Omens of Chaos: A Review
I have a historically rocky relationship with tie-in novels; the last experience I had was with "The Crystal Shard" (a Dungeons and Dragons tie in novel) and it was not the most pleasant experience to say the least. Many tie-in novels are cookie-cutter stories that weakly use their source material. I am happy to say that 'Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos' does not fall into such a pit, and succeeds to tell its own story while balancing respect for the source material.
This story is about Eula Blue and her friends as they travel across the multiverse to attend Strixhaven University after each was personally affected by the Phyrexian Invasion. Said invasion was a major event in the Magic the Gathering lore several years back, and while many people may not be aware of it going in, the story tells you what you need to know while respecting those who already are aware of it by not spending too much time dwelling on it. Honestly, that is how this book covers a lot of the MtG lore. It mentions many characters by name that may perk the ears of seasoned players, while those who have never played can still gather said character's importance from the context clues.
The main five characters are a fun bunch. I think Eula does a wonderful job as a protagonist; she is witty, clever, and a good audience surrogate. The other characters are pretty good, but some of them have a few pitfalls that were hard to ignore. Segante is your typical moody character whose dialogue is pretty forced early on in the novel, but honestly he grew on me throughout the book. Alandra (daughter of Taldrand) started as an interesting mage with anxiety, however sort of got reduced to a damsel near the end. The other two characters Kequia and Jamira are fine, but not the most memorable. Still, all five do have their own roles to play.
The plot itself is actually rather neat as well. I will not spoil anything, but the several plot twists are handled quite well. The school setting is woven well into the story and the role that it plays in the growth is a great addition. The only complaint that I have is that it seems like there is so much more they can do with Strixhaven; I do hope that they go back for a "year 2" novel.
Overall, I had a really good time reading the book! While it did suffer from some "YA-isms" in terms of character an writing choices, the novel told a strong story and took full advantage of the source material while not using it as a crutch. Each character contributes to the narrative well and despite a few instances where a character becomes too "tropey". I do hope a sequel is released!












