Project Lore

Upper Deck Entertainment was one of the first companies to jump on board of the World of Warcraft band wagon, and now it is also going to be one of the first to leave it.  According to ManaNation, a Magic: The Gathering site, Upper Deck Entertainment and Blizzard have split.  Fear not, like so many of my high school relationships it was a mutual, or "ami­ca­ble" in business terms.

ManaNation's sources could not locate the exact reasoning for the split, but the website assumes it has something to do with Upper Deck's recent legal troubles.  The card company has had not one, but two foul ups recently.  The first over another licensed card game, the ever popular Yu-Gi-Oh from Konami, and a more recent tiff with one of the company's longest-standing partners, Major League Baseball.

Blizzard's disembodied head hit the official forums shortly after the news broke to clear the air.  Zarhym is quick to point out that although the rumor is true, Blizzard is not going to let the game die. 

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The barrier has finally come down.  Blizzard has admitted defeat.  The company is now selling WoW gold.

/me reads the rest of the announcement.

Oh, that kind of gold.  Like the Activision-Blizzard merger, Blizzard has simply taken my breath away with its latest business venture.  In an effort to expand the World of Warcraft brand to as many people as possible, Blizzard will begin selling collectible coins.  Yes, thanks to DC Unlimied the extended universe has branched out to the QVC lover in all of us.

Starting June 23, players, and coin collectors, will be able to get their mitts on two Collectible coin sets.  If you guessed an Alliance version and a Horde version, you'd be correct.  Dare I ask which faction has the better collectible set?

Each set comprises of three coins of differing sizes plated in precious metals (that means the coins are just wrapped in the precious metal).  The set will feature various faction leaders set in a fancy box and topped off with a faction emblem.

Alliance coins:
Gold: Varian Wrynn
Silver: Magni Bronzebeard
Copper: Tyrande Whisperwind

Horde coins:
Gold: Thrall
Silver: Sylvanas Windrunner
Copper: Cairne Bloodhoof

Does it need to be said that this strikes me as incredibly odd?  Sure, we use gold, silver and copper coins in the game, but I...I don't know.  Collecting coins just isn't my thing.  They are right up there with stamps and commemorative Elvis plates.  I'll stick with my vast collection of slowly corroding retro games, thank you very much.

The only thing that doesn't surprise me is the continued neglect to gnomes and trolls.  The two factions should really just splinter off and make a new faction called "Emo."  I doubt anyone would even realize that they'd left.

Not my cup of tea, but I am sure the sets will sell out anyways.  Even if they are "on sale" for $59.99.

*Note* I realize this happened last week, but I just came across it.

The fourth installment of a film franchise that's gone on too long Spider-man is causing me some concern.  You see, Spider-man 4 and the untitled Warcraft movie share the same director, Sam Raimi.  According to Hollywood Reporter the webslingers quadrilogy has hit a wall, that snag may affect the movie I actually care about.

Apparently, Raimi and Sony cannot come to a consciousness on which villain(s) to use for the latest movie.  The obvious answer is Carnage, but four writers have tried, and failed, to get Sony and Raimi to kiss and make-up.  The collection of re-writes and re-starts has lead to a delay of Spider-man 4, knocking it out of opening 2011's summer blockbuster run on May 6.

Enough background, let's get to the topic at hand, the Warcraft movie.  With rumors swirling around Spider-man 4's delay, many industry insiders expect Warcraft's debut to be delayed in return, if by only a few months.  Others maintain that Raimi will just change his focus to Warcraft as the dispute rages on, allowing Blizzard's pictorial debut to remain on schedule.  That's a bit optimistic though.  At the moment, there's almost no concrete information on the movie besides Raimi directing and Legendary Pictures producing.  So what the heck is Raimi going to do, direct a series of DC Unlimited action figures?

That could be really entertaining...

In my opinion, the handling of Blizzard's licensed products has been absolutely stellar.  From the novels, to the books, manga and the trading card game, every bit of the extended universe is near gold.  I expect the movie to have the same loving treatment, a fact that Raimi's hiring only promoted.  Following that logic, delay the movie as much as needed.  Just make sure it's up to the quality and polish that we expect.

