Wednesday, August 27, 2008

A Novel Idea

I surely hope the readership of this blog enjoyed the gnome lore post that I put up yesterday; it was perhaps one of the most enjoyable posts that I have done so far in my experience blogging thus far. Maybe it was because of the lore, or perhaps I'm just a huge fan of gnomes. Regardless, That bit of research that I did made me really itch for more lore, so this morning, I stopped by a bookstore on the way to work, and picked up not one, but THREE warcraft novels. Yay!

Originally, I have already read the War of the Ancients trilogy, by Richard Knaak. It depicts the events leading up to the creation of the Great Sea, and the formation of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. The author also introduced the dragon aspects, some of whom you will likely meet up in Northrend (Malygos in particular), as well as the night elf love triangle of Malfurion Stormrage, his twin brother Illidan, and Priestess Tyrande Whisperwind. A fascinating read throughout.

This morning, I added Rise of the Horde, Beyond the Dark Portal, and Tides of Darkness to my collection. I'm not exactly sure which book pertains to which parts of the Warcraft timeline, but I'm quite interested in Rise because of the spotlight supposedly put on Thrall (Correction: Thrall's father is spotlighted in RotH; Thrall gets his moment in Lord of the Clans).
So this is a call out to the lore nerds and novel junkies out there: which one do I read first?

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I just bought Rise of the Horde with the understanding that it came first chronologically, which is the order I'm choosing to read them.

Anonymous said...

From a blue post on the forums last week found here: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=9023679087&pageNo=1&sid=1#10

Quote:

I'd change the order a bit, myself.

Rise of the Horde
The Last Guardian
Tides of Darkness
Day of the Dragon
Lord of the Clans

then the War of the Ancients trilogy (assuming Day of the Dragon hasn't killed your ability to read Knaack).

That's a bit more sequential (from a timeline standpoint).
-----------------------------------

Good order.

Beyond the Dark Portal is now available which would come right after Tides of Darkness. If you get the Warcraft Archive book there is also a short story called Of Blood and Honor which would come in near the end.

krizzlybear said...

I have started reading RotH, and so far I am enjoying the writing style of Christie Golden. But the general consensus that I have noticed is that Knaak is not as well-enjoyed as a writer compared to Golden and Rosenberg (Tides of Darkness, Dark Portal). Frankly, I have difficulty distinguishing them from each other.

Anonymous said...

I've rather enjoyed Knaack myself. In fact, I expect to have a package waiting for me at home with books 2 & 3 from the War of the Ancients trilogy. It's a subjective matter it seems, but I've liked everything he's written thus far.

krizzlybear said...

Agreed. For me, aside from prose, the writing style of an author is irrelevant in my eyes. As long as the subject matter is interesting, I will read it. WotA ended up being such an example, enjoyed it rather thoroughly.

LarĂ­sa said...

Oh thank you for this! I tried out two Knaak books from two different series recently - and it worked fine anyway. He's a crap writer but it gives another dimension to the game, so I loved it anyway. You reminded me to go back to this project to get to know what the game is really about by reading the novels.