Project Lore

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.

Click to read more ...

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.

Click to read more ...

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.

Click to read more ...

The literary form of anime isn't a hot topic in the greater WoWverse, if the number of comments left on the previous manga post are anything to go by.  I entirely understand that not everyone is going to want to purchase the collection of Warcraft inspired novels, let alone the higher priced manga titles, but we were talking free stuff! I for one took the opportunity that Tokyopop offered us and caught up on my manga.  Heck, I enjoyed them so much that I picked up Volume 2 to add to my collection even though the entire book is still available online.  You don't need to read the previous volumes to get into the manga - aside from the reoccurring Richard Knaak storyline - but I highly recommend it since they are very entertaining.  That trend only continues in Volume 3. Fiend: Numerous readers have pointed out in other Novel Posts that I don't particularly enjoy Knaak.  I am not going to deny that.  For that reason, you may expect me to badmouth the third Trag Highmountain tale, but for the first time in the series, Knaak's story is not the worst in a particular volume.  Unlike the previous two installments, Fiend moves the storyline along, rather than being focused on a single event.  Both Fallen and Fear previously hinged on one happening, causing Trag's story to barely move at all.  In conjunction with the progressing storyarc, Knaak unveils multiple sides to Trag, compassion, comradely and thanks, that we hadn't seen since the Lich King began speaking to the tauren. Crusader's Blood:  For me, this tale of the Scarlet Crusade's unabashed hatred for anything and everything undead takes the number one spot for the volume by far.  Dan Jolley, in Alan Moore fashion, presents the readers with multiple sides of the struggle, not the black and white discussions we are used to.  At the forefront is the plight of the Forsaken versus the blind faith of those who follow the Scarlet Crusade.  But amongst these ranks we are shown the morally gray side of things.  Do all undead, Scourge-bound or not, need to be vanquished?  Is the Scarlet Crusade infallible?  Does this taste rotten to you?  The best story of the bunch. I Got What Yule Need:  Christie Golden's tale of Winter Veil certainly seems oddly placed in a book that was released in mid-March.  Even money on the story originally being slated for Volume 2, which was released in November.  The story, and the art accompanying it, is meant to be a feel good holiday tale complete with Greatfather Winter, robots, big-eyed children and happy endings.  Scheduling issues ignored, Golden delivers an iconic children's story set in the Warcraft universe that could easily be mistaken for a Pixar pitch.  After all it offers entertainment for the whole family and I'll be damned if Fala isn't the cutest character ever. The Thrill Of The Hunt:  Most of the stories presented in the Legends series are based on unheard of adventurers like you and me.  Nameless people who are just living their day-to-day lives in Azeroth, doing their best to provide for their factions and friends.  This is not one of those stories.  Breaking from tradition, Troy Lewter was given permission to add some backstory to the best known - and dressed - hunter in all of Azeroth, Hemet Nesingwary.  The story starts off with Hemet calling out a traveler for a bogus tale, before he launches us into a flashback on the seedy underbelly of hunting, poaching.  Nesingwary's adventure is by no means an original piece of work, but who wouldn't want to read about the dwarf going Rambo on a group of cub hunting, elf killing poachers? Initially, I wasn't expecting much from the Legends spin-offs, but reading the three installments in quick succession have turned me towards the darkside.  The quick and dirty stories of unknown travelers, adventurers or plain citizens add a complexity to Warcraft that no other form of the universe, extended or otherwise, has previously attempted, let alone accomplished.  Consider me a guaranteed purchaser of Volumes 4 and 5.  I highly recommend that you give Legends a chance.  Again, they are free so what are you waiting for?

Click to read more ...

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.

Click to read more ...