Return to Ravnica: The Secretist, Part One

The Secretist #1

by Doug Beyer

Jace Beleren has the power to travel between planes of the Multiverse, but with this gift comes isolation. He is one in a million. He is a planeswalker. And he is on the edge of a mystery that could alter the face of his adopted home—a vast, world-wide city known as Ravnica—forever.

Faced with a magical code that is built into the very foundations of the city-world itself, Jace marches into the numinous depths of Ravnica’s underbelly in search of the promise of powerful magic. What he finds is perhaps more burden than boon.
Once buried in past, the code resurfaces as Ravnica’s power-hungry mage guilds, unbound by the Guildpact that had once maintained order, struggle for control of the plane. But in the drive for primacy, there is no neutral ground.

Jace knows that he can’t crack the code on his own, not while the guilds task teams of mages to unravel the mysteries, but he also knows that the danger of the quest is too great to include his friends. As the mystery begins to unravel, the choice may not be his alone.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Magic, Novels

67 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 27, 2012

About the author

Doug Beyer went from being a Magic: The Gathering fan to web developer for magicthegathering.com, then prolific flavor text writer, and eventually, the coordinator for Magic creative text. His background is in philosophy, software design, and amateur ghost hunting.

Reviews

[Parish · Rating 4 out of 5]

This ebook, along with parts two and three, are really one novella broken into three parts. As such, here is my review of the entire thing:

I really like Jace as a character. It's interesting to see someone who is not as bad of a person as everyone assumes him to be, evident in the many comments about his abilities as a mind mage. This is something that seems to weigh heavily on him, and he is often rather self-conscious about other people's perspective of him. As someone who is only really familiar with Jace in the more current MTG stories, it's nice to see he's always had a penchant for doing the wrong thing in the name of "protecting his friends," even if they neither asked or wanted him to.

The plot of The Secretist is quite captivating to me, as well. It's a story that isn't dependent on the reader being familiar with MTG or Ravnica, although it does help provide added context at times. I think the pacing was just about perfect--I often find the older MTG novels drag on a bit too long, while the current web stories on mtgstory.com have a tendancy to blitz through the plot and careen into an unsatisfying end, so I feel like this is the perfect in-between.

Overall, probably the best MTG story I've read so far, although I fear I am quite biased.

[Polishogr8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this a prep for running a Ravnica D&D game. Short, fun read, but light on the details I was looking for. Probably a better fit for a Magic the Gathering fan.

[Dan Hobson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting take on fantasy fiction

Worth a read for any fantasy fan. Easy to read and follow. Definitely considering reading more from this set of stories

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Set within Wizards of the Coast's Magic: The Gathering universe, Ravnica is once again on the verge of trouble. Planeswalker Jace Beleren discovers signs hidden within the streets of Ravnica that may lead to an ancient and powerful secret. Unfortunately, Jace's research does not go unnoticed and the closer Jace gets to deciphering the meanings behind these signs, the bigger the predicament Jace finds himself in.

I've recently read the original Ravnica Cycle trilogy (Ravnica: City of Guilds, Guildpact, and Dissension) and I enjoyed the ride it took me on. The books were descriptive, action-packed, and fun to read. Some of the dialogue may have been cheesy, but it gave the books a certain charm to them. So I was happy to find out that the adventures would continue in the ongoing The Secretist trilogy.

Unfortunately, I finished this book feeling a bit disappointed. The incredible and magical city of Ravnica that Cory J. Herndon fleshed out in the original Ravnica trilogy now felt different, distant, and unfamiliar. I'm not just talking about the difference in writing style (which is understandable with the change in authors), but also with the lack of consistency across the books. For example, in the original trilogy the cult of Rakdos's purpose in society centered around mining and the Firemind Niv-Mizzet seemed to exclusively communicate through thoughts (which made him feel more like a god). This time, the Rakdos guild is centered around entertainment and the Firemind talks (which made him feel more mortal). There were many other noticeable inconsistencies or general questions that I've had while reading this book that I doubt will get addressed in any later books. Did I miss something? Had enough time passed between the books that allowed for these changes? Does the Magic multiverse have parallel universes or is this supposed to be something entirely new with no regard to the previous trilogy? I'm not sure.

