Reddit reviews The Brothers' War: Artifacts Cycle, Book I

I strongly recommend checking out the Brothers' War - it is a fantastic fantasy novel and I recommend it to friends who aren't even into Magic.

Barnes and Noble does not carry them in store. They would be sourcing them from the same online sellers, the same as other sites like Amazon. The books are quite old now so that makes sense.

Definitely start with The Brother's War. You can read the original or pick it up in the Onmibus along with it's prequel The Thran.

Here are all the books, in chronological order (also my recommended order, other than saving The Thran for very last):


The Thran (Or Artifacts: cycle 1 Omnibus)

The Brother's War (Or Artifacts: cycle 1 Omnibus)

Planeswalker (Or Artifacts: cycle 2 Omnibus)

Time Streams (Or Artifacts: cycle 2 Omnibus)

Bloodlines (Or Artifacts: cycle 2 Omnibus)

Rath and Storm

Mercadian Masques

Nemesis

Prophecy

Invasion

Planeshift

Apocalypse

Dominaria has perhaps the *most* lore associated with it, given that it was the primary plane for most of Magic's history (pre-'mending'). There's a ton of books from those blocks (some are even good). I always thought the Rath and Storm anthology was the best MTG story/book money could buy, back when I was into that sort of thing. The Dark Horse graphic novel Gerrard's Quest covers the same ground and is also acceptable (and a much quicker read).

After that you can probably be forgiven for skipping the Mercadian Masques books (though I will defend the Nemesis book to my dying breath), but the 3 Invasion cycle books leading to the Apocalypse event were exciting as hell.

The Thran and Brothers War stories are worth checking out just to get the proper appreciation for Urza as a character (though the writing contained within the books aren't especially good).

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This'll get you started, I suppose: https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Dominaria_(plane)

The Ravnica books are fun. Each one isn't as good as the one before it, but it kicks off as this high-fantasy detective procedural, very noirish and colorful, very reminiscent of Sam Vimes from Discworld.

If you're okay with e-books, you can get The Brothers' War for $5 on Kindle, Nook, or Kobo.

The Brothers' War: Artifacts Cycle, Book I https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786911700/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_7ErZDbV3FN96Q

The Brothers' War by Jeff Grub

Its not a summary, its a pretty detailed account of the events that led up to the biggest conflicts and events in the mtg universe.

This is my absolute favorite MTG Lore book. The Brothers' War is so crucial to the Lore I seriously recommend it, it's incredibly good!

Here are some links:
http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Urza
http://www.amazon.com/The-Brothers-War-Artifacts-Cycle/dp/0786911700/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397226055&sr=8-1&keywords=the+brothers+war

The brother's war, Chainer's torment, and Nemesis are the 3 best standalone novels. IE, if you look at the novel alone, not in context of the cycle it's in.

http://www.amazon.com/Brothers-War-Artifacts-Cycle-Book/dp/0786911700/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345670302&sr=1-1&keywords=the+brother%27s+war

http://www.amazon.com/Chainers-Torment-Magic-Gathering--Odyssey-Cycle/dp/0786926961/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345670284&sr=1-1&keywords=chainer%27s+torment

http://www.amazon.com/Nemesis-Magic-Gathering-Masquerade-Cycle/dp/0786915595/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345670264&sr=1-1&keywords=magic+nemesis


Edit * Forgot Arena : http://www.amazon.com/Arena-Magic-The-Gathering-No/dp/0061054240/ref=cm_cmu_pg__header

Here's the amazon link if you want to buy it. I wouldn't recommend reading the wiki if you don't want the story spoiled. The books tht follow it are all in the "related" section. There's also a 4th book I forgot to mention, called "Bloodlines".

I enjoyed reading them. They provide a deep background story behind the characters in the cards. They are good serial novel quality.

I would start with The Thran and The Brothers War.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic:_The_Gathering_storylines

If you enjoy those two, you'd like the rest of the series.

The Brothers War is the one I've always heard is good. I am currently about half way through it and have really enjoyed it.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Brothers-War-Artifacts-Cycle/dp/0786911700

It was told