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Stormrage (World of WarCraft #7)

by Richard A. Knaak (Goodreads Author)

3.52 of 5 stars 3.52 · rating details · 857 ratings · 53 reviews

When the world of Azeroth was young, the god-like titans brought order to it by reshaping its lands and seas. Throughout their great work, they followed a magnificent design for what they envisioned Azeroth would become. Although the titans departed Azeroth long ago, that design endures to this day. It is known as the Emerald Dream, a lush and savagely primal version of th...more

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Published (first published January 1st 2010)

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Aug 01, 2011 William Bentrim rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-for-swap

Stormrage by Richard A. Knaak

This book will no doubt be a major hit with World of Warcraft fans. It details Malfurion Stormrage’s part in the Emerald Dream.

I am normally a major fan of fantasy. I guess I am just not a fan of Knaak. I wasn’t a fan of Beastmaster Myth either, the only other book of his I read. I can’t even point my finger at what I don’t like so my supposition is there is just something about his style that doesn’t resonate with me. I mean, how can you not like a book whose main...more

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Jul 15, 2011 Jeremy Preacher rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: video-game

This was a terrible book. I expected this. I read it anyway. I'm not sure why.

From the most generous possible perspective (meaning, let us assume that I care deeply about the subject matter, which is not particularly true) it's still a terrible book. The writing is godawful - stilted dialog, weird, artificial plot developments, confusing action and terrible pacing. Knaak spends far, far too many paragraphs describing in detail the clothing and/or armor of the characters in what appears to be an...more

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Oct 05, 2010 MMOGC rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: video-games, fantasy, world-of-warcraft

World of Warcraft: Stormrage by Richard A. Knaak is the latest game-related novel I finished. I’ll admit I picked this one up solely due to my fascination with its eponymous protagonist because in fact, I am not a big fan of Knaak’s writing at all. The War of the Ancients trilogy, for example, is the last thing I read by him and it was a torturous ordeal just to try and force myself to get through all three books. I find his style overly simplistic and at times vapid and flavorless, though to be...more World of Warcraft: Stormrage by Richard A. Knaak is the latest game-related novel I finished. I’ll admit I picked this one up solely due to my fascination with its eponymous protagonist because in fact, I am not a big fan of Knaak’s writing at all. The War of the Ancients trilogy, for example, is the last thing I read by him and it was a torturous ordeal just to try and force myself to get through all three books. I find his style overly simplistic and at times vapid and flavorless, though to be fair, I’ve only ever read his WoW-related books even though he’s known for being quite a gifted author for his works in many other titles in the fantasy genre.

I decided to give this book a chance in the end, because if anything, my love for the Druid class made reading this a requirement. Malfurion Stormrage is also one of my favorite characters in WoW lore, and I figured maybe I’ll have a better time getting through Knaak’s writing when it’s not about Rhonin or Krasus/Korialstrasz.

Anyway, my final verdict for Stormrage is that it’s readable, but I think avid fans and readers of more established fantasy authors will be very disappointed. I realize it’s a game novel and that it’s a challenge to write for a series intended for a wide audience which may include younger readers, but there were times where the simplistic writing style made me feel like I was reading a comic book, or a very bad fanfic piece.

To Knaak’s credit, it’s clear he’s done a lot of research into the characters and locations of the WoW universe. In many ways, the book is also a nice follow-up to the War of the Ancients trilogy and ties in well with the WoW comics, though one doesn’t have to have read either to follow the story. I would still recommend Stormrage to any fans of Warcraft lore, since it provides answers to a lot of questions regarding Malfurion Stormrage and the encroaching Emerald Nightmare. WoW players will also be treated to a whole slew of appearances by well-known NPCs including Tyrande Whisperwind, Hamuul Runetotem, and the duplicitous Fandral Staghelm who may or may not have some crafty tricks up his sleeve, plus many, many more.

Oh, and that last part isn’t really a spoiler, since everyone knows Fandral Staghelm is batshit crazy anyway.(less)

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Sep 18, 2010 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Loved it. I have always been a fan of the author although so many readers seem to look down on him for what characters he has chosen from the Warcraft universe to write a history for - something I have never understood as an author has to pick characaters, they can't not have characters nor can they choose all.

