series....).

[Amanda and tony schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tony

[Steven Maus · Rating 4 out of 5]

A twisted tale that follows several plot-lines across a fifty-year period and culminates with an explosive battle that literally shatters the sky.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The continuation of the first book, it becomes even more engrossing and intense, hands down a great sequal to an already awesome book.

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story and loved the return of Kos. Plus I spent six dollars on Teysa and find myself amused to see her on the cover. =)

[Cris · Rating 3 out of 5]

literatura para adolescentes, tiene varios typos y de pronto se siente una falta de concordancia entre lo leído y los personajes. Fuera de ello tiene mucha acción y parece que se lee un comic.

[Jocelyn Montalvo Cullum]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12438461

[Kike Rojas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, as in the previous one, I felt the ending part kind of rushed and in finished. I was also expecting Niv-Mizzet to make the great appearance that never happened.

[Andries van Wyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good. The story just takes a wile to get going.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teysa was a little more of a badass than I expected.

[Nick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Made a bland story worse.

[Benjamin Pratt · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're into Magic the Gathering, it's fun to read. That's it.