On the plus side, everything that you would expect from a Magic: The Gathering book is still there and I'm very curious as to where this story will lead. While I tried really hard to keep an open mind while reading this book, I unfortunately couldn't stop myself from comparing this story to the previous books and how disappointing it was that it had little to no relations to its predecessors. Let's hope that the sequel will change that.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished the third part of this book block and wanted to review them all quickly. This was my second Magic the Gathering novel (my first being Arena) and I was drawn to it mostly by my interest in the Ravnica back story and the character of Jace Beleren.

Overall, The Secretist does not disappoint. Ravnica is every bit as interesting in this story as I'd hope and Jace is very much a character I enjoy following. The story itself establishes itself quickly and ramps up the mystery by involving several major players, a self inflicted magic spell, and establishing a race to find...well, everyone has their own idea: a weapon, knowledge, or who knows what.

Doug Beyer did a very fine job describing the city and keeping the pace fast enough that I was never bored but slow enough that I didn't think he was getting ahead of himself. He also does a fine job introducing the reader to Ravnica without overwhelming them with too much at once. He prefers to show instead of tell. It's an exciting story so far and I'm eager to see how it ends.

My only complaint is that I did not realize the story would pretty much just up and end on a cliffhanger. This was my first time reading a trilogy based on a three installment block, so it makes sense that it'd really just be one book broken into three pieces, but I didn't realize that when I went in. I say that not as a slight against the book, but merely because I didn't remember reading it anywhere else and thought a note on it might be useful.

In the end, its a great story that I certainly recommend!

[Chip Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I think it is cool for Wizards to publish companion novels for new expansion sets, I also think Doug Beyer took the job of matching the story to the set a bit too seriously. Involving every guild and forcing characters into the book, made it feel like Beyer was more concerned with jamming card content into the book than with telling a compelling story. If he would focus on building an interesting story and developing the setting (something Beyer excels at), these books could be much more worthwhile. The cards have flavor of their own, and aren't really helped by being included in a novella. We know what a Detention Sphere is, and who Varolz is. Needlessly sticking them into the story doesn't help the cards and lessens the book. One thing I was surprised about was how simply Jace was portrayed. He has always seemed like a mysterious genius, but in this story, he came across like a fool, barely able to navigate the dangers of Ravnica's guilds. Would Jace seriously wipe his own mind of knowledge because he was afraid of getting involved in a mystery that could lead to untold power? That made no sense for the character, and didn't really seem needed for the story. Strange decision, Beyer. I guess this is about what I expected for an MTG fluff e-book. Maybe the next one will surprise me.

[Tobias Helgren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Return to Ravnica is the first in a series of three books, and while it does a nice job of setting up the story, it does suffer under the divide. There is no natural conclusion to the story, and while I understand that Wizards of the Coast has published the story in relation to each of the three sets of the Return to Ravnica block, I am left wondering why the story had to be split in three, or at least left on a better cliffhanger.

The book is very clearly targeted toward fans of Magic the Gathering, and I would not recommend it to anyone else without at least reading up on the history of the plane of Ravnica and its ten guilds, and of Jace Beleren, the main character of the story. With that said, as a fan of Magic the Gathering myself, I quite enjoyed reading the story, especially in conjunction with the short stories published by Wizards of the Coast on their webside. The story is not perfect, and I think it has potential for more in tha hands of a more capable writer, but with that said it is in no way a bad story, and I wholeheartedly recommend reading it to any fan of MAgic the Gathering, who wishes to get into the underlying story.

[Sherwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great return to the plane of Ravnica!

I've always loved the flavour of each new Magic the Gathering set (what can I say, I'm a Vorthos) and Doug Beyer's Savour the Flavour articles were always must-reads for me, so when I heard he was going to pen 3 novellas that run alongside the 3 sets of this Return to Ravnica block I was very excited. I have a copy of his also authored Alara Unbroken on my shelf, so I know the standard to which he is capable of writing.

Plot-wise, although I'm a bit tired of Jace-everything, I didn't mind the Mind Sculptor being the protagonist for this novella. Reading the work in a post-Dragon's Maze world, it was nifty to see names of certain characters that have card-counterparts.

I did feel the work was a bit short in terms of length, but there are two more novellas to go! Gatecrash is queued up on my Kindle, Dragon's Maze has been preordere, and I look forward to finishing this new tale of Ravnica.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm trying these because I am such a fan of early Mtg set novels and a huge fan of the game. The literature associated with Magic the Gathering has severely declined in quality in the past few years starting with the change from set novels to block novels to no novels. The graphic novels are less than stellar and I had hoped these little E-Novels would pick up the slack.