Like patches and expansions, don't hold your breath waiting for the movie film.



Varian'd Hit It Both Ways Blizzard's Extended Universe for World of Warcraft is a bit lopsided.  The developer has farmed out an entire collection of lore to various companies, but for the most part, the Alliance material is what's been selected for production by the outside parties.  Sure, the Horde out there have a few books, and the various mangas , which happen to be the most balanced of any material, but outside those select few items the misunderstood faction hasn't received too much attention. There is a rebuttal though.  The case being made by some Alliance players is that the vast majority of Horde-based lore has been already told in game.  For evidence simply look at all of the faction leaders.  The history of each leader, and in the case of the horde, some sub-leaders like Garrosh, is known fairly well.  That is except for one leader who was missing for years, Varian Wyrnn (purists will note that he was in the game until Patch v1.10).  The World of Warcraft comic by Wildstorm has managed to take care of that problem. Volume 1:  The initial compilation of the monthly serial is an absolutely fantastic ice breaker.  Written by Walter and Louise Simonson the opening story arc revolves around an amnesiac warrior that awakens on the shores of Kalimdor.  After being quickly captured and turned into a gladiator, we are given our first inklings as to who this warrior is, by his captor no less.  Lo'Gosh, as the warrior eventually is called, is written as a true leader, tactician and all around badass warrior who's quick to fight, and has no qualms with shedding the blood, or limbs, of his victims. The compiled seven issues feature a story arc of their own that mainly revolves around the introduction of Lo'Gosh and the pair of Elves, Broll Bearmantle, a night elf druid and Valeera Sanguinar, a blood elf rogue, that are part of his team.  The Simonson's do an amazing job of developing the drastically different backstories to each character, while simultaneously keeping the run full of brutal action.  The abilities of artist Ludo Lullabi does a fantastic job of driving the action throughout the 170+ pages without the pages becoming an unreadable mess. A tip of my hate for the heavy fan service, including the use of Dire Maul's arena.  I guess a gladiator's life tends to make for some brutal depictions of war. Volume 1 is a stunning book that really sucked me into the story, and even managed to make me feel for previously unknown characters.  It wasn't justLo'Gosh's quest that I became infatuated with, but the tales of Broll and Valeera as well. *SPOILER ALERT* Volume 2's review has some unavoidable spoilers for Volume 1 in it.  Read it only if you've already read Volume 1, or don't care about spoilers. Volume 2:  Volume 1 culminated with the closing of two major story arcs.  Broll regained the use of all his druidic forms after much internal strife and external struggles.  We also learned exactly who Lo'Gosh really is, Varian Wrynn.  To keep things moving the story ended in a bit of a cliff hanger thanks to Valeera's use of arcane energies.  That's essentially where the second arc kicks off, with Valeera attempting to secure more magical energy.  Unfortunately, Valeera's magic addictions, and Broll's attempts to help her, are kicked to the curb as a secondary arc behind the main plot.  It's as if the authors didn't feel that the supporting cast from Volume 1 fit in the coming campaign. Valeera and Broll's own story may have been cut back, but they by no means abandoned Lo'Gosh in his quest to reclaim his throne.  It just takes them awhile to even get there.  The band of warriors are constantly distracted by various nuisances, the raptors outside Menethil Harbor and the Dark Iron Dwarves raiding Thandol Span for instance, that seem forced and out of place.  Sure, the Thandol Span episode allows for the development of Thargis Anvilmar, but the excursion, coupled with the other distractions, left a bitter taste in my mouth. The interruptions did offer additional time for the author's to play with Anduin, Lo'Gosh's son and the now-former King of Stormwind.  Of all people to question the supposed return of Varian, and Lady Katrana Prestor's intentions, it was a child who did it first, and demanded a deeper inquiry.  Anduin became a major player in Stormwind thanks to the brains he showed throughout the seven chapters of Volume 2, and a character that I can't wait to see develop. If you haven't picked up on it, Volume 2 didn't impress me all that much.  Outside of the development of Anduin, the second volume just didn't ring with me as much as the first.  It's a bit of recycled content, the plot outside of raiding Onyxia isn't original, things were forced and the cast of characters who've been helping Lo'Gosh since his re-birth were pushed to the side.  Even the art is of lower quality when compared to Lullabi's.  Its relative lackluster offering won't stop me from continuing the series.  It wasn't bad, just not awesome. *</SPOILER ALERT>* Believe it or not, now is probably the best time to get your nose in the comics.  Not only has Varian become a recent staple in the Alliance, but Volume 2 deals with not only the Black Dragonflight, but Onyxia herself.  And in case you didn't notice, her revamped encounter is being added to the live servers today!  Volume 3 will likely be out later this year, and will conclude Varian's story.  From there the comic is becomes more Horde focused. I feel obligated to point out this absolutely stellar recap of Varian's current main enemy, Garrosh Hellscream, written by WoW.com's Matthew Rossi.  If you're an Alliance player who loves lore discussions it is a must read.  Hordies who've dealt with Garrosh time and again likely know Garrosh's ins, outs and mood swings, but could see the orc in a new light.

