Warcraft - The Novel Post
iTZKooPA on Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - 20 Comments Tags: Rosenberg, golden, guide to novels, knaak, lore, novelizations, warcraft adventures, warcraft novels, world of warcraft novels 
An interesting post cropped up over on the video game journalist social network a few weeks back and it got me thinking. In said post, the OP innocently asked what his peers thought about novels based on video games properties. While most gamers know that a movie based on a game equals a waste of two hours, the threat of a book, let alone a series of novels, on one's free time can be far more detrimental. The best example would be the epically bad Doom novels, and to a lesser extent, the long-running Resident Evil franchise.
The consensus ended up being the same as with movie tie ins. Generally speaking, the idea of a video game branching out into movies or novels was branded as a bad idea, with the Doom series being an example of a failure on both ends. Yet there is always the exception that proves the rule.
For Blizzard's part, the novels based on their properties were mentioned as some of the best out there. The Warcraft-inspired series of novels will be hitting book 12 (although not all in a single series) with Christie Golden's upcoming Arthas-based novel coming in April 2009. It is probably worth mentioning that some people believe the book will coincide with the release of Icecrown Citadel.
Wrath of the Lich King has really got me back into the whole “lore nerd” routine and as such, I just had to pick up the newest novels when I came across them while doing some holiday shopping. What? You never get gifts for yourself?
For those who haven't read anything from Blizzard, there is a nice little spoiler-less Novel Guide over on WoWWiki, although it has not been updated recently (which I may take care of later today). For starters, Night of the Dragon came out alongside Wrath, so that is no longer unreleased. This is especially awesome because Richard A. Knaak has done the best novelization work in the Warcraft universe, in my humble opinion. Pick up the Warcraft: War of the Ancients Archive (containing the entire second series) for proof.
Fun facts on the Warcraft novels:
- None of the World of Warcraft-branded novels actually tie directly to events in the MMORPG. They come before, after or are entirely new events.
- All of the cover art is done by Blizzard artists.
- Much of the lore to be incorporated in the canceled Warcraft Adventures was reworked by Metzen and the writers for the novels. Most notably Lord of the Clans by Christie Golden, which is titled after the video game's subtitle.
- Richard A. Knaak has written five of the eleven published novels, all of them linking to each other. This includes a book from the original series, the three book run of the second series and the just published Night of the Dragon.
- The original series spoils much of the earlier RTS games, the second series spoils some of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, while the World of Warcraft series has spoilers all over the place.
During my shopping spree I picked up three novels, the latest pair in the World of Warcraft series, Tides of Darkness by Aaron Rosenberg and Beyond the Dark Portal by Aaron Rosenberg & Christie Golden and Night of the Dragon by Richard A. Knaak. The stack of literature will come in handy for my vacation at the end of the year. I just have to read them slow enough to grasp all of their plotlines separately, rather than having them meld into a single entity in my pea-sized brain, like the numbered StarCraft series did.
Anyone else enjoy the Warcraft/StarCraft/Diablo novels? The Warcraft universe has the best novels with Knaak's numerous contributions standing out. However, the single best adapatation of the universe would have to be Lord of the Clans. In fairness to the other writers, Golden had a huge advantage due to the help from Metzen and the other writers who penned the adventure game.
What about other franchises? Halo? Mass Effect? I saw a Gears of War book while I was browsing, surely that has to have a more fleshed-out plot than both 360 titles combined.
Reader Comments (20)
I have read Day of the Dragon, and all three books in the trilogy
i really love richard a Knaak, he is simply amazing..
:P
Like the novels:D
i just finished the War of the ancients archive. I love the lore of warcraft and the books are some of my favorite reads. Lord of the CLans is definately my favorite, though i did enjoy the last guardian, mainly because Medivh has been my favorite character in the Warcraft Universe. I havent read any books from any other franchises, though i may look into some involving the Starcraft Universe and i definately cant wait for the arthas based novel.
I need audio book versions that I can read WHILE grinding.
I've read every Warcraft book published so far, minus Night of the Dragon (stupid no cash......) and I'm forever hooked on them. I went complete celeb-crush throught Lich King as I came across those from the books, Rhonin being the biggest. The look they gave to the Aspect of Life & Krasus ticked me off, but that's a rant for another time...
HE'S NOT A BLOOD ELF!!!!!
Richard A. Knaak sucks. His writing is TERRIBLE, I continuously turned my face from his books while reading and question whether or not I have actually just read what I thought I had because it has been that bad. Turning my head was also serves another purpose because I do not want to have puke all over my book, his words actually incite a revolt in the pit of my stomach. But, I am an asshole so go pick up his stuff and form your own opinion.
1st
that war of the ancients book you have as the picture can't be just mere coincidence... you see, my friend and i were talking yesterday how awesome it would be to have a war of the ancients/well of eternity CoT instance
Yes Orkana you're first....almost an hour after the first post...
