Mage Knight 1: Rebel Thunder

Rating:
Summary: Thunder with no BOOM
Review:
Rebel Thunder, the first in a series of books based on the Mage Knight Role Playing game follows the Atlantean spy Blaize on his mission to infiltrate the Black Powder Rebels. The rebels seek to free the oppressed souls enslaved by the empire built by evil mage Karrudan. While working amongst the rebels Blaize discovers they have invented a new and devastating weapon...Gun Powder.

Blaize must come to terms with his growing love for the rebel Rikka and his disillusionment for the Empire and the time is fast approaching when he must take sides. Rebel Thunder is an interesting mix of magic and technology; unfortunately the story left me feeling a bit empty and could have used more fleshing out. The characters are fairly good but you can't really delve too far into them, which is disappointing.


Rating:
Summary: The Rebellion Comes To Life!!!
Review: "Clicky" Gamers are familiar with the Mage Knight World, called "The Land", through the snippets of fiction found throughout the Wizkids' website and the Collector's Guides.

Here, for the first time, is the full story of the start of the Rebellion. For old clicky friends this is long overdue, and for those who have yet to click their first combat dial, this book is the portal into what promises to develop as a rich world.

The story begins with the quest of Altem Blaize, a geas set upon him by no other than the Prophet-Magus Karrudan, to seek out and alert the Atlantean Empire of any sort of plot to assassinate the Prophet-Magus. This has been foretold in prophecy, along with other snivlets like the arrival of a race of creatures with skin of green light (Solanavi foreshadowing?), and while it may or may not be true, Karrudan as the voice of the great Technomancer Tezla must be protected.

Blaize travels to far away lands and falls in with a group of said rebels. However, he becomes emotionally torn by the plight of these people against the machinations of the Empire and what the Empire has drilled into his head.

He eventually finds himself in a Magestone mine, rescued, and then cast in with the Rebels. To not ruin any surprises, I must stop there, but he is a riveting character driven through self examination as a child dissecting the modern myths of today.

Additionally, we meet Snow, the assassin designate of Karrudan and Rikka, a human female adopted into a dwarven family in the magestone mines.

As a new world, it has come to life with a flash of color and vibrance ready to explode into the minds of the readers.

Rating:
Summary: Good introduction to a new world
Review: I am not an avid follower of Mage Knight. I am more acquainted with the MechWarrior Universe, but I thought I'd give Mage Knight a go. I enjoyed this novel. As a newcomer to this universe, I found that Bill McCay did a good job in explaining about the Atlantean Empire and the Rebels who were fighting against them. The incorporation of various races such as dwarves and orcs added to the fantasy in the novel. The story is good, if predictable. The Rebels, developing a new weapon known as gunpowder, have worried the Atlantean elites. Guardsman Blaize is charged by the Empire to find and root out the Rebels. Along the way, he must question his commitment to the Empire as he sees the policies that his Empire enacts against others. While the story does follow a typical adventure novel, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I recommend it along with WizKids other game universes.