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The Novel Post is Project Lore’s review column for materials - books, manga, comics, card games, etc - of World of Warcraft’s Extended Universe.  As such the column’s posts may contain plot, character or other spoilers. Run Draenei, Run! Ignore the note above, I did my best to rid this post of spoiling material. I have never been big on manga (pronounced it incorrectly for over a decade), but I've come to love these compilations from Tokyopop.  Each and every episode has bowled me over with at least one epic story.   The upcoming Volume 5 continues, and closes, not one, but two storylines that were launched in Volume 4.  It also includes what equates to an opening for Richard Knaak's upcoming book, Stormrage.  Fear not though, Volume 5's quality stays on track with the previous installments, thanks to Blizzard's lore historian. Yes, the company has frakking historians. A Warrior Made - Part 2:  Christie Golden's tale of Thrall's mother really lost it for me at its closing.  Part 1 was a finely crafted look into the clan atmosphere of the Frostwolfs, and the Spartan like attitudes towards ill children.  Part 2 sees her continuing her quest, and then she has a very special Blossom moment and the chapter on Draka is closed.  We do see a little character development in the pages - a nod to where Thrall gets his cool determination - but even the connections to a pair illustrious characters didn't save the story for me.  A drag to start out with. Warrior: United:  Grace Randolph also returned to complete her two-part story.  Warrior: United sees us following the estranged twins Lieren and Loania as they attempt to save their other parental unit from the damnation.  It just so happens that their father has become trapped in Karazhan.  This little tidbit allows Randolph to bring the nostalgic entry raid from The Burning Crusade into the story.  You'll have to read it to find out if they move during Flame Wreath. Randolph and artist Erica Awano do a fantastic job at displaying the differences of the twins.  In both the art and the writing, we can see how the separate upbringings of the twins, one as a Dwarf, the other as a high elf, impacted their lives.  The environment even impact their skillsets, the dwarf-raised Lieren is well versed with a mace, while Loania is a mage in training.  Warrior: United was a little predictable for me, but the fantastic characters kept me interested. The First Guardian:  Louise Simonson, co-writer of the Wildstorm comic, dives deep into the past for this previously unknown story.  I am talking way back there.  We're talking before Warcraft 3, before Aegwynn.  It's elf old, not dragon old, but it's old enough that most people - myself included - couldn't place the story in the timeline accurately.  You'd have to be a heavy, heavy lore buff, one who reads the RPG manifests for fun, to place the tale of The First Guardian off the top of your head.  For the rest of us, Simonson writes a nice recap of Dalaran's history, and where we are in it, before the opening. As a seasoned comic scribe I expected Simonson to be able to deliver a fantastic story in the 50 or so pages she had.  She didn't disappoint.  The mage heavy tale, with a gnome (!), explains the early days of the Guardians of Tirisfal, and the groups constant struggle against demonic beings.  There's also that small problem of the tearing of the world by magical use.  Simonson used the plight of the world as a backdrop, setting up the main character, Alodi, as a Peter Parker type.  A great read, but the art isn't as detailed as I would have liked. A Cleansing Fire:  Evelyn Fredericksen, Creative Development Historian for Blizzard (seriously, that is her title) and nutty professor on the Wrath DVD, doesn't pen many stories for the universes she watches over.  When she does, you'd better stand up and take notice.  Evidence?  She crafted the original Naxxramas tale, and the short for Wrath Gate.  And now they roped her into a bit of story telling for the manga.  This story alone is worth the price of the collection. Fredericksen picks a character that we all know.  We all know him because he's the centerpiece of Hallow's End.  That's right, the main character is the rhyming Headless Horsemen.  But Fredericksen paints a new picture for us.  A Cleansing Fire isn't about the horsemen's love of pumpkins, but his fall from grace and his ultimate corruption from the horrors of war.  It's a captivating look into a character we just thought of as a loot pinata.  Like last edition, the best story is accompanied by the best art. Nightmares:  Richard Knaak is back in short form - where I enjoy him the most.  Glancing at the first page of Nightmares I noticed two things.  First off, the art looks like cartoons from my childhood (not a bad thing), and it's annoying me that I can't place which cartoon I am thinking of.  The second is that Knaak dropped the L word at the first chance he got.  I am starting to think that it's a private joke of his - "How many times can I say leviathan before Blizzard censors me?" To sum up the story, Nightmares is a shameless self promotion for Knaak's upcoming book.  I'll let that slide simply because the story was so engrossing.  As the title suggests, Knaak conjures up a trio of stories told through dream sequences.  Each of them touches an important city leader, Thrall, Jaina, and Magni Bronzebeard in ways unfathomable and highly disturbing.  Knaak takes old stories that we are familiar with and casts his own spell over them.  Changing them into dark, horrible What If...? series of tragic happenings.  Very entertaining. What the writers and artists pull off in such a small amount of space continues to impress me.  We've got stories from thousands of years ago, psychological warfare, battles from beyond the grave, cracked minds, the early horde and avenging hearts all rolled into one Volume.  I highly recommend that more people begin reading these tales.  They are relatively inexpensive, imaginative, and very quick reads. Something to do while your waiting for that 7:30 raid to start...at 8:30. Warcraft: Legends Volume 5 comes out on September 1.

