Beyond the Dark Portal

World of Warcraft #4

by Christie Golden, Aaron Rosenberg

The aging orc shaman Ner'zhul has seized control of the Horde and reopened the Dark Portal.

His brutal warriors once again encroach upon Azeroth, laying siege to the newly constructed stronghold of Nethergarde Keep. There, the archmage Khadgar and the Alliance commander, Turalyon, lead humanity and its elven and dwarven allies in fighting this new invasion.
Even so, disturbing questions arise. Khadgar learns of orcish incursions farther abroad: small groups of orcs who seem to pursue a goal other than simple conquest. Worse yet, black dragons have been sighted as well, and they appear to be aiding the orcs. To counter Ner'zhul's dark schemes, the Alliance must now invade the orcs' ruined homeworld of Draenor. Can Khadgar and his companions stop the nefarious shaman in time to stave off the destruction of two worlds?

Genres: Fantasy, Warcraft, World Of Warcraft, Fiction, Games, Gaming, High Fantasy

432 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2008

About the author

Award-winning author Christie Golden has written over thirty novels and several short stories in the fields of science fiction, fantasy and horror. She has over a million books in print.

2009 will see no fewer than three novels published. First out in late April will be a World of Warcraft novel, Athas: Rise of the Lich King. This is the first Warcraft novel to appear in hardcover. Fans of the young paladin who fell so far from grace will get to read his definitive story.

In June, Golden’s first Star Wars novel, also a hardcover, sees print. Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi—Omen is the second in a nine-book series she is co-authoring with Aaron Allston and Troy Denning. Also in June comes the conclusion of Golden’s StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga with the release of Twlight, the third book in the series. The first two are Firstborn and Shadow Hunters.

2004 saw the launch of an original fantasy series called The Final Dance, from LUNA Books. The first novel in the series, On Fire's Wings, was published in July of that year. The second, In Stone’s Clasp , came out in September of 2005. With In Stone’s Clasp, Golden won the Colorado Author’s League Top Hand Award for Best Genre Novel for the second time. The third book, Under Sea’s Shadow, is available only as an e-book

Golden is also the author of two original fantasy novels from Ace Books, King's Man and Thief and Instrument of Fate, which made the 1996 Nebula Preliminary Ballot. Under the pen name of Jadrien Bell, she wrote a historical fantasy thriller entitled A.D. 999, which won the Colorado Author's League Top Hand Award for Best Genre Novel of 1999.

Golden launched the TSR Ravenloft line in 1991 with her first novel, the highly successful Vampire of the Mists , which introduced elven vampire Jander Sunstar. Golden followed up Vampire with Dance of the Dead and The Enemy Within . In September of 2006, fifteen years to the month, The Ravenloft Covenant: Vampire of the Mists enabled Jander Sunstar to reach a whole new audience.

Other projects include a slew of Star Trek novels, among them The Murdered Sun , Marooned , and Seven of Nine , and "The Dark Matters Trilogy," Cloak and Dagger , Ghost Dance and Shadow of Heaven .

The Voyager novel relaunch, which includes Homecoming and The Farther Shore , were bestsellers and were the fastest-selling Trek novels of 2003. Golden continued writing VOYAGER novels even though the show went off the air, and enjoyed exploring the creative freedom that gave her in the two-parter called Spirit Walk, which includes Old Wounds and Enemy of my Enemy .

Golden has also written the novelization of Steven Spielberg's Invasion America and an original "prequel," On The Run , both of which received high praise from producer Harve Bennett. On The Run, a combination medical thriller and science fiction adventure, even prompted Bennett to invite Golden to assist in crafting the second season of the show, if it was renewed.

Golden lives in Loveland, Colorado, with her artist husband and their two cats.

Reviews

[Markus · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Long have I dreamed of death. I have seen him, spoken with him. I have seen the death of my people, the death of all I have loved. And this—this image I wear to honor that. I did not wish to come forth, but I now believe that I owe it to my people to lead them once more.”

