A Certain Random Guy

As a fan of nonfiction history books just like those Martin used as inspiration, Fire and Blood perfectly matches the experience of learning more details about events whose ending you already know. The book's small failings lie mostly in the lack of characterizarion of its in-universe author and the historical figures he discusses — something that could have easily been done via more opinionated narration and more personal in-universe sources.

What was at time of publishing an insightful analysis has, as many great books do, become prophetic indictment. It is an expectedly dry read. But worth it for those interested in the subject.

There is one fact about this book that perfectly encapsulates its scope, its goals and the experience of reading it: in a book about a war started in 1618, the starting point is almost a century earlier. It takes, in fact, a third of the book for us to reach the inciting incident of the war.

If all you are looking for is a simple narrative or summary, that should make it clear you must look elsewhere. But if you want a full analysis of all factors that led to, fed into and were caused by the thirty years war, this is required reading.

A supremely boring read, 60% of it being war stories whose quality shift between mediocre and infantile and whose content is riddled with american jingoism. The remaining 40% is baby's first leadership lessons, the kind I would literally find in cartoons. 

A rather dull read that feels less like a mystery you are suppose to solve (or, at the very least, follow along with) than Doyle deliberately coming up with overcomplications (the poison pills, the unknowning accomplice, etc) and hiding information for the sake of it (the content of Holmes' telegrams, the detail about the cab horse). Also, cutting away from the story for a multichapter flashback to justify the killer's motives sure is... A choice.

Perhaps fittingly, reading Underland was like exploring a cave: its cover filled with praises beckon you in like a cave mouth, but the path downwards is far from smooth. At some points, like an open fall descending miles into the earth, you will sink into a chapter and devour it in minutes. At others, like stepping into meandering, uncomfortable and tight chambers, you will be forcing yourself through anectodes that land on the worse side of dull and uninteresting. 

A Coffee Shop AU, except there's no “alternate” in the “alternate universe.” Cozy, emotional when needed and clearly written by someone who, like me, loves coffee a lot. I do feel that the “darkest hour” section was a bit too short to carry the weight it needed.

Iron Widow is a feminist scream of rage against the patriarchy within the cockpit of a magical mecha covered in Chinese history references. That rage can for sure be cathartic if you're in the mood for it, and the things surrounding it can be equally entertaining. But I'd be hard pressed to call it amazing or even particularly profound.

A fever dream of a novel whose biggest strength is its confirmed non-canonicity. What if a crack fic was published as official material

This was without a doubt the best MTG novel released between the Time Spiral cycle (in 2005-2006) and Children of the Nameless (in 2018). Lovable yet flawed characters that are all in their own way in over their heads and trying to make things workout ??? and usually failing. The only big flaws with it are that:
1- its connections to the MTG multiverse are at once tenuous (considering that it was written in a time of change for the game and a lot of things have changed) and everpresent (there are multiple instances of deliberately calling back to the game that might irk the reader).
2- The structure of the novel itself, starting in media res, might be confusing and pull you out of the narrative.
3- If this had been written some years later, as per the author's own words, Kallist and Jace would have certainly been a couple.

A decade-long trainwreck of a relationship between two brothers, told through three acts of things getting progressively worse for everyone around them. I am not sure if there is a lot worth reading in this if you aren't specifically looking for MTG lore, since the only characters that are actually fun to read about are Ashnod (who is an unabashed monster) and Loran and Feldon (who are closer to tertiary characters).

On one hand, this might be the best magic novel when it comes to writing quality alone. There is not a single plotline or character that isn't at least entertaining or engaging. The one thing holding it back is that, by the nature of how it came into existence, it uses many elements of magic lore (meaning you need some context for them) while not being allowed to actually directly impact them (meaning having context might lead to disappointment).

Kamigawa's conclusion is solid and the urgency of its plot keeps you reading even more than the other books, while the fact it is the last book in the trilogy gives it the leeway to spend less time exploring its characters (which you should be well aquainted with by now.)

Also it has a rat ninja who's the best.

The weakest of the Kamigawa trilogy, this book really is held back by the fact it is the middle child of the story. Possibly McGough's weakest work, but that still puts it above most MTG novels.

This is basically what you hope from a novel meant to tell the story of (and market) a card-game. It isn't amazing, but it's solid and entertaining enough that you are hooked into reading more.