The Purifying Fire

I disliked the first half of this book for reasons entirely beyond its control.

So, this book came out in 2009. A few weeks ago, in 2013, the company that makes Magic put a new commercial online featuring Chandra, the main character from this story. In that commercial, Chandra was played by one Ms. Felicia Day, playing her in the manner of a typical Felicia Day-type character (think of her slayer on Buffy, her hacker on Supernatural, or Codex from the Guild for reference here). Total onscreen time for Felicia Chandra: about 10 seconds.

Book Chandra is nothing like a Felicia Day character, and I have irrationally chosen to hold that against her. It doesn't help her that she's not much of any kind of character, and we're not given much reason to identify with her beyond “Hey, here's that character from those cards from that game you like.”

Things pick up in the second half, when Gideon shows up, but overall the story remains a bit underwhelming.