Planeswalker by Lynn Abbey: A Magic the Gathering Retelling Series
So you want to know what happens in Planeswalker by Lynn Abbey? Good. Because this book is one of those stories that sticks with you long after you close the cover.
Planeswalker
Planeswalker by Lynn Abbey is the second book in the Magic: The Gathering Artifact Cycle, following Urza and his Phyrexian companion Xantcha across millennia of war against an otherworldly threat.
Lynn Abbey’s Planeswalker picks up after the devastating Brothers’ War that nearly destroyed Dominaria. Urza, now an immortal planeswalker with Thran powerstones for eyes, wanders the multiverse carrying guilt over the cataclysm he caused. His unlikely companion is Xantcha, a Phyrexian “newt” who escaped the nightmarish plane of Phyrexia and chose to stand beside the man whose obsession with destroying her creators defines his existence.
The novel spans over three thousand years as Urza and Xantcha travel between planes, fight Phyrexian infiltrators, and visit Serra’s Realm, a created paradise that is slowly falling apart. The story takes a turn when Xantcha buys a young slave named Ratepe who bears a resemblance to Urza’s dead brother Mishra. Ratepe takes on Mishra’s identity to help stabilize Urza’s fractured mind, and the three form an uneasy partnership against the demon Gix, who has been lurking on Dominaria since the time of the Thran.
What makes Planeswalker stand out is its focus on Xantcha as the true protagonist. She is practical, tough, and deeply loyal despite knowing that Urza may never fully trust her because of her Phyrexian origins. The climax in Koilos, where Xantcha and Ratepe sacrifice themselves to help Urza destroy Gix, is one of the most emotional moments in the Artifact Cycle. Abbey writes a story about broken people trying to do the right thing in a multiverse that keeps finding new ways to test them.
Urza Returns to Koilos After the Brothers War
Previous: Planeswalker by Lynn Abbey: A Magic The Gathering Retelling Series
Chapter 1 drops us right into Urza’s headspace, and honestly, it’s a rough place to be.
Xantcha and the Antiquity Wars
Previous: Urza Returns to Koilos After the Brothers War
Chapter 2 shifts the point of view to Xantcha, and the book immediately gets better for it.
Xantcha's Phyrexian Origins and the Sphere
Previous: Xantcha and The Antiquity Wars
This chapter is almost entirely flashback, and it’s one of the best pieces of worldbuilding in Magic: The Gathering fiction. We get Xantcha’s full origin story, and Phyrexia has never felt more real or more horrifying.
Xantcha Arrives in Efuan Pincar
Previous: Xantcha’s Phyrexian Origins and the Sphere
Xantcha wakes up from her memories just in time to avoid crashing into a tree. That’s the kind of chapter opening that sets the tone for what’s ahead.
Xantcha Frees Ratepe From Slavery
Previous: Xantcha Arrives in Efuan Pincar
This chapter is about two people who don’t trust each other trying to survive together. It’s also about what freedom actually means when you’ve lost everything.
Ratepe Tells His Story by the Fire
Previous: Xantcha Frees Ratepe From Slavery
The title of this post is a bit misleading, because Chapter 6 is actually about Xantcha’s past. Rat falls asleep by the dying fire, and while she watches over him with one hand on his chain, Xantcha’s mind goes back to Phyrexia again. This time, deeper.
Xantcha and Ratepe Take Flight Together
This is post 8 of a chapter-by-chapter retelling of “Planeswalker” by Lynn Abbey, Book II of the Artifact Cycle in Magic: The Gathering.
Arriving at the Cottage on Ohran Ridge
This is post 9 of a chapter-by-chapter retelling of “Planeswalker” by Lynn Abbey, Book II of the Artifact Cycle in Magic: The Gathering.
Ratepe Becomes Mishra for Urza
This is post 10 of a chapter-by-chapter retelling of “Planeswalker” by Lynn Abbey, Book II of the Artifact Cycle in Magic: The Gathering.
