I am highly critical of this book, which was not good. I can't speak on Weisman's given time frame to complete this, but he accepted the job and as a professional, I expected better than this without having to hear excuses.
I wasn't aware about that with Jenna Helland and Godsend. Where did you learn that? I really wish they hadn't done that to Godsend and let her write it as she intended. Still, it was good.
¨
Sometimes after the book was released, maybe in some podcast, interview, or on Twitter discussion. I am not able to find the original source anymore, sorry :-(
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
100% Vorthos Spike and Storyline Expert
Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
...
...
Now I know how Bolas knew enough about sailing to teach Vraska. He has probably been a sailor on a ship before. Gee, I wonder how that voyage went.
Ral gets mail from Niv-Mizzet, who organized his meeting with Dimir agent willing to cooperate (since Lazav may be on Bolas side). Ral finds the agent dead and meets with Lazav himself, who informs him that the attack on Niv-Mizzet wasn't on Dimir's official agenda, and assures him about his loyalty to Ravnica (Ral does not quite believe him, but agrees on cooperation).
Meanwhile, Vraska tries to finish her throne from petrified victims. She is strangely off recently and does not know why. Xeddick (the albino telepath kraul) feels this and informs Vraska that her memory was altered. He tells her that the memory alteration was voluntary from Vraska's side, so he isn't sure if it is sensible to undo it. He recognizes the work of an expert and knows he won't be able to lock the memory again. Vraska still wants to restore her memories and Xeddick proceeds. Vraska regains her memories (together with small trauma) and immediately sends messenger to Ral Zarek for cooperation.
Later that day, Ral is doing preparation for the Guild summit, when Hekara as an official Rakdos representative arrives (there are nice dialogs between them). Finally a zombie arrives with a message from Vraska.
(I just want to add that when I read earlier that "Vraska's memories wasn't returned by Jace, but some random telepath", I was quite afraid, but the part about returning memories was written nicely and believably.)
Well the Gathering Storm is all out and thought on the "novel";
Pros;
-Over all I liked it. Django Wexler did a great job with tone, characters, action scenes and understanding of the lore and world building. More on each below;
-Ral- Ral was a great protagonist and I like how we saw him go from the ass in RtR to the more heroic character that felt natural. We also got his full background mostly which also was nice since I do like hearing about walker origins. It was nice finally having a clearly out gay character in magic and loved how him and Tomik where written as a couple. I also think it really helps having Ral being the focus as Ravnica giving it a personal touch as well being walker giving him knowing the dangers of Bolas.
-Kaya- As the newest gatewatch member it was nice seeing her get some character and backstory more. I'm wondering what the Broken Sky fully is and how she will deal it now Bolas is gone (but she now has the gatewatch). I also like the exploration of her abilities showing us her skills and limits such as the creative ways she uses her magic to sneak around, break in, escape or even break her falls or keep herself from being hurt. I also find the heartbeat weakness a cool idea. I also like seeing how her version of WB clashed with the Orzhovs and I wonder how she will get out of the contracts. After this story it looks like her and Teysa aren't very friendly so not sure if or how that transfer of power will happen.
-Hekara- I really enjoy her and felt like she brought a lot of heart to the group they had formed. Kinda sad she didn't get a card over Judith but just add her to the list LOL. I also like the diversity we see from her for Rakdos instead of the murder demon cult we saw in Ravnica 1 and 2.
-Niv- Never been a fan of Niv and while I’m still not thinking its the best for the vainest dragon on Ravnica (and the only intelligent one left cuz you know, narcissistic genoidice) being guildpact I do think Wexler did a good job showing how Bolas helped humble Niv somewhat and show Niv what Ravnica means to him. And holy moly the fight between him and Bolas was great. Bolas gonna win but I like that it shows that Niv didn’t go down without a good fight and I could see that if Niv and Ral plan had worked Niv could have taken down Bolas or at least make Bolas flee.
-Bolas- I feel like Wexler really built off Elliot work well here showing bolas twisting the guilds with his ghost and his pulling of Ral’s strings to become a walker. As well as a theory I heard about him plotting Ajani’s sparking and chances are helped a few other walkers spark in order to seed walkers for the elder spell add to this thought. And while pregnant lady Bolas still wins for scariest Bolas in human form, sugar daddy Bolas was creepy too.
-Ravnica- I really liked Wexler fleshing out of the world. He did a great job showing the stereotypes of the guilds, but also adding in more grounded and realist elements. Certain guilds did get more focus due to characters so can’t say all the guilds were fleshed out but I enjoyed the notes that while Izzets like flashe experiments and pushing limits they all aren’t blowing up labs daily. I also felt like we got a good look at how bad Ravnica got messed up due to Jace being gone.
-Cons
-Vraska- As option I did not enjoy the Vraska arc. I don’t think it fit with her character working (un)willing for Bolas with her memories back and feel it was really stupid of her killing Isperia with her memoires knowing how much Ravnica was in danger due to Bolas. I’d rather she recover her memories after Isperia imo then get the struggle of identity and depression she goes through.
-Release- I think the handling of the releases of this was awful. I didn’t mind the email thing but having a 20 chapter book over 21? 22? (I know they were a week or 2 they didn’t have a story) was hard to keep invested at point to due my next issue.
Being released as a prequel and having the core set, commander deck and Eldraine coming out made it hard to focus on these stories even more since we not only know the ending with War but already had most of the pieces known and semi-explained months before with the two set.
