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Magic: The Gathering
The Cursed Land
Set in a magical and compelling world called Dominia, this story is based on the hot trading card game, MAGIC: The Gathering. Fans of the game--which has sold over one billion cards--are turning to this inventive new book series to explore breathtaking new adventures featuring the characters of the game.
290 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 11, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
July 14, 2015
Teri McLaren develops characters and a storyline with such wonderful underlying depth. The protagonist of this story transitions from a point of weakness and self doubt to strength and self belief, overcoming insurmountable loss and obstacles. Even the evil characters have their charms, and touches of humor are fabulously woven into the storyline. Highly recommend Teri McLaren's works. She is a brilliant author with a great deal of creativity and insightfulness to offer her readers.
January 22, 2018
Booooooooooooring. I get what the author was going for, but the easiest way to kill your novel about MAGIC is to set it on a plane where its defining feature is a complete lack of mana.
I feel like the plot was way too simple, and the author kept throwing in bizarre twists to keep it moving when it was going to wrap up too soon. The same two people were captured and either released/escaped how many times? It felt really unplanned and half-assed the entire time, and the entire overarching conflict seemed manufactured and, in the end, meaningless.
The bar isn't high for something like this, and it couldn't even clear the bare minimum and give me one character worth caring about, a plot that made sense, or even one decent scene of action. Instead, we get some crap about an acorn, an invasion of a neighboring tribe where they just evacuate the town and nothing happens, some guy feeds himself to a giant frog, and people can't do magic other than shooting green or blue fire from their hands.
I feel like the plot was way too simple, and the author kept throwing in bizarre twists to keep it moving when it was going to wrap up too soon. The same two people were captured and either released/escaped how many times? It felt really unplanned and half-assed the entire time, and the entire overarching conflict seemed manufactured and, in the end, meaningless.
The bar isn't high for something like this, and it couldn't even clear the bare minimum and give me one character worth caring about, a plot that made sense, or even one decent scene of action. Instead, we get some crap about an acorn, an invasion of a neighboring tribe where they just evacuate the town and nothing happens, some guy feeds himself to a giant frog, and people can't do magic other than shooting green or blue fire from their hands.
June 29, 2014
Read a good third of the book and was not enjoying it at all. Really do not like books whose characters are either totally evil or totally good.
October 9, 2025
This is the worst MTG book yet, I think, although it is only the fifth, so, early days. I didn't find any of the characters particularly likeable, I wasn't interested in the plot at any point, and I would have DNF'ed it pretty early on had it not been part of my endeavor to read all of the MTG books.
April 17, 2023
I read this more than 20 years ago. I had bought it off an offer bin at the mere price of 1$ or something similar... and it's not even worth that money. This might be the worst fantasy book I've ever read. There's no saving grace here. The characters and their actions are totally ridiculous and unrealistic, the plot a big uninteresting mess and the writing is totally amateurish and in serious need of editing (which was non-existent). Maybe 30 years ago you'd be excused for buying and reading this for 1$ but nowadays with the hundreds of amazing fantasy books coming out each year there's absolutely no excuse. Skip this unless you don't value your free/reading time.
November 21, 2016
Interesting. Different, this book is full of plot-lines but lacks character depth while also hitting many stereotypes. A lot of stilted dialogue, as well.
January 26, 2018
I did not finish this not for me...
February 24, 2024
’Now, Nazir, Felonarch of Nor and all her principalities, I will make your throat my whetstone.’
This book has little to nothing to do with the Magic: The Gathering card game that supposedly inspired it. Outside of a few tangential references to planeswalkers and mana, I’m hard pressed to find any of the game’s creatures, characters, or spells in Teri McLaren’s The Cursed Land which just makes it even harder to understand where publishers were trying to go with this series. It's almost as if by the time they got to this fifth book, they were sure gamers were only buying the novels to get the free collectable cards. It didn’t really matter what was on the pages.
With that in mind, we’re left trying to judge the book on its own merits … and it’s okay. McLaren is able to do an impressive amount of world-building in less than 300 pages, crafting a biosphere of bleakness and decay that effectively emphasizes the brokenness lodged within the isle of Cridhe. The land of villainous Nor is appropriately drab, barren and twisted, it’s crumbling castle strangled in vines lording of a ramshackle town that feels better fitted to the plane of Ravenloft than the environs of Dominaria. Also to her credit, from this rather rich setting, McLaren produces a pretty hefty cast of characters and, in what I liked most about this book, rather skillfully teases supporting characters from the world background, bringing them forward into relevant players as the struggle to restore the Cridhe’s world tree barrels toward climax.
