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Magic: The Gathering: Greensleeves #3
Final Sacrifice
Years of fighting have come and gone--but now the last battle must be faced!
From frozen mountains to an ocean-drowned forest, from war-torn battlefields to the flowing crypts of Lat-Nam, the Archdruid Greensleeves travels with her ragged troops searching for spells to defeat an army of angry wizards and end their reign of terror. While Greensleeves uncovers ancient mysteries, Gull the Woodcutter fights a fierce battle with a Keldon Warlord who holds the key to an awful secret from the past.
With each fight, Greensleeves, Gull, and their outnumbered army realize that only one last desperate spell can save them all. But to unleash it, Greensleeves must be willing to make the final sacrifice.
Final Sacrifice
Based on the bestselling Magic: The Gathering trading card game.
From frozen mountains to an ocean-drowned forest, from war-torn battlefields to the flowing crypts of Lat-Nam, the Archdruid Greensleeves travels with her ragged troops searching for spells to defeat an army of angry wizards and end their reign of terror. While Greensleeves uncovers ancient mysteries, Gull the Woodcutter fights a fierce battle with a Keldon Warlord who holds the key to an awful secret from the past.
With each fight, Greensleeves, Gull, and their outnumbered army realize that only one last desperate spell can save them all. But to unleash it, Greensleeves must be willing to make the final sacrifice.
Final Sacrifice
Based on the bestselling Magic: The Gathering trading card game.
312 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 1, 1995
3 people are currently reading
480 people want to read
About the author
Clayton Emery
39 books46 followersClayton Emery is an umpteen-generations Yankee, Navy brat, and aging hippie who grew up playing Robin Hood in the forests of New England.
He's been a blacksmith, dishwasher, schoolteacher in Australia, carpenter, zookeeper, farmhand, land surveyor, volunteer firefighter, and award-winning technical writer.
He's a member of the Mystery Writers of America and Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers of America.
Clayton lives with his sweetie in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where his ancestors came ashore in 1635.
From: http://www.claytonemery.com/CE_bio.html
He's been a blacksmith, dishwasher, schoolteacher in Australia, carpenter, zookeeper, farmhand, land surveyor, volunteer firefighter, and award-winning technical writer.
He's a member of the Mystery Writers of America and Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers of America.
Clayton lives with his sweetie in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where his ancestors came ashore in 1635.
From: http://www.claytonemery.com/CE_bio.html
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
June 2, 2025
final sacrifice not only sticks the landing, it also starts to feel a little bit more recognizably aligned with the world of magic we know and love in some pretty small but important ways. although they're painted with a rather frustratingly broad brush, our heroes find themselves meeting the likes of minotaurs, angels, and merfolk as people in their own element rather than just summoning them into battle.
also, a pretty fantastic exception to the lack of space the narrative gave for characterization of these different peoples is the encounter between greensleeves and the lord of atlantis. that scene was breathtaking, and perhaps one of the best arguments for him to be errataed to be a legendary creature. (kidding! mostly.)
i also just really appreciated the shift from being primarily from gull's perspective to being primarily from greensleeves’ perspective! and how satisfyingly paid off a lot of the beats of the previous books were. like, when the second book made greensleeves into essentially a parole officer for tyrannical mages, my immediate thought was “seems bad!!” but i didn't expect the narrative to actually see it that way, and especially not to let her have feelings about it. and the running theme of greensleeves’ and gull's army being much more committed to the cause than either of them realize, and importantly being dedicated to the cause rather than to them personally, was a great running thread that got explored in satisfying ways.
which isn't to say this book isn't without its frustrating qualities. it continues to be plagued by the casual racism and misogyny that were so prevalent in 90s genre fiction, and especially in some of the frustratingly over-the-top grimdark depictions of torture and sadism. and i'm saying that as a pretty accomplished masochist who consequently loves a lot of depictions of sadism, but when it serves little to no narrative or character purpose and really seems to just be there to wave its arms and yell “look at me! look how edgy i am!” it's honestly a hard pass for me.
but, again, my prevailing feelings about these books are overwhelmingly more positive than negative, especially adjusting for my expectations for this period in the history of genre fiction, and the small sample size of early magic novels i've read so far. while i was a child and a magic player in the 90s, my tastes in books were decidedly biased more in favor of science fiction than fantasy, so i am experiencing all these early magic novels for the first time.
