The Sundering (Warcraft: War of the Ancients Trilogy, Book 3) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Based on the other reviews, I am in the minority on this but I found this whole trilogy a massive disappointment. I can only assume that others liked these books because they were so entranced by the lore, that they overlooked the many deficiencies. I've read a lot of fantasy novels, some good, some bad, and this was among the very worst. The only reason I slogged through this tedious, poorly written trilogy was to get at the lore, most of which is merely hinted at in the game.
Knaack is either a poor writer, or simply wrote this as a work-for-hire and gave it only the minimum attention required to get his pay check. The quest text and cutscenes in World of Warcraft are better scripted and edited than this novel. His syntax is frequently atrocious. One jarring example came early in the first book, when he describes a dragon aspect as "humongous". This word is pure 1960s slang, on a par with "ginormous", and is a poor choice to describe the majesty and scale of the Titans' hand picked guardians of Azeroth.
His characterization is paper thin. Only Broxigar stood out as having any depth, a warrior suffering survior's guilt and feelings that he is not worthy of the accolades bestowed on him by Warchief Thrall and others. Shandris Feathermoon was intriguing but never really got enough time on the page to develop. Azshara, queen of the night elves, is vapid, self absorbed and easily duped. Malfurion and Tyrande, while likable enough, are mostly characterized by the fact that their intentions are always good, and they always do the right thing. They are heroes, yes, but they're never really conflicted or complex enough to be very interesting. Sargeras, as a rogue Titan, could have been interesting, but his history, motivations and character were barely touched on; the WoWWiki article does a better job of conveying the character, a dutiful champion of the Titans, who after millennia despairs of his task and slips into madness. In the book, he is a one dimensional anarchist intent merely upon destroying all life.
His plotting is mediocre and meandering, consisting of the heroes running between various points in Kalimdor, never quite accomplishing what they set out to do, and returning in time to prevent the succession of battles from turning into complete defeat. In this he gets a partial dispensation in that he is constrained not to step too far from the boundaries of known WoW lore. This fault taken by itself would not damn the whole. But taken with his other deficiencies, however, this was simply the final nail in the coffin.
Some may argue my expectations for a novel based on video characters is too high, but I'd counter that the depth of the narrative and characterization of WoW is a huge part of its success. A novel offers so many options for extending the depth and breadth of what is often only hinted at in the game, that it ought to do a better job than the video game. Knaack had three novels to work with, but failed to improve in any way upon what came before.

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The hour of wrath draws near... The valiant night elves have been shattered by the loss of their beloved general. The black dragon, Neltharion, has claimed the Demon Soul and scattered the mighty dragonflights to the winds. Above all, the demonlord, Archimonde, has led the Burning Legion to the very brink of victory over Kalimdor. As the land and its denizens reel from this unstoppable evil, a terror beyond all reckoning draws ever nearer from the Well of Eternity's depths... WARCRAFT In the final, apocalyptic chapter of this epic trilogy, the dragon-mage Krasus and the young druid Malfurion must risk everything to save Azeroth from utter destruction. Banding together the dwarves, tauren and furbolg races, the heroes hope to spark an alliance to stand against the might of the Burning Legion. For if the Demon Soul should fall into the Legion's hands, all hope for the world will be lost. This then, is the hour...where past and future collide! THE SUNDERING An original trilogy of magic, warfare, and heroism based on the bestselling, award-winning electronic game series from Blizzard Entertainment.

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