Entries in Zul'Jin (1)
The Novel Post: Tides of Darkness
iTZKooPA on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 - 14 Comments Tags: Alleria Windrunner, Anduin Lothar, Death Knight, Gul'dan, Khadgar, Kurdran Wildhammer, Orgrim Doomhammer, Paladin, Turalyon, Zul'Jin, blackhand, lore, lore nerd, reading, second war, the novel post, warcraft novels 
Aaron Rosenberg, like many of the authors Blizzard has been hiring, has managed to write for some hot properties. The New York/New Jersey native's work spans StarCraft, Warcraft, Star Trek, Warhammer, and he also manages to design roleplaying games. Even with all of this material, I somehow managed to never read anything by him. That all changed due to my recent buying spree and trip to the Caribbean. On the culmination of those events, I had nothing better to do than leap into World of Warcraft: Tides of Darkness as if it where my first teeth-mashing kiss.
Rosenburg's first crack at the Warcraft universe is a pretty solid starting point. The folks over at Blizzard allowed him to take control of numerous renowned characters including Turalyon, Alleria Windrunner, Orgrim Doomhammer, Gul'dan, Kurdran Wildhammer and everyone's favorite Archmage, Khadgar. Arthas' father, King Terenas, Champion of Stormwind Anduin Lothar, Zul'Jin and the brothers Blackhand also make substantial appearences. With all these characters entwined in the Second War, Rosenburg had the ability to drastically shape one's expectations for these key characters, while creating a sense of urgency, hatred and even betrayal.
Aside from giving this lore nerd more back story to the Second War, I absolutely loved the author's ability to describe the epic battles in all of their stages, from planning and tactics to execution. Without the move to more mature writing – the descriptions of battle become very violent and gory – I do not think the author would have been doing the struggle between the two factions justice.
We see the introduction of the Paladin class, lead by Uther the Lightbringer, and their antithesis, the first unofficial death knights, created by Gul'dan but lead by Teron Gorefiend. Not a single mention of the gnomes though - I guess Rosenberg overlooked them. Despite the slight to SolidSamm, I enjoyed the book from cover to cover and implore any and all lore nerds to pick it up. After all, it is one of the best WoW-branded novels.
Time to go Beyond the Dark Portal.