The Novel Post: Tides of Darkness
iTZKooPA on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 - 14 Comments Tags: Alleria Windrunner, Anduin Lothar, Death Knight, Gul'dan, Khadgar, Kurdran Wildhammer, Orgrim Doomhammer, Paladin, Turalyon, Zul'Jin, blackhand, lore, lore nerd, reading, second war, the novel post, warcraft novels 
Aaron Rosenberg, like many of the authors Blizzard has been hiring, has managed to write for some hot properties. The New York/New Jersey native's work spans StarCraft, Warcraft, Star Trek, Warhammer, and he also manages to design roleplaying games. Even with all of this material, I somehow managed to never read anything by him. That all changed due to my recent buying spree and trip to the Caribbean. On the culmination of those events, I had nothing better to do than leap into World of Warcraft: Tides of Darkness as if it where my first teeth-mashing kiss.
Rosenburg's first crack at the Warcraft universe is a pretty solid starting point. The folks over at Blizzard allowed him to take control of numerous renowned characters including Turalyon, Alleria Windrunner, Orgrim Doomhammer, Gul'dan, Kurdran Wildhammer and everyone's favorite Archmage, Khadgar. Arthas' father, King Terenas, Champion of Stormwind Anduin Lothar, Zul'Jin and the brothers Blackhand also make substantial appearences. With all these characters entwined in the Second War, Rosenburg had the ability to drastically shape one's expectations for these key characters, while creating a sense of urgency, hatred and even betrayal.
Aside from giving this lore nerd more back story to the Second War, I absolutely loved the author's ability to describe the epic battles in all of their stages, from planning and tactics to execution. Without the move to more mature writing – the descriptions of battle become very violent and gory – I do not think the author would have been doing the struggle between the two factions justice.
We see the introduction of the Paladin class, lead by Uther the Lightbringer, and their antithesis, the first unofficial death knights, created by Gul'dan but lead by Teron Gorefiend. Not a single mention of the gnomes though - I guess Rosenberg overlooked them. Despite the slight to SolidSamm, I enjoyed the book from cover to cover and implore any and all lore nerds to pick it up. After all, it is one of the best WoW-branded novels.
Time to go Beyond the Dark Portal.
Reader Comments (14)
From what I heard about gnomes is they were not in the other Warcraft games but just added to World of Warcraft. So there really isnt too much lore behind them
Agreed, I love this books! They brought me back into WoW after being gone for several months. I still need to go get the next book at some point.
Oh, and as is tradition....
FIRST!
Good post, sounds like a sweet book. Considering that the entirety of the series is based on war, getting the battles right is a major thing. I haven't read this one yet but I'll make sure to go pick it up now.
@ Grant
The gnomes did make an appearance in the Second and Third wars, but they did have a lack of lore and detail surrounding them. War2 featured a gnomish submarine, and Warcraft 3's flying machines were originally gnomish, not dwarven.
Poor little guys, the writer must have seen right over their heads!
Gnomes first appeared in Warcraft 3. other the first to it was straight up orc v human.
Gnomes were NO WHERE in WC3. They were the alliance counterparts to the Goblins in WC2.
A piece from the website:
"The Gnomes served the Alliance well during the Second War, but strangely, they refused to send any personnel to aid their allies during the Burning Legion's recent invasion. Though their designs helped turn the tide against the Legion, the Dwarves and Humans were shocked by the Gnomes' decision to withhold their courageous troops and pilots." (Source: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/races/gnomes.html)
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BACK TO THE POST:
I think I may just take a look into this book. I'm just about to finish the original Dragonlance Trilogy, and look forward to jumping into a good Warcraft based book.
this is the only WoW book i ever read
in the summer, i went camping with my friend for a week and they brought this book with em so i read it each night before bed for the whole week. I thorougly enjoyed it =D
5 stars
the Gnomes were stuck in Gnomeregan fighting the Troggs (can't really go to the front and let the capital fall...). The aftermath is revealed in WoW (see the instance), anyway for the book, I might buy them when I get bored of my computer =P
Everyone's favorite Archmage Khadgar?! Khadgar helped kill Medivh...I despise Khadgar. I'd prefer Antonidas as my favorite archmage. Beyond the dark portal is a pretty good novel too.
Gnomes were in WCII I believe (not as units though). They kept in the background, designing machinery for the Alliance.
Gno gnomes? Fine by me, get rid of all of those tiny, whiny blobs of annoyance. When I found out there was the possibility of gnome DK's I died a little inside. Make them NPC's like the Goblins!
OT: You know what the next hero class should be? Pandaren Brewmaster: officially their society would be neutral, but individuals could take sides with certain factions. Oh yeah, baby.
the gnomes where always there but overlooked as Dwarfs because they both lived in ironforge they both worked on the geat engneeried weapons that the humans used in the wars the gnomes are never mentioned because they are deep in ironforges reasohersch and devolpment. gnomes are not that great at war without thier toys just like tarrens from starcraft where whould they be without thier tanks and galioths? no where. in short gnomes built the seidge weapons and the flying mahines the dwarfs helped too by getting the materials and using the machines. i'm rambling so i'm going to end it here.
Richard A. Knaak is the best warcraft writter ever,hes charactors were implemented into the game!
hell ya he is! I love evrything with knaak's name on it!
testing...