The invasion of Azeroth has ended in disastrous failure for the Horde. The evil leaders Blackhand and Gul’dan lie dead on foreign soil, and even the great Orgrim Doomhammer has been defeated by the forces of the Alliance. The last hope of the orcish people lies with the once so powerful shaman who guided them into the future once before…

This was definitely the best Warcraft book so far besides the ones written by Christie Golden. Might just be because it was co-written by Christie Golden.

Beyond the Dark Portal wraps up the story of the invasion of Azeroth and the first clashes of orcs and humans, the story that began with Rise of the Horde and was continued in Tides of Darkness. And I was actually pretty impressed. There is nothing great here (Rise of the Horde is probably the only Warcraft book to have that), but it more than adequately presents the last bit of the tale of the Old Horde, thus getting one step closer to solving the giant puzzle that is the history and lore of the Warcraft universe.

[Leeanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

World of Warcraft: Beyond the Dark Portal, by Aaron Rosenberg and Christie Golden

"Beyond the Dark Portal" is a novelization of the video game Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal. Because it is a novelization, the authors are somewhat limited in what they can do, but all said, it's a decent novel for Warcraft fans. I found it particularly useful for background on the previous Warcraft games, because while I haven't played them I have been an avid World of Warcraft player for a few years.

While most of the orcs left their planet to wreck havoc on Azeroth, some remained exiled on Draenor, or escaped back to Draenor through the Dark Portal after their disastrous war with the humans. Ner'zhul, the orc responsible for the corruption of the orcs, plays a starring role as he once again takes control of the remaining orcs on Draenor, reforming the Horde with the intent of finding another planet for the orcs to invade. The heroes of "Tides of Darkness," the previous book (and video game) in the series - Khadgar and Turalyon, learn of the orcs' plans and take the Dark Portal to Draenor, intent on stopping Ner'zhul to save Azeroth - and other worlds - from the devastation of the Horde.

I wish Christie Golden had solo written this book, rather than pairing with Aaron Rosenberg. "Beyond the Dark Portal" suffers from some of the same issues as "Tides of Darkness," which was written by Rosenberg. It's somewhat one-sided, focusing on the humans, while leaving the orcs as flat villains. The characterization is better, probably due to Golden's assistance. There's even a bit of a romance; some happiness amid the carnage. The battle scenes are far from realistic or even possible, with undefined numbers of orcs being killed. The Horde left on Draenor is supposed to be small, but they can't be too small if they're getting killed in every chapter. The pacing of travel also seems unrealistic, with both sides covering vast distances in what seems like no time at all.

I enjoy this book because I am a World of Warcraft fan and player. If you're a WoW player and considering this book, you'll probably enjoy it as it does give a lead in to The Burning Crusade expansion, and provides some nice background and lore.

3/5.

[دانیال بهزادی · Rating 5 out of 5]

‫کتاب‌های وارکرفت همیشه برای من یکی از موردعلاقه‌ها بودن. فکر می‌کنم رکورد خوندن سریع یک کتابم هم متعلّق به یکی از کتاب‌های همین سریه که اون رو از زمان خریدنش در نمایشگاه کتاب تا رسیدن به خونه،‌تموم کردم. این شد نقطهٔ عطفی در فرایند کتابخونی من… چرا که وقتی به بی‌وارکرفتی بعد از تموم شدنش رسیدم، تصمیم گرفتم که از این به بعد کتاب‌ها رو هرچه‌قدر هم قشنگ باشن، با سرعت نخونم و بذار آروم آروم مزمزه‌اشون کنم.
‫ولی خب… با در ردست گرفتن این کتاب، متوجّه شدم که این کار، مخصوصاً برای کتاب‌های سری وارکرفت، اصلاً کار آسونی نیست!

[Adrian · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't bother. It's not just as bad as the previous one, this one somehow manages to be worse!

Brace yourselves as SPOILERS start below.