Anyway. I have read his previous Warcraft books, and especially loved this one for being up to date and set in the WoW universe that players are currently actually experiencing in game. So...more

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Feb 10, 2012 C.V. Madison rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Reading through everyone's reviews, this book is either made or broken by rather or not you like the author. I had never read Knaak before this novel. I liked the novel despite a few things. One, the word huberis appears too often for my taste. Two, his listing habits annoy the hell out of me. I understand he wanted to list the various weapons the classes use and listing the cities and clans, but it was really irritating to read over and over again. The other minor issue was with the characters...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Karen rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

This book relies too heavily on the strength of the characters gathered from other sources of information that are not the novel. Unless you play World of Warcraft, you get little sense of who all these characters in the book are and why you should care about them. That being said, the story cannot stand on its own without any prior knowledge, which makes the already poor writing feel even worse. Knaak is overly fond of using period of ellipsis, at least one is in every other paragraph. It makes...more

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Aug 16, 2011 Rawlins added it · review of another edition

Listened to this recently, loved it immensely. Don't really know much of the story surrounding the WoW but if this story is indicative of all the coolness that abounds in this universe, I feel I must partake of more. In truth it was the author's name that got me interested in Stormrage, that and my brother's insistence that 'listening to an audio book was the same as reading'...(story for another time), so I endeavored to prove him wrong. Failed, because I felt consumed by the world and the deli...more

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Jan 27, 2011 Eric Taylor added it · review of another edition

Richard A. Knaak first series of books in the World of Warcraft universe, were some of the best and most thought out books, that really enveloped you and brought you into the history of the vast world. Stormrage, for what it is, is another good book, but definitely not a great book. Most of the story line throughout the book tends to be rehashes from the War of Ancients series he had written earlier. Not to say the book was not well written, it just didn't bring to it anything really that new fr...more

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Jun 14, 2010 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The book was interesting for any Warcraft fan. But I agree with the other reviews, parts of the plot seemed to drone on or repeat themselves during the second half of the book. I don't want to say that it is the writer's style to be that way, because the war of the ancients trilogy was fantastic. This one seemed to lack in plotline and story.

Seeing as I have read the previous ones (The War of the Ancients) this book should have been exciting for me to revisit the fantastic characters. It was a b...more

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May 02, 2010 Angel rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: queens-champion

Reading this I was not surprised to find afterwords that it is the same writer from their manga. Which had gorgeous pictures and horrible writing. This book had me torn through the whole thing and was pretty frustrating. For those that love the warcraft lore and are wanting to know what is going on in the emerald dream I recommend it because it does let you know what happens. It just turns one of your favorite warcraft heroes into a sniveling whiner, is often confusing switching between characte...more

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Feb 13, 2013 Peter Anargirou rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, google-books

While I love Christie Golden's Warcraft books, this was my first by Richard A. Knaak, and I found it severely lacking. The story seemed a bit sloppy, and I didn't care for the writing. However, the overall story was an important part of the on-going Warcraft story.

The story centers around something that should be a huge event in the Warcraft universe. I'd expect this to be listed alongside the war against Illidan, the War in Northrend, and the Horde-Alliance War after the Cataclysm. It's an epic...more While I love Christie Golden's Warcraft books, this was my first by Richard A. Knaak, and I found it severely lacking. The story seemed a bit sloppy, and I didn't care for the writing. However, the overall story was an important part of the on-going Warcraft story.

The story centers around something that should be a huge event in the Warcraft universe. I'd expect this to be listed alongside the war against Illidan, the War in Northrend, and the Horde-Alliance War after the Cataclysm. It's an epic story, and fans of the universe should enjoy learning more about the events. While not a problem with the novel itself, I should point out that Blizzard seems to overlook the events of this novel in the game itself.

I have a few major problems with the book. The first one is the most important despite being the hardest to articulate. I just wasn't feeling it. I gave up on Stormrage three times before finally getting through it. It jumped around to different characters and took a long time to get me to care about most of the characters. I eventually came around to Broll, one of the main characters, and I would enjoy seeing more of him in the future. The biggest hook for me was the inclusion of Hamuul Runetotem, Archdruid and tauren. While he wasn't the most front-and-center character, he was someone I liked, so I clung to him.

Two major characters, Malfurion and Tyrande, seem flawed. Malfurion, despite having difficulties and setbacks, just seems far too powerful. Tyrande on the other hand received some characterization but usually takes a backseat to Malfurion. Why yield to him so much? Knaak does have her assert herself sometimes, which is good, but it's still hard for me to think of her as a real character when Blizzard treats her as nothing but a figurehead next to Malfurion.

Malfurion needs to gather power to perform a task, so he draws as much power as he can. Shortly after that, he realizes he doesn't have enough power, so he draws all the power he can, which is just a bit more. Of course, it's still not enough, so what does he do? He draws all the power he can out of those same sources and finds a little more this time. I had to ask myself, "didn't Malfurion already tap all the power he could from that?" Apparently the answer was no.

Late in the book, someone's identity is revealed to the reader and some characters. Tyrande does not learn of it at the time, but in the chapters following her, Knaak continually references the true identity. He points out that Tyrande doesn't currently know the identity but that at some later point, Malfurion tells her. Then he slips into continually having Tyrande thoughts include the identity. It's true that it's Knaak the narrator using the true identity, not Tyrande, but it feels reads very oddly.

