World of Warcraft: Arthas: Rise of the Lich King

If you played Warcraft III or Wrath of the Lich King expansion. You will love this book. It goes into details about Arthas and Jaina's childhood and their deep affection for each other before Arthas was turned into the Lich King. There were other important characters in the story as well you will recognize if you follow the lore. This book will walk you all the way up until the Start of Wrath of the Lich King expansion! Very much enjoyed it! This has got me hyped to play the upcoming Classic WOTLK expansion coming out Sep 26, 2022! Can't wait to make my DK again!

Ive read a few of Christie Goldens books and I wasnt pleased. After reading this I think I wasnt mad at her writting, I simply wasnt interested in the lore the other books had to offer. Simply put I am more of an Aliance player in the game and I enjoy reading books about Alliance heroes. Too many books are about the Horde and this book was focused on the Alliance side. Its an amazing back story to all of the events and lore of the lich king and many well known heroes of the alliance which was perfect for me since I didnt start to play the WoW until Warlords of Dreanor, so my lore of the past was missing. These books are helping me catch up and help me when I am away from my computer to still enjoy the wonders of Warcraft.

First off I think Christie Golden has a lot of heart to take on the Arthas story in novel form. Being very recent history in Warcraft Lore there exists a great deal of source material. Despite only covering a few years the time of the Third War has the greatest number of events and details about those events in all of Warcraft. Short of splitting each of the three "acts" of the book into its own separate novel like the War of the Ancients Trilogy I don't think there was a possible way to bring the story together without having to skip events or be slightly fuzzy with some of the facts. I think she did a great job within the limits of what she had though. Minor Spoilers only, hopefully. The book is split into his childhood, his manhood, and his time as the Lich King before the end of the second expansion of WoW. The material on the First and Second War are few at best. The author assumes you already know the events of these wars and only offers snippets related to Arthas which I don't think is a bad thing. *Reading 'The Last Guardian' through 'Tides of Darkness' helps by the way* The relationship between him and Jaina Proudmoore is given much more import and detail than in previous material. Sadly, when the story progresses to the events of the Third War just short of half way in it there is a struggle to fit everything in and people will be disappointed that a character or event they really liked and thought was important was only given 2 pages of material in the book. It turns into a cliff notes version of Warcraft 3. That being said, I think Christie is one of the best writers they tap for these novels. Her writing is fun to read and respects the source material. She specifically excels at building a believable character and conflict, her stories involving the Horde are great. She does a good job at trying to give Arthas a personality and humanity you can understand. He severely lacked this in the source games where his transition from Prince to Lich King wasn't very believable and didn't give you a reason to like him very much before he turned.

My favorite books from the Warcraft and the WoW series. Brings back a lot of memories from the Frozen Throne era. Keep in mind that the paperback editions of this book come in 2 different sizes. This is the Blizzard Legends edition, which is larger than the Pocket Books ones.

So far I have read Thrall, Lord of the Clans, and Rise of the Horde. Arthas, Rise of the Lich King, is hands down the best book BY FAR. I was entrenched between the covers of this book from start to finish. The book immediately grabs your attention in the prologue and finishes with the epilogue perfectly. As a former player, I only wish I read this before playing the Lich King expansion. I never knew how amazing the story of Arthas was. I would still recommend it to anyone whether or not they had the chance to delve into the game content for this story. It is worth the read. Oddly, you almost sympathize with quite possibly the worst villain in Warcraft lore. Incredible job, Christie.

Amazing book that is worth every penny. Even if you’re not familiar with WoW universe, it’d still leave you in awe of greatly written story and characters are

As a player of World of Warcraft I found this novel to be great. Watching Arthas grow up and seeing characters from the games that influenced his life was great. Watching his rise as a paladin turn towards an unwavering determination to avenge his people gives a great insight to what in the game had seemed like a simple villain bent on destroying the world. If you have no interest in the back story of the Warcraft games, or have never even played them, I would advise just skipping this book. Because it covers Arthas whole life and they didn't want to rehash events that were already covered in the games, there are important parts of his life story that are merely summarized in a paragraph. If you are just getting started in the World of Warcraft novels I would advise starting with Lord of the Clans, especially if you're a hordie :P

Muy buen libro

A questo libro non si può dire nulla. Ok, è in inglese, ma son andata oltre a questo "piccolo" dettaglio pur di averlo tra le mani. La versione è tascabile, ma se ne fa una ragione dato i prezzi delle prime stampe. Arthas è Arthas....personaggio stupendo!

You get to learn of Arthas the boy, the lover, the king-to-be, and finally The Lich King. This story will tug your heart in all directions and leave you wondering "Did I just try to justify mass murder?" 10/10

Es un gran libro, Christie Golden me parece una excelente escritora, es el segundo de WoW que leo de su autoría y me atrapa en un instante, son bastante dinámicos y nada aburridos, si aparte eres fanático de Warcraft, este libro no durará mucho. La historia de Arthas es excelente, para los que hemos jugado desde Warcraft III y la expansión The Frozen Throne, contendrá una explicación más a detalle de los eventos que ya conocemos, la personalidad de Arthas y su relación con Jaina, Muradin y Uther, algo que lo hace realmente entrañable. A parte a la mitad del libro viene una imágen a todo color de Arthas y del Lich King que se ven excelentes!

It is exactly what you would expect from a Christie Golden book about WoW. Tells the story how it is, with good descriptions and respects the lore

Parfait