Prince Maesa (along with Shattercap the spite) first appeared in Guy Haley’s 2017 Age of Sigmar audio drama The Autumn Prince, which was followed by several short stories and a further audio, all of which have been combined, updated and expanded to form Prince Maesa, a full-length novel exploring the aelven Wanderer’s quest to return his beloved Ellamar to life. From their visit to ill-fated Shadespire, through Shyish and out across the Mortal Realms, Maesa and Shattercap travel far and wide as they search for the knowledge and the magic that will reunite Maesa with his long-dead human love. Eternally grief-stricken, Maesa finds solace along the way in companionship and in his attempts to teach Shattercap to be good, but his journey is filled with deadly enemies to face, and the prospect of Nagash’s wrath should he succeed in his quest.
From that very first audio drama it was clear that Haley was onto something special with Maesa and Shattercap, a pair of mismatched companions who complement each other in interesting, engaging ways – the quiet, calm outcast hiding his grief behind aelven nobility (or aloofness, if you ask a duardin), and the nervous, mischievous spite torn between wanting to be good and fearing for his life. If this volume had simply been a collection of the existing stories – The Autumn Prince, The Sands of Grief, Hungerfiend and the five At the Sign of the Brazen Claw shorts – then it would have been brilliant to have them all in one place, but in fact this is much more than that. All those stories are present and correct, but cleverly combined in a way that takes each episode, expands it, and neatly fits it into a single cohesive narrative packed full of great characters and powerful, personal stakes.
An impressive amount of work has clearly gone into ensuring that the various existing episodes fit into both the overall plot of the novel and the wider AoS continuity, with the Hungerfiend section in particular expanded and adapted quite considerably. On top of that, the final third or so of the book is all entirely new, building upon what’s gone before and taking Maesa further along his path, leaving Shyish and Ghur behind and heading into the bright realm of Hysh and beyond. This is one of the most enjoyable aspects of the book, the way it takes in so many different locations and realms, from Maesa’s own wanderings to the tales told by Horrin, Stonbrak and Quasque in the Brazen Claw. As a travelogue of the Mortal Realms, shown through the eyes of a character who doesn’t really belong in any one of them, this is hard to beat.
It’s great to see Black Library not taking the easy option (i.e. just bundling the existing stories together) and instead giving Haley the chance to properly finish off this story, with the end result being an engaging and deeply satisfying novel overall. Readers who have followed Maesa’s individual adventures can recap on what’s gone before, reflect on the tweaks and changes, and finally find out whether Maesa succeeds in his quest or not, while readers new to these characters can enjoy this as a single brilliant story. Either way, taken as a whole this offers a compelling blend of bleak, old-school Warhammer vibes with the hint of hope that Age of Sigmar often brings, told with Haley’s characteristic flair for engaging characters and grounded, believable dialogue. A full Age of Sigmar novel from Haley has been a long time coming, and off the back of this let’s just hope there’s more to come.
See also: my guide to the whole Prince Maesa series.
See also: the main Age of Sigmar reviews page on Track of Words.
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