So far that is not happening. Magics iconic poster boy Jace Beleren was written very well in Agents of Artifice but not since then.

In this novel he is indecisive and weak. He is much less the character he grew into previously. The characters have no real time to grow in the short "pages" of The Secretist.

If this was any other series I would have dropped it after the Zendikar block novel and I not that certainly the Scars of Mirrodin block novel. Being associated with such a successful and enjoyable game and world, I will try to finish this trilogy, but not on the strength of The Secretist. Based on this "book" alone I would not look into a sequel.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Secretist part 1 transports the reader back to the plane of Ravnica, where you follow Jace Beleren as he begins to discover patterns throughout the city. His research begins to put him in dangerous situations and he isn't the only one interested in these patterns.

Having played Magic: the Gathering for quite a few years I was happy to hear that Wizards of the Coast were going to start releasing books again. I know in some of their past books the characters have been a bit 1-dimensional and the story a bit thin, however I believe that's changed with The Secretist.

It was good to see Jace's character developed, as he's always seemed like the typical loner who doesn't really care for any one else.

I am slightly biased as I really enjoyed the original Ravnica block and stories.

I'd recommend it to anyone who really likes the setting of Ravnica or anyone who wants a bit more story behind the Return to Ravnica block that's recently been released.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Return to Ravnica was an enjoyable read that left me wanting more. Being the first book in the series of three, I knew going into this that the story would not develop fully within one book and this would not be like the cycle books which have 3 to a cycle with 300 page books each.

With a distinctly shorter book, we met a number of characters and were introduced to the city of Ravnica (again for those who have read the Ravnica block). The story develops nicely and quickly, and leaves a nice cliffhanger ending to get you excited and ready for the second book in the series. Overall, this was a nice, quick read (2 days) that leaves me anticipating what will happen in the next two.

Due to the length though, I took off two stars because I felt it was well written, I felt the use of three books instead of one was pointless and would have preferred this to be one book that had three "sections" or "parts." I feel this would have been more successful.

[Clay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't read many media tie-ins but my son was wanting to try some of the Magic: The Gathering novelizations so I ended up getting this series. As a continuation of the world building done for the game, this succeeds wonderfully. We see the world-spanning city with its Izzet techno-wizards and the consensus-building Selesnya Conclave, and the mind-sucking Dimir vampires, and so forth. Plotwise, it's a search for the hidden maze that is supposed to require the talents of all the guilds to complete. These books are pretty short, so in practice it feels like a stringing together of cameos of various factions and characters from the Return to Ravnica sets. If you're not already into the lore of the game from the art and flavor text, then this will mean nothing to you, but if you are, you will probably find this an enjoyable story.

[Steven Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very short first third of a story, The Secretist has a chance of being something interesting. It's all plot, but it might be an interesting plot, so I'll stick with it when the next episodes are released.

The setting is a place called Ravnica, a globe-spanning city run by ten guilds which vie for power amongst themselves. Ravnica is a creation of Wizards of the Coast (the game company) for their "Magic: The Gathering" trading card game. If you're not a fan of MTG, don't bother with the stories: there really does seem to be far too much assumed knowledge for someone coming from outside the game.

As you might be able to tell: I *am* a fan, and for me this is cool stuff that adds to my enjoyment of MTG in general.

4 of 5 stars.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't my normal choice for a book, not because I'm being snobby about it, but because it's rare that I read tie-in type books. But since my husband got me into playing Magic over these last few months, I thought I'd give this one a try.

It wasn't horrible. The writing was solid but not spectacular. It was decently paced. The imagery lacked a bit, though one could still follow the story and know what was going on. I think the fun in reading a book like this, if you're a fan of MTG, is in seeing how the author writes the characters and concepts you know from the game. It's like gamer fan fiction.

It was a quick read, and I'm not sorry I read it. I may even read the next couple books in the series just to see what happens.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent start to the mystery of the latest card packs. You don't need to have played Magic the card game to enjoy this. This is several steps beyond fan fic and reads with good pacing and well crafted prose. Some of the best mechanics of writing are, should be, invisible to the reader unless violated. Then they are too apparent and make the reading stilted. That is what I find in a lot of well meaning fan fiction.

