Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths Sundered Bond

Magic: The Gathering

by Django Wexler

The exciting story of Magic's latest release, Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths!

Discover the monstrous realm of Ikoria in this thrilling story, inspired by Magic: The Gathering's latest card set Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths!

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction

144 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 7, 2020

About the author

Django Wexler graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh with degrees in creative writing and computer science, and worked for the university in artificial intelligence research. Eventually he migrated to Microsoft in Seattle, where he now lives with two cats and a teetering mountain of books. When not planning Shadow Campaigns, he wrangles computers, paints tiny soldiers, and plays games of all sorts.

Reviews

[Dimitris · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's quite a good magic book. In fact I would quite like it if it was bigger than a novella but what can you do.

Django Wexler does a good job developing the parts of the plane and characters he got his hands on, and I couldn't say the story is in any way unsatisfactory. But as in the majority of newer magic stories, you don't get the full experience without having knowledge of the cards as well. The flavour of the cards builds the backstory of the plane, their art the aesthetic, and the flavourtext gives us insight into characters we wouldn't otherwise have. And this is as it should be. Magic the gathering is a multimedia franchise and as such it needs and it should take advantage of all of its available media. To reiterate, I'm not saying that someone who has no idea about the game won't enjoy this book. It's quite well written. Its simply not the full experience.

Now for the more specific stuff. I feel like we finally got to see Vivien fully realised. In the past her characterisation had been a little out of balance, but now we get to see how her mind works where her loyalties lie and what she thinks about her role in the multiverse.
Lukka was the biggest surprise. The way he develops is quite believable and it's all undercut by the meddling of an unnamed planeswalker. For my money, I bet it's oko.
Narset isn't in this book, but I think that's fine. It shows how big a plane can be, so much so that Vivien comments that she is too far to contact. Still for people expecting to see narset appear, expect to be disappointed. But then she's not on the cover is she?

Another great part of the book was the main conflict. No factions of the plane feel like "the bad guys" and no nonsensical leaps of logic or inordinate stubbornness drive the opinions of the characters. Even one of the main conflicts, is driven both by a difference of opinion, but most importantly a "who watches the Watchman" scenario which I didn't expect. We see a character who we expect to be written like a walking cliche, to deliver a very powerful argument over a very integral disagreement in the book.

Still the book only ever reaches the state of good, but that's ok. It's a solid book, a strong 7/10. It might not be the best book you have read all your life, but it might be the best book you have read this month. It has no significant low and a quick pace. If you want something small and snappy, this book delivers. It can be read in one or two sittings very easily, without even realising it.

A masterpiece it is not, but does every book need to be? And with the addition of the cards, they deliver a very stellar multimedia experience. I recommend it to all magic fans, and to anyone else who likes quick paced novellas about magic action and giant monsters.

[Guille Jiménez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sundered Bond was pretty good. I liked the characters, mainly Jirina, and got to change my mind on both Lukka and Vivien from my previous feelings about them. Nicely written, I found it a bit too tight in the plot, with almost no time to wander around the plane. The ending felt a bit abrupt and unsatisfactory, to be honest, but the way to get there was great.

[Biondy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, but

[Jonathan Lee B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sundered Bond is shifting sand dunes.

[Paul Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my second Magic: The Gathering novel since picking up the game after a decade or so hiatus. Like Kate Elliott's Throne of Eldraine: The Wildered Quest, this is a solidly written property tie-in fantasy novel. I'll make a lot of comparisons between the two because they share quite a bit in common: they have to introduce a new plane (think parallel dimension) featured in a new game set. Not only that, they must expand the backstory of new or rarely detailed in-game planeswalker characters, while also featuring at least one cameo by established planeswalkers and provide references to details featured on the game materials (events or minor characters featured on various new cards, context for some cards' flavor text, settings identifiable in card art, etc). It's the sort of narrow writing assignment that probably also includes plenty of corporate committee-oversight and likely not a lot of room for authorial freedom. A tall order, in other words, to come out on the other side with something great.

Django Wexler does a pretty reasonable job at crafting a compelling story in spite of this (though I think Elliot did a better overall job). He introduces Lukka, a member of Drannith's elite Coppercoats. He is, in essence, a monster hunter. Drannith is a city on the plane of Ikoria where monsters are rampant, and the city has survived for decades of monster attacks through judicious use of clever, multi-tiered fortifications and an aggressive best-defense approach to hunting down monsters on the city's outer regions. Early in the novel Lukka and his team encounter a particularly deadly winged-cat monster and Lukka himself is spared only through a strange, momentary connection between himself and the beast.

