Alara Unbroken - Doug Beyer

So well another entry log about Magic: The Gathering book. This I'd like to write something about Alara Unbroken.

The book title even though sounding really weird is actually pretty accurate. It describes well what happened to the plane of Alara in the past and what is inevitable for it. Other thing to note is that...well, I've read quite some Magic: The Gathering books in the past and I've never seen the name Doug Beyer written on any of them.

Nicol Bolas, a 20 thousands year old planeswalker is stuck on Grixis and wants to finally get more power to get out of that damned place. He wants to gain power from the collision of all five Shards of Alara. The collision should create a maelstrom of raw mana from which Nicol Bolas would draw power and well would do anything he likes with it.

The book consists of three parts each divided into short chapters (having the name of the shard the story is taking place at). For example Naya will be a story of Ajani Goldmane/Vengeant mostly, Grixis will be about Nicol Bolas (mostly), Bant about Rafiq and Elspeth etc. It helps you orient in the book but is not really necessary because the book itself is NOT meant for people who have no idea about Magic: The Gathering or Alara. Don't expect any descriptions about what is mana, mana burn, spell, blind eternities, Dominaria etc. You'll be presented with facts and that's about it. It is also evident that the author has no idea how to write a book and probably the book was written in haste or not edited/corrected at all. Because there are grammar mistakes, typos and punctuation is missing from time to time. The hell??

What I like about the book is its flavor. The book is more of a short story that has some quotes that are funny. I wasn't surprised when reading a bit info about the author of the book: "prolific flavor text writer and coordinator for Mtg creative text".

In overall this book won't please anyone else than a Magic: The Gathering fan (if it pleases a mtg fan). The book's text is simple and not really enriching. The quotes are funny though. You can see that the author probably has some kind of scientific (exact) background as many spells are described with 'precision' that makes you think of one specific spell. Also we are simply given facts that a mtg player already knows but which ordinary person won't understand at all...

Personal Rating: 2/5

Conclusion: Epic fail? I don't know I actually had quite some fun reading the book but I would surely NOT recommend it to anyone who is interested in a book or a good story. I gave this book the same rating as I gave to Agents of Artifice but I don't want to say that both books are bad. (read AoA conclusion). Considering this fact I would have to give Alara Unbroken something like -1.5 out of 5 (if I would have to compare the two books).
Alara Unbroken is NOT a book in my own definition of a book. Is written by someone who does not know how to write a book, does not have enough depth and does not give enough space for the characters and their personalities. (and the errors in the book!!! WotC what the hell are you doing?)