Warcraft (2016) by Christie Golden (Book Review)

“This is a new dawn! The time of the Horde.” – Gul’dan

Warcraft

At the onset of my review, I must be honest: I have never played World of Warcraft the video game and to date have not seen the movie version of Warcraft either. My first, and only, introduction into this magical and complex world has been this novel, Warcraft by Christie Golden. As a lover of fantasy and of J.R.R. Tolkien’s legacy upon the earth, I am ashamed to say I’ve missed a wonderful saga.

As the book unfolds, what has happened to the world of Azeroth has already taken place. It is a fixed event, one that cannot be undone. And so it is with a sense of impending dread, and yet quiet excitement, that the reader watches the past become the present.

Orcs, fleeing a dying world that can no longer support their Horde, find a portal and by way of dark magic a new world to conquer and colonize. Elves, dwarves, gnomes, and men, find that their hard won peace and tranquility is being threatened by a foe none has ever seen or heard of before.

What unfolds is a clash of cultures, of warriors, of magics, and of families fighting for survival. The orcs have only known war…war against each other, against beasts and against the dark magic known only as the Fel. Humans and the races that stand with them know a peace that has been forged over centuries of conflict, and is protected by a single Guardian, a keeper and practitioner of untold magical power.

At first it seems as if the orcs, huge, brutal, and unmatched will wipe away the puny forces of humanity in a single, sweeping tide. But before the full strength of the Horde can be unleashed upon Azeroth, a portal must be built and a great human sacrifice to the Fel must be performed in a dark ritual. It is in this narrow window of time that the half-orc Garona escapes from her captivity as an orc slave and wins the trust of the humans, in particular the young commander Lothar. Together with the orc chieftain Durotan they devise a plan by which the evil Fel might be defeated, along with the orcs that worship it, giving the Horde and humanity a chance for peace before bloodshed is wreaked upon the innocents that reside in Azeroth.

The final war unfolds and secrets are revealed, but I’ll leave those for the readers to discover, as I did, perhaps for the very first time. I found that Warcraft was exceptionally well written, and explained the world of Warcraft sufficiently for a complete noob to understand and appreciate the conflict and what hung in the balance. I was engaged from the first page to the last, and enjoyed every moment of the story, the good, the horrific, and the astounding. In the end, I was left wanting more.

As a result of reading this excellent novelization, I will be watching the film version of Warcraft as soon as it hits iTunes and other digital platforms, which should be on the 13th of September. DVD and Blu-Ray are expected to be released September 27th. I missed the theatrical release this past June, and am now sad that I did. I would have loved to see this story on the big screen.

Christie Golden has written over 40 novels and can be found on the world wide web at www.christiegolden.com and can be followed on twitter @ChristieGolden.

I received a review copy of Warcraft from Titan Books, but my review is my own and cannot be altered by free books.