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I'm late to the show with this one, I know.  Get over it, because I couldn't resist picking up The Ultimate Edition (because it's so Ultimate) of the manga after reading through the available four volumes of Warcraft: Legends.  After all, if the success of The Sunwell Trilogy allowed Blizzard/Tokyopop to make another series, it couldn't have been bad.  Right?  With high hopes (and a bad current book) I took a deep breath and purchased yet another piece of literature from scribe Richard Knaak and his first effort with artist Jae-Hwan Kim. Tokyopop's collection of all three mangas, Dragon Hunt, Shadows of Ice, Ghostlands, into a single hardcover edition made quite an impression on me.  The Ultimate Edition (is there a 'The Not-So-Ultimate Edition'?) binds all of the installments together in what is best described as a tome.  If I didn't know better the imposing size of collected works would have lead me to believe that a year long read was about to begin.  Tokyopop's craftsmanship doesn't stop at the physical construction and presentation of the literature either.  Included in the non-purist edition is a new, eight-page color prologue of the Sunwell's creation, a fantastic abridged history of WoW, an art gallery, developmental drawings and an afterword by the loremaster himself, Chris Metzen.  Ironically there is also an advertisement for the next manga trilogy from Knaak/Kim, Dragons Of Outland.  It'll be here in 2008...wait a minute. Spoilers Ahead! Dragon Hunt:  The first of the three partitions is the most boring, although it isn't a bad thing to be honest.  Like most of the manga (and literature) I have read, the opening of the Knaak's story is full of character introduction, development and backstory.  More than half of Dragon Hunt is dedicated to various introductions, some minor characters included, but the author slipped in subtle, yet important, details during the opening.  The front loading of characters distracted me from the story somewhat, but Knaak's writing style (and Kim's focused art) makes it hard to miss the really important points, like Tyrygosa's first appearance and the destruction of Tarren Mill.  The unorganized opening didn't instill high expectations for the rest of the trilogy. Shadows of Ice:  Thanks to the abrupt ending of Dragon Hunt, Shadows of Ice starts off with a bang.  With all of the main characters introduced, Knaak ramps up the action and creates a sense of urgency in book two.  We're shown dragon battles, betrayal, a Scourge officer (I guess they aren't entirely mindless), and enough action to allow Kim to show off his artistic prowess. Shadows of Ice is where we meet Trag Highmountain, the star of Knaak's Legends storyline, and his master that betrayed the betrayer, Baron Mordis.  The pair are the main antagonists of this section and drive the story forward in a few interesting ways.  If you're looking for action, this subset of the trilogy is the book you want to pour over.  The flip side is that Knaak's storyarc takes a backseat to the battle sequences. Ghostlands:  The entire first chapter of Ghostlands is dedicated to further character development.  It's taken some time but we are finally given details on Jorad Mace's past, which by a second hand account, details some aspects of the mysterious Borel and how the shadowed figure is tied to the storyarc.  Unfortunately Mace's story is fairly uninspired.  Up till now I had been waiting for something epic from him, but he ended up being a relatively underdeveloped main character.  Lor'themar and Sylvanas are given about the same development in the section and they are already known figures.  The aptly titled chapter, after all nothing is left around the old Sunwell, is a well-balanced combination of action and story telling.   The unusual cast of characters teaming up in the ending chapters to take on the empowered Dar'Khan was a nice touch.  The only real knock against Ghostlands is that Kim's art got a little to anime-y for me in some scenes, hardly a showstopping flub. I know I have beaten Knaak's work pretty badly in various lore-focused posts, but this time I will give him a pass.  The characters he created, Trag, Aveena, or fleshed out, Kalec, Tyri, Dar'Khan happen to be part of the best work he's done in the Warcraft universe.  I just wish he didn't tie it all back to Korialstrasz again.  At least we have a Rhonin-less adventure on our hands.  Last but not least was the (semi) non-combat pet of Aveena's, Raac.  As cheesy the wind serpent was, I loved the bastard. Spoilers Done. The tome's own elegance, if not for Knaak's best action and character work to date, is worthy of any lore nuts' shelf space.  And yes, the book is impressive enough to be put on your shelf.  Right next to that Frostmourne. If you are wonder about Dragons of Outland, the trilogy set during The Burning Crusade's timeframe, it is now scheduled for a Fall 2009 release.  Hopefully Wrath of the Lich King's manga (I'm assuming it is being planned) will be released in a more timely fashion.

