WarCraft War of the Ancients Archive (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: young night elf, night saber, other night elf, Burning Legion, Lord Ravencrest, Demon Soul (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Months have passed since the cataclysmic Battle of Mount Hyjal, which put an end to the Burning Legion's invasion. Most Legion forces on Azeroth have been slain or driven into hiding. Yet now a mysterious energy rift in the mountains of Kalimdor propels three heroes to the distant past: the dragon mage Krasus, the human wizard Rhonin, and the weathered orc veteran Broxigar. It is a time long before orcs, humans, or even high elves roamed the world. A time that marks the Legion's first invasion of Azeroth, brought about by Queen Azshara and other night elf nobles. A time when the Dragon Aspects are at the height of their power -- unaware that one of their own will soon turn on the world he was charged to protect.

About the Author

Richard A. Knaak is the New York Times bestselling author of some three dozen novels, including the The Sin War trilogy for Diablo and the Legend of Huma for Dragonlance. He has penned the War of the Ancients trilogy, Day of the Dragon and its upcoming followup, Night of the Dragon. His other works include his own Dragonrealm series, the Minotaur Wars for Dragonlance, the Aquilonia trilogy of the Age of Conan, and the Sunwell Trilogy -- the first Warcraft manga. In addition, his novels and short stories have been published worldwide in such diverse places as China, Iceland, the Czech Republic, and Brazil. 

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Product Details

• Paperback: 736 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (December 11, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416552030
• ISBN-13: 978-1416552031
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #29,855 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Timeline, January 4, 2009

By	Martin Winther Hansen (Denmark, Europe) - See all my reviews

This review is for people who are about to start reading somw Warcraft books. I have created a chronological list of the Warcraft novels for people to get an overview of all of the books and for people to know where to start:

Warcraft books timeline
1. Warcraft War of the Ancients Archive
-Trilogy Book One: The Well of Eternity
-Trilogy Book Two: The Demon Soul
-Trilogy Book Three: The Sundering

-Rise of the Horde (about the horde in Outland)

2. Warcraft Archive (Warcraft 1)
-Book One: Day of the Dragon
-Book Two: Lord of the Clans
-Book Three: The Last Guardian
-Book Four: Of Blood and Honor

-World of Warcraft: Tides of Darkness (Warcraft 2)
-World of Warcraft: Beyond the Dark Portal (Warcraft 2 exp)

3. Warcraft The Sunwell Trilogy Archive (Warcraft 3)
-Trilogy Book One: Dragon Hunt
-Trilogy Book Two: Shadows of Ice
-Trilogy Book Three: Ghostlands

-World of Warcraft: Cycle of Hatred (Right before World of Warcraft)

Warcraft Legends
-Volume One
-Volume Two
-Volume Three
-Volume Four

Others
-World of Warcraft: Night of the Dragon
Hope that you can use this. Cheers Martin!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars They should've let Christie Golden write this., November 2, 2008

By	Mijat Vujacic "Giganthrax" (Belgrade, Serbia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Richard Knaak is the most average of all fantasy writers. He tells the story in a simple style that is neither bad nor extraordinary. His books always contain the following; a good storyline, some excellent characters, some shallow characters, irredeemable more-ruthless-then-Satan villains, tons of action scenes, and no food for thought whatsoever. Knaak's WarCraft novels follow this pattern to a fault. They won't impress you, but they won't bore you, either.

=SPOILERS AHEAD=

As of this writing, War of the Ancients trilogy is Knaak's largest work set in the world of Azeroth. It puts the reader into the midst of the first demonic invasion, ten thousand years prior to the events in WarCraft III:Reign of Chaos. In addition, the books feature Neltharion's fall from grace, a time-travel subplot, and a twist that introduces an even greater evil into the story.

Speaking of the time-travel thing, one has to wonder; was it necessary? If Knaak had to have a character of his own in the trilogy, he could've just used the young Korialstraz. More "screen time" dedicated to Xavius, Azhara (two characters in desperate need of some depth), Jarod, Maiev, Malfurion, Illidan, Tyrande and Cenarius would've been preferable.

