Magic: The Gathering - Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos Review

I am delighted to see the return of Magic novels with Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos. I'm legitimately someone who can remember reading the original Ravnica novels found in fat packs (ask your parents). Over the years, the novels have ebbed and flowed with variable success, and it has been quite a while since the last printed Magic novel. As someone who enjoys the Magic storyline found online, I'm pretty enthusiastic about having a book to read, especially one authored by such a critically acclaimed author like Seanan McGuire. So let's take a look in this book to see what it has to offer and if it's worth your time.

Story Seeker

 I'm going to start with a spoiler-free synopsis of the first part of the book, but as with most reviews, I will have to spoil the story in order to talk about it.

 Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos follows a young woman named Eula Blue as she lives the life she never wanted on New Capenna. Her family had sights on joining high society, but now all those plans are in ruin in the wake of the Phyrexian invasion. Now she's stuck working a menial construction job. Her life changes quickly after she receives an invitation to Strixhaven, an extra-planar school on Archavios she's never heard of, but it's an opportunity that cannot be ignored. She meets our four other main characters: Alandra — a merfolk from Shandalar, Kequia — a human from Dominaria, Segante — a human from Fioria, and Jamira — a minotaur formerly of Aranzhur. They travel through the Omenpaths to Strixhaven where they enroll in classes as the first official extra-planar students. Taught by Kasmina, the former Planeswalker, the five discover what Strixhaven has in store for them and why they were really chosen as extra-planar students.

 If you understood all the words in that last paragraph (or even if you didn't) and that was enough to get your attention, then go read the book. If you're looking for a thumbs up or down, I think Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos is worth the read.

 *Spoiler Warning*

 The rest of the story finds our five characters bonding and exploring Strixhaven's unfamiliar culture together. Despite being from their own distinct worlds, they each recognize they can help one another. As their semester begins, it becomes apparent that Kasmina isn't happy about being desparked and is taking actions to remedy that. As the semester progresses, the five become close friends as it turns out not all of Strixhaven wants them there. There's a movement among the students worried about cross-planar contamination. These students point out that no one knows what the effects are of letting untested life through the Omenpaths onto Archavios are. They have a point, but have also been overruled.

Under the watchful eyes of owls, our five students start experiencing threatening messages as the book builds to a masquerade dance in the woods, a fight among students in a swamp, and even Eula getting kidnapped and thrown into an Omenpath. Meanwhile, Professor Vess keeps a raised eyebrow on our characters, popping in to offer helpful advice, witty remarks, and occasional healing.

Everything culminates when it is revealed that Kasmina has been engineering the torments the students have faced in hopes of igniting their sparks or sowing distrust among them. Kasmina lures our characters into a Snarl with a plan on using them to both reignite her spark and tear Archavios back into its two elemental halves which would destroy everything. That sure went from zero to one hundred fast. Our characters thwart her plans and escape, leaving Kasmina's fate uncertain. In the end, the five are left planning their futures at Strixhaven as the cross-planar student program looks to continue.

Ideas Unbound and Scattered Thoughts

If you're like me, you've scrolled down to check the score, so you know I liked this book. Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos is practically laser-targeted at me, and I can't help but think I might be harsher on it were there a more steady stream of Magic novels. Even with that caveat, I enjoyed the book for what it is: a nice piece of fantasy literature set in the Magic universe. It's got a little bit of action, romance, and lore for everyone to enjoy. I also liked that the stakes of the book weren't super high until they suddenly were at the very end. This kept the tone of the book light until the last few chapters.

One particular thing I do think the book excels at is its world building. Seanan McGuire takes time to describe why flower arrangements matter to Segante or the sadness in Jamira's realization that no one may ever again understand her jewelry. These were small, wonderful moments, and the book is full of them. Each of the home planes of the students color their interaction with everything. Eula frames her world in how can it advance her plan to join the Obscura. She feels guilty for copying spells and sending them back home, but that's what will help her family gain the status they crave. Segante's paranoia is now unreasonable once he's off Firora. At home, people were trying to kill him constantly. At Strixhaven, he's just a student. These are all details that Magic lore fans will pick up on. Four of the five characters are related to existing characters in some way; Alandra even has a card from Jumpstart 2022. Realizing who these characters are related to was a delight, but that requires the reader knowing existing lore.

Similarly, I wanted the beginning of the book to be longer. I wanted to see more of how the planes were recovering. We get a look at life in New Capenna, but we rush through the rest of the planes to arrive at Strixhaven. This is in service of the story, but it is reflective of the book as a whole. The book is swiftly paced, rarely stopping to examine anything before moving on. As someone who wants to ruminate on these worlds, I wanted more time with them. In order to stop Atraxa, the people of New Capenna dropped a building on her, and here we get a better understanding of that aftermath. We only get glimpses into other places. We don't actually learn a lot of new information about Strixhaven itself either. This is a story that takes place at Strixhaven rather than being about it.

Omens of Chaos does communicate we are fully into the "Omenpaths" era of Magic: The Gathering. Similar to some characters in the book, not everyone likes the Omenpaths. If you're curious as to how they function or how the planes are adapting to them, there's great info around them. I love the detail that Ravnica is leading the charge to monetize them.

The primary themes are trauma and recovery, whether it be losing a piece of yourself or seeing your world burn from the Phyrexians. Everyone in the book is wounded, and they are all healing differently. This goes with the "desparking" of Planeswalkers as Kasmina is determined to get hers back. Between her and Liliana, you get some small insight into what the loss of many Planeswalkers means for the planes.

Apprentice Wizard's

How does this book fare if you're not an established Magic fan? If you know nothing of these worlds, is it still a good read? Yes, I believe so. The book spends a fair amount of time explaining to you the important details of things. Do you need to know the differences between the Obscura and the Brokers that Eula worries about? No, the book does a good job of explaining that these are powerful organizations that shape life in New Capenna. Liliana spends an entire paragraph ensuring you know why she's important, which is an incredibly Liliana thing to do. While Omens of Chaos isn't directly related to the main Magic Story, it shares connections by using some of the same characters. This is a standalone story, which makes it a good jumping-in point if you have any interest in the stories of Magic: The Gathering.