These strengths, though, couldn’t quite move the needle for me past a fair to middling score. The plot unfortunately stumbles into two of my least favorite tropes. Way too much ‘catch-and-release’ as every few chapters characters get caught, jailed, bound, or knocked silly only to repetitively enact their escape a few pages later. The ending also hinges on the easily predictable ‘maiden falling for and miraculously redeeming a madman’ which feels rather unearned after all blood and misery spilled. As a whole, this line hasn't really been very good in giving us a redoubtable female protagonist and The Cursed Land doesn't buck that trend.
Giving this a very soft three stars with the epilogue (and its ironic little ending twist) finishing things on a high note and at least providing a satisfying finish. Still, I can’t understand what the publishers were going for here; slapping the Magic: The Gathering logo on this one was quite the bait-and-switch.
January 26, 2020
Maybe it's just that I'm not familiar with the characters or storylines from this set, buy I found The Cursed Land to a bit slow-moving and with some very unlikeable main characters.
I was also not fond of the background sexism throughout the story, especially as it's just accepted and thus shown to be right and acceptable. The clan elders pitch a fit that Logan made his daughter - Aylith - the Keeper because the Keeper has always been a man. As it turns out, Aylith is the Mender, but not in her own right. Nazir - the bad guy for most of the book, by the way - has to help end the winter season (the Keeper's job) and heal the world. Then, as soon as that's done, Arn - another guy - is immediately chosen by the rebirthed Clan-Tree as the new Keeper. What the hell? So much for A wizard's greed wounded the land. Can a woman's magic heal it? (the blurb on the cover of the book). I feel gravely misled.
And, though this might be the library's fault, this is not a YA novel. Nazir is just about 30 in this story, and Aylith is only a few years younger. There are prevalent themes of sexual violence and other more adult topics/themes throughout, none of which read like or are presented/dealt with as I have ever seen in a YA novel. This signals to me that The Cursed Land was meant for a more adult audience - mid-twenties, at least - than what it is labeled as.
However, I do give the author points for not making Aylith and Nazir wedded or lovers or rapist and victim. When I read 'the two lines shall join' that's what I was really afraid was going to happen, and it didn't. Brownie points to whoever resisted the impulse to bring all the forshadowing that leaned in that direction to fruition.
All in all, I was kind of disappointed in this book. I really hope the other books on MTG lore are better.
I was also not fond of the background sexism throughout the story, especially as it's just accepted and thus shown to be right and acceptable. The clan elders pitch a fit that Logan made his daughter - Aylith - the Keeper because the Keeper has always been a man. As it turns out, Aylith is the Mender, but not in her own right. Nazir - the bad guy for most of the book, by the way - has to help end the winter season (the Keeper's job) and heal the world. Then, as soon as that's done, Arn - another guy - is immediately chosen by the rebirthed Clan-Tree as the new Keeper. What the hell? So much for A wizard's greed wounded the land. Can a woman's magic heal it? (the blurb on the cover of the book). I feel gravely misled.
And, though this might be the library's fault, this is not a YA novel. Nazir is just about 30 in this story, and Aylith is only a few years younger. There are prevalent themes of sexual violence and other more adult topics/themes throughout, none of which read like or are presented/dealt with as I have ever seen in a YA novel. This signals to me that The Cursed Land was meant for a more adult audience - mid-twenties, at least - than what it is labeled as.
However, I do give the author points for not making Aylith and Nazir wedded or lovers or rapist and victim. When I read 'the two lines shall join' that's what I was really afraid was going to happen, and it didn't. Brownie points to whoever resisted the impulse to bring all the forshadowing that leaned in that direction to fruition.
All in all, I was kind of disappointed in this book. I really hope the other books on MTG lore are better.
March 31, 2020
This is the first book in the MTG collection that truly has no connection whatsoever to previous titles. The most essential element of the story is laid out in a prophecy in the prologue, and in the rest of the book, we get to watch that prophecy come true.