also, a pretty fantastic exception to the lack of space the narrative gave for characterization of these different peoples is the encounter between greensleeves and the lord of atlantis. that scene was breathtaking, and perhaps one of the best arguments for him to be errataed to be a legendary creature. (kidding! mostly.)
i also just really appreciated the shift from being primarily from gull's perspective to being primarily from greensleeves’ perspective! and how satisfyingly paid off a lot of the beats of the previous books were. like, when the second book made greensleeves into essentially a parole officer for tyrannical mages, my immediate thought was “seems bad!!” but i didn't expect the narrative to actually see it that way, and especially not to let her have feelings about it. and the running theme of greensleeves’ and gull's army being much more committed to the cause than either of them realize, and importantly being dedicated to the cause rather than to them personally, was a great running thread that got explored in satisfying ways.
which isn't to say this book isn't without its frustrating qualities. it continues to be plagued by the casual racism and misogyny that were so prevalent in 90s genre fiction, and especially in some of the frustratingly over-the-top grimdark depictions of torture and sadism. and i'm saying that as a pretty accomplished masochist who consequently loves a lot of depictions of sadism, but when it serves little to no narrative or character purpose and really seems to just be there to wave its arms and yell “look at me! look how edgy i am!” it's honestly a hard pass for me.
but, again, my prevailing feelings about these books are overwhelmingly more positive than negative, especially adjusting for my expectations for this period in the history of genre fiction, and the small sample size of early magic novels i've read so far. while i was a child and a magic player in the 90s, my tastes in books were decidedly biased more in favor of science fiction than fantasy, so i am experiencing all these early magic novels for the first time.
November 29, 2017
I think this was the weakest of the trilogy by far.
I feel like, once again, character development conflicts were just tacked on and ignored the growth of the previous books. E.g. Lily goes back to once again having no agency or confidence for the third time. It's like the author couldn't think of any other character facet to use, so he just keeps revisiting the same one.
The first half was another giant montage, it felt like. We had just a gratuitous series of "Greensleeves kicking some ass" scenes, with a sprinkling of "hey the evil wizards found a loophole and are plotting". It serves to set up the final conflict, but not much else, so spending half a book on that was a bit much.
The pacing in general was very odd. We had that sense of "things are going swimmingly", but then that just stops. We had the sense of urgency when the army is finally ambushed and their forest and sacred grove thing invaded, and yet....that just lets up. They just repel the attack and are inexplicably given MONTHS of time to regroup?
Suddenly, we remember there are Hurloon Minotaurs who know everything and can help! We have to rush there quickly.....and then hurry up and wait for a month. It doesn't really serve any purpose to include that delay; I get it in context, but I'm saying you could have made those minotaurs into anything, there was no precedent in the other books, so choosing to make them this trilogy's Entmoot was a bizarre choice.
Now we have the location of the college....back to urgency! We have to go there right now and transport the entire army there (who have been doing what this entire time?).
We have a bizarre battle with the Angels and Merfolk, finally being introduced to this universe, that really didn't need to happen if our heroes weren't utterly incompetent. It felt like the author just really wanted to break up a lot of dull exposition with a battle, so found a flimsy excuse to make one happen.
Then it turns out it was all one huge red herring? They just have to have a battle anyway, including an "I totally called that" reveal of the warlord's identity.
Most of these were RELATIVELY minor and forgivable, but the big climactic end wasn't.
The big "final sacrifice" was to just give up your totally unnecessary restraint using your powers in battle. THAT'S IT! That's not really a "sacrifice" so much as a moral epiphany that sometimes the ends can in fact justify the means.
So she goes super saiyan and single-handedly wins the war. THE END!
It's just not a satisfying ending. I did like finally figuring out the helmet properly and exercising some restraint after making that first justifiable example, but otherwise....the ending was a wet fart that didn't live up to what was actually a pretty decent buildup. Hell the army refusing to flee to safety was actually more emotional than you'd expect from a tie-in novel like this. It was just in service of a big anticlimax.
I was mildly entertained, certainly less than the previous two books, but I'm now looking forward to leaving this trilogy behind and moving on to something new.
I feel like, once again, character development conflicts were just tacked on and ignored the growth of the previous books. E.g. Lily goes back to once again having no agency or confidence for the third time. It's like the author couldn't think of any other character facet to use, so he just keeps revisiting the same one.
The first half was another giant montage, it felt like. We had just a gratuitous series of "Greensleeves kicking some ass" scenes, with a sprinkling of "hey the evil wizards found a loophole and are plotting". It serves to set up the final conflict, but not much else, so spending half a book on that was a bit much.
