The Darksteel Eye

Magic: The Gathering, Mirrodin Cycle #2

by Jess Lebow

In the second novel in the Mirrodin Cycle saga, an iron golem seeking his lost memories, a goblin tinkerer with a yearning to become a hero, and an elf in possession of knowledge that could transform the world escape across the harsh metal world of Mirrodin, with a powerful and omniscient enemy in hot pursuit. Original.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Magic, Science Fiction Fantasy, Science Fiction

308 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

Alright this was somehow worse than the previous book. I think it was just more of the same, so it didn't have the novelty of a new setting and new characters to offset the blandness.

The entire book was filler surrounding a half-assed fetch quest to get one artifact to complete a set of 3 (because she already had two in hand, because why not make it more boring).

We literally start by going down into the interior of the world, and I thought "sweet, moving to a new arena, let's go." Five pages later, "Shit, let's retreat and retrace all of the steps we took last book and go back to the start." -_-

After retrieving the McGuffin artifact and winning some more repetitively boring battles (oh no it's a trap, all is lost I'm about to lose, jk I have magic at the last moment and I won.....every time), they go BACK down into the interior.......

Only to once again realize it's a trap, they're about to lose, shit we need to retreat and ONCE AGAIN LITERALLY RETRACE OUR STEPS UP INTO THE VEDALKEN CITY, GET ON A BOAT TO THE HUMAN CITY, THEN WALK BACK TO THE TANGLE WHERE THIS ALL STARTED.

I can't stress that enough. This book retraces the exact same path MULTIPLE TIMES, after already doing so in the previous book. Holy fuck that is the laziest, most boring writing yet in these books.

This was done to some extent on Dominaria, but is to be expected in like the 17th book on that plane. But at least in those cases THE JOURNEY MATTERED and was actually described. Here, no, we do a literary fade to black and suddenly we're at the next waypoint. The journey is irrelevant.

Once again no character is developed. Maybe the Vedalkens a little, in their coup to overthrow Pontifex (really, could you not come up with a less obvious name?), and Bosh is once again the only character with an arc, but in general there was no protagonist beyond "you want Glissa to win because Memnarch bad". The villains "develop" here in that, since they were already caricatures, they were further exaggerated in cartoonish fashion (which is precisely the problem with one-dimensional antagonists).

I still like the idea of Mirrodin, but I'm done with enduring its execution.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than the first in the sense we get to follow the bad guys rather then Glissa the entire time which leads to some much needed variety then just the "get revenge/chosen one" plot line. Again there's a lot of action and sometimes it's hard to follow. I actually went and tried to look up some of the cards just so i could see what the heck was trying to imagine as i read. I also liked how there was some meta humor: "We're we just here?" "Why does everyone know what i'm doing except for me?" while some might see that as lazy writing or bad story i took it in stride and the fun sprite it was meant to be made in. I was heartbroken about the characters who died in this, and i hope but don't expect, the rest of the cast to follow in the next book.

[Robert Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I gave this a 5 star review, it’s actually closer to 4 1/2. Though the story was good compared to the Moons Of Mirrodin. There are 2 problems I have so far. First, even though Karn is a planeswalker and they can stay away for a long time, I have a hard time believing Karn would just walk away and not come back. The second problem was that I really wish the character Al-Hayat the wolf was fleshed out a bit more. If you have read book one of the series, you will want to read this one as well.

[Rubén Lorenzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

El segundo volumen de la trilogía de Mirrodin da más de lo mismo: acción y aventura a raudales. Seguimos las peripecias de Glissa y sus amigos por el mundo metálico y descubrimos las motivaciones del villano de la saga.

El final me ha parecido un tanto apresurado y en ocasiones el libro puede ser un poco repetitivo, pero en general es divertido y recomendable para fans de la fantasía y del juego de cartas Magic: el encuentro.

[Marwyn Hoeschel · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, if you are a Magic the gathering fan, then this book is probably for you. I liked the Mirrordin block, as I started my Magic the Gathering Journey with it. So for me, it was a bit a bad starting point. It was fun to meet all the old characters and to explore the plane again. However, this book is chewy as an old gum. And, to be honest: it’s boring. The fights are so foreseeable and they all feel the same.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, I think this book was better than the last one in the series, but it's just not great. I was a fan of a lot of the books based on D&D and similar games back in the day, but this one has been harder to really appreciate. My tastes have probably changed a little, but this one still seems like it is just too fast with too much going on, and not a lot of substance. But compared to the first in the series it really is an improvement.

[Iain · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was hard to finish. It's tough to say which was worse, the writing or the editing. I'd have to say the writing as there seemed to be no editing. Finished just to see what happens to Glissa. Could honestly have skipped to the last two chapters.

[Harrison Delahunty · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book manages to take away the one thing that made The Moons of Mirrodin kind of okay: now we get to read multiple chunks of the villains’ perspective! No thanks.

Slobad is still my favourite part of these, but that’s not saying much.

[Russell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kinda feels like this trilogy should be just one book with a lot of filler cut, but I know these were releasing alongside the card sets.

At this point I'm only here and finishing the trilogy for Slobad

[Bryan Jenks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh the nostalgia

[Paul Dudoward · Rating 4 out of 5]

So being book two we all know that the main charater goes through hell. well this one is no let down, and in true shakespear style she gets to go though it all with newly found friends and allies :( Now don't gat me wrong it isn't all down hill for her, no way does she let much of anything stop her. It's just that... Sorry shoundn't say more :) I will say that this one really made want to read the third.

[Amanda and tony schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tony

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too bad. I enjoy all the Magic the Gathering books. =)