Posted by iTZKooPA on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 - 13 Comments
Tags: arthas: rise of the lich king, christie golden, deathwing, extended universe, geeking out on lore, stormrage, the shattering, World of Warcraft: The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm, wow novels
Before you get your “ZOMG Cataclysm Is Coming Out In August” panties in a bunch, let’s be clear, the release date of the book makes no mention of the third expansion launching side-by-side with it. Technically the date isn’t even official, no matter how accurate Amazon has been in the past, Blizzard is Blizzard, even with the extended universe stuff. The novel, titled World of Warcraft: The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm (Semicolons of Destruction), is available for hardcover pre-order at the exuberant price of $26.00 and should hit your doorstep around August 31.
Believe it or not, you are currently in the process of reading right now. So stop being all high and mighty, claiming that you aren’t so nerdy as to read a book about a video game, and give it a shot. After all, Christie Golden absolutely bowled everyone over with her treatise on Arthas, his fail at horseback riding and Jaina. She’s also written other solid books and stories set in the Warcraft universe.
There’s currently no information available on the plot, but considering the subtitle, I expect there to be a good chunk of the novel dedicated to Deathwing’s awakening. Who, what, or why it happens will be up to Golden’s creative mind - with some input from Metzen for sure - but I hope Rhonin dies. Actually, Knaak should be the one to put his own character down. No, Rhonin deserves to die twice. Knaak has a perfect opportunity to kill Rhonin in February as part of World of Warcraft: Stormrage, a novel that’s to revolve around the Emerald Dream and Malfurion Stormrage. Okay, enough Rhonin hating, he may cry about it.
Anyways, being a prelude I expect The Shattering will come out well before Cataclysm. The exact opposite of the release schedule for the Arthas novel.
Who’s going to geek out on lore with me?
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By Octaviax on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
I dont understand the Knaak hate, seriously.
I’ve read EVERY Warcraft novel out to date (I have no life^^), and Knaak’s writings were among my favorites.
Yes, I will agree, Christie Golden has a “better” sense of style and art with writing than Knaak, but his works are just as cool.
I dont know - it may just be me. But, I LOVE how he has portrayed the Dragon Aspects, and the War of the Anciemts in his works.
In regards to Rhonin, he’s pretty badass too.
Let’s not forget, it was BLIZZARD who hired him to write these novels. It was Blizzard who told him that he could go without a leash with character development.
Blizzard liked Rhonin, and Vereesa, and Krasus as characters, so, they implemented them.
I agree
By scorge99 on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Lore is always good in my book.
By ViperhawkZ on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Personally, I think the book will come out after the Expansion. I don’t see them making us wait until August.
By Alayea on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
I like Rhonin. >>
By Pure on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
I will probably be buying this when it comes out love the Lore of Warcraft.
But i have to disagre with the Knaak hating, War of the Ancients was one of the best novels i had read in a long time, i know its all personal preffernce but i do think its worth being praised i meen i love seeing Rhonin in Dalaran and Krasus in Dragonblight becasue of Knaaks portrayl of them
By iTZKooPA on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Wow, I’m glad to see so many people actually reading the books. I’ve said in previous The Novel Posts that I enjoy Knaak’s storyarcs and his coverage of the draconian lore, but I heavily dislike his characters, dialogue, and basically everything else that fills in his arc.
I had the balls to actually tell him so at BlizzCon. His storyarcs tend to be so good that I buy the books anyways…and well, I just love lore.
By Octaviax on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Aww… I feel sorry for you iTZKooPA.
I think Knaak’s characters are awsome - well developed and powerful.
And OF COURSE they’re going to be a Mary Sue. We have a guy, hired by Blizzard to create a badass novel about event X Y and Z, with A B and C characters.
He needs Rhonin for leverage. Personally, I really like him.
Again, WoA trilogy is epc!
Let’s see how Stormrage turns out.
The excerpt looks good
By Heartbourne on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Christie is one of the best writers the Warcraft universe has seen. Knaak is among the worst writers I’ve ever read. Allow me to replicate Knaak’s style:
“The overcast air smelt vaguely of rose buds. Thrall had noticed this scent before, and his wrinkling nose on his gnarled face adjective adjective adjective adverb noun conjungunction adverb adjective period.”
By Huntard on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
thts sweet i wonder if i have to re pre order it bc of the date change
By Drenton on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
August is so long to wait for a book T_T and if the game will follow that, it’s too long to wait for a game as well!
By Dennon on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 7:05 am
I was just on gamestop.com buying my gamecard when I came across the Cataclysm XPac. It has it’s release date as 11/1/10. Sweetness!
By Unknownps on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
” 11/1/10. Sweetness ? ”
is that one of those american dates>? ;->
so 1/11/10 e.g. November 2010?
By Nerrectuz on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
I enjoyed the War of the Ancients trilogy like I did reading Lord of the Rings. I certainly need to catch up on my reading with the novels in the Warcraft world, but for now, I’ll just collect books as this one and wait until I’m at the point to read them.