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WarCraft Archive |  | Go Tell a Friend | |
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| Authors: Blizzard Entertainment, Richard A. Knaak
Publisher: Gallery
Category: Book
List Price: $17.00
Buy Used: $2.25
as of 7/29/2010 17:49 CDT details
You Save: $14.75 (87%)
New (39) Used (30) from $2.25
Seller: Crispydigits
Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 16853
Media: Paperback
Edition: Original
Pages: 624
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.7
ISBN: 1416525823
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.0876608
EAN: 9781416525820
ASIN: 1416525823
Publication Date: October 24, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In the mist-shrouded haze of past, the world of Azeroth teemed with wonders of every kind. Magical races and ancient beasts strode alongside the tribes of man -- until the arrival of the demonic Burning Legion and its baneful lord, Sargeras. Now dragons, elves, orcs, and dwarves all vie for supremacy across their scarred, war-torn kingdoms -- all part of a grand, malevolent scheme to determine the fate of the world of... WARCRAFT DAY OF THE DRAGON: A terrifying upheaval among the highest ranks of the world's Wizards sends the maverick Mage, Rhonin, on a perilous journey into the Orc-controlled lands of Khaz Modan. What Rhonin uncovers is a vast, far-reaching conspiracy, darker than anything he ever imagined -- a threat that will force him into a dangerous alliance with ancient creatures of air and fire if the world of Azeroth is to see another dawn. LORD OF THE CLANS: Slave and Gladiator. Shaman and Warchief. The enigmatic Orc known as Thrall has been all of these. Raised from infancy by cruel human masters who sought to mold him into their perfect pawn, Thrall was driven by both the savagery in his heart and the cunning of his upbringing to pursue a destiny he was only beginning to understand -- to break his bondage and rediscover the ancient traditions of his people. Now the tumultuous tale of his life's journey -- a saga of honor, hatred, and hope -- can at last be told. THE LAST GUARDIAN: The Guardians of Tirisfal were a line of champions imbued with godlike powers, each one through the ages charged with fighting a lonely secret war against the Burning Legion. Medivh was fated from birth to become the greatest and most powerful of this noble order. But from the beginning a darkness tainted him, corrupting his soul and turning to evil the powers that should have fought for good. Medivh's struggle against the malice within him became one with the fate of Azeroth itself...and changed the world forever. OF BLOOD AND HONOR: The paladin Tirion Fordring had always believed the Orcs were vile and corrupt, but an unexpected act of honor and compassion sets in motion a chain of events that will challenge his most fundamental beliefs and force him to decide, once and for all, who are the men...and who are the monsters.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 20
 A good introduction to the World of Warcraft novels June 4, 2010
C. Good (North-Central Montana, U.S.A.)
_World of Warcraft Archive_ is a collection of four books set in the world of Warcraft, as depicted in the Warcraft games. The four books it contains are _Day of the Dragon_ by Knaak, _Lord of the Clans_ by Golden, _The Last Guardian_ by Grubb, and _Of Blood and Honor_ by Metzen.
_Day of the Dragon_ is about the mage Rhonin and the night elf ranger Vereesa traveling on a mission for the mages of the Kirin Tor. There's more to the mission than Rhonin initially lets on, there's more to Rhonin's sponsor Krasus than Krasus lets on, and the minor noble Prestor angling to be king of Alterac is more than he lets on too.
_Day of the Dragon_ is a decent book, but not one that really held my attention very well. On the other hand, it's interesting to learn more about the blue, bronze and green dragon flights. I wrote a longer review of it on the page for the stand-alone paperback version.
_Lord of the Clans_ is about the early years of orc Warchief Thrall, who was orphaned when his parents were killed and who was raised as a slave by humans until he escaped, found other orcs, learned how to be a shaman, and then how to be a warchief.
Although parts of _Lord of the Clans_ are sad, and parts of it are predictable, it is overall a very good and in some ways inspiring coming-of-age story. I wrote a longer review of it on the page for the stand-alone paperback version.
_The Last Guardian_ is about the mage Medivh, his early years, his parents, his tower at Karazhan, his by turns knowledgeable and standoffish relationships with the world outside the tower and other mages, and it's also about his apprentice Khadgar.
