Project Lore

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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The Man Himself, Alexandros Mograine The Novel Post is ProjectLore's review column for materials - books, manga, comics, card games, etc - of World of Warcraft's Extended Universe.  As such the column's posts are likely to have plot, character or other spoilers. The fabled Ashbringer sword may be new to some of you, but the sword has been known to World of Warcrafter's, in some way, since the title was released so long ago.  Those who are new to the MMORPG likely focus their lust upon Frostmourne, but Ashbringer was the first weapon with a detailed story inside WoW (not Warcraft III, WoW).  After realizing that one of the title's most epic stories may have been missed by the majority of players, Blizzard recanted the tale as part of the Death Knight starting area.  Those of us who couldn't wait for Wrath's to release, or simply had no intention of playing a Death Knight, had another route, the World of Warcraft: Ashbringer mini-series from Wildstorm. It's unknown who designed and wrote the Death Knight quests that involve the Mograine and Fordring storylines, but Micky Neilson's (Senior Writer & Voice Director for Blizzard) vision of them are absolutely superb.  Neilson doesn't simply touch upon the Ashbringer's power.  He begins his story well before that, before the weapon was even forged by Dwarven hands.  Political shenanigans, character development, backdrop and backstory are the main plot devices in the incredibly busy introduction.  It isn't until the second half of the first installment that Alexandros gets to lay his hands on the socketed item, and not a moment too soon. Looks Like He Dropped The Poison In The Middle Of The Room... Ashes to Ashes, the appropriately named second issue, continues all of the previous material including the ultimate separation of the rich Scarlet Crusade and the Argent Dawn as we know them today.  The final betrayal of Alexandros by his elder son Renault is the obvious climax here, and a thing of beauty.  Not only does Neilson describe the dastardly deed in great detail, with the help of the superb art, but he continues the confrontation through flashbacks that Alexandros has while being placed under the control of Kel'Thuzad.  The added scenes complete the betrayal, making it far more painful than a simple death.  A fact that causes the fall of Ashbringer to Corrupted Ashbringer. The third chapter revolves around the Darion-led Argent Dawn excursion into the intimidating Naxxramas.  Its entirely dedication to action till the last few pages, causing the story to progress very little.  However the confrontation between the Scarlet Highlord's two sons is nothing short of showstopping.  A defining moment in the comic, and the Ashbringer storyline, for me.  And it even explains why Alexandros Mograine is no longer present in today's incarnation of Naxxramas. The token instancing (and wiping) distraction was followed up with the another round of back story and character development for a name many of us know well, Tirion Fordring.  As the current owner of Ashbringer he's a character I expected to see some focus on, but that didn't truly come to pass.  Instead Tirion snatches the fabled sword away from the Scourge only after Darion made the ultimate sacrifice for his father.  One that may or may not have been successful at releasing the trapped soul of Alexandros, as far as the comic is concerned. Ashbringer's pacing is truly the only complaint I can levy upon the comic from a Warcraft players standpoint.  Although the Ashbringer is a relatively new tale in the Warcraft canon, meaning far younger than Frostmourne, we've been introduced to a lot of the specifics.  Nielson's story, while incredibly strong and highly emotional, is weighed down by the bumpy pacing.  Ashbringer starts off incredibly busy, then hits a lull for nearly two issues, ramp up for a few pages before more yawn and then the final culmination. Positive On Which Side? If I was to try to review Ashbringer without previous knowledge of the back lore, as a normal comic reader would, then the highlight would likely have been on the art, and not the story.  Ludo Lullabi and Tony Washington perform beautifully together, and their skills highlight much of Nielson's story.  However, a non-Warcraft player would miss out on tons of cameos, nods to different storylines and the high arc tri-faction war (mortals vs Scourge vs Burning Legion) would go right over their head. Nevertheless, if you are into comics and Warcraft then Ashbringer is a must have, especially now that it's in a mass market paperback edition.  If you fancy yourself a lore nerd then you also need to pick up this masterful mini-series. That's how Varimathras got a hold of the plague.  That willy bastard.

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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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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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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?