My greatest gripe with the War of the Ancients comes from the terrible presentation of the Burning Legion. In WarCraft storyline and games, demons and their creations are by far the most destructive force in existence. Single demons often posses tremendous powers - for example, Doomguard can rain fire on their opponents, felbeasts are nigh-immune to magic, Eredar sorcerers can corrupt a man's soul with a mere glance, Archimonde single-handedly destroys Dalaran, Nathrezim can dupe entire armies into serving them, the Daemons were the most powerful units of WarCraft I, etc. In the climax of WarCraft III:Reign of Chaos, alliance, horde and night elves are forced to unite and suffer crippling casualties, just so they could slow down the Legion's advance for forty five minutes.

In Knaak's trilogy, however, the Burning Legion is the least menacing faction of them all. The only times they ever truly dominate is when they are killing unarmed civilians. Otherwise, they regularly get routed by mortal armies. Fel Guard are nothing but a nuisance, Doomguard get slaughtered en-masse, and felbeasts enjoy being petted by beautiful night elf women. Even Eredar and Nathrezim are laughably incompetent. Archimonde almost lives up to his name... but then he is forced to flee from a novice druid.

This is further accentuated by the apparent disinterest of "greater" races (dragons & demigods) to defend the world from the demons. Believe it or not, the demigods spend the first two books deciding whether they should trouble themselves with the conflict at all. And don't get me started on the Demon Soul.

With the Burning Legion trivialized, the entire trilogy loses its epic feel. Instead of depicting a desperate struggle for survival, War of the Ancients presents us with a stalemate that could be easily resolved, if only the greater races could be bothered to join the fight from the start. Deathwing is cool, but he is not the focus of the story and thus cannot make up for the Legion's feebleness. The Elder Gods are bland and forgettable, their only purpose to further belittle Sargeras and his underlings.

War of the Ancients is as middle-of-the road as it gets. On the good side, it is fast paced, filled with interesting characters, and overall highly entertaining. On the bad side, it is a letdown because it lacks the epic feeling it deserved, and because it often stretches the willing suspension of disbelief (the way Tyrande is spared from being tortured to death by the demons is the most heavy-handed (and most literal) Deus Ex Machina I've seen in years).

Even if you don't buy this collection, you should consider reading the first book in the series (The Well of Eternity) just for the laughs. Everyone in that novel falls unconscious all the time. After a while the reader starts expecting the characters to get knocked out, and when it happens it creates a lot of unintentional hilarity.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Knaak's Illiad, May 5, 2009

By	Hayes Skye Hayes - See all my reviews

This is most definitely Knaak's best work among the warcraft novels he has penned and I highly recommend it.

I would almost agree with another reviewer that Knaak is at best a Most average fantasy writer but this series invokes a bold, fresh, and exciting innovation that although is difficult to notice at first,really pays tribute to his creativity

Within the context of the books, especially the latter two, KnaaK's story plays out with an odd similarity to Homer's Iliad. Knaak's take on achilles's rage is somewhat manifest in Neltharion (a character which should have had more development), the fields of troy akin to the plains between Zin-Azahri and Mount Hyal, and champions on both side of conflicts. Mind you, he does not rip from the Iliad, i am merely saying that he seems to draw inspirations from it to create a story that truly has a most epic feel. Which is befitting for this particular chapter in warcraft lore.

Also of note: Knaak goes to great lengths to really expand on the framework of the warcraft lore in such a way that the book becomes most nostalgic to warcraft fans yet he retains a simplicity that allows those unfamiliar with the warcraft universe to enjoy it as well (the warcraft archive (another bookset) does not have this versatility).

I was dissapointed in aftermath/end of the book. It seemed as if the author was rushing what should have been an additional 3 chapters and rolling them into 1. It's brevity downplayed the grandness of the story