Book Diary Entry: Arena

Book: Arena

Author: William R. Forstchen

Pages: 297

Hard Core Scale: 1/4

Normal Scale: 5/10

Publish Date: 1994

About: A city of squabbling royal houses hosts a yearly magical tournament to keep the peace, raise money, and pay tribute to a planeswalker who lords over them all. A one eyed mage, Garth, enters these games for his own reasons.

Review: The first of the MTG books written early on before retcons set down Dominaria’s unique charm. Funny what stuff was still relevant back then that exists to this day. Also funny timeline wise Urza is running around beginning people for resources while this book is going on. The book is half in the bag. It is mechanically written well and some old school plot points pop with excellent resolution of conflict. However, a lot of the book demands on mystery that is very obvious. The book is also terribly sexist. It fails the Bechdel test entirely. One can argue the society as a whole represented being sexist is a point as it is very much a hedonistic culture needing to be destroyed as a theme. However, when the main hero keeps harassing and visiting the same woman who tells him no multiple times and eventually gets with him that is a problem. The two lead female characters despite being “powerful” ladies do nothing but discuss this main character. Both get with him for little rhyme or reason. This already on top of terrible objectifying of woman (to the point of terrible on the spot murder) is a little too much. Though, the protagonist is very much antihero and very flawed in their choices. The magic system reflects the card game in unique way and makes for an exciting magical system differing from the later way spells are shown being cast in later novels. This is a strong point of the novel and an essential part of the in book society. If it was not tied to the card game it would be a very unique fantasy setting. Albeit, 916 cards of those first sets and William tends to use the same spells over and over again. So it is a flawed novel. It can be enjoyable for a fantasy fan ignoring its immense sexist layer. A flawed society is one argument, but there is author's choice in concern of character and action. In concern of the MTG novels it is before the card connections and plot really took out (go read the Brother’s War if you wish that). This is complexly skippable in that regard and only worth reading in a retrospective of where the novels started.

Two free cards were supposed to come with the book. Wonder what they were?

 Arena (Magic - The Gathering, No. 1): William R. Forstchen: 9780061054242: Amazon.com: Books
Arena Cover Kevin Murphy, Wizards of the Coast, HarperPrism, 1994.

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