Product Description

At last! The novel World of Warcraft fans have been clamouring for: the true story behind one of the Warcraft universe's most terrifying villains: Arthas the Lich King. Author Christie Golden does for Arthas what she once did for the Orc Lord Thrall in the bestselling Warcraft: Lord of the Clans, in another epic exploration of one of the key characters from the ten-million subscriber World of Warcraft massively multiplayer online game.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21481 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

About the Author
Christie Golden has written for several SF and Fantasy tie-in series. A massively popular author with Star Trek Voyager fans, her Voyager novels include the Dark Matters trilogy, The Murdered Sun, Marooned and the top-selling Seven of Nine. She lives in Colorado.

Customer Reviews

A flawed, lacklustre reproduction of existing lore.
This book is, unfortunately, very flawed. It tries to tackle arguably the biggest character in Warcraft lore, around which fully half of the events in the videogames Warcraft 3 and its expansion, The Frozen Throne, were based. I won't bang on about the games here: suffice it to say that they were not revolutionary, but exceptionally well executed, impeccably voice-acted, and moving pieces of storytelling.

While Christie Golden is a decent enough writer, there is simply far too much material crammed into a few hundred pages for her to make it work. She is forced to skim over several important events because there simply isn't room to do them justice. As a result, the book feels rushed and incomplete.

Her characters suffer terribly from this as well. For example, at one point Arthas encounters a young woman named Taretha who, at the behest of her corrupt and decadent liege, unwillingly attempts to seduce Arthas. He refuses blandly. They "spent the next few hours talking", and then he is off musing about how he will one day have to find a wife for himself - despite the fact that he's noticed bruises on Taretha's wrists and neck, and it's obvious Taretha's lord is the one who's caused them. Now, this could be interpreted as callousness on Arthas' part, but it seems obvious from the way it was written that Taretha is merely a prop to try and push along the flaccid love story that is desperately trying to be at the centre of this whole debacle.

Read any good story and you'll find that the supporting characters are just as important as the main characters. Take the Iliad, for instance - this classic is as much about the Greek soldiers, the heroes, the gods and their petty disputes, the nuances of their personalities, as it is about the downfall of Achilles. Golden, however, misses every opportunity to explore her characters' personalities and give them real meaning or depth. She has turned them into mere plot devices, with no emotional resonance.

In addition, Golden constantly feels the need to point things out to the reader that are blatantly obvious. For example, `Antonidas lifted up a claming hand, as some of the others began to murmur agreement. "This information came before she turned traitor," he said. "And it has been verified through - other sources." He smiled a little, deliberately refusing to identify what "other sources" he had consulted.' If you missed the fact that he pauses before he says, `other sources,' and the fact that he smiles after he says it, fear not! Golden proceeds to spell it out to you as if you have all the intelligence of a brain damaged goldfish. This is actually pretty appalling from a professional writer, and the book is full of instances like this.

In the end, there were four bits of this book that I truly enjoyed: the prologue, two fight scenes in the last dozen or so pages, and the epilogue. What do they have in common? They allow Golden the freedom to write how she wants to. She's obviously tried to cram far too much in, probably because she was told to do so, but that's no excuse for such poor quality.

I hate to say this because it's going to sound like a needless insult, but this book reads like it's an amateur work of fanfiction, upon which Blizzard have inexplicably decided to lavish a gorgeous hardcover edition. I hope my review so far has been good enough to give this statement some weight.

In any case, if you really want to know about Arthas, buy Warcraft III: Reign Of Chaos (PC/MAC CD) and Warcraft 3 Frozen Throne Expansion Pack (PC/MAC CD). You will get far more out of these two titles than you will out of this book.

Arthas be good
The books is set in the universe of Warcraft and offers those who know of that universe an in depth look into the life of one of the major characters from that game.

Those familiar with Warcraft or the World of Warcraft will find that the information given fits in with the "lore" that is known, but with a twist as it also delves into the mind of the young prince and soon to be vessel of the greatest evil that faced the world of Azeroth.

The book is very understandable and well written so that even those who are not familiar with the universe for which it is written can understand and be captivated by its story line.

A musthave for every WOW fan
A must have for every WOrld of warcraft fan. Even if you know nothing of the game this book will entertain you.