Rhyme and Punishment Forums

Okay. So my aunt just slapped money into my bank account to buy books for my kindle I thought I'd buy a couple of Warcraft novels to throw into the mix (as I've not read any before and this seems silly given my love of the franchise). But I don't want to rush into purchases as it's birthday money and I don't have any cash of my own to throw around so obviously I want to get some bang for my buck.

I'm currently considering Getting Arthas: Rise of the Lich King (How much of this is treading ground I've already seen in Warcraft 3? The reviews on it a very mixed and all very vague on that particular question. Am I getting anything new?) and Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War (I've just heard a lot of good about this one). Anyone read these books willing to give their spoiler free opinion. What sort of tone/action should I expect? How compelling are they? I've heard Christie Golden is a great writer but what do you guys think of her work I'm open to recommendations with similar comments. if they're detailed but I'm not too interested in Thrall-centric stuff otherwise I'd be considering The Shattering (I've heard it contains a bit too much Thrall moping).

I'm less fussed about reading stuff surrounding the major events in the past and until I can afford to waste a bit of money I'm reticent to touch a Knaak book as I've heard his style is irritating.

I hate Knaak. I have all this warcraft novels just for the sake of having them, but never managed to finish a single one. He drags and drags, and reading his books makes me want to kill myself. No.

As for Golden ... I have mixed feelings. I like her stories mind, but I can't help shaking off the feeling that lately she's watering things down to make stuff more "young people" friendly. Azeroth is a cruel, unforgiving world, yet after reading Arthas (which I do love mind - read it 3 times) I feel like I've read some book written for kids and tried to make it seem more adult-player friendly with some fancy words.

I still prefer her miles over Knaak - but perhaps I'm biased and I'd rather read the minutes of the latest Labour party's budget meeting than sitting down for his torture

Arthas I recommend highly if you manage to ignore the silly things - I even have the signed special edition

The Shattering and Twilight of the Aspects ... Thrall, Thrall and more fucking Thrall. I wish they'd stop writing about Thrall.

My favourite warcraft book so far remains The Last Guardian. I was reading that while we were raiding Karazhan, so it had that magical feeling for me.

Or I'm just getting old and bitter.

Shevron, most people are salty (if you ever tasted blood, it's salty!)
So, you are a very special individual!

Anyhows, bookwise I like the Margarette Weiss books, also tracy hickman has some good books but you might have already read those books.

I'm bad with names so i can't give you any more recommendations

Torm, it's a Warcraft novels thread :P

@Shev: You find Knaak drags on? You'd hate any book by Dan Abnett... I don't find Knaak drags on and have read through all the books up to Arthas without issue. On the other hand I didn't even get half way through the first Horus Heresy novel because Abnett managed to spend what felt like a quarter of the book describing a man walking down a street (Nothing happened, it was an empty street), eventually finding a bar and then getting drunk.

Personally, I'd say it depends on what part of Warcraft's lore you enjoy. I really loved the whole War of the Ancients trilogy but was a bit blah about Rise of the Horde and Tides of Darkness. Whereas people I know who are Horde fans felt the other way around with those.

It's a shame neither of the archives are available on Kindle otherwise I'd suggest getting the first archive as that has a story from each of the four main writters and will give you a better idea of what books you are likely to enjoy after that.

@Shevron: you might have a point

I've read the Jaina novel.

It's probably going to be a little spoilt now anyway as you know how Theramore ends and have probably picked up some further info while playing.

It all felt pretty safe and simple with a bit of a odd twist near the end. You only have to look at the Amazon reviews though and it's quite clear a lot of people enjoyed it.

The characters were pretty much acted how you would expect. Jaina acts to protect her city while Garrosh is quite cunning until he throws a temper tantrum later in the book. The division within the Horde grows and you will be introduced to some new characters.

I can't really go further without spoiling it. I enjoyed the book but I'd hardly say I found it utterly compelling.

I've mixed feelings for Knaak. I certainly felt the Diablo's Sin war trilogy dragged on. Although for that universe I'd just advise getting the Book of Cain anyway as it summarises the history of sanctuary. /Off topic yay.

So far I've enjoyed every single Warcraft book I've read (The Last Guardian, Rise of the Horde, Tides of Darkness, War of the Ancients trilogy and Cycle of Hatred). I have no problems with Knaak.
I also agree with Cherwina, it depends on what parts of the lore you enjoy the most.

I soooo want the book of Caine