Dec 29, 2009
Product DescriptionFrostmourne. It was caught in a hovering, jagged chunk of ice, the runes that ran the length of its blade glowing a cool blue. Below it was a dais of some sort, standing on a large gently raised mound that was covered in a dusting of snow. A soft light, coming from somewhere high above where the cavern was open to daylight, shone down on the runeblade.
The icy prison hid some details of the sword’s shape and form, exaggerated others. It was revealed and concealed at the same time, and all the more tempting, like a new lover imperfectly glimpsed through a gauzy curtain. Arthas knew the blade — it was the selfsame sword he had seen in his dream when he first arrived. The sword that had not killed Invincible, but . . . More >>
World of Warcraft: Arthas: Rise of the Lich King
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ZOMG YAWL THIS IS THE BEST BOOK ABOUT WARCRAFT EVAR!!! LAWL I WAS LIKE “NO WAY DID THUY RITE A BOOK ABOUT WOW LAWL!!” AND THEN I READ IT AND ZOMG YAWL IT IS BRUTAL!! CHECK IT OUT IF YOU ARE A GAMER FOR SURE BUT EVEN IF YOU DON’T PLAY WOW BUT YOU MIGHT LIKE WOW THEN IM LIKE “YEAH TRY IT ZOMG!!” LAWL WOULDN’T IT BE KEWL IF YOU DIN’T PLAY WOW BUT THEN B/C YOU THOT THIS IS THE BEST BOOK EVAR THEN YOU LIKE GO AND START PLAYING?? LAWL YAWL!!
Rating: 5 / 5
I thought it was the game. Was too broke to even send it back. Now it’s too late, but I’m going to send it back anyway. May never by another thing from Amazon because of this. It wasn’t labeled a book. I feel like someone robbed me. I have no interest what so ever in a stupid book like this. Stupid me, I opened the plastic on it thinking how clever Blizzard was to make the latest game addition of World of War Craft to look like an actual book. Will go back to buying stuff like this in a store I might pay a little bit more but at least I’ll know exactly what I’m getting.
Rating: 1 / 5
I have been playing World of Warcraft for a very long time followed by years of playing Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, Warcraft II, and Warcraft III. I have read a few books with the Sunwell Trilogy being my personal favorite. I bought this book with high hopes but was very disappointed. It was obvious the writer did not really care for writing this and I found the book to be very childish in nature. It is not very interesting and the words “grinned” and “smiled” appear multiple times on almost every page. The characters are bland and robotic. The action parts are rather dumbed down. . . I can go on. I do not think this book is worth $15 and it does not do justice to Wrath of the Lich King. If you’re really into Warcraft lore I would read some of the other books to get a much more detailed history. Reading this book only gives you a few small history lessions with nothing written with much depth.
Rating: 1 / 5
Christie Golden is a good writer, but you wouldn’t know it by reading this book. Arthas: Rise of the Lich King is a prime example of a capable author being handed an editorially-mandated project, and just kinda giving half an effort. Arthas isn’t the worst Warcraft book in existence (that would be Cycle of Hatred), but from the author of Lord of the Clans and Warcraft: World of Warcraft: Rise of the Horde, it’s pretty disappointing.
The crux of the issue lies with the book saying, basically, go play Warcraft III. Any story elements covered in the game are skipped over with a sentence or two, so we can get back to seeing more of Arthas “behind the scenes. ” At the same time, dialogue from the game is usually copied verbatim, which creates a major annoyance: the characters that Golden are writing have a good deal more depth and thought put into them than they did in WC3. There are dozens of instances of Arthas saying something that sounds stupid and ridiculously out of character, when he was actually just quoting his in-game self.
In the spaces in between the events depicted in Warcraft III, Ms. Gollden finds enough elbow room to cut loose and show off some of her talent, though even these sections are a bit off. For example, Arthas’ childhood and early youth are well done and interesting, though the transition between his youth and adulthood doesn’t mesh. Arthas as a boy is shown to be intelligent, compassionate, and humble, whereas our first introduction to adult Arthas in Warcraft III showed him to be arrogant, thick-headed, and a tinge ruthless. She does her best to bridge the gap, but it fails to suspend disbelief.
Also, there’s the gorram horse, Invincible. After it passes, Arthas can’t go five pages without moping about it and how he “failed” it and would never fail anyone ever again. And, of course, the book telegraphs what’s going to happen to it over a hundred pages in advance. (Spoiler: HE RAISES THE GORRAM HORSE. )
I think that this was a doomed project from the get-go. Rewriting the stories of Warcraft II and Beyond the Dark Portal is one thing; the games are well over ten years old now, and the massive juggernaut that is Warcraft’s Lore hadn’t been formed yet, so tying them more closely to the larger story is important. But with WC3, Chris Metzen was already constructing the setting’s huge mythos into a cohesive unit, so going back and telling the story again isn’t necessary. What we’re instead left with are three hundred pages of fill-in-the-gap scenes, characterization that, while decently done, clashes with the cast’s established personalities, and nothing new learned other than the name of Arthas’ gorram horse.
If you haven’t played Warcraft III, this may be worth a read. If you have, you’d be better served by digging out the disc and giving it a nostalgic spin.
Rating: 2 / 5
I disliked reading this book. As I’m an avid Warcraft player and lover of fantasy fiction I saw this as a must read and was excited about the novel as I read up on it on the World of Warcraft homepage. However, it was one of the worst reads that I’ve ever finished. The characters have no development, the plot makes little sense, and the only reason to read this would be for Warcraft players like myself that are curious about the story behind the game. The game is still awesome and I love playing it and cannot wait for the next expansion. For great fantasy fiction I would recommend checking out anything by Brandon Sanderson (amazing), Brent Weeks, George r. r. Martin, Robin Hobb, along with the older stuff (that I grew up on) like Robert Jordan, David Eddings, and RA Salvatore. That being said I do plan to continue to read every World of Warcraft book out there in hopes something good appears – I spend so much time playing that game after all that I can’t help myself but to anyone asking for a recommendation that isn’t going to automatically read anything with World of Warcraft on the front – avoid this one.
Rating: 1 / 5