Finally I felt this hurt war of the spark since there are many plot points and hooks we are except to fully know but couldn’t quite tell. Hekara return to life for example would have had a much more emotional punch now we saw who she was and it would have really pulled off the “Event” set feel since we have this plot, the Gatewatch plot and somewhat the Amonkhet plot all paying off. I think they could have set it to have half the Gathering storm first, Drayden stories for 10 weeks and then the final of this story that broughts us right to War of the Spark.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
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Whatever. I'm not gonna repeat myself again.
¨
Sometimes after the book was released, maybe in some podcast, interview, or on Twitter discussion. I am not able to find the original source anymore, sorry :-(
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
No, he apparently only read about it a lot
Ral gets mail from Niv-Mizzet, who organized his meeting with Dimir agent willing to cooperate (since Lazav may be on Bolas side). Ral finds the agent dead and meets with Lazav himself, who informs him that the attack on Niv-Mizzet wasn't on Dimir's official agenda, and assures him about his loyalty to Ravnica (Ral does not quite believe him, but agrees on cooperation).
Meanwhile, Vraska tries to finish her throne from petrified victims. She is strangely off recently and does not know why. Xeddick (the albino telepath kraul) feels this and informs Vraska that her memory was altered. He tells her that the memory alteration was voluntary from Vraska's side, so he isn't sure if it is sensible to undo it. He recognizes the work of an expert and knows he won't be able to lock the memory again. Vraska still wants to restore her memories and Xeddick proceeds. Vraska regains her memories (together with small trauma) and immediately sends messenger to Ral Zarek for cooperation.
Later that day, Ral is doing preparation for the Guild summit, when Hekara as an official Rakdos representative arrives (there are nice dialogs between them). Finally a zombie arrives with a message from Vraska.
(I just want to add that when I read earlier that "Vraska's memories wasn't returned by Jace, but some random telepath", I was quite afraid, but the part about returning memories was written nicely and believably.)
Pros;
-Over all I liked it. Django Wexler did a great job with tone, characters, action scenes and understanding of the lore and world building. More on each below;
-Ral- Ral was a great protagonist and I like how we saw him go from the ass in RtR to the more heroic character that felt natural. We also got his full background mostly which also was nice since I do like hearing about walker origins. It was nice finally having a clearly out gay character in magic and loved how him and Tomik where written as a couple. I also think it really helps having Ral being the focus as Ravnica giving it a personal touch as well being walker giving him knowing the dangers of Bolas.
-Kaya- As the newest gatewatch member it was nice seeing her get some character and backstory more. I'm wondering what the Broken Sky fully is and how she will deal it now Bolas is gone (but she now has the gatewatch). I also like the exploration of her abilities showing us her skills and limits such as the creative ways she uses her magic to sneak around, break in, escape or even break her falls or keep herself from being hurt. I also find the heartbeat weakness a cool idea. I also like seeing how her version of WB clashed with the Orzhovs and I wonder how she will get out of the contracts. After this story it looks like her and Teysa aren't very friendly so not sure if or how that transfer of power will happen.
-Hekara- I really enjoy her and felt like she brought a lot of heart to the group they had formed. Kinda sad she didn't get a card over Judith but just add her to the list LOL. I also like the diversity we see from her for Rakdos instead of the murder demon cult we saw in Ravnica 1 and 2.
-Niv- Never been a fan of Niv and while I’m still not thinking its the best for the vainest dragon on Ravnica (and the only intelligent one left cuz you know, narcissistic genoidice) being guildpact I do think Wexler did a good job showing how Bolas helped humble Niv somewhat and show Niv what Ravnica means to him. And holy moly the fight between him and Bolas was great. Bolas gonna win but I like that it shows that Niv didn’t go down without a good fight and I could see that if Niv and Ral plan had worked Niv could have taken down Bolas or at least make Bolas flee.
-Bolas- I feel like Wexler really built off Elliot work well here showing bolas twisting the guilds with his ghost and his pulling of Ral’s strings to become a walker. As well as a theory I heard about him plotting Ajani’s sparking and chances are helped a few other walkers spark in order to seed walkers for the elder spell add to this thought. And while pregnant lady Bolas still wins for scariest Bolas in human form, sugar daddy Bolas was creepy too.
-Ravnica- I really liked Wexler fleshing out of the world. He did a great job showing the stereotypes of the guilds, but also adding in more grounded and realist elements. Certain guilds did get more focus due to characters so can’t say all the guilds were fleshed out but I enjoyed the notes that while Izzets like flashe experiments and pushing limits they all aren’t blowing up labs daily. I also felt like we got a good look at how bad Ravnica got messed up due to Jace being gone.
-Cons
-Vraska- As option I did not enjoy the Vraska arc. I don’t think it fit with her character working (un)willing for Bolas with her memories back and feel it was really stupid of her killing Isperia with her memoires knowing how much Ravnica was in danger due to Bolas. I’d rather she recover her memories after Isperia imo then get the struggle of identity and depression she goes through.
-Release- I think the handling of the releases of this was awful. I didn’t mind the email thing but having a 20 chapter book over 21? 22? (I know they were a week or 2 they didn’t have a story) was hard to keep invested at point to due my next issue.
Being released as a prequel and having the core set, commander deck and Eldraine coming out made it hard to focus on these stories even more since we not only know the ending with War but already had most of the pieces known and semi-explained months before with the two set.
Finally I felt this hurt war of the spark since there are many plot points and hooks we are except to fully know but couldn’t quite tell. Hekara return to life for example would have had a much more emotional punch now we saw who she was and it would have really pulled off the “Event” set feel since we have this plot, the Gatewatch plot and somewhat the Amonkhet plot all paying off. I think they could have set it to have half the Gathering storm first, Drayden stories for 10 weeks and then the final of this story that broughts us right to War of the Spark.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"