Urza Builds a New Dragon Engine
This is post 11 of a chapter-by-chapter retelling of “Planeswalker” by Lynn Abbey, Book II of the Artifact Cycle in Magic: The Gathering.
The Morning After Ratepe Arrives
This is post 12 of a chapter-by-chapter retelling of “Planeswalker” by Lynn Abbey, Book II of the Artifact Cycle in Magic: The Gathering.
Urza Invades Phyrexia on His Dragon
This is post 13 of a chapter-by-chapter retelling of “Planeswalker” by Lynn Abbey, Book II of the Artifact Cycle in Magic: The Gathering.
Summer Journey to Efuan Pincar
Previous: Urza Invades Phyrexia on His Dragon
Chapter 13 is where Planeswalker stops being a story about cosmic battles and becomes something more personal. And honestly? It’s better for it.
Xantcha Wakes in Serra's Realm
Previous: Summer Journey to Efuan Pincar
Chapter 14 throws us into a completely different setting and honestly, the tonal shift is jarring in the best way. We go from sword fights and Phyrexian ambushes to… an eternal sunset, golden grass, and a very unhelpful woman.
Colliding Islands in Serra's Crumbling Realm
Previous: Xantcha Wakes in Serra’s Realm
Chapter 15 is pure chaos after the slow burn of the previous chapter. Islands collide. Everything falls apart. And Serra’s idea of peacekeeping is basically a giant laser.
Xantcha Reunites With Urza in Serra's Palace
Previous: Colliding Islands in Serra’s Crumbling Realm
Chapter 16 is maybe the most emotionally devastating chapter in the entire book. Xantcha finally finds Urza. And then he tells her he’s done with her.
The Phyrexian Portal Is Destroyed
Previous: Xantcha Reunites With Urza in Serra’s Palace
Chapter 17 drops us back to Dominaria and the aftermath of the ambulator battle. And it’s one of those chapters where three characters stand around a Phyrexian corpse and everyone learns something they didn’t want to know.
The Screaming Spiders Plan Against Phyrexia
Previous: The Phyrexian Portal Is Destroyed
Chapter 18 covers a lot of ground. Urza builds a new weapon. Months pass. Ratepe becomes a secret agent. And Xantcha walks straight into the demon she hoped was dead.
Leaving Serra's Realm Behind
Chapter 19 is the “time passes” chapter. And a lot of time passes. We’re talking thousands of years compressed into one chapter. Lynn Abbey pulls it off, though.
Return to Dominaria and a Stranger's Welcome
Wait. Let me clarify something about the chapter split here. Chapter 19 covered the journey from Serra’s realm through the multiverse and arriving at Equilor. Chapter 20 goes deeper into the Equilor visit and ends with their return to Dominaria.
Gix the Demon Hunts Xantcha
Chapter 21 is where everything the book has been building toward starts to crack open. Xantcha has to deal with what happened with Gix in the catacombs, and the truth she discovers at Koilos changes everything.
Crossing the Sea of Laments
Chapter 22 starts with a storm and ends with Urza casually dismantling the life Xantcha and Ratepe have built together. It’s a lot.
The Spiders Scream in Pincar City
Chapter 23 is the longest chapter in the book and it earns every page. This is the climax of the Efuan Pincar storyline, the screaming spiders storyline, and the Gix storyline all at once. Buckle up.
The Final Battle Against Gix in Koilos
This is it. The final chapter. And it’s devastating.
Before the Fight
The sun has just risen over the Kher Ridge. Xantcha and Ratepe are on one side of the mountain, waiting for Ratepe to recover from the three-step walk from Pincar City. Urza is already at the cavern. He’s sworn he won’t go after Gix until they arrive.
Final Thoughts on Planeswalker by Lynn Abbey
So that’s Planeswalker. Twenty-four chapters of a Phyrexian newt trying to save a broken god from himself, and in the end giving her life to finish what he couldn’t.