It's almost like it was not written by the same author. Far from picking up where it left off, it seems that the author forgot where people were in the last book. Where they were, how many, how strong, etc. Orgrim Doomhammer was caught in the last book by alliance forces after he kills Lothar in direct combat. Well, the author forgets that ever happened, and just moves on not mentioning the fate of Orgrim at all. This would not be too upsetting if later on, in the "Lord of the clans" book Orgrim is free and organizing some sort of resistance. But i guess it was not important enough for the author to keep track of where the horde leader was exactly.

So, there is a rift that the mages noticed, and the rift sort of keeps the link between Draenor and Azeroth open. This rift is all that remains from the destroyed Dark Portal. Stormwind is being rebuilt, but at the same time, they are building Nethergarde Keep, a fortress that looks over the Dark Portal and should stand ready in case any further orc invasions happen.

Apparently a great number of orcs and Dark Knights escaped the first war, because they returned to the red wastes of Draenor and are trying to push Ner'Zhul into taking command of the reaming horde. Gul'Dan is dead and not only that but an ogre apparently has his skull and he is on Draenor... immagine that. Even though Gul'Dan died in a cave and all the remaining orcs were killed or had fled in the last book. Facepalm.

If anyone read the books that dealt with the war of the orcs against the draenei, you would remember that Ner'Zhul as well as Durotan and Orgrim had realized that Gul'Dan was working for demons and all of them wanted an end to the war and a return to the simpler life they had before the horde was united.
But you can't expect this author to pay attention to that, it would be just silly. Ner'Zhul gets Gul'Dan's skull and starts thinking about opening a gazillion portals so the orcs can spread and conquer them. But he needs some artifacts to be able to open these so he send the remainder of the orc forces through the re-opened portal to distract the humans until they can steal the artifacts. All the pacifism that Ner'Zhul was known for had gone out the window, and he becomes a laughable villain again.

Now the author doesn't do a good job, AGAIN, in explaining how many orcs there are. The few clans that remained on Draenor during the first invasion seemed to be few when first mentioned. Now they are so many again that they pose a serious risk to the alliance and Nethergarde Keep. Somehow they multiplied again even though women and children orcs are never mentioned in this book as far as i remember, not even once.

So he introduces some more characters from the lore without any backstory or explanations. Neltharion makes an appearance as a powerful human mage that later on turns out to be Deathwing. But Deathwing was so powerful that all the dragons and the rest of the races feared him 10.000 years ago and he was alone! Here he has Onyxia and Nefarian with him, he had lost the Demon Soul somehow and apparently forgot about it even though the orcs are the ones that have it... This all is just a big mess. Deathwing makes a deal with some of the orcs to carry some things to Draenor and in return he will help them steal the artifacts. So using some convoluted magical superpowers from the Death Knights they steal the artifacts and go to Draenor along with Deathwing. Onyxia and Nefarian remain behind to attack and kill the Blackhand brothers, who have both the demon soul and the red dragons under their control. This was potentially interesting as i thought it would lead to Deathwing finding out about the Demon Soul, but... nope. This goes nowhere and is never mentioned again.

Turalyon has a very cringe worthy love subplot with Alleria. She is crazy about killing orcs for no good reason. Actually, it is hinted a bit that at some point she licked the orc blood off her blade and Turalyon almost caught her. I thought this would become interesting as i feared Alleria was under the influence of the demon blood and that her frenzy in battle was fueled by it. Again, no such subtlety should be expected from this author, and this goes nowhere.

The good guys follow the orcs through the Dark Portal to stop them from opening the portals (they get this information with the help of the magical Khadgar exposition vision fairy) and invading other worlds. So they proceed to start building Honor Hold on Draenor, even though it is clearly stated that the alliance kings are unhappy with the costs of Nethergarde Keep. They must have forgotten.

