Best Order to read the wow books in

[Sayomara]

I put together a guild for how to read the Warcraft books.
http://www.rivalcastmedia.com/article...

I won't list them all here because I don't want to make a giant post but I'll share what I consider the best order I call it the "With Time travel" list. I suggest this order because I think the universe makes more sense when you meet the characters in the order they were introduced and thus they experience the timeline.

1. Rise of the Horde
2. The Last Guardian
3. Tides of Darkness
4. Beyond the Dark Portal
5. Day of the Dragon
6. Of Blood and Honor
7. Lord of the Clans
8. Arthas
9. The Well of Eternity
10. The Demon Soul
11. The Sundering
12. Cycle of Hatred
13. Night of the Dragon
14. Stormrage
15. The Shattering
16. Wolfheart
17. Thrall: TotA
18. Tides of War
19. Dawn of the Aspects
20. Vol'Jin: Shadows of the Horde
21: War Crimes


I hope this helps people out
Sayo

Updated 5/6/14

[Emma]

Thank you so much. I keep trying to figure out what would be the best order to read them ^_^

[Jeff]

The original post might have been before it was released, but The Warcraft Ultimate Visual Guide (wish I could link it) should be included. Chronologically, Rise of the Horde is the beginning, but for those who need either a refresher or an introduction to characters in the Warcraft Lore, the Visual Guide is the best place to start.

[Randall]

Absolutely agree about the Visual Guide. Awesome coffee table style book. Read it straight through or a section at a time, works great either way.

[Sayomara]

Emma its only a matter of option but I think the Chronological order that makes the most sense is to look at it as if there is some "modern" I use that to sent my timeline. So you can look at something like Dawn of the Aspects as happening in the great distant past. Which is true but then you really don't understand Kelc point of view which is very much shaped by Tides of War.

Hope that helps
Sayo

[Rafael]

I don't understand why The Well of Eternity, The Demon Soul and The Sundering are after Arthas. It doesn't make sense to me.

[Jeff]

The War of the Ancients Trilogy, though taking place 10,000 years in the past, is a time travel story. The beginning of the story revolves around Rhonin in the (more recent) present. The Trilogy was meant to set up the lore of World of Warcraft, so it's placed chronologically after The Third War and before the Age of "Vanilla WoW". Hope this helps.

[Katey]

Which book can tell me most about blood elf lore? Thanks!

[Rafael]

@Katey haven't read all yet, but I'd say Arthas because that's where the transition from high elves to blood elves happen. But the book itself is not centered on them.

The other alternwrive is the War of the ancients trilogy which is centered on the night elves, precursors of the high elves and, of course the blood elves. But it says nothing about blood elves specifically.

So I'd say it depends on which part of the lore you want. Another option is just read the Wowpedia page on blood elves.

[Katey]

Thank you so much. I'm starting to get into RP and need to develop my blood Elf's backstory. What's truly confusing me is the timeline. Unsure how old she'd be,mid she was alive during the sun well destruction etc..

[Afje]

Hey guys, what do u think, do i have to play wow to understand the books?
I played WC3 and i am still familiar with the story of it, but i have no clue what happend in wow. Is it still possible to understand everything if i just read the books?
I really love the warcraft universe, i am just no fan of mmorpg.

[Jason]

Afje wrote: "Hey guys, what do u think, do i have to play wow to understand the books?
I played WC3 and i am still familiar with the story of it, but i have no clue what happend in wow. Is it still possible to ..."

I've never played WOW but I really enjoyed the books that I've read. They kind of follow along with the game releases anyways I think.

[Andrew]

Thanks for this list :) I have ordered rise of the horde and the last guardian and look forward to reading them.

[Jordan]

Hi all, I have been following the chronological order above however have just hit a massive jump in timeline and wanted to ensure I haven't missed part of the storyline.

I've finished reading the Arthas and the War of the Ancients trilogy and have just started Cycle of Hatred, but a big section of story is missing in between. The alliance between Thrall and Jaina, colonization of Kalimdor and even the war with the Burning Legion talked about in WotA. Am I missing something or are these events not captured in any current novels please?

Thanks!

[Daniela]

Thanks a lot for the list. Funny thing is that now I have red parts of it in totally mixed order, years ago. I am not sure if I'll be able to catch up if I start from where I left off but I'll give it a try.

Cheers!

[Rabbit.87]

Thanks much, this seems very close to a list I cant find from 2010. Much thanks! :-)

[Eric]

We should add IIlidan to the list!

[Rob]

Yeah where would Illidan fit within this order?

[Eric]

Since it's the prequel to the next WoW expansion (Legion), I would assume it comes after War Crimes.

[Hasteur]

parts of Illidan take place before World of Warcraft, and other parts take place during the burning crusade.

[Rob]

So it follows like much of the other novels do. It takes in many different places in the timeline. Haha!

[Brenden]

I would suggest part of Illidan be before Wolfheart and part be after War Crimes