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After falling in love with the stories from Warcraft Legends: Volumes 1, 2 & 3, I decided to become a first adopter to the latest installment, Warcraft Legends: Volume 4.  The new manga from Tokyopop didn't have the same fanfare as its predecessor, but to be entirely honest, it didn't need it either.  Not only does that package contain the conclusion to Trag Highmountain's struggle against the Lich King, but Dan Jolley and Christie Golden return to pen a pair of excellent stories. Fate: I've been pretty critical of Knaak's novels in the past, however the short stories he creates for the mangas are entertaining and more spirited.  Sure, Trag may have been a Yoda clone back in The Sunwell Trilogy, but the Tauren has come into his own in his undead state.  Fate, the culmination to the four-part mini-series, happens to be the best of the quartet, even though its short and to the point. Knaak's ability to articulate Trag's desperation and his need for revenge in only a handful of pages is an impressive show of a cohesive and clear direction.  The 300 (among other movies) reference did not get by me either. Bloodsail Buccaneer: There is no point beating around the bush on this one.  Dan Jolley's epic tale, relative to the rest of stories in Legends, of the Bloodsail pirates is easily the best of the bunch.  The tale spans a whopping 62 pages, that enables Jolley to craft some of the deepest character development I've seen outside of the novels.  Bloodsail Buccaneer is a tale about three boys who are kidnapped and forced to work for, and later alongside, the band of pirates and their undead Captain Jerias Bloodvein.  What makes this story so grand isn't only its length and detail, or even the stellar art (best of the edition as well), but the blend of a known storyline with unknown characters.  The boys are a trio from Westfall who were at the wrong place, at the wrong time.  Eventually they are tied up, forced to pillage and plunder for the Stranglethorn Vale band, and are even sent off to seek the Captain's revenge against Edwin VanCleef. Yes, the story culminates in an epic raid on the Deadmines.  Apparently I can't get enough of the craftsman. Blood Runs Thicker: It's almost as if newcomer Tim Beedle read Jolley's story and realized how awesome the blending of unknown and known lore is.  Beedle's contribution to Volume 4 follows the odd traveling group known to all as the Darkmoon Faire.  The adventure focuses upon a newcomer to the group, the freakishly strong Kerri, and her troubles with the law.  By the end of the piece we see just how far the performers of "The Greatest Show In Azeroth" will go to protect one another.  Thebackstory puts a whole new light upon Silas Darkmoon's crew.  In short, don't piss them off.  Everyone's favorite buffer, Sayge, makes an appearance too.  As much as I enjoyed the story, Kawakami's art wasn't detailed enough for my liking.  Many panes felt rather empty. A Warrior Made--Part 1:  I know Golden has been writing fantasy for quite some time, but I can't help but think I have seen her grow within the Warcraft universe.  Initially I disliked her dialogue, but she made up for stale or bland conversations with terrific characters (see Fala).  A Warrior Made--Part 1 fixes the dialogue problems while setting the stage for another manga mini-series.  The tale takes place before the corruption of orcs, a time frame we rarely see, and revolves around a weak newborn female's struggle to be accepted by the Frostwolf clan.  It's another mix of known and unknown lore, but like Knaak's tales, the introduction lore to the mother of Thrall looks like it will be spread across a series of very short tales.  Part 2 will be published with three other stories in Warcraft Legends: Volume 5 in September. Volume 4 definitely had a reoccurring theme, blending new information into previously known lore, and it worked.  Well.  I don't think that all of the manga should focus on addingbackstory , but it was certainly refreshing to see some of these "everyday" characters play a part in the grand storylines that we players have always wanted to influence.  As for the mini-series stories, I really feel that the authors should make the parts far longer.  I may have enjoyed the tales from Knaak and Golden, but they seemed to finish just as they were getting started.  Overall, Volume 4 offers the best quartet of stories, including the best of all volumes, in Warcraft Legends.  On the strength ofJolley's story I will certainly be picking up his manga, Warcraft: Death Knight, and of course, Volume 5. To Tokyopop: The "behind the scenes" information is much more appreciated than a subset of literature from that other series you produce.

