 Allen Varney briefly reviewed the original "Tome of Magic" for "Dragon" magazine #172 (August 1991).Varney surmised that spellcasters would focus on "heavy artillery" spells, but cautioned that the wise DM "should prefer the many spells that don't cause damage but instead enable good stories" such as the many communication spells that allow characters to convey information more easily and those that provide story hooks.He also mentioned a couple of instances of "quantum physics applied to magic in spells".