The Fifth Dawn

Rating:
Summary: Best of the Mirrodin Cycle by Far
Review: After having suffered through four absolutely atrocious Magic books in a row (Legions, Scourge, Moons of Mirrodin, Darksteel Eye), I had very, very low expectations for this book.

I'm happy to say that this was far, far better than I ever thought it would be. Unlike the previous two volumes in this cycle, the characters are actually developed and interesting. There aren't as many pointless fighting scenes featuring invincible heroes (very few, in fact). The author's attempts at humor are actually funny.

As far as Magic books go, this is a very good one. This book is responsible for revitalizing my hopes for the future of the Magic novel line.

Rating:
Summary: could have been better
Review: All in all this was a very good book and a very good end to the Mirrodin cycle. My biggest problem was when Glissa, the main character, was frozen in time for five years and then reawoken like nothing happen. I hate it when things like that happen. Also as a constant in this cyce sometimes it was hard to picture certain things in the story, but other than that it was really good, though I'm still sad Bosh died in the last book

Rating:
Summary: The Magic ends here....
Review: I really enjoyed the first two books. This one- HUGE disappointment. Maybe it was just me?.. I didn't enjoy that this author kind of rewrote the rules for this book. The writing style isn't true to the first two, making it a little confusing. Little things like the change in everyone's dialect killed the credibilty I was trying to give Herndon. Maybe the only thing that kept me motivated was the urge to finish the series and it was so suspenseful ~ more action and cheesy combat cries than needed for a plot like this. I have to admit in few places the battle action was well worded and some conversations made me laugh.. But still, overall, two stars.

Rating:
Summary: A lot of Fun, but serious problems
Review: I really liked Cory Herndon`s previous work (in Topdeck magazine, mostly)and this is quite good too. I found it funny,at some times utterly unpredictable, and overall a pretty good job. I particularly liked Geth and Lyese. Including more human characters was also a nice touch, as they`d been almost entirely left out in the previous two books and are a huge part of al three card sets.
However, I do have some problems. the first of which is the absolutely atrocious copy editing. In almost every chapter there was either a noticable speling or omission error. Often, characters genders were mixed ip as well. Also, what the character of Vektro actually was was never explained, as what Yulyn`s problem was and where he`d been the entire time. Yert was introduced with little explanation and removed just as rapidly and poorly (and in a most disgusting way, I might add). The endings (both of them, the one with Slobad, Glissa, and Geth and the one with Bruenna, Lyese, and Geth) were way too open ended.
So, read it if you liked the previous two, or Cory Herndon, or just want a mediocre fantasy story with some good dialogue.