So in true Terminator Genysis retarded plans they prepare to attack the orc citadel in the last day when Ner'Zhul is supposed to cast the spell and open the portals. Why they hadn't done this days earlier to make sure they would reach the shaman in time... no one knows.
So they easily dispatch the orcs only to find out that Ner'Zhul has escaped and gone to the Black temple to cast the spell. Apparently he is still planning to open the portals and conquer the worlds even though the numbers of orcs remaining should be laughably small. Again, no women or children orcs are mentioned. So the alliance troops split up to try and get the artifacts back, Ner'Zhul has a couple of them and Deathwing has Gul'Dan's skull that is needed to close the portal.

A bit of chasing happens, an arakkoa is introduced then a draenei tomb, some more fighting with ghost draenei helping for no reason, then Ner'Zhul teleports with one of the Death Knights from the tomb to the Black temple and start opening the portals. Even though as far as we know they are the only 2 that made it there. Kind of hard to conquer worlds with only 2 people, of which one is an undead warlock in a rotting human body. Still, the portals are opened, Khadgar manages to get back some of the artifacts but Ner'Zhul escapes through a portal and reaches Kil'Jaeden who promptly kills him. Facepalm.

On the other idiotic plot line, Deathwing has Gul'Dan's skull for... some reason and he is birthing black dragons. The alliance forces "team up" with some ogres and start killing the young black dragons, and end up destroying Deathwing's eggs as well. Deathwing then comes (he was busy polishing the skull while all this was taking place) and instead of insta killing them all, he starts fighting them... no comment... and is sort of successful... again, it's Deathwing the most powerful being on Azeroth, how can he not kill some ogres and a puny army that has no effect on him!?... facepalm... snd Khadgar finally realizes that the metal plates are holding the dragon together so he starts getting rid of them. Deathwing leaves and swears revenge, the world is doomed, Khadgar closes the Dark Portal once and for all and all of them remain trapped on Draenor. Did i mention that they built two more settlements? One close to the Draenei tomb and one near the Black temple. All this while they were trying to catch up to the orcs at the utmost speed.

Ah i had forgotten to say that Grom Hellscream was the one that lead the orc troops against Nethergarde, and then tried to defend the Dark Portal from the alliance. Ner'Zhul tries to kill them all and collapse the portal with a bomb... Why he all of a sudden became as rotten as Gul'Dan no one knows, and is never explained. Grom survives, but the Dark Portal is destroyed by Khadgar from the other side so him and the remainder of his men are trapped on Azeroth. When i say men, i would imagine that they are just male orcs as women are never mentioned, and why would you send women to battle alliance force when you never did so before in the first place.

So that is kind of it, Deathwing should be stuck on Draenor with a big bulk of alliance forces, Draenor is almost destroyed but not really, and some orcs are on Azeroth.
The END.


The way this is written, the way he formulates ideas is just atrocious. Important elements are not focused upon, and trivial things are explained in so much detail that is just boring. Stories go nowhere, actions don't make sense, characters do things that are completely against their own backstory and motivation, it's just a big mess. I would have been much better off to read some resumes of these two books, just to get the gist of what was supposed to happen so i could move on with the story. Compared to this mess, the next book called "Lord of the clans" is simply awesome.

I initially gave this 2 stars for the universe... but i can't do that. 1 Star all the way and i hope most people will read my SPOILER summary of the book and save themselves some neurons.

[Pinkerton · Rating 4 out of 5]

La guerra con l’Orda a quanto pare non è finita e i cattivi da affrontare sono, incredibile ma vero, ancora più caxxuti di prima!

[Jay Schmitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are one of the 12 million people playing The World of Warcraft MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game) you will appreciate how this book incorporates the game lore into the current game play in The Burning Crusade. Lots of reference to familiar quests and characters while being a very easy and enjoyable read. Finished just in time for Wrath of the Lich King. Just a quick word about the game from a non game player, if you really enjoy immersing yourself into a great fantasy epic, try this game. Be warned though, as 12 million people have found, it can be extremely captivating. I feel like I am living a role in an ever evolving saga. It's not just a game, its a very interactive and exciting social phenomena. 12 million people can't be wrong...