Warcraft novels are great...as is Starcraft...but I read Legacy of Blood, which was very meh.
At Orkana *smack*
I've always been a huge reader, which has included the LOTR series and the Shannara series to satisfy my fantasy/adventure side. These sound like they could be fairly cool, and I might try them out.
Halo novels... the Nylund books are excellent. The new ones aren't bad either but lack something to me... everyone agrees that The Flood (book 2) was trash. The Halo novels explain a lot the games don't.
Gears of War novel (and comics).. excellent. The novel itself is a great prequel to Gears 2 (but it's a prequel to Gears 1 too) and pre-Gears 2.
The first Mass Effect novel is a prequel and is an enjoyable read... particular when you first start playing Mass Effect and they start talking (briefly) about events from the novel. I haven't read the second, but it's written by the same author, so I have to assume it's as good.
The Warcraft novels are quite good, but I can't say the same for the comics.
Army of Two, Assassins Creed, Mirrors Edges were all given comic book treatments that were garbage.
Dead Space had an excellent prequel novel (that you can download as a video on XBL. It's basically a slide show of the comics panels with bad voice acting... might be easier to get that way though.)
I never read the Diablo or the Starcraft books, but I know some of the authors that wrote them... they used pseudonyms, so clearly not their proudest work. :)
As a kid I read the Doom novels (like 12) and thought they were great. I later read the Resident Evil novels... I have fond memories of the ones based on RE1 and RE2, but not so much about the others.. I don't think I read past the fourth.
The Tomb Raider novels were equally bad, but the Top Comic comic was excellent. Got alittle iffy toward the end, but started out great with Michael Turner's Tomb Raider/Witchblade cross over and had a great first dozen issues as a stand alone series.
Last but not least, anyone remember the game Star Wars Republic Commando? Was a FPS Squadron based game. Not terrible, but inferior to competitor offerings. There's a trilogy based on the squadron from the single player campaign (written by the same author as the Gears novels,) they're surprisingly good.
Anyone remember the Ninja Gideon novel? Oye. :)
I really enjoy the diablo books. Excellent backstory. But hey its a blizzard series. They can do no wrong :)
Truly enjoyed all of the books. The Last Guardian being my favourite (big fan of Medivh).
Richard A. Knaak's were pleasing too, but if I read the word 'Leviathan' again I might just cry...
Currently reading Warcraft War of the Ancients: The Well of Eternity by Richard A Knaak. Picked up the 1st of the three in the trilogy, to see if I like it.
Though I have a feeling I will considering I've read the Silent Blade by R.A. Salvatore and The Fighters: BLADESINGER by Keith Francis Strohm.
Both of them books are from the Forgotten Realm series, so anybody who likes Warcraft and their fantasy, try that out.
Spoiler.......they all die at the end evil wins ;(
Richard A. Knaak is, undisputed, my favorite writer. I do my best to get my greasy (not that greasy) hands on every Knaak book that comes out, and come to think of it, War of the Ancients is the only series I ever re-read (I just looked something up in The Sundering and got carried away).
I like him so much i even read those comics he helped write (god i HATE manga or whatever they call it).
As for the warcraft series as a whole, I found it to be a good reading experience, with the exception of Cycle of Hatred (honestly, just avoid it).
@Sathas: gods yes, that needs some iteration in the game.
P.S.
does anyone else think Tolkien has a special talent for ruining build-up? I read LOTR as far as a chapter or two after the ring is destroyed, and then my last hopes for a climax were spent.
just think tolkien is wasting some awesome opportunities with horrible, anti-climactic moments.
I've read The Well of Eternity, the first half or so of Demon Soul(I lost the book >_<), and I just finished The Last Guardian a couple days ago.
I enjoyed reading all the books as I'm definitely a lore nerd. I really enjoyed walking up to Rhonin for the first time after reading The Well of Eternity. It was like walking up to my hero.
I never read the Warcraft novels seeing as how I just got into the lore a few months ago and I'm not to excited about reading the books. Every once and a while I'll go to the WoW wiki and read some backstory since everything there summarizes the books.
I have read the Halo books though. I enjoyed them almost more than I enjoyed playing the actual games. I'm just that kind of person though. I would rather read the book than go see the movie or play a game, as long as the writers are good that is lol.
"...the second series spoils some of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos..."
No, it doesn't. It's the backstory for the game. I would say that the games spoils the book series. So read the books before playing the game!
I've read most of the books and I truly enjoy every bit of them. "Meeting" the book characters in-game is very cool, as several mentioned above.
When Diablo 3 comes out I might buy some of the Diablo books to get more immersed in that universe too.
Halo books are better than Warcraft, that's in my opinion. Halo writers are more descriptive and easier to imagine.