Part one of the Secretist suffers from none of those hang ups and surprisingly weaves a tale with both intrigue and action seemlessly and kept me engaged throughout.

I will definitely be investing in parts 2 & 3.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty fun read - I've been getting pretty interested in Magic in the past year, finding the Return to Ravnica block interesting from a gameplay and world-building perspective. This serial does a fairly good job of representing that, not only in the specific named characters, like Trostani or Niv-Mizzet, that show up, but in the overall feel of the different guilds as well.

The one downside is that the book really requires you to be bought in to the world to be interesting. There's no effort to explain Jace, or the guild structure of Ravnica, so I could see people that aren't already fans getting easily confused by the content.

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm using the Ravnica campaign setting as part of my new campaign so I thought I'd read some fiction on it to "get in the groove". I really thought this was probably going to be crap, but I ended up liking it a lot. Unfortunately it was only "part 1" and only novella-sized.

One other interesting factoid, I'm almost 50 and this is the first e-book I have ever read. I've got a huge library full of physical books, so I'd rather read those than stare a screen. It wasn't too bad and I liked being able to read it wherever I was, whether it was pumping gas or in a waiting room or standing in line at the grocery store.

[Biondy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kalau tidak tahu soal Magic the Gathering, rasanya orang akan susah memahami jalan ceritanya. Penulisnya jelas sekali menulis ceritanya dengan asumsi bahwa orang sudah tahu para karakternya (karena nyaris tidak ada deskripsi untuk para karakternya), serta beberapa istilah yang dipakai.

Ceritanya sendiri tentang Jace, seorang planeswalker yang mampu mengendalikan pikiran, yang menemukan sebuah rahasia yang tersembunyi di bawah Ravnica. Cara yang dia tempuh untuk mendapatkan rahasia itu membawanya dan orang di sekelilingnya ke dalam bahaya.

[Igy The Book Hermit · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a few problems with how the sentences were written, but it was an OK story, being part 1 of a series. You would have to read the other books to find out how the story ends. It is a cliff hanger, so you won't get more than a couple of characters in the short story. I was hoping for something on the lines of "Forgotten Realms" or "Dragonlance". This was a fun read, but not to be in the same league as the before mentioned book series.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it's good to have Magic: The Gathering books back again, I wasn't entirely satisfied with this novel. I love all Doug Beyer's work in the MTG universe, but I feel this suffered from being split into three smaller parts. Had this been a normal, full novel, it might have been a better tale effort.

[Ben Lindquist · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very happy that Wizards decided to return to longer fiction with Ravnica. It felt good to be back on my favorite plane.

That being said, the normal issues with most Magic fiction came up. Typos, wooden dialogue, a lot of telling and too little showing. Nonetheless it was a fun and fast read that is bolstered by my fandom. I am very excited for the rest.

[Ethann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Jace's character.

Just wanted to get that out there.

Now then, for the review.

I play MtG. That being said, like everyone who's played Ravnica, I had my own ideas about what the guilds would be like. I had complete confidence that WotC would do it right.

Long story shotr: They didn't.

I kinda liked Ruric Thar, though.

[linuxmuso · Rating 3 out of 5]

could have sworn that Ral Zarek guy died in de Ravnica series. here they are again the Izzet guild blowing things up and causing major craziness after the Guildpact collapsed. Berrim? the name that Jace uses all times as alias, isn't that from Weis books?

[T.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the story this was trying to tell. However, there were a few grammatical errors that hiccuped my reading. It definitely felt like a part of a longer novel instead of part one. Other than that, the plot was well-crafted for the novelette that it is.

I do intend to read the sequel.

[Etti Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best MTG books so far
Jace has come a long way and his character is fully developed throughout the book.
The book also has a lot of interesting characters, some of them are my favorites in the whole MTG lore.

[Lukáš · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice little book, mainly for an MTG fan. It retains a good atmosphere and interesting characters. However their decisions are sometimes irrational, probably with the goal of making a plot twist. It is best to just enjoy the story at these weak points without thinking about it too much :).

[Cris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Feels like a Fanfic, a well done Fanfic but nothing else. The role of some characters doesnt feel like standard MTG setting.

[Costea32 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A interesting book if you're into Magic the Gathering, it adds a story to the game and some spoilers for the future cards.

[Nick Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly decent short story.

[Ari Rockatansky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read, interesting story, and information about how some characters really behave. It has Ral doing stuff, so definitely would read again.