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Angsty romance between two of my favorite characters. Khadgar being a badass. Horde getting their asses whooped. An entire world crumbling. Deathwing being an asshole, as usual. Need I say more? Loved this.

[Vojtěch · Rating 3 out of 5]

O něco slabší než předchozí díl. Tak jsem zvědav, co nás čeká dál.

[Marian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Все як завжди епічно і гармонійно з двох сторін конфлікту, ця книга гармонійно вписується та продовжує історію війни між орками та людьми. Старі персонажі з новими амбіціями і цілями. Короч топ, шо тут розказувати

[Vivien Varga]

DNF
I'm pretty sure that Golden has nothing to do with this book whatsoever, she was only needed to keep Aaron's phenomenal stupidities in check but she's failed spectacularly.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took a lot longer to get through than expected but great for any WOW fan.

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book! Some classic Alliance v Horde stories with all the main characters, really enjoyable.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

If ever I think I could make it through a war story, this book proved to me I cannot. A lot of these World Of Warcraft books are showing me that. Too much for my sensitive heart.

This book gave me more Turalyon and Alleria. In full bloom love too. Well they had to fight to get there, but what's a little angst in the midst of war? I have become very attached to the alliance through these books and I truly didn't think that was possible. I miss stories of orcs being good people and not just blood lust savages.

After the alliance goes through the dark portal to Draenor, it becomes a non stop thrill ride. there are so many twists and turns, the book becomes impossible to put down.

[John Devlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Less memorable than the others and there’s a perfunctory quality to some of the battles, but it’s Azeroth, draenor, the hellfire citadel, auchindon, nagrand and many places my toons have battled over…and now I know the lore

[Ru Viljoen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading this, but continually note the poor quality of the storytelling.

[Dan Stefanovich · Rating 2 out of 5]

The overall story is about what you would expect - the Alliance venture through the Dark Portal to fight the Horde and close it for good - but Aaron Rosenburg and Christine Golden's "Beyond the Dark Portal" is just, plainly, poorly written, and parrots incredibly cliche plot hooks and dialogue ("YOU MAY HAVE BESTED ME, BUT CAN YOU BEST...MY CHILDREN?!") far too often: probably best to just read the synopsis of this one.

[Monika Stachniuk · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't get past 50%. This book is all about lengthy descriptions and almost no action. When we get action, Horde gets into battle and it's fine but then there are multiple pages with boring dialogues and info dumps. After reading 'Sylvanas', 'Arthas' and one book about Horde by Golden, I was pretty pumped to read this. Dissappointed :(

[Dasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only thing I liked about the book is Khadgar

[Cole Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Beyond the Dark Portal” is a novelization of the second Warcraft video game, which shares the same title. It’s an action packed fantasy story covering multiple worlds, as the good Alliance forces must chase the Horde across the Dark Portal, into their homeland.

I have never played Warcraft, but I definitely have played World of Warcraft. I’ve also read a few other novels in the Warcraft world, so I wasn’t completely unaware of the world. Just hadn’t played the game!

Anyways, I’ll start with this: the book is better than it has any right to be. There’s some clever writing in the book! Poetic prose occasionally makes an appearance and the characters are wrought with emotion and thought. I was impressed by the characterization and description work.

The dialogue is very okay. I think part of it is game dialogue, which shines through. The more intrapersonal dialogues were well written, but the battlefield ones were not.

While the characters’ are good and so is the character conflict, the names are malarkey. Part of the book feels bogged down by its ties to the Warcraft world. There are characters who basically show up and say their line and then disappear. If you don’t know who these people are they would be completely useless. Garrosh and Rexxar are the ones that come to mind. Same with Gruul(?). They didn’t NEED to be in the book at all, but had to show up once to basically look at the camera and say “World of Warcraft”.

