Reading List

For those few of you who actually FOLLOW this blog you will have noticed I haven't posted in several days. It is not because I did not have things to talk about but more that it seemed that EVERYONE was talking about all the same things. In fact my last post I no more than finished but then went on to read four others about the same topic....sigh.

Since those others (in my opinion at least) seemed to do a much more creative job at it. I figured I would just crawl back into my bed and get some more rest to recover from this cold I have been fighting.

There are a few things coming up that I am REALLY excited about however.

First of all I am a AVID reader and Lore Junkie. I also read VERY fast (or so I have been told, I thought being able to devour 3 novels in a day was normal...) I had never really been introduced to the idea of "Graphic novels" until World of Craft. Oh I had seen them around. (One can't go into a gaming or book store and NOT stumble across them.) But I had never really taken the time to pick one up and READ it. My attitude had been one of the literary snob "Don't they have enough imagination to make their OWN mental pictures?" And "How much STORY can you REALLY have with "bubbles" over your character's heads?"

This past Christmas my husband asked for the "Sunwell Trilogy" (literary snob that I am) it of COURSE had to be the hard cover version and I can't have a book lying around the house that I haven't read. So I sat down and worked my way through it if for no other reason that I DESPERATELY wanted to understand WHY this girl was floating around in a bubble in the Sunwell. I wasn't impressed. HOWEVER I was assured that this wasn't the best effort so I should not give up.

Next came the Comic series telling the tale of King Varian Wyrnn. This has been interesting but as they keep changing animators the "flow" isn't really there. Again, I got more into this as a "lore filler" than because of the actual execution of the product. I do plan to pick up the rest of the series (when it comes out in hard cover) but I was never so anxious to get it as to want it in the comic book form.

Now I have been eyeing the Warcraft Legends series. As of yet I haven't picked them up but I think they will get added to my collection at some point. I am just not sure if I want to pick them all up as individual novels or wait to see if a collector's edition comes out which will contain all five.

None of these past offerings has gotten me excited but this next one did. So much so that I was jumping up and down in my chair. Warcraft just announced they will be doing a series of comics staring Thassarian. Warcraft: Death Knight will supposedly tell HIS story. (The picture at the top is the proposed cover art.) For those of you who are NOT familiar with Thassarian, if you are a Death Knight he was a quest giver in your starting zone that just always seemed a little nobler than the others. If you are an Alliance player you stumble across his sister in the Borean Tundra and eventually that will lead you to him. Alliance players see him once again in Ice Crown aboard the Skybreaker. This will DEFINITELY be on the Christmas List as it is due out in December of this year.

Also coming out is suppose to be the Dragons of Outland trilogy. Again this series is suppose to pick up where the Sunwell series left off but seems somewhat out of place as they are only NOW touching on lore we expected them to deal with back in Burning Crusade. While I do think I will pick this up eventually. It won't be until all three books are released.

Enough about graphic novels, what about the good ole fashion, YOU imagine the pictures type books?

I have already completed the Archive books, both the original and the The War of the Ancients. I have also enjoyed Cycle of Hatred, Rise of the Horde and Tides of Darkness. One of the things I enjoyed MOST about these books is they gave me a good understanding of the lore of World of Warcraft but even more than that they allowed me to see the Orcs in particular in a more favorable light rather than a race that was victimized over and over again.

I haven't been able to get Beyond the Dark Portal yet. This is one in particular I want to get my hands on as I am hoping it will contain further information on Turalyon and Alleria in particular All I know is their SON wanders Honor Hold looking for further information about his Father. Of his mother he makes no mention though those he questions speak of her.

Night of the Dragon is another book I haven't had the chance to read yet but want to pick up. My hope is that it will give more insight into WHY Dalaran was moved to Northrend and how Rhonin came to lead the Kirin Tor.

NOW comes the new book that has me excited Arthas:Rise of the Lich King. Here we are suppose to get a look at Arthas' ENTIRE life from his childhood to his fall, including his eventual soul binding that made him into the LOVELY monster he is today. (I have never had a great deal of respect for Arthas. Those who run H CoS with me know I call him "Dingle Dork" every time we have to wait for the guy to catch up. It will be VERY interesting to see how they handle a story that we know going in is a tragedy. As it is due out April 2009, we won't have to wait long. Even better, you can get a taste of chapter 3 here. ENJOY!