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In an effort to cover World of Warcraft's extended Extended Universe I drank not one, not two but four Game Fuels recently, two of each flavor.  Now I know the Horde is going to freak out about this with claims that Project Lore hates hordies, but your drink taste exactly how I would imagine Cherry citrus-flavored death to taste.  The stuff is absolutely awful.  It should be pulled off the market as fast as Zicam and its creators forced to drink it, and only it, until they beg for mercy.   Screw waterboarding, just force terrorists to drink this concoction of chemicals and "flavor!" As with most things, the Alliance is better.  Well, that is simply relative to the Horde mockery of a refreshing beverage.  This pop is only mildly less appalling than its co-branded cousin, offering gamers a Wild Berry-flavored potion of high fructose corn syrup, caffeine and almost the same collection of chemicals that are difficult (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic Acid), and scary (Glycerol Ester of Wood Rosin), to pronounce.  I've yet to meet someone who drank the disgusting tonics out of something other than curiosity, but the shocking thing is that they have both been around the block before. As unattractive as I find Horde Red, the carbonated catastrophe is a re-branding of Mountain Dew's Halo 3 GameFuel which debuted in 2007.  Not to be outdone by unoriginality, the Alliance Blue is also a re-branding, this time of Mountain Dew's election tie-in flavor, Mountain Dew Revolution. Something good did come of the cross branding though, IRL dailies.  Again, I am not a marketing mastermind, but forcing us to view the same junk, much of which has nothing to do with the sodas, day in and day out seems like an odd marketing strategy.  Even money says it has to do with the act of repetition forcing the human brain to remember things more accurately (see Navi). In all seriousness the good aspect is another vanity pet!  After this morning's failed attempts at the Scorched Stone, my GM and I took out our frustrations on each other's Battle-Bots.  Once fueled up (you have to reboot WoW after requesting your fuel) these guys duke it out for a bit and then one explodes in a great show of leakage.  Glad Blizzard gave the animators some time to play with these machines, but it makes me want a mini Diablo vs. mini Tyrael battle even more. I'd say that between the chance for IRL rewards, even if the token collection system is absolutely stupid, and the in-game combat pet, the co-branding has been a success.  But Blizzard, next time make the other company create interesting IRL dailies.  It really shouldn't be that difficult, some guerrilla marketing, puzzles we have to solve, trivia, need I go on? There are a ton of things more entertaining than "watching" videos over, and over again. Here I thought reading numerous Knaak novels was the worst thing that could come from the Extended Universe!  I kid, I kid, the story arcs are entertaining and leave absolutely no aftertaste (of death). I am sure many of you out there actually enjoy these deviants of ahh, but are you proud enough to admit it?  Me?  I will stick with my Pepsi/Mountain Dew Throwback, as I cannot stand the aftertaste left on my palate by High Fructose Corn Syrup.  The Throwback stuff is awesome, as far as soda goes anyway.  Anyone else get a kick out of the Battle-Bots? Edit: Yes the Horde Drink is the Halo 3 GameFuel, not Code Red. Thank you readers!