Finally, the plot is very okay. It works for a game but not so much for a book. The one thing I think is complete BS is when Ner’zhul teleports to escape his pursuers. Why tf didn’t he do that in the first place?? In a video game, it comes off as padding for more content. Annoying, but fine. In a book, it just feels like nonsense. The plot in general was very simple fantasy but with some holes for sure,


So, as a Warcraft fan, I enjoyed this quite a bit. Even for me, though, there were plenty it characters I didn’t recognize or know their importance. The book was really fun with surprisingly good writing, but somewhat bogged down by the game plot and game world. If you like WoW and reading, this will be a nice fun book to read over the weekend. If not? Skip it and read “The Assassin’s Apprentice” for your fantasy fix. 3/5, somehow 1000x better than the God of War novelization.

[Jason Ray Carney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an entertaining, escapist read if you are a fan of the Warcraft series of games and have read previous Warcraft novels or seen the movie by Duncan Jones. It’s impressive how all these various texts interact and contribute to a secondary world that, as one explores it deeper, starts to feel autonomous and real (in a way). The writers (dual authored) definately assume the reader will bring prior knowledge of the Warcraft lore to it (they are audience savvy), and therein lies its unique pleasure. In this novel you get to learn about the fate of characters you already know: Khadgar, the apprentice of Medivh. You also learn about the fate of the Orcish Horde and their new shaman leader, Ner’zhul. The black dragon, Deathwing, shows up for some mayhem. There are also references to orcish heroes and villains, i.e. the Hellscreams, Gul’dan, etc.. There is even a chilling (pun intended) cameo of the Lich King as a young boy (a great moment). Stylistically speaking, the novel blends action, dialog, and exposition is a satisfying and balanced way. The worst escapist fantasy consists of non-stop and meaningless fight scenes, and this novel does not make this mistake. To an extent, the novel unoriginally re-tells a story already told: a group of noble warriors (orcs) search for a new world and are manipulated by a charismatic, self-interested leader. Their enemies are righteous defenders (humans) who struggle to keep their hatred of their enemies in check. In other words, it re-hashes the overarching “theme” of Warcraft in general. But, let’s he honest, we don’t read such novels for philosophical, spiritual, or aesthetic nuance. To summarize: this novel is well-written fantasy, entertaining, fun, and good for escapism.

[Peji Da · Rating 4 out of 5]

"You have been betrayed repeatedly, each time by another orc claiming leadership, and still you continue down that same path," Rcxxar said softly, though his eyes burned with rage. "You have no reason left to fight! Before, we fought to protect our people by claiming this world for them. But they are gone! We no longer need this world! With the handful left, you could find a place the humans have never gone and claim it without shedding a single drop of blood!"
"Where would be the glory in that?" one of the other orcs shouted.
Grom nodded. "What is life without battle?" he demanded of Rcxxar. "You are a warrior—you understand that! Fighting keeps us strong, keeps us sharp!"
"Perhaps," the half-breed admitted, "But why fight when there is no need? Why fight just for its own sake? That is not fighting to save anyone, or to win anything, or even for glory. It is fighting from sheer blood lust, from love of violence alone. And I am sick of that. I want no part of it."

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm honestly loving the World of Warcraft books! Nonstop action, great characters, and heart stopping suspense! For someone like me, who cannot play the games due to a visual impairment, I'm really enjoying these novels! If you are someone like myself, who could not play these games, however still enjoy fantasy, definitely pick up these books! Everything in this series so far, has been self explanatory, and extremely understandable when it comes to the different world and the characters I'm able to pick up everything so far, even though I cannot play the games. Overall, it's an amazing fantasy read, and fun, exciting, and full of suspense and action!

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a well balanced book, considering Christie's contribution on the Horde lore. Previous novel was a bit bland and made the orcs look like mindless savages, without a reason or background for their current behaviour.
I can't say I was impressed by this book, it was descriptive enough but somehow mundane in terms of writing style. Then again, I've only read it for the lore, so I wasn't expecting a masterpiece, considering the story was already laid out in-game and there wasn't much freedom in altering the storyline.

