Ravnica: City of Guilds

Maybe age has finally gotten to me, and M:tG books are no longer as enjoyable. Although, having just finished “Rath and Storm” — which I found to be rather good —, perhaps it's just that the Ravnica cycle feels uninspired. Mr. Herndon's work on the Mirrodin books was perfectly fine with me, but here we have too many characters, too many new words, too many plot points, going back and forth, which makes it all a bit uninteresting.

The ending was especially lacklustre: you can't quite build up the primary antagonist to be this iconic, legendary, 10 thousand years old vampire, but also have him finished in 10 seconds by an aging cop. Something doesn't quite add up there. Mirrodin's Memnarch went down in an epic series of events, so the author can clearly deliver a good villain's downfall.

I don't intend to be too harsh, after all Goodreads labels the 2-star rating as “It's ok.” And that's what this particular book was.

EDIT: I've just started Mercadian Masques, and it's been very pleasant by comparison.

This story is about a rather typical aging crime fighter with a somewhat typical hidden past and who doesn't want partners. It starts off in a murder mystery kind of way but it should develops into an uncovered conspiracy. What I like about this book is that it brings to life the planar-wide urban setting that is Ravnica. Fans of the lore or the setting of the Ravnica block would like this.