Cover art for The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm
by Anne Stickney 
Jul 21st 2010 at 6:00PM
While the next novel in the Warcraft series, The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm has been available for preorder for quite some time, the book itself had no cover art -- until now. The artwork for the novel is available for viewing on Amazon, and while it's been stated that this is preliminary artwork, it looks pretty official.
The Shattering covers the stretch of time between Wrath of the Lich King and the Cataclysm expansion -- what exactly happened to cause the scenery changes as well as the situational changes that lead to the events we'll be seeing as we play through the new expansion. The book is written by Christie Golden, whose other works in the Warcraft series include Lord of the Clans, Rise of the Horde and Arthas: Rise of the Lich King. According to Amazon, the release date has been pushed back from the originally stated release date of Aug. 31, 2010, to Oct. 19, 2010 -- a little longer to wait than previously thought.
The cover image itself? A striking (no pun intended) image of the Doomhammer smashing into what looks like volcanic rock. If the cover art is any indication, Thrall is playing a major role in the book -- and Golden's already shown us on more than one occasion that she's capable of writing the character. Does this mean we'll see more of Jaina as well? How about Varian? Unfortunately there's no real summary of the book available just yet, but you can see the full cover image, as well as pre-order the novel, via Amazon.com.
The Shattering covers the stretch of time between Wrath of the Lich King and the Cataclysm expansion -- what exactly happened to cause the scenery changes as well as the situational changes that lead to the events we'll be seeing as we play through the new expansion. The book is written by Christie Golden, whose other works in the Warcraft series include Lord of the Clans, Rise of the Horde and Arthas: Rise of the Lich King. According to Amazon, the release date has been pushed back from the originally stated release date of Aug. 31, 2010, to Oct. 19, 2010 -- a little longer to wait than previously thought.
The cover image itself? A striking (no pun intended) image of the Doomhammer smashing into what looks like volcanic rock. If the cover art is any indication, Thrall is playing a major role in the book -- and Golden's already shown us on more than one occasion that she's capable of writing the character. Does this mean we'll see more of Jaina as well? How about Varian? Unfortunately there's no real summary of the book available just yet, but you can see the full cover image, as well as pre-order the novel, via Amazon.com.
Filed under: News items, Lore, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Morbid Jul 21st 2010 6:04PM
Thank god it's Christie and not Richard. >_>
Crimson Jul 22nd 2010 1:54AM
KNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA... oh wait.
ObiChad Jul 21st 2010 6:06PM
Additional information about the book here:
http://catalog.simonandschuster.com/TitleDetails/TitleDetails.aspx?cid=1303&pn=&isbn=9781416550747&FilterBy=&FilterVal=&ob=0&ed=&showcart=N&camefrom=&find=warcraft&a=
Suzaku Jul 21st 2010 9:04PM
Yeah, I ran across the product description a couple days ago and threw it up on wowwiki. Basically, the major players appear to be Thrall, who's struggling with the Horde's precarious position and the increasingly combative elementals, and Anduin Wrynn, who's left his father's side due to his violent aggression towards the Horde.
Hamuul Runetotem and Varian Wrynn were also both confirmed to be featured in it via Stormrage's further reading section.
Chivvy Jul 21st 2010 6:07PM
Alirght, stop...hammertime.
MusedMoose Jul 21st 2010 6:50PM
Thought the same thing when I saw the image - "All right, it really *is* hammer time!"
Vespene -GameTrailers- Jul 21st 2010 6:09PM
Golden pretty much created Thrall.
tlaxcala Jul 21st 2010 6:18PM
Why do people celebrate her books so much? They are awful. I've read two of her Warcraft books and they both read like a cliffnotes summary of a book. No depth, no character development and little hope that she's going to get better at this. Granted, Knaak is probably worse, but this doesn't make her books any less awful.
Hollow Leviathan Jul 21st 2010 7:02PM
They may not be masterworks, but people enjoy them. I enjoy bad things all the time, like the movie Underworld. Being as this is a WoW-themed newsblog, and not critical book review themed, I try and understand when they mention things I don't myself like about the expanded universe.
GeminiMars Jul 21st 2010 8:37PM
I have to agree. I found Knaak's novels far more compelling - Arthas read like a bad novelization of a movie, all recount and little depth.
theminifig Jul 21st 2010 10:39PM
I certainly don't see you writing books based on the Warcraft universe.
Muse Jul 22nd 2010 3:49AM
Keep in mind that writers who do tie-in work aren't necessarily throwing their entire skill and ability into the book. They're writing a tie-in work. In this case for a computer game. It means that even if Golden is perfectly capable of writing a twelve-novel epic odyssey to rival LotR, it wouldn't be appropriate for the Warcraft universe. In fact, it would probably just confuse the majority of the readers who aren't going to remember that chance meeting between two characters for half a scene on page 211 and realise that it has a massive impact on the rest of the story. (Do you remember that Elaida met Padan Fain? Yeah, that kind of oops.)
steeled Jul 21st 2010 7:39PM
October release date. Anyone else taking that as a sign Cata will not be out by October?
Truthhammersc Jul 21st 2010 6:38PM
Given that Blizzcon is October I just don't see Cata until Novermber at the earliest. Also the complete upending of talents means lots of extra Beta time to swat the bugs and balance. The book will just be part of the run up
tgrhwke Jul 22nd 2010 12:37AM
Currently retail release date for Cataclysm according to stores that sell pre-orders of gaming software is Dec 31st. Of course this date is subject to change at any time.
Athinah Jul 22nd 2010 2:50AM
It could mean these things
1. they are waiting for blizzcon month for the book, so people will play cata first for some bit to the story kinda like a star wars thing.
or worse
2. blizz is behind AGAIN and cata won't be out till November, and if this is true i will be TICKED since they said at last years blizzcon that cata would be out before THIS years....
or
3. nothing...its blizzard sometimes it doesn't mean jack.
Hollow Leviathan Jul 21st 2010 6:35PM
I miss the dagger affixed to the end of the Doomhammer, like it had originally. Apparently it hasn't been canon for 15 years...my mistake?
http://www.wowwiki.com/File:Doomhammer_Presents_the_Head_of_Blackhand.jpg
Yeesh, looking at that pic again, the perspective is all off. My childhood, noooooooo!
david_maurice Jul 21st 2010 6:36PM
As long as she doesn't mention that Horse again.
Jamie Jul 21st 2010 6:56PM
Perhaps she is a fan of classic BBC comedy in that...
...Only Fools and Horses work.
*rimshot*
Lucky bastard Jul 21st 2010 8:04PM
I was lucky enough to get into the second wave and since thrall does play an awesome par. By ///////////////////// he should make an awesome appearance or be epicly awesome in the storyline of the book (/ is spoiler cover up)