Empire by Graham McNeill is the second book in the Legend of Sigmar trilogy from the Black Library, in the Time of Legends series, and it deals with the early days of the fledgling Empire of Man under the rule of Sigmar Heldenhammer. For those of you who don't remember, Sigmar was the son of the chieftain of the Unberogen tribe, and after the events of Black Fire Pass and the decisive victory of the tribes of man against the rampaging hordes of Orcs, Sigmar's vision of a united Empire of Man is coming along nicely. Yet despite all of the progress Sigmar has achieved, the lands of Man are still not completely united. Enemies abound, and wild beasts still stalk the wilds unchecked and untamed. As if this wasn't bad enough, Sigmar learns of a massive Chaos invasion spreading from the North, intent on conquering the lands Sigmar has fought so hard to protect. Obviously, Sigmar wouldn't stand for this, so he and the leaders of the various tribes comprising the Empire band together to fend off the invading Chaos forces. The resulting conflict surely tested the men and women of the Empire to the max, and Sigmar would need every trick up his sleeve just to survive...
In the vein of the previous Time of Legends novels, Empire is a brilliant piece of literature. Now I may be biased in my opinion of it, but I love the Warhammer novels, and nearly everything from the Black Library has been superb. Graham McNeill does a wonderful job of making Sigmar very human, yet superhuman at the same time. He is not perfect by any means, and McNeill's writing really makes the reader feel for Sigmar as he is forced to go through these punishing trials that would have destroyed a lesser man many times over. Sigmar's true strength comes from his convictions, and his belief that he is destined to unite all of the people in his land into a great and mighty empire, and it is because of these beliefs that he is able to accomplish these seemingly impossible tasks. From slaying an Orc Warboss in Heldenhammer to slaying a hulking Bloodthirster in this book, Sigmar faces challenges that no ordinary man can overcome. McNeill's style of writing lends itself perfectly to the task of explaining how Sigmar has to get over crippling self-doubt and overwhelming odds in order to achieve his dream, and it is a lesson to the reader that no matter what happens, no matter how bleak a situation may look, there is always hope so long as you remain true to yourself and to your beliefs. If you've heeded my advice before and picked up Heldenhammer, then I thoroughly urge you to pick up Empire as well, for if you are anything like me, you have to know the ultimate fate of the protagonist of whatever book you are reading. Empire gets 5 raging Chaos berserkers out of 5.
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