StormRAAAAAAAAAGE
'Kay, so I just finished reading Stormrage, the latest (World of) Warcraft novel to be printed. I had alot of nitpicking with Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, but that was mostly due to things making my brain feel all full of fuck.
Like Arthas crying and fapping to Invincible every three paragraphs.
Richard Knaak, the author of Stormrage, nails the characters pretty well. I mean, he gets the characterization spot on in most spots. I was more than happy to learn more about Broll Bearmantle, and I officially love Hamuul Runetotem. However, I kinda found it surprising when Malfurion doesn't strike me as confident as he'd always been presented in, well, just about everything else. (Granted, I've yet to read War of the Ancients, but that'll be fixed soon.) When I read about his actions, I didn't feel like I was reading about the legendary Archdruid Malfurion Stormrage, I felt like I was reading about some guy who's lost in a city without a map.
The concept of The Nightmare was expanded upon greatly, and it was interesting to see exactly who was behind it. I especially enjoyed the concept of what the nightmare did to people who fell asleep.
Okay. I gotta level. I really liked this book, except for two things. First off-
Notice how I cut myself off right there? It's apart of Richard Knaak's writing style. While I understand that it shows the character's train of thought/speech/perception is interrupted, the thing that bugs me about it is that it's rare to read through a single page and not see it. In fact, it happens more often than-
Another thing that I was really hoping to see didn't happen. Malfurion didn't turn into a Boomkin. I was waiting and hoping for that throughout the entire book, and I thought it would happen at the climax. Instead, Malfurion Stormrage turns into a Shaman and makes a thunderstorm. I get what it was, and it was also an ironic play on words, ("The storm raged.") but it felt very underwhelming. Especially since Malfurion basically had everyone and their grandmother help with it. Even Jesus was on board. He was all "'Sup Malfurion." And Malfurion highfive'd Jesus, and he was all "RAISE YOUR HANDS SO I CAN FORM THIS SPIRIT BOMB."
And Jesus was all, "That's from Dragonball Z."
And then Malfurion wasn't a Boomkin. To be fair, though, he was a Kitty and a Tree.
All in all-
Yes. I'm mocking that cut off... I also forgot... He added in ellipses... Like... Alot of them...
Cut offs and ellipses are good and all. But personally, I feel it lacks the professionalism you'd come to expect out of a novel from someone as acclaimed as Richard Knaak.
Oh. Another thing that made it feel kinda cheap. At one point, The Nightmare Lord possesses Remulos, and speaks to Malfurion through him. Now, instead of saying something like, "The Nightmare Lord howled with laughter through Remulos."; he'd instead go with, "The Nightmare Lord/Remulos howled with laughter." Not only does it imply that the one who's laughing isn't completely clear, but it also makes it, again, seem less professional. I'd expect all the cut offs and ellipses and name-slash-names to appear in a fanficti-
So all in all, the book was pretty good. Except for the writing style and lack of a Malfurion Boomkin, it's definitely awesome. The story is good, the characters are mostly true, and it'll answer some inevitable questions for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.
Like, "Why the hell is Fandral Staghelm in prison? Because Tyrande has no idea how to lead her people."
He has vision that she lacks, after all.
Like Arthas crying and fapping to Invincible every three paragraphs.
Richard Knaak, the author of Stormrage, nails the characters pretty well. I mean, he gets the characterization spot on in most spots. I was more than happy to learn more about Broll Bearmantle, and I officially love Hamuul Runetotem. However, I kinda found it surprising when Malfurion doesn't strike me as confident as he'd always been presented in, well, just about everything else. (Granted, I've yet to read War of the Ancients, but that'll be fixed soon.) When I read about his actions, I didn't feel like I was reading about the legendary Archdruid Malfurion Stormrage, I felt like I was reading about some guy who's lost in a city without a map.
The concept of The Nightmare was expanded upon greatly, and it was interesting to see exactly who was behind it. I especially enjoyed the concept of what the nightmare did to people who fell asleep.
Okay. I gotta level. I really liked this book, except for two things. First off-
Notice how I cut myself off right there? It's apart of Richard Knaak's writing style. While I understand that it shows the character's train of thought/speech/perception is interrupted, the thing that bugs me about it is that it's rare to read through a single page and not see it. In fact, it happens more often than-
Another thing that I was really hoping to see didn't happen. Malfurion didn't turn into a Boomkin. I was waiting and hoping for that throughout the entire book, and I thought it would happen at the climax. Instead, Malfurion Stormrage turns into a Shaman and makes a thunderstorm. I get what it was, and it was also an ironic play on words, ("The storm raged.") but it felt very underwhelming. Especially since Malfurion basically had everyone and their grandmother help with it. Even Jesus was on board. He was all "'Sup Malfurion." And Malfurion highfive'd Jesus, and he was all "RAISE YOUR HANDS SO I CAN FORM THIS SPIRIT BOMB."
And Jesus was all, "That's from Dragonball Z."
And then Malfurion wasn't a Boomkin. To be fair, though, he was a Kitty and a Tree.
All in all-
Yes. I'm mocking that cut off... I also forgot... He added in ellipses... Like... Alot of them...
Cut offs and ellipses are good and all. But personally, I feel it lacks the professionalism you'd come to expect out of a novel from someone as acclaimed as Richard Knaak.
Oh. Another thing that made it feel kinda cheap. At one point, The Nightmare Lord possesses Remulos, and speaks to Malfurion through him. Now, instead of saying something like, "The Nightmare Lord howled with laughter through Remulos."; he'd instead go with, "The Nightmare Lord/Remulos howled with laughter." Not only does it imply that the one who's laughing isn't completely clear, but it also makes it, again, seem less professional. I'd expect all the cut offs and ellipses and name-slash-names to appear in a fanficti-
So all in all, the book was pretty good. Except for the writing style and lack of a Malfurion Boomkin, it's definitely awesome. The story is good, the characters are mostly true, and it'll answer some inevitable questions for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.
Like, "Why the hell is Fandral Staghelm in prison? Because Tyrande has no idea how to lead her people."
He has vision that she lacks, after all.