Fantasy Novella Review: Throne of Eldraine: The Wildered Quest by Kate Elliott

Throne of Eldraine: The Wildered Quest by Kate Elliott

Throne of Eldraine: The Wildered Quest is a novella/short-novel (word count puts in in the Hugo definition of a novel, but it was meant as a novella, so I'm going with novella) set in the world of Magic the Gathering: particularly the world of this past year's fall expansion, Throne of Eldraine.  I'm not exactly up to touch on MTG - I last played back in Lorwyn (and barely) which wikipedia tells me is 12 years ago now, and am only a little familiar with the old Magic storyline.  But Elliott is one of my favorite writers, so I was interested to see how she would do in this shared universe, so I placed this on reserve when it showed up in my library.

The result is a very solid story, which I suspect does a pretty strong job of interesting the characters and setting dynamics for the Throne of Eldraine set.  But other than that, the story is never particularly special, and if you have no familiarity with Magic the Gathering, you're likely to be confused about certain events and terms that are never explained.*  If you're an avid MTG player interested in the story, you could do a lot worse than The Wildered Quest, but if you're anyone else, there's a lot else more worth your time.

*For example, Planeswalkers are naturally a part of this novella, but you'll be very confused if you come in totally fresh since the concept is never explained.  

Plot Summary: 17 year old warrior-mage twins Rowan and Will Kenrith have wanted to go on their own Quest for their entire childhood, but their parents, the High King Kenrith and his consort, have imposed strict restrictions upon any chance of them questing before they reach their age of majority.  But when they lose patience and sneak out one night, they encounter the mysterious Oko and his giant bodyguard in the middle of nowhere....and soon afterwards, their father goes missing, with two members of his retinue murdered.  Months later, having reached majority, Will and Rowan depart on their own accord to try and find their father before chaos can erupt in Eldraine with the High King missing.  But what they find will shock them: truths about their own past, and a conspiracy to ignite war throughout Eldraine, and to stop it, they will have to tap into powers they did not know they ever had.....

Thoughts:   The Wildered Quest is best showing off the various parts of the world of Eldraine, the various kingdoms ruled by kings under the rule of the High King, the magical beings and creatures present in this world, and the customs and beliefs of all of the above.  It's not a particularly special story - the antagonist is obvious from the beginning and it can be frustrating that it takes so long for anyone to make the connection for example - and by nature of how magic works in MTG, some of the ways the heroes get through it all can come out of nowhere.*  But the main duo - Rowan and Will, are nicely done and form a strong dichotomy of hot and cold personalities, and the cast of characters that join them are strong enough as well.  Still, for non MTG fans, this will be of less interest, as a lot of the plot is seemingly devised to show off different aspects of this world as well as the beings within it, and in another world much of this could've been cut for the sake of a tighter story (a lich knight appearing in particular).  So if you were an MTG fan interested in this world, it's a great introduction and if you were only marginally interested, it's a solid tale in this world, but otherwise, it's no going to do much for you.

*Planeswalking power emerges under great stress in Magic, assuming nothing hasn't changed in the multiverse since i left it.  So the idea that powers will emerge out of nowhere in the heroes is kind of baked in.