World of Warcraft: Arthas: Rise of the Lich King

Ive read a few of Christie Goldens books and I wasnt pleased. After reading this I think I wasnt mad at her writting, I simply wasnt interested in the lore the other books had to offer. Simply put I am more of an Aliance player in the game and I enjoy reading books about Alliance heroes. Too many books are about the Horde and this book was focused on the Alliance side. Its an amazing back story to all of the events and lore of the lich king and many well known heroes of the alliance which was perfect for me since I didnt start to play the WoW until Warlords of Dreanor, so my lore of the past was missing. These books are helping me catch up and help me when I am away from my computer to still enjoy the wonders of Warcraft.

If you played Warcraft III or Wrath of the Lich King expansion. You will love this book. It goes into details about Arthas and Jaina's childhood and their deep affection for each other before Arthas was turned into the Lich King. There were other important characters in the story as well you will recognize if you follow the lore. This book will walk you all the way up until the Start of Wrath of the Lich King expansion! Very much enjoyed it! This has got me hyped to play the upcoming Classic WOTLK expansion coming out Sep 26, 2022! Can't wait to make my DK again!

I love Warcraft, have been playing since WC3 and own every collector's edition of WoW and its expansion packs since Vanilla. I mostly like playing games for their stories, so given the previous statement you might not be surprised to find out I am very familiar with the games lore. As such, I both like and dislike this book. My main fault with this book is that, after the first few chapters, the book is pretty much a plot summary of WC3/TFT with expanded narrative and the character's internal thoughts added. On the one hand, it was nice to be have a refresher on the pre-WoW lore for my favorite villain (the Lich King) and enemy faction (the Scourge), without having to replay the games since I'm not super fond of RTS gameplay (can anyone say warpten, whosyourdaddy and greedisgood?). On the other hand, I feel like the change in medium was not taken advantage of to provide a sufficiently differentiated experience from playing the games given that the plot is identical on a general level and also in more specific ways, like much if not all of the dialogue. The main differentiator was the plot details regarding Invincible, which I feel was extremely over used and kind of lame even if it hadn't been overused. I'm no Arthas fanboy, but I do enjoy his story and feel like his fall from grace could have been so much more compellingly elaborated upon without (literally) beating a dead horse. That isn't to say that Invincible couldn't have played a noteworthy role in the overall process, just that there should have been far more to it. Every kid who has a loved pet die does not turn into a monstrous shadow of their former selves, even in a World of Warcraft that routinely features good guys turned raid bosses "because crazy". On a more positive note, the overall writing style, while not particularly high level in terms of sophistication/vocabulary was still quite good and managed to be engaging even while catering to a fairly wide demographic likely consisting primarily of younger readers.The flaws of the book did not detract from the overall experience enough to make me not want to finish reading it, despite already knowing most of the material in advance. Lastly, I can't detract from it too much because it has plenty of potential to serve as a worthwhile introduction to this portion of the lore for those new to the game in general and/or its story.

Amazing book that is worth every penny. Even if you’re not familiar with WoW universe, it’d still leave you in awe of greatly written story and characters are

So far I have read Thrall, Lord of the Clans, and Rise of the Horde. Arthas, Rise of the Lich King, is hands down the best book BY FAR. I was entrenched between the covers of this book from start to finish. The book immediately grabs your attention in the prologue and finishes with the epilogue perfectly. As a former player, I only wish I read this before playing the Lich King expansion. I never knew how amazing the story of Arthas was. I would still recommend it to anyone whether or not they had the chance to delve into the game content for this story. It is worth the read. Oddly, you almost sympathize with quite possibly the worst villain in Warcraft lore. Incredible job, Christie.

I started playing WoW at the beginning of Wrath of the Lich King and have always had an interest in it. This is the second WoW book I have ever read and I will always declare that it is by far the best. While it is an easy read, the story telling is fantastic and really provides the backstory of Arthas' life. I wish that it mentioned his downfall and decent into further madness more after becoming the Lich King, but this book is still incredible. I had the urge to play my death knight for weeks after this! It was worth every penny.

As a player of World of Warcraft I found this novel to be great. Watching Arthas grow up and seeing characters from the games that influenced his life was great. Watching his rise as a paladin turn towards an unwavering determination to avenge his people gives a great insight to what in the game had seemed like a simple villain bent on destroying the world. If you have no interest in the back story of the Warcraft games, or have never even played them, I would advise just skipping this book. Because it covers Arthas whole life and they didn't want to rehash events that were already covered in the games, there are important parts of his life story that are merely summarized in a paragraph. If you are just getting started in the World of Warcraft novels I would advise starting with Lord of the Clans, especially if you're a hordie :P

I don't know much about the World of Warcraft lore, but I found this book highly intriguing. The story of a prince who is corrupted by a lust for power, Arthas becomes what he hates, an evil entity bent on destruction and conquest. He finds a demonic sword called Frostmourne which is bound to the soul of the Lich King, an evil entity that poisons Arthas' mind. He eventually succumbs to the sword's demands for bloodlust and death. The characters were well written and the plot moved along briskly, though I thought some of Arthas' choices were downright stupid given the circumstances he was in. I recommend this book for anyone who loves high fantasy, intrigue, and dark characters.