My final complaint is regarding word usage. There are certain descriptions that Knaak uses over and over. This character wears a stoic expression. That character's face is stoic. This scene is macabre. That creature is macabre. Yes, we get it.

Admittedly, the events described in Stormrage are interesting. The novel also fills a gap in Warcraft's history that will be apparent to people paying attention to the games. If you've asked yourself what happened to the trouble with the Emerald Dream / Emerald Nightmare or wondered why Malfurion was suddenly back in Azeroth, this novel will answer your questions. However, if I were to rate the novel without consideration for the larger universe, I'd have to give it even lower than the two out of five stars that I did.(less)

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Sep 10, 2012 Allen Christianson rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: game, fantasy

While I have read it once before, I found myself unable to finish it a second time, though that may due in part to me acquiring another book I found myself more inclined to read.

I could talk about repetitive story elements, grandiose descriptions or the uninteresting characters, or even about the derivative plot and overall incredibly confusing writing style. However, reading Stormrage is best explained through an analogy.

It's like someone is giving you a cake. You trust this friend with the cak...more

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Apr 04, 2012 Jordan Mclaughlin added it · review of another edition

The book Stormrage by Richard A. Knaak was a very interesting book and had many different unique ideas that one would not find in most books. Richard’s references to nature and how nature was intertwined with everything that happened in the book was confusing at first how but it ultimately worked. The main character, Malfurion, was connected to nature. The way to best explain the genre of the book, and the importance of nature is to compare it to Avatar. In Avatar the planet where all of the cha...more The book Stormrage by Richard A. Knaak was a very interesting book and had many different unique ideas that one would not find in most books. Richard’s references to nature and how nature was intertwined with everything that happened in the book was confusing at first how but it ultimately worked. The main character, Malfurion, was connected to nature. The way to best explain the genre of the book, and the importance of nature is to compare it to Avatar. In Avatar the planet where all of the characters lived, and everything that lived on it reported to Mother Nature and when Mother Nature suffered everything suffered. Malfurion, the main character in Stormrage was like Mother Nature in Avatar and when he suffered the world suffered.
The plot of the book was well planned and played out, the basic plot was that there was a “Dream” and if the person who had the “Dream” suffered from it they would go into a coma and start living in the “Dream”. The author’s goal of the book was to portray the “Dream” the best he could and explain how it was going to be stopped.
The book demonstrated the point of view of many different groups of people or races. The story started off in Moonglade and Teldrissal where the Druids lived and then transitioned over to the Orc’s in the Barrens, and the humans of Stormwind and Elywnn Forest. The book was interesting because the Orc and Humans were enemies but they were experiencing a common enemy and how they needed to work together to overcome the dream.
There were points in the book where it would start to get confusing about what was happening but as the reader continued the point of the story became clear. A good example is when the King of Stormwind, King Varian, was trying to find out what was in the mists; for example, “Do you see anything in the mist?” Her shaking voice was enough to tell him how terrible the sight was to her. “I see … my father … dead in battle … Tomas … a comrade in arms … I see—”. At the same time the King saw his dead family members and some people saw nothing and some people saw everything, and it was very confusing magic that was going on. The author could have gone into more detail during this certain chapter so there was not as much confusion, unless confusion is what he was aiming at, and could have well been what he planned because in the “Dream” there was a sense of confusion.
The way the author portrayed the trickery that the demon’s used on the people of Azeroth was intriguing. A good example was early in the book when some men were marching into a mine to kill rat people called Kobolds, a friendly Mage started acting erratic as he was helping, then not helping, tried to kill everyone in the end, and then disappeared. The author started to imply what was happening with, “The Mage’s garments had changed. He now wore a black, armored outfit with skulls at the knee braces and on the chest. A cowl rose high behind his head. His eyes glowed a monstrous dark purple. ‘And as for escape, a simple spell will enable me to leave here.’” The author then continues on with rich detail about how the Mage was changed, taken over by some evil power and rose all the dead rat people, (Kobolds) and attacked his group of people. This was a fine example of how the world was starting to experience different events where people were going insane. These occurrences would eventually happen in other places like where the Druids lived and where the Orc’s resided.
Ultimately the book was good but could have had some improvements, for the most part it met the goals that the author set out to meet and would recommend this book to others.
(less)

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Feb 24, 2010 Jeremy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: World of Warcraft Fans

I wanted to enjoy this book much more than I did, a state of affairs I attribute to both the author's writing skill and the general mythos of the Warcraft universe. But despite both of these things I came away from "Stormrage" with a number of regrets I would have difficulty adequately putting into words. The story, while well-paced and studded with interesting and fully fleshed-out characters, felt oddly constrained and in some places disjointed. The action was planned well and executed properl...more

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Aug 03, 2012 Aik Koh rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Book doesn't really cover much about the war between the Alliance and the Horde or it's nemesis from the Burning Legion or defected leaders or other rise of evils. This book purely creates a new story out of a problematic realm where a few druids are having problems with their master/teacher who is suffering in another realm. They go on to find out the issue and try to help him in any way possible.