_The Last Guardian_ is a good detective story, with Khadgar piecing together the odd things around him to arrive at a conclusion he'd rather not have known. It's a good psychological novel, about the damnation and the beginning of the redemption of Medivh and the foolishness of trying to determine someone's life for them and never once considering what might happen if they rebel. And if you've ever wondered about what led Medivh to help the orcs open the Dark Portal between Dranor and Azeroth in the first place, and then why he had a change of heart and helped the orcs, humans and elves forge an alliance to stop the Burning Legion, and why Karazhan is such a huge area with so many ghosts and libraries and books in the current online game, then this would be a good book to read.
_The Last Guardian_ is by far my favorite out of the four books in this archive, and I wrote a longer review of it on the page for the stand-alone paperback version.
_Of Blood And Honor_ is about the paladin Tirion Fordring who is spared by an elderly orc. Against the wishes of many of the other paladins in his own order, Fordring insists on returning that mercy and kindness. For that, he is exiled from the order and from the lands where he lives, and has to decide which path is truly the one of honor.
_Of Blood And Honor_ was another novel in this archive that didn't hold my attention very well. The theme of the holy warrior having to fight blind prejudice and bigotry on both sides of a decades-old war is one that's also explored in Weber's books about Bahzell Bahnakson and I like Weber's conception of Tomanak as the god of war and justice more than I like the faceless, voiceless, personality-less Light that appears in Warcraft. And I was more than a bit put off by the fury of Tirion's wife Karandra -- fury at Tirion -- when she finds out why he has been exiled. To be a paladin is to fight for what one thinks is right, and her accusations that he never thought of his wife and son and she's been upset all these times he's been off at war and she had to wait to see if he would come home were, to me, very selfish and self-centered. It's like a firefighter's wife being angry that her husband makes her worry by going into dangerous places, or a doctor's wife being angry that he was in danger of being infected by a horrible disease while treating someone who was ill. I haven't put up a separate review anywhere of _Of Blood and Honor_ and don't intend to, but if I had to rate it, I'd give it three stars out of five.
As I said, overall this archive is a good collection of Warcraft novels. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who hasn't played any of the Warcraft games, and out of the four individual novels contained in it, _The Last Guardian_ is the only one I'd recommend on its own to anyone who hasn't played any of the Warcraft games.
But if you are playing the Warcraft games and want to know a bit more about the lore behind the characters and places, this archive is a good place to start.
 "Kagh! Bin Mog g'thazag cha!" This set is fantastic! January 14, 2010
Aammar Khan (Houston, Texas)
This archive, which includes the following four books: Day of the Dragon, Lord of the Clans, The Last Guardian, and Of Blood and Honor, is simply superb.
Let's start with the first book Day of the Dragon. Day of the Dragon was a interesting story of adventure and danger as the heroes venture into Grim Batol. It includes the wizard Rhonin, elven ranger Veressa Windrunner, and of course the Dragon Mage Krasus. The book does a good job explaining the motives and ideas of each character, which helps you to relate to them. This book is great as a standalone book, but it would be advised to have some knowledge of the background. I award this book of the set 4/5.
Next is Lord of the Clans, which to me, was the best written of all the books. Lord of the Clans follows the story of Thrall as a child, and how he is raised and eventually learns of his true destiny. The author does a fantastic job of helping the readers relate to the struggles of the Orcs. "Kagh! Bin Mog g'thazag cha!" Once you learn the meaning of these words, it really gives you a sense of understanding of the honor the Orcs once had. Whereas in Day of the Dragon, the orcs are seen as the vile enemy, I found in Lord of the Clans I was cheering on the Orcs hoping they would succeed. 5/5 for this one.
The Last Guardian is next up. This book is mainly just lore. If you have no interest in Lore, I would find this book quite boring. For me, I was somewhat interested so I enjoyed it. It follows the mage Medivh and gives the background of his character. Compared to Day of the Dragon or Lord of the Clans, which each had its own story and could survive on its own, The Last Guardian cannot. The characters in the book weren't very well thought out, and some characters I really couldn't care less to learn about. I feel the author rushed this book. 3/5 for this one.