I thought this book was relatively straightforward and a bit predictable. The presence of the prophecy did not help with that predictability, though I will admit that something I was expecting to happen throughout the entire book didn't quite unfold the way I thought. I also enjoyed the shrouds, which were little creatures kind of like mimics but of fabric specifically. I've never really seen mimics or their like rendered in written fiction before, and I think they're cool in general so it was fun to see them here.
Aside from the predictability, another thing I wasn't thrilled about with this book was the writing. It tended to jump from one character's point of view to another with no page breaks, and it was jarring and often unnecessary. I can excuse this in some works, when I can tell it was done for a reason, but in this instance, it just felt like the author didn't have a solid understanding of point of view.
Another little thing that bothered me was this one instance in which a character changed clothes while their hands were bound, since I don't think that's actually physically possible. It was just a passing thing that came up on one single page, but moments like that feel really sloppy and completely pull me out of the story as I'm left to wonder how it could have ever happened.
I thought this book was relatively straightforward and a bit predictable. The presence of the prophecy did not help with that predictability, though I will admit that something I was expecting to happen throughout the entire book didn't quite unfold the way I thought. I also enjoyed the shrouds, which were little creatures kind of like mimics but of fabric specifically. I've never really seen mimics or their like rendered in written fiction before, and I think they're cool in general so it was fun to see them here.
Aside from the predictability, another thing I wasn't thrilled about with this book was the writing. It tended to jump from one character's point of view to another with no page breaks, and it was jarring and often unnecessary. I can excuse this in some works, when I can tell it was done for a reason, but in this instance, it just felt like the author didn't have a solid understanding of point of view.
Another little thing that bothered me was this one instance in which a character changed clothes while their hands were bound, since I don't think that's actually physically possible. It was just a passing thing that came up on one single page, but moments like that feel really sloppy and completely pull me out of the story as I'm left to wonder how it could have ever happened.
June 9, 2019
The absolute worst book I have ever struggled to get through. The writing tone is monotonous, scatter-brained, thoughtless, and non-descriptive. I have never had an author lose my focus and attention quit like this one; and I'm including boring textbooks from school in that list of all-time horrible reads. My own stubbornness kept giving this book a chance so I never gave up on it but I wish I had been a quitter. Teri McLaren is now the reason I will no longer waste another minute of my life stumbling through an awful book. If you enjoy the early Magic lore, like I do, stay far away from this book and author.
April 7, 2020
Interesting book. I especially enjoyed the dream-like sequences in which Aylith descends into this otherworldly realm to uncover her mission as the Mender and to get rid of the anger in her heart. There was an ancient rending which has created a rift between the House of Haen and the House of Nohr. Nazir and Malvos are initially opposed to Logan and Aylith. Aylith is entrusted with the Memories by which one can resurrect spring. There is a religious theme here of an original break in the world that requires a healing and a subsequent resurrection. Aylith is a Christ-like figure.
November 4, 2021
It’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect: not-particularly-high-effort brand fantasy.
Despite its relatively very short page count of 290, this novel took me quite a chunk of time to get through due to some clunky world building, clichéd characters, and low-effort plot progression. The ending, too, ties things up far too neatly and even features a stark dichotomy between good and evil that offers essentially no real grey area. Aside from these issues, the book is readable enough and can be taken as a cute (if somewhat trite) fantasy story.
Despite its relatively very short page count of 290, this novel took me quite a chunk of time to get through due to some clunky world building, clichéd characters, and low-effort plot progression. The ending, too, ties things up far too neatly and even features a stark dichotomy between good and evil that offers essentially no real grey area. Aside from these issues, the book is readable enough and can be taken as a cute (if somewhat trite) fantasy story.
October 23, 2025
This was an interesting historical exercise (going back and reading one of the early Magic novels—which I had several of as a kid), but this one was pretty bad. It’s fascinating to see a story where the connection to the game is less through lore (i don’t think any of the worldbuilding other than mana really connects to MtG? Maybe there’s other stuff), but instead through like…the idea that there’s a card called Equinox and a card called Cursed Land, and those are elements of this story. The characters and plot are both bland and plodding, and I just speed-read through the whole second half.