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I was not the only gamer to get wrapped up in the excitement behind Christie Golden's latest World of Warcraft novel.  Apparently many, many of us decided to pick up the novel upon its release, making it the first piece of Warcraft's Extended Universe to dip into the mainstream via the #16 slot on the New York Times Best Seller list.  There's good reason why Arthas: Rise of the Lich King made it to the prestigious list, it's fraking awesome.

*Note: If you've followed Arthas' lore at all, then none of this should contain any large spoilers.  But plot points will be discussed (especially in the comments) so beware.*

The novel starts off with a simple introduction to Northrend's native races and creatures that we have become so familiar with.  After the brief prologue we are tossed into the world of old, the days of Arthas's upbringing and rise as a prince.  It's this early section of the novel (Golden broke it up into three distinct parts) that will bring experienced lore nuts the most joy.  Here we are given entirely unknown details about Arthas' past, alongside various scenes that have been told in the novels before.  To keep things creative, Golden chose Arthas' naive mind as the focal point for the scenes, giving us more insight to his motivations while she touched upon these key scenes.  This section's extensive use of foreshadowing, specifically the implementation of Arthas' stead Invincible, captured me beyond any other WoW/Warcraft novel.

Section 2 - The Bright Lady - deals largely with Jaina and Arthas' touchy relationship as he descends down his dark path.  Golden writes a fantastic love triangle between the pair and Kael'thas.  One that has neither being the "bad guy," but both eligible suitors for the powerful mage.  The pair of males both get their shots at each other through witty dialogue and observation, but Kael'thas ultimately comes out on top, despite losing the girl.  As soon as Golden removed the love triangle from the plot, the novel begins recycling much of the Warcraft III:RoC+TFT campaign.  She doesn't take much artistic risk - possibly in fear of alienating us - sticking closely to what we know.  For me, precious little lore was introduced in the back half of the book, but the constant fight inside Arthas between what he has done - killing his father, dumping Jaina, the murders at Stratholme - and the power he was after kept things interesting.

I've always believed that Golden could craft good characters and well written stories.  To me her weak points have always been her dialog and battle scenes (or lack thereof), but no more.  In Rise of the Lich King she masterfully crafts Sylvannas Windrunner and Kael'Thas - characters that I haven't seen much of since I have always played Alliance in WoW - in addition to the interactions of Arthas and Jaina.  Kael'thas was also a part of the best battle scene in the novel, the fight upon Icecrown Citadel as Arthas attempted his ascent to The Frozen Throne.

How about the resolution to the dichotomy of Arthas's psyche?  Previously we had always been told that Arthas and the Lich King had merged.  According to the novel, that isn't the case.  Stunning.

End Spoilers.

Seriously, if you are at all interested in the Warcraft lore then you need to go pick up this book.  Your need to experience the novel is compounded further if you are playing Wrath of the Lich King and haven't completed the WC3 campaign.