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Sep 08, 2011 David rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2011-fiction

Malfurion Stormrage is a neat character but the location (or locations) of the novel made the story confusing and dull. It moves between the real world of Azeroth and the dream world of the Emerald Dream -which is being taken over by a nightmare -almost at random. Dream stories just don't make good drama - even nightmares don't seem to have a real sense of urgency. To me, it was just boring.

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Feb 19, 2013 Christina rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For all Knaak's faults I love the tie in's to the game story. Preceding this Malfurion finally appears within the game and of the brother's he was one of my favourites.

Even if his in game appearance is a bit unsettling.

Guiltily I am a fan of Knaak's story telling however, and how this one was told. Especially that it meant finally we would see Malfurion's return.

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Dec 03, 2010 Paul rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Richard A. Knaak is my least favorite Warcraft author, and I found this book to be the worst of the series. Uninspired descriptions ("great" isn't a great adjective) and cliched themes combined with a whiny Malfurion Stormrage made me question if Mr. Knaak thought he was getting paid by the word, or if he believes that the length of a book solely determines whether it's epic.

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May 11, 2012 Christal rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: dragons, fae, fantasy-aka-swords, lesser-known-creatures, magic, multiple-leads, shamans-and-druids, time-travel, witches-warlocks-and-mages

My husband and I listened to this audiobook on a long drive. As we were both WoW players at the time, we really enjoyed learning more about the lore concerning Malfurion, Tyrande, and the Emerald Dream. Sometimes the prose was a bit rambling and the descriptions too long, but overall we enjoyed this story and the audio narrator was very good.

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Jul 05, 2010 Chris Tucker rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is not a prequel to the next Expansion in the World of Warcraft but is a story that bring Malfurion Stormrage back into the current story line. What I love the most about these books is the abilities that are not currently in the game and just thinking about how cool they would be if Blizzard added them. The story is great and consequences seem very real. Malfurion especially has many things he has to work through in his mind and heart as he makes the effort to overcome his foe. Fun read an...more

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Jan 10, 2011 Zachary Bosart rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Not the best written story, and it has a tendency to jump around a lot, leading me to not understand where certain characters were from one paragraph to the next. And there are a great deal of characters.
However it was fun to read, and a nice concept. The major players were easy characters to empathize with.

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Apr 25, 2010 Moominboy rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, rpg, fiction

Sorry, couldn't finish it. I'm not sure if it's the plot or the writing style, could be both. It's... bland. I doubt even a WoW fan could get drawn into it. Why must all WoW books deal with storylines of epic proportions? Would be fun to read something about ordinary people (and non-people) for a change.

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May 26, 2011 Jeremiah Johnson rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really wanted to like this book, but I could not get into it at all. My mind kept wandering no matter how hard I tried to focus on the book.
This book was written slightly better than Knaak's previous works. Thankfully Eranikus wasn't in it much so there are relatively few "Ysera's consort" references.
There really wasn't anything to draw me into the story. The characters are still fairly well done, but reviving old enemies that have been killed more than once is a bad idea in my opinion.

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Aug 07, 2012 Lavenza rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I expected more from this book. The first half was boring and even after that when things got more lively it was still less than it could be. The end was very nice at least and didnt leave me hating the days I spent reading it.

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May 02, 2013 Elyndrical rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found this book a nightmare to read. The characters were one dimensional, and it felt more like reading an accounting of events than an evocative story. I despised the repetition that occurred throughout the novel with little change made to make it less boring. Time and again Malfurion had to change his plans and each time he was depressed at his failure but made a new secret plan that he must keep hidden. It was extremely frustrating.

Writing itself is acceptable but evokes no feeling or inter...more

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Jun 07, 2012 Khristie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have to go back through and read this one. My A.D.D. was horrendous w/ this one. I love Malfurion's lore, but Richard just has a hard time keeping my interest piqued sometimes. D:

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Feb 14, 2013 Amy Ayers rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Just couldn't get into it. I love the game, and usually like this type of story but I just couldn't finish it. Seems to be a trend with me lately.

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Nov 09, 2011 Suzanne rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, 10-ft-pole

Couldn't even finish this, and that is saying a lot since I can finish almost anything. Was just a boring, and badly written book.

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Nov 20, 2010 Delgee added it · review of another edition

Shelves: warcraft

It was good.

I'm not into WOW but still interested in Warcraft lore and this book gave me lots of information on whats happening in WOW.

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Mar 04, 2010 A rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Was an easy read. Basic plot has the villian always one step ahead of the heroes, meaning most of their efforts are futile the whole book.

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