This sets off a sequence of escapes and shifting alliances as Lukka's inexplicable survival hints to establishment Drannith leadership that he may be a traitor. Rather than face disciplinary action, Lukka flees the city with the aid of planeswalker Vivien Reid, who has arrived on Ikoria to pursue another unnamed planeswalker she suspects is trying to harness a power native to Ikoria. The plan to unravel the mystery and restore Lukka to Drannith's good graces takes an unexpected turn, leading to a final confrontation that culminates in Lukka's Spark igniting (the Magic term for a planeswalker suddenly shifting planes due to a traumatic event).

So a couple of things about the progression of Sundered Bond. First, Wexler does his level best to progress Lukka believably through several tragic character shifts by focusing Lukka's motivation to a single driving purpose throughout: clearing his name, upholding his oath as a Coppercoat to protect Drannith from harm... essentially getting back home where he feels he belongs. Honestly without this consistent motivation, the book would fall completely apart. Lukka, despite being portrayed early on as a meticulous, by-the-book soldier who consistently falls back on years of training and practice, swings wildly from desperate man accepting extraordinary circumstances to cold villain hellbent on having his redemption come on his own terms and all manner of inexplicable shades in between. But to say it's 100% successful would be overselling it. Some of it is perhaps due to the book's relentless pace, never giving Lukka's transformation quite enough space to breathe and justify itself. Perhaps a few more interactions with other characters in the second act would have helped, but there's no time for that here.

Second, I found the inclusion of established Magic characters here to be a bit lacking. Now, granted, I've been away from the game and its lore for a long time so there may be things that were patently obvious to fans who have followed along for years, like the identity of the planeswalker Vivien is hunting. But the lack of identification of that individual even as the book drew to a close was frustrating. There is also a single throwaway line where Vivien considers which of her fellow planeswalkers she could call on to help in the final confrontation. She mentions one (Narset) by name, vaguely says there could be a few others... and then drops the notion—apparently—as no other characters ever arrive, or at least are not mentioned in the text. I guess players of the game could assume Narset arrives since she has cards in the Ikoria card set, but it felt like a weird tease to not bring at least one or two other characters in for the big finale.

And finally, in a structural move that mirrored Elliot's The Wildered Quest, the book ends unsatisfactorily with the protagonist planeswalking away from their home plane as their Spark ignites. This strikes me as a bizarre structural choice. I can understand a new planeswalker getting their Spark being a good conclusion as it acts as a loose cliffhanger... if they were not the principal point-of-view character. Introducing a plane through the eyes of a native inhabitant is awkward since aspects of those planes that are special or new are by definition normal and mundane to those who grew up and lived their lives there. It seems to me that seeing Eldraine through the eyes of Oko or Garruk, or seeing Ikoria from Vivien or Narset's point of view would be better. After all, those characters can serve as audience points of view: experiencing the nuance and uniqueness of the fresh plane along with the reader. Instead a lot of both books' early chapters have a big As-You-Know-Bob vibe to them where Lukka or Wil or Rowan ruminate on rote aspects of their lives for no obvious reason other than to orient the reader.

Still, in the end, I had a good time reading Sundered Bond. Lukka's arc was unexpected and I like the idea of a planeswalker who exists strongly in that space of a villain who believes himself to be a hero. Ikoria is a changed place by the end of the book, but it's obvious there is more intrigue left to mine, and it will be interesting to see how some of the colorful new non-planeswalker characters introduced here could have roles in the next large, plane-spanning narrative event. The book has a few issues, and I doubt anyone who had no interest in the game would find it original or compelling enough to stand on its own, but for fans and players of the card game, it's an easy beach read worth the few bucks.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coming off the back of several lacklustre MTG novels and in the midst of an entire fiasco surrounding how the story is delivered, Ikoira: Lair of Behemoths- Sundered Bond is pleasantly surprising. Despite its double-subtitle mouthful of a name.
It does a good job of painting the world we see on the cards- a lot better in many cases! I feel like I now have a great image of the concentric rings of defenses around the city-fortress of Drannith; the wide sweeping plains with twisted crystal formations and even the ramshackle flotilla of the flying town of Skysail. While it definitely has some of the same feel of these tie in novels- that we're justing checking off a list of things we need to see- it actually is incorporated pretty well into the plot and does not feel overly forced.
The overall plot is fine but fairly predictable. It focuses on the city of Drannith which is constantly under siege from the wild monsters of the land of Ikoria. Lukka, a premier guardsman who is betrothed to the daughter (Jirina) of the general of the city, finds that he can control some of these monsters by abusing the magic of strange crystals found throughout the land. He goes on a journey to find the largest of these crystals so he can stop the monsters attacking Drannith, then returns to the city to try and pursuade the general that controlling the monsters could be a great benefit. There's a bit of a falling out before the new status quo is uneasily resolved at the end. What I particularly appreciate about the climactic conflict is that it pulls almost a reverse Game-Of-Thrones; there in battles you don't want anyone to lose because you're attached to both sides. Here I didn't want anyone to win because both sides were in the wrong! Which does present an interesting dynamic.
We also follow Jirina as she at turns follows Lukka, returns to the fortress city and ultimately does what she sees as necessary to defend her city. She's not a hugely well-rounded character but is portrayed consistently enough. Also featured is Vivien Reid, our token planeswalker for the story. She is presented as pretty uninteresting and directionless, but funnily enough that works as she says herself that now the previous Big Bad has been dealt with, she's not really too sure what to do with life.
The cast of minor characters are all pretty forgettable, and fall into either a) macho military types or b ) quirky outcast types.
Perhaps because it is a presented as a novella it does seem to cut quite a few corners. Where some aspects of the plot are concerned we get brief sketches where more detail would have helped significantly. For instance, early in the story Lukka, wakes up after having experienced a strange magic potentially 'bonding' him to one of the monstrous creatures attacking his home city of Drannith. There is a very sudden leap from 'the general wants to hear your report about this' to 'the general is going to execute you for treason' which then forces him in to exile. It's necessary to keep the plot going in the direction we want, but it definitely could have been handled with a lot more finesse.
Overall, not a bad read; definitely kept me going through, and provides good context for the world of the game. For an MTG tie-in, actually pretty good.

