Whatever "meaning" Epic had... Kostick cheerfully ignored it this time. Instead he just went for a "What if?", which normally would be fine (good, even) but it's a little odd for a sequel to completely ignore the previous book's meta-text.
Actually this doesn't work as a sequel for a number of reasons. Most of the characters in Epic are never seen or heard from... except the main characer, who becomes a supporting character at best. The setting is completely different. With a few very small exceptions, it takes place entirely within a game--a new, different game--instead of bouncing back and forth. Even then the game loses some of its mysticism, as this time the method used to play the game is described. Basically everything that made Epic interesting is missing in Saga.
There are also some issues with its internal logic that I won't get into because it's really not worth it. Saga is just plain not as good as Epic was. He's writing a third book, but somehow I doubt I'll read it.
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