[Цветозар · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beyond the Dark Portal is a novelization of the Warcraft 2 video game. So as such it should certainly be terrible. But Warcraft's world is one that just simply works in literary form and that stacked on top of Christie Golden's co-authorship of this book makes it even better since Warcraft isn't known for its quality of writing. That said, Christie Golden and Aaron Rosenberg do a fine job at re-telling the story and do it in a damn enjoyable manner.

[Kellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love WoW lore and this book, along with the other books regarding Draenor, really helped me understand how the orcs came to Azeroth. Their history with the Draenei was sad...such senseless slaughter, all at the hands of a greedy Sargeras and his minions. But that's for another day. I high enjoyed all of the Dark Portal books in which Khadgar plays a prominent role. Two thumbs up!

[Andre · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can tell, that this here was written many, many years after the game since you have tons of species and elements in it that have been invented only after World of Warcraft was launched, like Arakoa, Draenei etc.
So, I would say book and game don't have much in common.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just to clarify all my World of Warcraft and Warcraft book reviews. If you played the games, the stars are correct. If you didn't, subtract 2 stars from all of my reviews.

[Des · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dreadful. Informative, but excruciating to sit through the Alliance half.

[Sacha Valero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having lost the war on Azeroth, the Horde, leaderless with Doomhammer captured, returned to Draenor.

The damage Guldan and the Warlock's had done to Dreanor left the planet dying so Ner'zhul convinces what's left of the Horde that he can open rifts to other worlds for them, but he needs a few items from Azeroth.

Sending Hellscream (who's never been) to Azeroth he attacks the Alliance as a distraction while others set about finding the artifacts Ner'zhul requires.

Once they have what they need the Horde retreats, and Khadgar realizes what's happened, and that the damage to Draenor was leaking into Azeroth and what was the Black Morass is now the Blasted Lands. Khadgar needs two of the artifacts that was taken to close the portal forever or Azeroth will suffer the same fate as Draenor so he, Turalyon, and Alleria marshal and army and pursue.

On the other side we're in Hellfire Peninsula and the Alliance construct Honor Hold. From there they take Hellfire Citadel. Once the Citadel is theirs Turalyon, Khadgar, and Alleria travel north to Blades Edge following the trail of Guldan's skull while the remaining army takes a course into Terrokar Foreset, Auchindown, and then on to Shadowmoon Valley and the Black Temple.

We're introduced to the Arakkoa and Dranai. It's a really well written book, great pace, and a great addition to the lore. The one question I have is that with the exception of the Gronn and a handful of sick Orc's in Nagrand, the remaining Horde on Draenor is all but wiped out, and there didn't seem to be many females left on Azeroth, yet they flourished?

[Pedro António Carvalho · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5⭐
EN~🇬🇧.
.
The continuation of the Warcraft story that I wanted to know after years of playing the online game. This time we get to know what happened to Draenor and why it became what now is known as Outland, what happened to Turalyon and Alleria and a handful of other stuff.
Again I'm enjoying this a lot just because it's such an easy read that transports me right into that virtual world. It's really easy to imagine it when you have explored it countless times. Will probably only return to these series next year so it's a good thing that I can still play the game to keep me hooked 😁.
.
PT~🇵🇹
.
Continuação da história de Warcraft que sempre quis ler agora anos a jogar o jogo online. Neste livro ficamos a saber o que aconteceu com Draenor e porque é que se tornou no que é hoje conhecido como Outland, o que aconteceu com Turalyon e Alleria e um punhado de outras coisas interessantes.
Mais uma vez estou a gostar imenso de ler isso mesmo porque é uma leitura fácil que me transporta para um mundo virtual que me fascina. É mesmo fácil de imaginar quando já o exploraste várias vezes. Provavelmente só voltarei a esta série no próximo ano por isso ainda bem que posso ir jogando para matar as saudades 😁