The Secretist by Doug Beyer

Disclaimer: the whole story is written in this post...

When I was pre-ordering Duels of the Planeswalkers I could buy a Special Edition that contained a Return to Ravnica block books. I had no idea what it is even though I've seen some advertisement for it in booster packs. Two days ago I decided to actually read it. I put it into my Kindle. At first I did not know that it was written by Doug Beyer. When I found out I wasn't really sure if I want to even read it. After his previous book I did not expect anything good. That was actually good in the end because The Secretist is way better than Alara Unbroken. I read the first few pages and the story hooked me.

It starts pretty quickly...out of a sudden. You'll find Jace Beleren on Ravnica plane researching some kind of ancient mystery. Doug tries to explain Jace's obsession with that (quite difficult for me to understand anyway). Then there is Ral Zarek - a really annoying and arrogant planeswalker who for some reason follows Niv-Mizzet's orders - doing some crazy experiments ... also researching the very same mystery Jace somehow uncovered. And there is Emmara Tandris, Jace's old friend (whom we already know from Agents of Artifice) who is trying to get some help from Jace unifying the guilds and restoring peace after the Guildpact was broken. Mirko Vosk a Dimir spy overhears the dialogue and goes back to his master (Lazav).

When Mirko Vosk was introduced I just couldn't hold back laughing when the author said something about Mirko being bare-chested even when it was cold and the following paragraph was even more fun 'Mirko Vosk stepped of the ledge of the building. Instead of falling, he floated into the night sky with a casual, upright elegance.'

Both Jace and Ral Zarek make progress in uncovering the mystery (of a certain Maze). Jace finds out even more and this knowledge can mean a great danger to him and his assistant Kavin. He decided to erase the memories of everything linked to the research and destroy all evidence of the research as well. For that he uses Ruric Thar. Jace sends a letter to Emmara telling him of his plans. When she gets it she immediately goes to see Jace. He proceeds no matter what with his plan. During working on his own mind Emmara is kidnapped and Kavin rushes out with some scribbled notes he made of the information he possessed. Jace wakes up, finds out what happened and wants to save Emmara. Lavinia of the Tenth stands in a way as she wants to detain him. With Ruric Thar's accidental help Jace escapes the Azorius lawmages and heads for Rakdos territory (as the only lead he got leads him there - a coin left there by the kidnappers). This is more or less where the first 'book' ends.

After the few pages I was wondering if the author is trying to make us feel like idiots but later I got used to the repetitions. The story is actually flowing and the writing style and level is way better than in Alara Unbroken. Some use of words is pretty awkward but well that's Doug Beyer I guess. I have to say that the dialogues are something that break the 'level' of the writing but it's ok. After pressing the 'next button' few times I realized that the book is quite short. More like a 50 pages story. At first I expected a real book of at least 200 pages...What I liked about the book is actually the fact that we can see what's happening from all the ten guilds points of view (character's POV we all know now from the RTR block like Exava, Ruric Thar, Ral Zarek etc.). The description of the guild territories and the people are quite ok actually even though sometimes I don't really need to be reminded that this golgari shaman is an ELF.

In the second book entitled Gatecrash: The Secretist part 2 Jace finds a way to where Emmara was kidnapped. Here he faces Varolz and later Mirko Vosk who wants to steal the information about the mystery (Implicit Maze) from him. He starts drinking Jace's mind and blood but soon finds out that Jace has no memory of the research. In the meantime Rakdos starts rioting, Lavinia is punished for not capturing Jace and Ral Zarek with his assistant recover the information Jace and Kavin found. Thus they know how to go through the Implicit Maze (by following leylines of mana).

In the meantime guilds clash (orchestrated by Lazav) and Jace tries to get back his memories or at least the information he possessed. He remembered that Ruric Thar might have some of the information and heads to find him (Lavinia had to help him a bit with that info). Some really funny scenes go on (oh yeah, ever played Esper control against an opponent who wassiding Ruric Thar?) and later Jace gets the information needed to go through the maze. Later Lazav shows up and imprisons Jace in a place only Dimir mage could enter. Oh yeah the time for Jace to planeswalk actually comes!

Jace escapes the prison and walks through the Blind Eternities to Zendikar. Here he ponders about his relationship to Emmara and his attachment to Ravnica. He also searches for some life forms and finds out that there is a Kor Mystic and her family living there somewhere underground. Jace sees the point of views of the Mystic and her children and he wishes that both sides would know what the other thinks, feels and sees. Thus he tries to make them see it using his mind magic - he links their minds together through his own. He succeeds more or less but it ends up in serious pain. Story goes on... Later on Jace finds out what the Implicit Maze is for. It is a test for the ten guilds unlike what Ral Zarek thinks (as he thinks that winning the race would give him great power bla bla bla). Each guild has to send a champion to run the maze. All of them have to get to the Maze's End which is located before the Forum of Azor. Here the assessment of the guilds would start and would end up in either re-enectment of the Guildpact or Supreme Verdict that would simply destroy everything.

The last book is about the race. Champions are chosen and they all follow the leylines to each guildgate. At the end when all champions are assembled Lazav tries to convince the champions to fight each other. Jace sees that there is no way how to stop this so he tries to do the same as with the Kor family. He links the minds of the ten champions through his own. He almost loses his own personality but achieves what he wanted. The Bailiff's verdict is not a Supreme Verdict but names Jace Beleren the new and Living Guildpact.

After finishing the book I wasn't really sure what to think about it. I'm glad I read it because I finally pieced some things together. I had no idea what the implicit maze is for and why the hell there are cards like Uncovered Clues or Destroy the Evidence. After reading this book I actually come to understand such cards. There are links to many cards from Return to Ravnica block. Also Jace's Archivist seems to be Kavin actually. I don't regret reading the books, I learned something about the story and design of RTR block and the story actually makes sense. There are many things I would question but it was nicely done and we can see that the world of Ravnica is well designed. The ending was quite a surprise. I did not expect Jace becoming the living guildpact.

Rating: 2.5/5