The last, and shortest of them all is Of Blood and Honor. I expected this one to be quite shallow as its only about a hundred or so pages, but man was I wrong. The book was great. It follows the events of the Paladin Fordring as an unexpected act of kindness by an orc sets in motion a chain of events that would change his world. I award this 5/5 with my only complaint being that I wished it was longer.
Overall, I give this product 5/5, because with all 4 books in one big one for such a low price, its a steal. The Lord of the Clans and Day of the Dragon easily make up for the cost, so I took this as me getting two free books! I would recommend this to anyone who is looking to learn more about the Warcraft world, or for fans of the Fantasy genre of books. Overall, GO BUY THIS BOOK(s)!
The best few Warcraft books I have read so far. January 13, 2010
K. McMillan (California)
So far this Archive holds some of the better stories I have read so far in the Warcraft line of novels. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Great value in the Archive December 31, 2009
M. Ryan Smith (Slidell, Louisiana, USA)
Day of the Dragon
5/5 Stars. Loved this book. It deals with the five dragon aspects (Alexstraza, Deathwing, Ysera, Nozdormu, and Malygos), all of which you are at least a little bit familiar with if you play World of Warcraft. The WarCraft Archive is worth picking up for this story alone if you are at all interested in WoW's next expansion (due sometime in 2010), WoW: Cataclysm, as the events in that expansion are directly related to it. This was the first Warcraft book I read, and now that I've finished with the Archive I understand there are other books related to Day of the Dragon that I will be picking up immediately.
Lord of the Clans
5/5 Stars. By far the best book in the Archive. I can't describe in text just how excited this book got me. I admit it was a rather simple story, but Christie Golden does such an amazing job writing it that I could not put the book down. There is an epic questline in WoW that takes place in Nagrand involving Thrall finding his people (Horde only, sorry Alliance). If you have done that quest in the game, you'll want to read this book since it is basically the background story of that questline. Notable names in WoW that are included in this story: Drek'Thar, Durotan, Draka (think Alterac Valley), Doomhammer, Hellscream, a little bit of Gul'dan, and of course Thrall.
The Last Guardian
3/5 Stars. This wasn't a bad book, just didn't live up to the standard the previous two set for me. I did enjoy it from beginning to end. The main character that the story is told through is Khadgar, but as others have mentioned, the real story is actually about Medivh. I like the way this story was put together - it felt like a puzzle, and Khadgar was the person putting the pieces together, and by the time it was finished you had a really nice picture. Takes place in Karahzan, Stormwind, and the Black Morass. Other notable characters include: Sargeras, Garona, and a little bit of Gul'dan.
Of Blood and Honor
2.5/5 Stars. Eh, this was a good story, but wasn't written very well. Tirion Fordring seems to be "shocked" and "suprised" everytime one of his peers says something to him. Really Tirion? Do you not know your own friends enough to expect them to say certain things or act a certain way? This got old real fast. Thankfully it is a short story, no more than about 60 pages, 8 chapters. Though the book does a good job of showing the dark side of humanity and the peaceful side of the orcs. And I can say this about it: as much as Lord of the Clans made me want to a Shaman, commanding the powers of the earth, fire, lightning, etc, this book made me want to be a Paladin - a Knight of the Silver Hand. Metzn really captures the awesomeness of a Paladin in his descriptions.
Now, all that being said, you should also be aware that Metzn is NOT an author by profession. As the first couple of pages say, he is a "world builder." He takes a large part in designing World of Warcraft and bringing these authors and stories together. So writing isn't his primary profession, but merely something he has picked up from the people he works with. Taking that into consideration, there is no reason you wouldn't enjoy this book if you also play World of Warcraft.
Interesting Tie-In August 5, 2009
R. Ashworth (Kansas)
Obviously if you have not heard of Warcraft, played any of the previous games, or just logged on and started playing, you would not know some of the background encapsulated in the lore of the world. These books bring a lot of the characters to light, and allow you to immerse yourself in the world surrounding you. Decent reads all...
Showing reviews 1-5 of 20
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