The pacing in general was very odd. We had that sense of "things are going swimmingly", but then that just stops. We had the sense of urgency when the army is finally ambushed and their forest and sacred grove thing invaded, and yet....that just lets up. They just repel the attack and are inexplicably given MONTHS of time to regroup?
Suddenly, we remember there are Hurloon Minotaurs who know everything and can help! We have to rush there quickly.....and then hurry up and wait for a month. It doesn't really serve any purpose to include that delay; I get it in context, but I'm saying you could have made those minotaurs into anything, there was no precedent in the other books, so choosing to make them this trilogy's Entmoot was a bizarre choice.
Now we have the location of the college....back to urgency! We have to go there right now and transport the entire army there (who have been doing what this entire time?).
We have a bizarre battle with the Angels and Merfolk, finally being introduced to this universe, that really didn't need to happen if our heroes weren't utterly incompetent. It felt like the author just really wanted to break up a lot of dull exposition with a battle, so found a flimsy excuse to make one happen.
Then it turns out it was all one huge red herring? They just have to have a battle anyway, including an "I totally called that" reveal of the warlord's identity.
Most of these were RELATIVELY minor and forgivable, but the big climactic end wasn't.
The big "final sacrifice" was to just give up your totally unnecessary restraint using your powers in battle. THAT'S IT! That's not really a "sacrifice" so much as a moral epiphany that sometimes the ends can in fact justify the means.
So she goes super saiyan and single-handedly wins the war. THE END!
It's just not a satisfying ending. I did like finally figuring out the helmet properly and exercising some restraint after making that first justifiable example, but otherwise....the ending was a wet fart that didn't live up to what was actually a pretty decent buildup. Hell the army refusing to flee to safety was actually more emotional than you'd expect from a tie-in novel like this. It was just in service of a big anticlimax.
I was mildly entertained, certainly less than the previous two books, but I'm now looking forward to leaving this trilogy behind and moving on to something new.
September 2, 2025
I'm so ready to be done with Gull and Greensleeves
SPOILER ALERT
I found Greensleeves's constant crying and indecisiveness obnoxious. She has so much power and she fears being useless, yet she still just stands around and gawks while a literal war rages all around her. The battle is finally won once she gets her shit together, so I can't help but feel this book could have been at least a hundred pages shorter if she just got the job done from the get-go.
SPOILER ALERT
I found Greensleeves's constant crying and indecisiveness obnoxious. She has so much power and she fears being useless, yet she still just stands around and gawks while a literal war rages all around her. The battle is finally won once she gets her shit together, so I can't help but feel this book could have been at least a hundred pages shorter if she just got the job done from the get-go.
October 17, 2023
’It is wrong to dwell too much in magic, too much in anything.’
Final Sacrifice marks the end of Clayton Emery’s initial contributions to the Magic the Gathering mythos as he brings to a finish the struggles of Gull and sister Greensleeves against the self-centered circle of wizards running roughshod over the Domains. While the super-villlian team-up of the pair’s old foes is kind of fun, this last book in the series isn’t the strongest and makes for a rather tepid finale.
Part of the flaw is the shift from Gull to Greensleeves. While book one was mostly about Gull and book two offered more of balance between the siblings, by book three, it’s Greensleeves who is taking center-stage. And while it makes sense for the druid to eventually steal the spotlight as she comes into her own as a powerful spellcaster, Gull (with his distrust of magic and rather straightforward motivations) was at least an accessible character with a Conan-lite kind of appeal. Greensleeves, on the other hand, is … annoying, wringing her hands and whining way too much as the more likable characters around her get slaughtered.
The worm eventually turns and (plot point!) Greensleeves eventually toughens up to fight fire with earth (or red mana with green, I guess), but it takes way too long for the druid to get on the ox cart, especially as the bodies pile high around her. Inexplicably, she also has a penchant for saving the bad guys, even as their next act is to ruthlessly pummel her friends and retainers to jelly. The hammy sub-plot of the ‘mysterious’ Keldon Warlord also doesn’t help. His secret is rather obvious from the page he’s introduced, leaving no shock on the book’s latter half twist. As a plot point, the ‘secret identity’ surprise is a dud.