[Bryce Hatfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a book introducing, and showing off, the plane of Ikoria, this was pretty good. I found it easy to get sucked into the world and found myself immensely interested in its creatures, land, and civilizations. It gave us a thrilling adventure set in a fun world full of dangerous creatures. For a Magic The Gathering novel that wanted to show off a new plane, it did its job admirably.

The problems come with the story, and some of the characters. The story was rather good for the first two thirds or so, but fell flat during the third act. The ending felt rushed and messy, though it eventually came together. Overall, it could have benefited from a larger page count. I found myself really enjoying conversations between characters, and there wasn’t enough of that. It felt too fast, and I think another fifty pages or more could have helped it breathe a little.

And lastly, the characters [This will have a tad bit of spoilers]. For the most part, the characters were pretty consistent throughout. Vivien didn’t grow or have any significant revelation, but I enjoyed every scene with her. I didn’t care for Jirina as much as Vivien, but her character was probably the most consistent. She had the most important character arc and it was fun to see her grow throughout the story. Lukka’s arc was a little more complex. It was interesting to see him dissolve into a sort of madness, but it didn’t feel as justified as it could have if they expanded on it more. I also felt like they should have developed his bond with the winged cat more. His arc wasn’t bad, but it was the least consistent out of the three main characters.

In conclusion, this was a good Magic The Gathering novel. If you don’t play Magic, I wouldn’t recommend it. It doesn’t have the deepest story or the most complex characters, but it’s worldbuilding is great and the plot is fun enough.

[Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating!

The book was fun to read as it is filled with exciting events, e.g. hunting monsters, exploring the wild, etc. There was never a dull moment in Ikoria! Loved the characters too: Lukka, Jirina, and Vivien.

As for the plot, I thought I knew what was happening but there was an unexpected twist towards the end. Could be a bummer for most people but yeah that's life. Just expect the unexpected.

Time for the negative points. There were some nuances that really bothered me. Like what is an mrp? (this was mentioned twice). And Narset, she was mentioned in the novel too. But what happened to her? where was she? No proper introductions were made, just a mention of her name in a conversation. If I were there, instinctively, I'd ask who she is and how could she be of help! Lastly, whose voice was it in the Ozolith?

All in all, I'd say it was ok but could have been better without the few holes here and there. I highly recommend this read for Magic the Gathering fans and for those who like fantasy books (or maybe for people on long flights! LOL!).

[Tzu-Mainn Chen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Magic: the Gathering has been rather up and down with its recent tie-in novels. The War of the Spark novels were tremendously disappointing (compared to the excellent build-up done through the card sets), while the Eldraine book was a pleasant high-fantasy romp. I had high hopes for “Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths - Sundered Bond”, as Django Wexler has previously written amazing Magic fiction. Unfortunately I was disappointed.

The problem is that the book tries to stuff too much into too little of a space. Character, locations, and plot elements all whoosh by, all their subtleties and fine detail stripped away by the speed of the story. What’s left behind reads like a detailed summary. I don’t think that it’s the author’s fault - I suspect that outside circumstances resulted in too much plot written in too little time with too little space - but I still can’t say that I recommend the book.

At least the new Ikoria cards look like a blast!

[Adam Woroniec · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose to read this because I'm returning Magic, and I want to add some context to the Ikoria cards I'll be buying. This story was better than I expected - especially for a made for trading card book. The scene setting, characters, creatures and dialogue were polished up enough to make this enjoyable. I was especially satisfied with the combat, which was gritty, sometimes brutal, and did a good job of keeping the reader orientated through fast-paced action.

For length, I finished it in a few days, but I know some who could blaze through it in an afternoon. I really like that it was a quick read.