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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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The manga fans out there probably already own these bad boys, but for us layman, the release of the first two volumes for Warcraft: Legends probably passed us by.  I picked up the original publication during my shopping spree - no, not not that one - but have not had the proper time to digest it.  Fitting all the Warcraft lore in my pea-sized brain is becoming more and more difficult when companies like Tokyopop and Wildstorm are expanding the already massive universe at every opportunity.  But Tokyopop is making it a little easier on our wallets at least. Blizzard Entertainment's manga partner announced a new ploy to suck us in late last week.  In celebration of their upcoming release of Volume 3, the company is posting their previous works for FREE*.  A chapter will be posted each business day until March 17, the day Volume 3 launches at retail.  For those of you who may have missed the managa, or felt it to risky or expensive, you can now join me in reading the colorless stories for a limited time.  Here is the posting schedule as compiled by BlizzPlanet:

Warcraft: Legends Volume 1

• Friday, March 6: Fallen by Richard A. Knaak & Jae-Hwan Kim
• Monday, March 9: The Journey by Troy Lewter, Mike Wellman & Mi-Young No
• Tuesday, March 10: How to Win Friends by Carlos Olivares
• Wednesday, March 11: An Honest Trade by Troy Lewter & Nam Kim

Warcraft: Legends Volume 2

• Thursday, March 12: Fear by Richard A. Knaak & Jae-Hwan Kim
• Friday, March 13: Warrior: Divided by Grace Randolph & Erie
• Monday, March 16: Miles to Go by Dan Jolley & Elisa Kwon
• Tuesday, March 17: Family Values by Aaron Sparrow & In-Bae Kim

Although I have been interested in the Legends franchise since its inception, I never took the plunge until now.  Over the weekend I began reading Volume 1 so I could have it completed by the time Volume 2 begins going online later this week.  I would suggest that we all join the party and catch up on our Legends so we can have a nice book discussion later this month.  Shall I bring tea? For those still on the fence about the time sink, here's the lowdown.  Each volume of Legends adds further backstory to one of the characters from the graphic novel, The Sunwell Trilogy (written by Richard A. Knaak & illustrated by Jae-Hwan Kim).  Outside those chapters, the stories generally focus on unknown characters partaking in their own adventures around Azeroth.  These works tend to focus on the daily lives of our toons, rather than fate of the universe type stuff. Tokyopop's stuff may not sound as exciting as exposing Arthas' childhood, but you'd be surprise how entertaining some of the stories can be.  They aren't all gold, but at the fantastic price of FREE*, can you really complain?  Yes, yes we can, their manga + comic reader is absolutely atrocious.  Unless you are an eagle or possess a gigantic monitor, prepare for eye strain.  I guess there is something to be said for owning the hard copy, outside of collector pride. *Internet connection required.

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After completing the Tides of Darkness over my vacation, I could not wait to dive into Beyond the Dark Portal.  Aaron Rosenberg returns to pen his second Warcraft novel, this time teamed with long-time Blizzard novelist Christie Golden.  With my appreciation of ToD well documented, I was in heavy anticipation to get to the other side of the portal and be re-introduced to Outlands from a whole new perspective.  Having Beyond The Dark Portal's plot pick up almost exactly where it left off in ToD seemed like it would be quite a treat.

The deep connection to the previous novel wasn't all that gravitated me toward reading the series back-to-back.  Beyond the Dark Portal, developed by Cyberlore Studios and not Blizzard Entertainment, was the game that managed to pull me away from Command & Conquer camp and into the Warcraft universe.  Therefore, good ole nostalgia played a hefty role in my decision. Enough about why I chose to read the book and more about the book.  Originally, I believed that I would enjoy reading more about my favorite characters from Tides.  However, I think the writers went a little overboard, relying too heavily on the previous characters and not introducing any new noteworthy persons.  If you haven't read any of the previous novels then there are new focuses -Ner'Zhul, Deathwing, his three children and the rest of the Black Dragonflight for instance - but they are the only worthwhile characters.  For those that have read the previous novels, then minor characters like Kargath Bladefist and Danath Trollbane will be the most notable new faces. While the returning characters may annoy some, we are treated to the addition of some other races, including the Gnomes, Draenei, Naaru and a more in-depth look at Goblins than ever before.  Despite the lack of all-new major characters, Rosenberg and Golden kept the epic plotline of the game moving with added detail, numerous details and links to World of Warcraft's incarnation of Outlands, sticking with the mature action sequences and solid dialog.  I was pleasantly surprised that Rosenberg was able to keep BtDP's dialogue in check.  In my opinion, Golden's dialogue is always her weak point. If you haven't read any of the other Warcraft-inspired novels, then this is not a good starting point.  There are several reasons why one should avoid Beyond the Dark Portal as their introduction to the written Warcraft universe. This is mostly because it is a direct sequel to the aforementioned Tides of Darkness, reusing many major characters from that novel and continuing the plot.  It also continues Khadgar's story from The Last Guardian.  Simply put, this isn't the strongest book in the series, period.

If you want to get started then grab the compiled introductory trilogy. It'll start you off on three separate storylines and you can go from there.  The Archive, rather than the separate books, also comes with Chris Metzen's short story - 200 pages - Of Blood And Honor which details major events in Tirion Fordring's life.

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