Weak as this one is, it doesn’t mean its entirely unenjoyable. There’s a lot more MTG flavor in this book than in the prior volumes, and while the milieu is not near as rich as it would become with Jeff Grubb’s The Brothers War — which is also where the real Magic the Gathering universe begins in my opinion — I’m still hooked to see where this strange experiment goes. The rest of the books in this line are really hard to find (and rather expensive to acquire if you do), but I was lucky enough to score at least the next two volumes at a second-hand store. So … I remain stupidly curious regarding what’s next!
November 2, 2019
The fourth Magic the Gathering novel is also the end of a sequence which can be seen as a trilogy or tetrology (the first book in the sequence can be seen as a part or not of the sequence as it does have some secondary characters in common with this book). As a conclusion to the Greensleeves story it's fine, but there are things here which are pretty annoying.
I know that Greensleeves and Gull and their friends have been through a lot of crap. but does Greensleeves need to spend the whole book constantly crying at any and all opportunity? This is a strong woman, a druid with a lot of power, controlling whole armies and she is crying in almost every occasion she shows up. Tellingly this doesn't happen to her brother Gull or her lover Kwam, it's just because she's a woman... That's pretty annoyingly misogynistic of Clayton.
Much of the book is spent in battles, which was kind of to be expected, this kind of stories always needs to end in bloodshed to clean up all the plot threads which were left dangling in the process. However, it does get dull at times. The ending is more satisfying that the rest of the novel, even so we are never under any illusions that this is actually a good book.
I know that Greensleeves and Gull and their friends have been through a lot of crap. but does Greensleeves need to spend the whole book constantly crying at any and all opportunity? This is a strong woman, a druid with a lot of power, controlling whole armies and she is crying in almost every occasion she shows up. Tellingly this doesn't happen to her brother Gull or her lover Kwam, it's just because she's a woman... That's pretty annoyingly misogynistic of Clayton.
Much of the book is spent in battles, which was kind of to be expected, this kind of stories always needs to end in bloodshed to clean up all the plot threads which were left dangling in the process. However, it does get dull at times. The ending is more satisfying that the rest of the novel, even so we are never under any illusions that this is actually a good book.
March 24, 2020
This was a fairly satisfying ending to the trilogy. I found the twist toward the end to be relatively predictable, but it was still a fun read, and I was glad that they addressed a specific hole that they had left open since the beginning of the first book.
There were a few small complaints that I had about this. Again, the author uses elegant variation, which is bad form writing-wise. Additionally, there were about three times when scenes changed but there were no visible scene breaks, meaning that about halfway down the page, the setting and time frame completely changed between one paragraph and the next with absolutely no indication that it was happening, which was jarring and confusing. Additionally, they changed the protagonists' father's name from Brown Bear to Cinnamon Bear for no reason and with no explanation. I'm not sure if they released different editions of the old books with the name changed in it or if the author actually forgot what the character was called and none of his editors remembered either or what the deal was, but that seemed like an amateur move, and it didn't add anything to the story so there's no legitimate reason for it to have been changed on purpose.
There were a few small complaints that I had about this. Again, the author uses elegant variation, which is bad form writing-wise. Additionally, there were about three times when scenes changed but there were no visible scene breaks, meaning that about halfway down the page, the setting and time frame completely changed between one paragraph and the next with absolutely no indication that it was happening, which was jarring and confusing. Additionally, they changed the protagonists' father's name from Brown Bear to Cinnamon Bear for no reason and with no explanation. I'm not sure if they released different editions of the old books with the name changed in it or if the author actually forgot what the character was called and none of his editors remembered either or what the deal was, but that seemed like an amateur move, and it didn't add anything to the story so there's no legitimate reason for it to have been changed on purpose.
February 24, 2020
This book is fairly entertaining. SPOILER ALERT Greensleeves and Gull experience their toughest test against the pack of wizards. Greensleeves tries to be merciful and gentle, but it is her undoing as the wizards find a way to avoid the controlling spell she has placed on them. The wizards, led by Towser, begin a relentless attack on Gull's army. Greensleeves seeks an ancient spell in a desert wasteland after seeking help from minotaurs. The situation is not resolved until Greensleeves finally abandons her principles, and embraces the power of magic, finding that she has the power of a planeswalker to travel across domains. There is an ambiguity about magic. Greensleeves and Gull are always very wary of it. It can be used for good, but too often it creates a lust for power. There is a dramatic scene in which Gull encounters a Keldon warlord who turns out to be his long-lost brother.
August 6, 2020
Three star book, but four stars for including old MTG cards and creatures for what I remember. Not trying to be mean, but story is somewhat two dimensional. still, re-reading it was a blast.
