Ekkomaru's Reviews > Sylvanas

So, let me preface this that I used to be a fan of the Warcraft franchise. I played a ton of the original Warcraft games, I enjoyed World of Warcraft up to Cataclysm's release, and I've always been invested in the lore of the world. I even read a few of the novels in that time, and thoroughly enjoyed them back then. I'm not implying the world or games got bad, I just grew out of it.

Well, fast-forward to the present day and I hear a word of Sylvanas novel coming out. Well, great! A book about my favourite Warcraft character by an author whose book I've enjoyed… dear god, 15 years ago… I had no choice but to give it a shot.

Well, let me break this down. This novel fails to be a book. I mean that because it reads more like a fan-fiction and seems to fail to realize that Freytag's Pyramid is actually a nice thing. Neither of these things by themselves would pose too much of an issue. This could all be well salvaged, were it not for the restrictions that are placed upon this by the massive world it's adapting. This book tries to capture a point of view of a single character in a world that is actively being developed for decades as a video game universe. It very much limits the plot development and pacing of the book. There's not enough time to cover all of Sylvana's arcs in the grander scheme of things, and the author needs to decide what to give more attention to.

On the storytelling side of things, the book is all over the place. The plot is all over the place, there's time skips that are not apparent unless you know why they are there, there's almost no exposition because the book expects you to know about the world. The characters are one dimensional and follow the character development of Generic Fantasy Character™. Even though I liked most of the characters, it was all because of my previous connection to them. The ending fails to provide any real resolution and is so disorganized, that it's hard to follow unless you're fully caught up on the universe. It at that point feels more like a breakdown of the cinematics, than an actual story telling.

I'll divide my recommendation, or lack there of, into three categories.

Firstly, if you are a World of Warcraft fan and are fairly familiar with the world and the stories of at least the major points in history and the main characters that follow them, this should be a decent read. Well, provided you like Sylvanas. The things missing from the book as a generic story will mostly get filled by your knowledge, and you'll enjoy the book for what it is. A glorified list of references with a hint of plot attached to it. You probably won't mind the lack of character development, because you should be familiar with the characters from the games, and that's as far as they go in the book.

Secondly, if you are like me, and you enjoyed the games in the past, you still remember the world and some major points to an extent, then this book might be a decent experience. You can probably get a nostalgia hit, “enjoy the scenery,” recognize names and places and forgive some failings of the overarching narrative. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this to you, unless you really want to remember the old times and enjoy a little insight into Sylvana's past years.

Thirdly, if you have no idea what Azeroth means, just avoid this book. There's so much good literature out there, I am sure you can find one objectively better than this in no time.