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According to the edited work by Athans and Morris (2008) entitled "Shadowmoor: Shadowmoor Cycle Anthology," Doug Beyer is a contemporary Andrew Carnegie of the Magic: the Gathering world. Like Carnegie went from paper carrier to business tycoon, Beyer went from the ranks of anonymous fandom to the Coordinator of Magic the Gathering Creative World. In short, Beyer is THE MAN in how the overall plot unfolds in the Magic the Gathering (MtG) world. While many of those remaining in obscurity in the ranks of fandom complained about flavor text writers become novel authors, it did have a significant edge in that they were already professionally motivated to maintain consistency between their literary works and the world of MtG. On the downside, while these persons may be gifted it seemed their Twittereske/pithy wit didn't translate into literary success when more than 140 characters were allowed. When it comes to this book, fans can still get it pretty cheap and for that price it holds together well enough and presents the reader with the kind of literary candy she or he would expect. It seeks to move between the five Shards of Alara as they rejoin one another by using an abrupt format to shift between one and the next to almost give a Pulp Fiction kind of feel. However Beyer tends to telegraph his plot in a predictable manner, thus at times I would find myself inpatient and wanting to move through the next sequence as quickly as possible. What I do think would surprise many MtG players is the outcome of this book as it has ironically had a bigger shift on the card game than they would imagine. Much like Agents of Artifice essentially dispensed with a main character whose card sometimes pushes into the Tier 1 level, Alara Unbroken makes for a huge plot shift in the world that allows for Alara to be left behind and sets the stage for Zendikar to be the next place for the unfolding action in both the card game and future literary works. Wizards of the Coast (WOTC) later responded to the fandom's complaints about the novels and began contracting with established writers. On the upside with this, they know how to write so as to subtlety foreshadow developments as well as weave in themes at multiple level. On the downside since they're not WOTC/MtG employees, they are hemmed in at the beginning to move their stories along paths congruent with WOTC/MtG development and marketing instead of where their creative and professional skills would take them. For an example of this, see the YouTube review of "Purifying Fire" with author Laura Resnick at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzQLUwlgKVY&feature=youtube_gdataRead full review
Overall, the book was good, although the flow of the book jumped around to a large cast of characters far too often. It could have been a better book having focused on a smaller cast of characters and simply giving cameos to some of the other players, it ended up feeling like no character in particular really got his or her share of the lime light. That being said, it's still worth reading.
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