September 20, 2021
A fine conclusion to the Greensleeves trilogy, and one that I enjoyed. Yes, it has the pace problems of the rest of the trilogy, but that doesn’t stop it from being an overall enjoyable read.
May 21, 2023
A little too much “wow is me” and “I wish I wasn’t the leader” dialogue from both main characters for my taste, but that plot twist at the end made it all better!
March 24, 2025
Damn near cried when eggsucker died
February 19, 2021
I feel as though the ending of this book could have been a bit more grand as it was the ending of a trilogy, but never the less it was a fine ending. The progress of the characters and the battle of good against evil, where good triumphs, as it should, was exemplary. After all, fantasy is meant to be a black and white world where one can go to escape the grey area that is real life. The way Clayton Emery has presented this story over the length of this trilogy really made me think about the choices that could be made in my everyday life. The characters followed a very black and white construction, but the peak points of decision, the points where the characters made the most progression, were very much grey and diluted. Feeling as though the scales could easily be tipped in either direction with no clear indication of where the plot would take us. Clayton Emery did a very good job at making the struggles of the characters real and relatable despite being made up and entirely unlike to those we muggles would face in real life. I thoroughly enjoyed this trilogy and very much feel like it deserves a lot more praise and recognition than it has received. I've rated this final novel a 5/5 to represent my overall rating of the three books that made this story whole.
As for relating the the game Magic: The Gathering, I feel that this novel did a fantastic job. In fact, this novel was written before planeswalkers were even introduced to the game its self and yet, it still explored the happenings of ones spark. The grandeur that follows when one ascends to that of a planeswalker and the power that accompanies it. Reading about the transition and declination of Greensleeves to being a planeswalker reminded me of my very first win in the card game. That sense of elation and loss of all other feeling, but also being brought back down to earth by my wonderful opponents. All the things that make the game feel so..... well, magical! I do hope that the following novels that focus on Magic bring forth similar feelings and enlightenment to my favorite game!
As for relating the the game Magic: The Gathering, I feel that this novel did a fantastic job. In fact, this novel was written before planeswalkers were even introduced to the game its self and yet, it still explored the happenings of ones spark. The grandeur that follows when one ascends to that of a planeswalker and the power that accompanies it. Reading about the transition and declination of Greensleeves to being a planeswalker reminded me of my very first win in the card game. That sense of elation and loss of all other feeling, but also being brought back down to earth by my wonderful opponents. All the things that make the game feel so..... well, magical! I do hope that the following novels that focus on Magic bring forth similar feelings and enlightenment to my favorite game!
December 30, 2016
I must say that I've enjoyed the first four MTG books. Clayton Emery has done an admirable job of bringing the magic of Dominia to the pages of novels, as well as creating a nice story with engaging characters and a pretty exciting plot. However, I am glad that this story has come to an end and more of the world of MTG can now be explored.
In Final Sacrifice, Gull and Greensleeves continue to barely survive fight after fight against a team of wizards that they have thwarted in the past until Greensleeves eventually just snaps and nearly destroys everything around her. The ending of the book comes as somewhat of a surprise, with characters from the past reappearing and the "final sacrifice" not being what you'd expect.
Another quick, easy, and enjoyable read, I'd reccomend it for someone looking for a short and relaxing read.
In Final Sacrifice, Gull and Greensleeves continue to barely survive fight after fight against a team of wizards that they have thwarted in the past until Greensleeves eventually just snaps and nearly destroys everything around her. The ending of the book comes as somewhat of a surprise, with characters from the past reappearing and the "final sacrifice" not being what you'd expect.
Another quick, easy, and enjoyable read, I'd reccomend it for someone looking for a short and relaxing read.
April 29, 2017
This was a much better read than the previous two novels and a satisfying ending to the trilogy. Not perfect but still well written. The 'big reveal' at the end is so telegraphed for the entire novel that I found myself disappointed. But I enjoyed the overall arch and would certainly recommend this to any fan of MtG.
July 9, 2013
So ungodly horrible I cannot describe it.
February 19, 2016
They tried to tie this trio into the original book, Arena, and missed.
June 28, 2014
Im not reading the rest of them. Youd think for this kind of thing theyd be able to come up with more interesting stories for this. And likeable characters.
December 15, 2023
The story of these characters, Gull and Greensleeves, has finally come to a conclusion and the story is a great one.
Read
October 25, 2008just reading it
May 4, 2017
The conclution to the Greensleves trilogy. A good read for MtG fans.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews