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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsWoW Rookie: Reading about Warcraft
by Lisa Poisso 
Sep 9th 2009 at 5:00PM
Even if you're not a roleplayer, it's almost impossible not to find yourself swept up by some aspect of the hundreds of compelling stories tucked into the World of Warcraft. The question is, how can you dig deeper? Where do you find more? The answer: Books ... Manga ... Comics ... RPGs .... Page after page after page of glorious lore. Blizzard approves the storylines and lore included in the Warcraft and World of Warcraft line of novels, although you won't find a straight and clear progression across the whole line. Not every story and character crosses over from books to game (and vice versa).
Besides the Warcraft novels, WoW-starved readers can chew through enough manga, roleplaying game books and gaming guides to sate any lore feeding frenzy. The best part? You enjoy +Lore bonuses to your online play experience. Even the RPG books add color to the overall picture. Follow us beyond the break for a basic reading outline to escort you down Warcraft's path of lore.
Start at the beginning
Most readers who are just getting into Warcraft's rich lore want to take things from the beginning. Here's our supplemented version of the canon according to Blizzard, including novels and manga and showing where the games fit into the timeline. (Note that this listing is in story timeline order, not publication order.)
- (Novel) War of the Ancients trilogy
- The Well of Eternity (Richard A. Knaak)
- The Demon Soul (Richard A. Knaak)
- The Sundering (Richard A. Knaak)
- (Novel) Rise of the Horde (Christie Golden)
- (PC game) Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
- (Novel) The Last Guardian (Jeff Grubb)
- (PC game) Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness
- (Novel) Tides of Darkness (Aaron Rosenberg)
- (PC game) Warcraft 2 expansion: Beyond the Dark Portal
- (Novel) Beyond the Dark Portal (Aaron Rosenberg, Christie Golden)
- (Novel) Day of the Dragon (Richard A. Knaak)
- (Novel) Lord of the Clans (Christie Golden)
- (Novel) Of Blood and Honor (Chris Metzen)
- (PC game) Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos
- (PC game) Warcraft 3 expansion: The Frozen Throne
- (Manga) The Sunwell trilogy
- Dragon Hunt (Richard A. Knaak, Jae-Hwan Kim)
- Shadows of Ice (Richard A. Knaak, Jae-Hwan Kim)
- Ghostlands (Richard A. Knaak, Jae-Hwan Kim)
- (Novel) Cycle of Hatred (Keith R. A. DeCandido)
- (PC game) World of Warcraft
- (PC game) World of Warcraft expansion: The Burning Crusade
- (Novel) Arthas: Rise of the Lich King (Christie Golden)
- (Novel) Night of the Dragon (Richard A. Knaak)
- (PC game) World of Warcraft expansion: Wrath of the Lich King
- Stormrage (Richard A. Knaak)
- Excerpt available online
- Cover art
- Richard Knaak interview on Stormrage
- Dragons of Outland manga trilogy (Richard A. Knaak)
- Warcraft: Death Knight manga (TOKYOPOP)
- Unnamed Cataclysm novel (Christie Golden)
- Christie Golden interview on Cataclysm novel
- Warcraft: Legends manga (TOKYOPOP)
- World of Warcraft: The Comic series (Wildstorm)
- World of Warcraft Roleplaying Game (White Wolf)
WoW Rookie walks you through all sort of new-player concerns, from game lingo for the beginner to joining your first guild as a mid-level player and on to what to do when you finally hit level 80. Visit WoW.com's WoW Rookie Guide for links to all our tips, tricks and how-to's.Filed under: Features, The Burning Crusade, Lore, WoW Rookie, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
paragorillabear Sep 9th 2009 11:58PM
I have to second this motion.
Knaak is almost unreadable -- I'm struggling to finish The Sundering and i barely get through one page without groaning from the bad writing.
Just read wowwiki for the Ancients info, then read Rise of The Horde. It's a much more enjoyable read and will give you a whole new appreciation for Outlands, Orcs, Draenei, Shamans, and Warlocks as well as introducing Kiljaeden, the Burning Crusade, Ner'zhul, and other major figures/elements of lore.
Ian R. (Orkchop) Sep 9th 2009 5:42PM
If you're interested in lore, I highly suggest playing through Warcraft III, even if you just use the cheat codes. Much of WoW is based off events that happened there (Arthas' fall, the formation of the New Horde).
Lemons Sep 10th 2009 2:15PM
Makes me sad that most of the characters from WC3:RoC and FT are used up at this point. I mean of course we still got Thrall and such...but I mean the villians. Illidan is dead, Vashj is dead, Kael' Thas is dead. Half of what made them so epic is I could remember them from the game. Now there's going to be no more nostalgia or that feeling of "Whoa...I'm in WC3."
Soon we'll just be killing off random bosses with no backstory at all...
tim Sep 9th 2009 5:44PM
"The answer: Books ... Manga ... Comics ... RPGs .... Page after page after page of glorious lore."
Honestly, I don't have much time to read, but if I were reading fantasy I'd much rather re-read Herbert's Dune or get into Sabriel's trilogy by Nix.
I've played all the Warcraft games and consider those canon. Books, manga, comics, the role-playing game, the card game, etc. -- I really don't care for those as lore sources. I wish Blizzard didn't either. Oh well. If I need to brush up on some character Blizzard threw in... there's always wowwiki.
alex Sep 9th 2009 7:18PM
Why is this downrated? He wasn't telling you to not like it, hell he wasn't even saying he's against those works per se, he was just stating he wishes Blizzard didn't consider those works canon.
Isn't that what the comments are for? Sharing your thoughts? Seriously, are you that sensitive about someone disagreeing with you?
Nazgûl Sep 9th 2009 9:02PM
Considering this was a post directed to newer players or less hardcore players, his negative remark almost completely defeated the purpose of the article, hence the downrating.
Moloth Sep 9th 2009 5:51PM
Wow! Thanks for the uber chronological lore time-line. :)
very useful.
Clariel Sep 9th 2009 6:31PM
Thanks for this, it's really useful - I've been trying to work out what order I should read the novels in.
Cetyrz Sep 9th 2009 6:33PM
Thanks guys I have been looking for these for ages! I assume more book retails will carry them but being an aussie you never know, does Blizzard actually sell these online?
krizzlybear Sep 9th 2009 6:47PM
Yep. They're sold at the blizzard online store under the heading "books." As a general tip, it's more cost-efficient to buy the "archive" books, as they contain 3+ different warcraft novels, but cost less than the total of those books bought individually.
Barring that, you can find them any major book retail store. Barnes & Noble (US) and Indigo/Chapters (Canada) will certainly have them, but availability/stock may vary by location. If they're out of stock, they will often carry them at other locations, and you can simply ask your local branch to have it shipped to their branch. From my experience, it doesn't take too long. Hope this helps!
krizzlybear Sep 9th 2009 6:52PM
Oh, I didn't notice you mentioned that you were from Australia. From what I recall, the major retailer down under would be Angus & Robertson. If you check the website, you will see they do carry Warcraft-related material in stock across their different outlets. Just find the branch closest to where you live, and you can see which ones in particular are in stock. Otherwise, you will probably have to request to have it shipped.
Batman Sep 9th 2009 8:41PM
You should be able to order them from any bricks and morter bookstore in Australia if you give them the isbn code for the book. I'd recommend just getting them online from somewhere like amazon though. Even with shipping it often works out cheaper.
perderedeus Sep 9th 2009 7:49PM
Let's not kid ourselves... Warcraft lore in general is not the cream of the fantasy crop. It is video-gamey, it has lasers, and it has characters with less depth than a Dixie cup. Golden and Metzen can try to beef up Arthas' fall from grace as much as they can, but the story still falls short and the character ends up more like a caricature. Rhonin can wax on and on about his children or Vereesa while he's teleporting raptors into Grim Batol, yet it remains vacant, vapid, and - at its best - forced.
It's popcorn entertainment. It gets the job done and sells the books, the games, or the movie, but in the end you won't see college courses devoted to dissecting the intricacies of the storyline or the tragedies of its characters. You MAY see them dissecting the highly-successful Blizzard business model, however.
Waterloo Sep 9th 2009 9:11PM
Thanks for this article.
Question: What if I know I'm not going to read more than 2-3 books?
I'd prefer better-written and relevant to "today". I never played WC3, Thrall is my favorite character, and I won't make it 30 pages into a badly-written book.
Any suggestions?
paragorillabear Sep 10th 2009 12:44AM
Ride of the Horde
paragorillabear Sep 10th 2009 12:45AM
RISE of the Horde
Ah, the lack of an editing function finally Got Me!!!
Skarlette Sep 10th 2009 2:25PM
If Thrall is your favorite you have to read Lord of the Clans, since he's the star of the entire book. I also highly recommend Rise of the Horde. Although he features in Cycle of Hatred, I'd skip that one as it's generally considered to be poorly written.
Plastic Rat Sep 9th 2009 11:32PM
Great post, that list is awesome.
Would just like to add, the Ashbringer graphic novel is an awesome, awesome story and is a very important part of Warcraft history. http://www.amazon.com/World-Warcraft-Ashbringer-Micky-Neilson/dp/1401223419/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b
It actually covers a fairly large chunk of wow history, the effects of which can be seen in innumerable places in the game (If you know the story, the caverns of time instance of Culling of Stratholme has a lot more meaning, just go into the tavern outside Strath..)
I just finished reading the hardback, and in addition to the brilliant quality of the book and the awesome artwork, the story itself is incredible. The characters, most of whom are still actually in the game are really great heroic fantasy types. Tirion Fordring is really cool and you'll have the utmost respect for Darion Mograine after that story too. A few parts brought a lump to my throat.
The graphic novel covering the story of King Varian Wrynn, while I didn't enjoy as much, is also quite an important part of history and sets the scene for Wrath of the Lich King.
People who think Varian is too much of a hardcase against the horde need to read this book to see why.
Lisa Poisso Sep 10th 2009 8:31AM
Plastic Rat, I think I wasn't clear enough about the comics series. I went back and edited it (see Also Worth Reading) to focus more clearly on the entire series, rather than simply listing the first one of the line. Thanks for the feedback!
David(Postal) Sep 10th 2009 12:16AM
Do yourself a favor and pick up the Warcraft Archive. I really enjoyed The Last Guardian and I am now reading The Day of the Dragon. I love these books!