I caught about five spelling errors, which should never have made it in. Come on! Maybe something with porting to Kindle.

[Melissa Ilgen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good intro to Ikoria

Story started out strong, learning about the challenges of the humans surviving on Ikoria. The beasts are described monstrous and are interesting. Some of the character development goes a little too fast, and I feel that the further you get in the story, the faster it is speeding up. If the story would've spent more time on the ending, it would have been more satisfying. I am also left with way too many unanswered questions. Overall, decent read, and a good intro into Ikoria.

[Jasmine Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice, solid tie-in novella that tells the story of Captain Lukka of the Coppercoats and his descent from happiness and prosperity to misery and vengeance. Although you don't need to know anything about Magic: The Gathering lore to enjoy it, as it is a standalone story (only one of the characters, Vivien Reid, is a recurring character, having previously appeared in the free online short story "Unbowed" by Cassandra Khaw), you'll probably enjoy it more if you already have some investment into the world and the characters.

[MajesticalLion · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was about as perfect an MTG book as I've read in a while. Solid story, manages to be well paced despite its short runtime. The characters are a blast, and Ikoria as a setting far exceeded my expectations. The book repeatedly makes decisions that are cool as hell, but so easy to mess up, and the book repeatedly rides that line and manages to do exactly what it needs to make these decisions work and be satisfying. The moment I figured out what they were doing with Lukka, I kept saying to myself "they have to follow through" and they did. Now I'm onto Zendikar Rising.

[Zoe Tanner · Rating 5 out of 5]

On going home

Sometimes in life we make choices. These choices effect all of us deeply. They also effect others deeply too. Sometimes the choices we make in an attempt to do better only damn us further. Sometimes the choices we make trying to return to something comforting only damn it and destroy it.

This is a story about those times. And I think a lot of people should read it.

[Franklin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first MTG book I have read. I wasn't sure how closely they usually tie to the over-arching lore of the set. I notice discrepancies between some the narrative from the cards and the novel. I think it's value comes not from the writing or the plot, but from creating a more engaging connection with the cards. I would give this 1 or 2 stars if I paid $20 dollars for it, but for $4 it's worth the purchase.

[Blake Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful!

I'll be the first to admit two things: I'm not a huge fan of fantasy books and I first picked up this novel because of Magic: the Gathering. I enjoyed everything about this novel from the expansive world building to the crisp action sequences. The only reason I gave it four stars, I would have given 4.5 if I could have, was because there was room for improvement in the technical execution of the manuscript. Otherwise it was great.

[Gabriel Machado Lobo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sundered Bond brings a great twisting story about how Captain Lukka goes from an honored man to a heartless monster, worse than any of Ikoria's mutants.
Characters are well developed, yet some might have been better used. Missed more of Ikoria's world lore and legendary apex monsters. Perhaps the book could have been longer.

[Tom Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overall

The story is good, fun and does leave things open for expansion. The reason I only gave 3 stars is that the publishers clearly don’t proof read. I can, across misspeaking and out of place words. Forgivable for online fan fiction, but not a book you pay for.

That aside, I enjoyed the book.

[Jules · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid 3.5 stars.

It's a great and enjoyable read and I'd probably give it four stars if I would be able to read it entirely disconnected from the story on the cards.
Sadly, that's not how my brain works and the inconsistencies between the two stories make me wish WotC would put a bit more effort in their story design.

[Nick Reno · Rating 3 out of 5]

Drastic improvement over the War of the Spark novels. Really interesting new world that didn't feel like it was being written to a marketing team's bullet points. Big Dinotopia energy and a story that was both relatively straightforward and not particularly burdened by built up MtG canon.

[Ryan Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hey, Wizards of the Coast finally found a decent author to write their stories (Wexler's Ravnica story was well written as well, so two for two). I do wish these novels (novellas) incorporated more stuff from the card set itself.

[Meric McWiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haven't read a MtG book in like...15 years, but this one is novella sized and from one of my favorite sets. Overall the pace was quick and the story was good, just needs a little better editing for the kindle version because there's some spelling errors that stick out.

[Mike Trevors · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read. Felt it was more of a introduction. But always wanted to read a MTG novella.

[Josh Rubino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best Magic read in a looooooooong time

[Manon Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

Nice story line, book hade some plot twists, which made the book a lot more interesting. Really cool read for magic fans

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5, lost a star for lack of sharknadoes

[Kyle Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent Novella for Ikoria.

Fun trip in a new world. A bit disappointed that there wasn't too much interaction between story and cards. Basically just ozolith, viv and lukka.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A plot-driven look at a story on this new plane. Plus Vivien gets some development.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite the origin story that I expected, but definitely explains why Lukka is a 3RR planeswalker.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an ok read but seemed very short and not as well as some of the original MTG books