November 22, 2021
My first MTG novel, a pretty interesting story set in a typical fantasy setting. Honestly nothing too unique other than basic lore from MTG. Will proceed to Arena, then Emery’s Greensleeves trilogy before moving on to cycle novels (assuming my interest remains captivated).
November 20, 2021
This was a damn hard book to get hold of, and honestly, it wasn't that great. It's not bad, for sure, but it just can't stack up to the Greensleeves trilogy.
July 31, 2017
I don't know why but I just really fell for this one, even though it has its problems, I still feel like this is one of the better Magic story's I've read.
December 30, 2016
Part of the reason I enjoyed this book so much was that McLaren ignored the mold of MTG books and developed her own original setting and rules. If the book didn't say MAGIC on the front, you wouldn't be able to tell it was based on the card game by reading it. Free of the constraints that writing a theme-based novel presents, this story was fun and exciting. The land of Cridhe was wonderfully vivid and the storyline progressed at a good pace, never becoming too slow, but still have enough meat to make the reader feel some attachment to the characters.
By assuming a certain amount of freedom in her writing content, and not really trying to get elements from the MTG card game into the novel, McLaren produced a better and more unique work. Just as the writers and artists for the cards themselves have the ability (and neccessity) of creating new creatures and places, authors of these books should be allowed to expand the world of Magic the Gathering. There shouldn't be any limitations on the possibilities of MTG.
By assuming a certain amount of freedom in her writing content, and not really trying to get elements from the MTG card game into the novel, McLaren produced a better and more unique work. Just as the writers and artists for the cards themselves have the ability (and neccessity) of creating new creatures and places, authors of these books should be allowed to expand the world of Magic the Gathering. There shouldn't be any limitations on the possibilities of MTG.
April 29, 2017
The pacing was pretty uneven and some of the ancillary characters were very forgettable. The ending, strangely, had a lot of build up for very little payoff. When everything comes to a head, things just....work out.
Not a bad read but definitely not going to make it anywhere near the top of my list of MTG novels. I give it a lot of credit for breaking the mold of gender stereotypes in fantasy fiction, as many other MTG novels also do really well. It is always very refreshing to read characters like these.
Not a bad read but definitely not going to make it anywhere near the top of my list of MTG novels. I give it a lot of credit for breaking the mold of gender stereotypes in fantasy fiction, as many other MTG novels also do really well. It is always very refreshing to read characters like these.
December 3, 2013
This is the fifth Magic the Gathering novel I have read. It isn't going down as one of my favorites, but it isn't a bad book either.
I ended up liking all the characters, even some of the bad guys, by the end. It took me a little while to really get into the story. Especially after chapter 2 sped forward 500 years. But once I was in, I was in for the long haul.
Magic players won't see many cards brought to life in this book, which to some might be disappointing.
A pretty short and easy read. I recommend this read for anyone, Magic players and naught.
I ended up liking all the characters, even some of the bad guys, by the end. It took me a little while to really get into the story. Especially after chapter 2 sped forward 500 years. But once I was in, I was in for the long haul.
Magic players won't see many cards brought to life in this book, which to some might be disappointing.
A pretty short and easy read. I recommend this read for anyone, Magic players and naught.
July 15, 2012
I've read this book more that five times since I got it (at one point, I even had to buy a new copy because I wore out my other). It has good character balance I think. For one weak female, there,s a very strong female character too, which I always enjoy. There's nothing I hate more than the cliche female character. I also have a soft spot for the evil guy in this story.
December 3, 2015
The development of characters in this book is excellent. Despite the setting taking place not only in another world, but another plane, McLaren gives well-thought insight into the human condition. I also like the mysterious element of a planeswalker and creature types mentioned little in other Magic lore as of 2015. I think MTG fans and non-fans alike can enjoy The Cursed Land.
November 28, 2020
Though the story arc wasnt quite one of normality, the author did an amazing job at pulling you in to feel like you were right there with their description. In my opinion, Teri McLauren did an amazing job with this novel by giving a new light to Magic and its effects. This has been my favorite of the Magic novels, so far!!
August 31, 2012
great story line but for some reason I got stuck for a bit in the middle. the characters have potential but a there isn't much room for details in a fantasy novel. we need a series! :-)
November 25, 2014
It's a good solid fantasy story.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews