Rating: Summary: The Brother's War....a fight to stay awake? Review: I'm what most consider to be a newbie to Magic: The Gathering. I've been playing since October of 2003. In the time between than and now, I've been looking at the past sets of Magic; Specificly the 'Antiquities' and "Urza Block" sets. This encompases 4 releases of card sets, each filled with great cards...but that isn't the point. The point is, I bought 'The Brothers' War', 'Planeswalker', and 'Time Streams' because they tell the story of the most interesting sets of the best Card game on the market. 'The Brothers' War' was, to say the least, very disappointing. It's 35 chapters long, 33 of which are, for lack of a better word, mind-numbing. I fought to read this book through to the end. There are high points here and there, but overall it isn't worth the drudge to the end. The author paints a great layout of areas, but has a great lack of real character discription. There is little action until the last part of the book, and the large part of story revolves around the brothers struggling with lack of materials...very drab. I will concede that the epilouge ties the stroy together very well, though. Rather than buying this product, go for books II or III of the Artifacts Cycle...much, much better.
Rating: Summary: The Action Never Stops! Review: This book should be placed in the Library of Leng! Hmmm. I have a math problem for you. What does familar characters and ideas from the Magic: The Gathering Card Game plus some non-stop fastasy action mixed with some Magic history and some of the great author Jeff Grubb's writing talent equal to? The Brothers War, thats what! Mr. Grubb has used the cards from the set, Antiquities to bring you the book that started it all. This book has a medium vocabulary and is itimidating in size, but you will be glad it is this long! To be honest, if you don't play Magic, you won't love it as much as I did, but I think if you never played Magic you wouldn't be looking at this artical. This book explains the creation of Magic, the start of the Ice Age, and the childhood of Uza and Mishra. We even see familar faces such as Ashnod, Feldon, the Colossus of Sardia and even the Mighty Gix! Every second you spend not reading this book until it's done will be spent wishing you were reading it! Warning: This book will cause LOTS of loss of sleep! If you haven't already stoped reading this review and bought this book, you should see if there is an opening with the Priests of Gix! Happy Reading Atogs!
Rating: Summary: Great Book Review: Best book ever. The plot was perfect, the characters were perfect, the conflict was perfect. I couldn't put this book down. Jeff Grubb is a genius.
Rating: Summary: Up there with Lord of the Rings and Dragonlance Review: I bought this book thinking it would be like Rath and Storm, a quick dip into the World of Magic the Gathering. I got so much more. Jeff Grubb has managed to bring the world to life with immersive quality which leaves you salivating for more at the end of each page. His use of almost every Antiquities magic card was great, and really brought the expansion to life. He paints detailed pictures of Urza, Mishra, Tawnos, Tocasia and Ashnod which brings them out of cards and into life. I have yet to read the other three books in the series but if they are half as good as this book, I am sure to enjoy them. If you liked Lord of the Rings or Dragonlance Chronicles than this is another epic to add to your collection. Even if you don't play Magic this book makes for good fantasy reading. A must for Magic collectors and fantasy fans alike.
Rating: Summary: Simply Awesome Review: Jeff Grubb did it again with ANOTHER amazing piece of work from the Magic setting. ...[All] the books Jeff writes are incredible. This book reveales the entire Magic world and explains how so much of what we know started. I can't wait to read the next book in the Artifacts Cycle. The best part is that both brothers are portrayed equally, so depending on what your values are, you may find one of the brothers to your liking over the other. I loved Urza, yet my own brother (ironic, eh?) loved Mishra. It's a great thriller.
Rating: Summary: Very Good Genre Fiction Review: Jeff Grubb proved himself a competent author with his work in the Dungeons & Dragons worlds for TSR. When Wizards of the Coast acquired TSR they made a good choice in picking Grubb for the first "Magic" author. He translated a very mathematical and orderly card game into a compelling story. It must not have been easy to essentially draft a back story to a game that had already been popular for four years at the time this was written. Above and beyond meeting fanboy(girl) expectations, the end product is actually a decent genre book in its ownright. I recommend it highly.
Rating: Summary: More believable for non-players Review: The Brother's War is a story, based on the Antholgies Magic card set, that recounts a war between brother artificers Urza and Mishra. Urza is older by 364 days, and as such, generally gets more breaks. Mishra enjoys the last day of the year, when they are equal of age. A fight between them splits them apart, and over years, a war brews between them. I'd hate to break too much of the story. For players who either have the cards mentioned or have seen them in a magazine, many of the battles are unbelievable in a card-game mindset, while people who have never played will find the book more understandable, since they have no knowledge of the cards used. This nuance aside, the book is excellent, and you will want to read it again and again (I've already read it three times).
Rating: Summary: Very Good Genre Fiction Review: Jeff Grubb proved himself a competent author with his work in the Dungeons & Dragons worlds for TSR. When Wizards of the Coast acquired TSR they made a good choice in picking Grubb for the first "Magic" author. He translated a very mathematical and orderly card game into a compelling story. It must not have been easy to essentially draft a back story to a game that had already been popular for four years at the time this was written. Above and beyond meeting fanboy(girl) expectations, the end product is actually a decent genre book in its ownright. I recommend it highly.
Rating: Summary: THE BROTHERS WAR Review: THE BOOK WAS A LITLLE MORE RAGGED THAN I EXPECTED. THE PAGES WERE ALL THERE, JUST THE COVER AND PAGES WERE A LITTLE ROUGHER THAN I EXPECTED.
Rating: Summary: Great Book Review: Well, just like many people who read this book, I play Magic, sure, it's a great game, but that doesn't mean it has to have a cool book, well, it doesn't have to, but it does have a cool book, I myself am not much of a reader, but the book... it's just awesome seriously.
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