Hi readers and writerly friends!

This is a spoiler-free review!

This week in bookish things, I’m doing something a little different. I decided I wanted to cover two books in one review because I wanted to compare the writing style of the two authors, the way these stories set the tone for the two World of Warcraft expansions that followed them, and my thoughts on the way these authors wove virtual game lore into a palatable, fully fledged storyline. These books are part of the World of Warcraft canon. There will be links to everything mentioned throughout and at the end of this blog post for your convenience.

*Shadows Rising* by Madeline Roux and *Before the Storm* by Christie Golden. Photo by Payton Hayes.

I am so excited to finally discuss these books. I’ve read books from the Warcraft universe before and I’ve very much enjoyed them, but these books were different from the War of the Ancients trilogy or the Stormrage book and other novels by Richard A. Knaak. I unfortunately was out of the loop when previous Warcraft novels came out as storyline precursors to their following expansions such as Christie Golden’s Warcrimes that came before the Warlords of Draenor expansion. But this time around I was able to read the two most recent books that tie into the storyline and set the pace before the coming expansions.

My first run in with reading a book that precedes their video game counterpart was Christie Golden’s Before The Storm, which I absorbed via the audiobook while it was available for free on Blizzard’s YouTube channel. I really enjoyed reading this novel and it certainly amped up my own excitement for the following expansion, Battle for Azeroth to come out shortly after. While I wouldn’t say BFA was my favorite expansion by any means, it was really neat to get a look at the upcoming storylines and to get a better understanding of the overall tone and direction of the expansion in preparation for release.

Since I had such a great experience with reading previous Warcraft novels as well as Before the Storm, I thought why not read Madeline Roux’s Shadows Rising as well. I, as well as many of my friends and guildies were incredibly excited for this next expansion to come out, and while the news of the delay was not what many players wanted to hear, I can’t deny that I personally, was pleased to have more time to finish reading Shadows Rising before BFA is officially over. Now that I’ve finished reading it, I’d like to discuss my thoughts on the two books and how they compare.

Before the Storm

As mentioned, this was my first time reading a Warcraft novel in preparation of an upcoming expansion and I very much enjoyed it. Even though I did read it via audiobook, Josh Keaton did a wonderful job narrating the story in a clear, enunciated way so I could easily digest what I was hearing. Personally, I think the novel was expertly written, the pacing was excellent and kept me hooked the entire time, and Golden aptly captured the essences of all our beloved fantasy characters. However, as someone who plays the game on both sides—Horde and Alliance—I can very clearly see why many readers complained about the Horde side of the story not being adequately portrayed or there at least not being enough page time for the Horde experience. I personally agree that the story overall leaned quite heavily into the Alliance perspective and that of the Horde experience that was depicted, was mostly negative and revolved around Sylvannas being a bad person. I am not sure how much of this was intentional since the game itself receives a lot of criticism from Alliance players who believe Blizzard favors the Horde and therefore typically tends to give them the better stories, but I can’t help but feel for Horde readers who were looking for more out of this book. Overall, I would give it a 4-star rating since the writing is excellent, there are many heart-felt relatable moments, and the story is very well crafted. But it is true that the story leans heavily in favor of the Alliance perspective.

Shadows Rising

Can I just.

This book was phenomenal. The writing incredible, the characters believable and compelling, and the story felt very, VERY well balanced between the Horde and Alliance perspectives. I really enjoyed playing through the Horde story in BFA and getting to see all the characters I came to love throughout that story come to life again in the novel was really great. I read this book via the audiobook and the hardcover and although Susan Wokoma’s character voices took some getting used to, her narrating was spectacular. I would give this book a 5-star rating because everything—from compelling characters and enchanting settings, to expertly woven plotlines and pager-turner pacing—was on point and that Horde/Alliance balance was certainly there as well. While I don’t necessarily think this novel contained anything we particularly needed to know for the upcoming expansion, it served to revamp my own excitement for Shadowlands.

I really enjoyed both of these Warcraft novels and I will likely read more of them in the future. I don’t think either writer is better than the other—they simply had different writing styles and different stories to tell. I think it is important for video game lore like with the Warcraft novels, that if there are two sides to the story, readers from either side feel equally included and there is equal coverage of the Horde and Alliance perspective throughout. If I had to pick one over the other, I would say Shadows Rising would be my favorite of the two. Perhaps I am just biased towards our Zappy boy.

One thing is true for both of these novels and that’s that they got me really excited for the expansions following in their wake. Before the Storm sowed the seeds of Sylvannas’ treachery and established Anduin’s altruism and Shadows Rising shows how the Horde and Alliance tries to mend themselves after the fourth war and sets the stage for players and readers alike to venture into the Shadowlands. Both stories serve as a hype device, but they also tie up loose ends in the stories, lend insight into character motivations, and help establish the tone and direction for the coming expansion.

And that’s it for my double book review special covering Before the Storm by Christie Golden and Shadows Rising by Madeleine Roux. What did you think of these novels? If you haven’t reads them yet, please check them out at the links below. How did the make you feel about the expansions coming after them? Are you excited for Shadowlands? Let me know in the comments below!