My rave review aside, I am not sure how this piece of literature would stand on its own.  I feel that by going into the novel as a Warcraft virgin, the reader would be missing a lot of the story.  Specifically the entire foreshadowing that made the early chapters such a joy to read.  At any rate, it is still the best WoW novel to date, and the best starting point for new readers.

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Night of the Dragon was released days after Wrath of the Lich King, which is likely the main reason the book is overlooked.  I mean come on, we were too busy leveling to bother reading about the plights of Grim Batol and those who went to investigate.  Hitting level 80 is far more important than whatever may be going on in that mountain.  AMIRITE?  This is true, I was busy leveling to 80, but I have sleeping issues on a regular basis.  My roving mind forces me to read or play DS until the day's events have been replaced by my own imagination or digital stimuli.  Then I can lay my head down to join Ysera.  If it wasn't for the fact that I was so far behind on my extended universe literature, I would have read Richard Knaak's latest novel upon release. The sequel to Day of the Dragon - a book I enjoyed - steps from the beaten path by removing Orcs from the main story.  In fact, the entirety of the Horde is neglected in the main story, save a single Blood Elf of the Windrunner line.  To me this may act as a big turn-off to the Horde base, but the novels would start losing originality if each one tried to encompass plights from both sides of the mortal lines.  Of course, you could say the opposite, some Horde players may enjoy reading from the "other side" since they never see that in the digital world, but I digress. The latest novel focuses on the mysterious energies surrounding Grim Batol, energies that beckon the attention of many.  Our first lead draenei is introduced, the sexualized Iridi, who possess a powerful staff given to her by the naaru.  Knaak reintroduces a handful of his pet characters - characters which some Warcraft players despise - during the investigation to Grim Batol, including Vereesa, her mate Rhonin and his good buddy Krasus.  It's a bit annoying that Knaak constantly falls back to these characters, but in Night of the Dragon, only Krasus is presented as a main character. Spoiler Alert:  Unlike my previous discussions on the novels, I am going to actually lay out some harsh spoilers. You have been warned! The book starts off with Knaak using his favorite word, leviathan, twice.  With more than five dragons in the novel, you better believe that he drops his most used descriptor dozens of times.  His lack of sentence differentiation should not be the defining feature of this discussion though.  Especially since there are other points of contention to whine about.  There is very little value in reading the novel in my opinion.  Sure, we are introduced to a couple of new antagonists, but they are seemingly dispatched of quickly.  Most of these deaths can be attributed to Krasus and the handful of crazy powers he obtains during his struggles against Sintharia.  Powers of such convenience that one may think the book was written with Yu-Gi-Oh in mind.  Seriously, those people pull the one card that can save them 100% of the time.  What are they, Death Knights? If it wasn't for Iridi, Kalecgos' growth, the return of Rom and his dwarven band's side story then I may label this book as a mediocre title on the level of Beyond the Dark Portal.  The longest Warcraft-branded novel to date did very little to compel me to read further.  Even the twist at the end was a giant yawn.  You mean Deathwing the Destroyer didn't die and was using Sinestra as another one of his pawns?  Shocking!  Actually the most shocking, and perhaps the most interesting part of the novel, was the discovery that raptors are semi-sentient beings with goals, morals and aspirations.  The destruction of the lead raptor hit me almost as hard as the lose of Rom.  And for the love of god, can the Demon Soul finally be gone?  Just let it go already.  Make up some other new, incredibly powerful artifact.  If a fragment appears in a future novel, I swear I'll explode. Spoilers done. Getting through Night of the Dragon was a bit of a chore.  Thankfully, I earned my 50 cents and can put it behind me now.  I seriously hope that his next novel is entirely about gnomes and troggs.  Let's test Knaak's vocabulary for those with incredibly small statures.  Sure, his story was fine, but the lack of solid lore or backstory has left me wanting; wanting Christie Golden's upcoming novel, Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, even more.  I am sure many more people will be reading Arthas than any previous to it.  How could you not be intrigued?  It deals directly with the current antagonist in World of Warcraft!  I just hope that I haven't pumped myself up for it so much that the first hardcover Warcraft novel can't live up to the hype.  Or that it flat out sucks, like The Matrix's sequels.  But that is what we get for a sequel to lifted work.

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