Emperor's Fist

Magic: The Gathering: Legends Cycle II #2

by Scott McGough

Honor Tested by War
Though his assassins have failed, the godlike Madaran emperor has other ways of crushing rebellion. He sends the brutal imperial army to rein in a defiant island chain, and the empire is once more plunged into violence. The emperor's champion accompanies the army, but his loyalty will be tested by the horrors of war. Can the champion achieve honorable victory, or will he and the rebels alike be crushed by the Emperor's Fist?

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Magic

310 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 2003

About the author

Scott McGough lives in Seattle with a pair of cats and an Australian Cattle Dog. He has written or co-written over a dozen novels and short stories for Magic: The Gathering; he also provided random pirate voices for an upcoming computer game and portrayed a shambling, gut-munching zombie extra in a local low-budget film. Based on his acting performances so far, everyone agrees he should keep writing.

Reviews

[Chip Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story slows down significantly in the second book of the Legends Cycle II. In Assassin's Blade, you were treated to a tour-de-force of the Madaran Empire, meeting tons of new characters from the MTG Legends set, and getting a crash course in the bizarre politics under the strangely-behaving and apparently all-powerful Emperor. In EMPEROR'S FIST, the story focuses in on a rebellion by two out-lying, semi-independent states of the Edemis islands. The Emperor has hamstrung his Champion (Tetsuo Umezawa) and his Assassin (Lord Dark), directing them both to halt their internal squabbles and follow the Emperor's war leader, High General Marhault Elsdragon. A few other notable new characters are introduced, including, Meha (an altruistic Bogarden fire-mage), Hage (an Aerathi berserker of the worst sort), and Ramirez (a strangely-behaving and rather foppish pirate). The over-arching plot in EMPEROR'S FIST is still the developing story of the Legendary characters within. Umezawa and Lord Dark's ever-mounting conflict is the primary focus, with Ayesha, Tor Wauki, Xira Arien, and the rest all caught up in the drama. The rebellions on Kusho and Argenti feel like minor plot elements, just giving Scott McGough an avenue for collecting the characters and a scaffold to shape the more important story around. One very important revelation is presented at the end of the book, where we learn more about the mysterious Emperor. I enjoyed this one a bit less than Assassin's Blade, but definitely look forward to the conclusion in Champion's Trial. Recommended for fans of MTG fluff only.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish the main character did something besides get fed up by the end of the book. The first book showed promise, a team of cool guys going up against KING LORD BOLAS ALMIGHTY THE, GOD KING!!! you know the last book is going to throw down and get real, but this one is just eeeeeh

[Adam Kokkonen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continued to enthrall me after reading the first of the series. Never let me down with quality and quantity of story and detail; yet another book I couldn't put down.