World of Warcraft: Illidan: A Novel

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Illidan by William King. It helped me better understand the lore behind the Warcraft: Burning Crusade game expansion.The characters pull you into their story, their passion, their drive for what they do what they do. It's not all cut and dry good vs.bad. There is not a good guy here. Everyone is deeply flawed in their ideals. In the end, if you have played the game, you're going to likely thing - "Yikes, we made a big mistake here." Or perhaps not. Even so, you will get to meet new characters. Very interesting, very flawed, very damaged characters. You'll know and understand the path of the demon hunter. It's not all cut and dry. There is more to them than meets the eye. Needle fascinated and yet creeped me out. Vandel's story nearly stole the book. Akama, Maiev, and others are in there. One one brief mention of Khadgar. There is no one runaway shining hero. Nope. None. This is a dark story of vengeance, despair, sacrifice, retribution, bitterness, desperation, hopelessness, arrogance, and hail mary's. In the end, you may be surprise who you will want to root for. Illidan lays down some of the framework going into the "Legion" expansion for World of Warcraft coming up in late August 2016. If you play Warcraft and you're considering RP'ing a demon hunter on the roleplay servers, READ THIS BOOK. It will give you the gist of what it takes to be a demon hunter and create your own original character that falls in line with the lore. I know that I went from - nope, not rolling a demon hunter - to - there is no way I'll ever play a demon hunter - to - UGH HELL NO - to - well, maybe - to - YES, I'M ROLLING A DEMON HUNTER! BRING IT! I truly enjoyed reading this book. If the rampant spoilers got you down, please, do yourself a favor. Read the book and see the story in context. Warcraft friends of mine who have also read the book have praised it highly. Kudos to William King for writing a great story for Warcraft. I truly hope he writes more. Thank you, Mr. King, for crafting a great story regarding Illidan, the Betrayer.

As a fan of World of Warcraft I was happy to get my hands on Illidan, and it is easy to see why this book is released now. This book does explain the first expansion The Burning Crusade but from more another perspective and it is the start of Legion, who soon will be released. The story itself is very interesting and is focused on Illidan and the fight to recapture The Betrayer. It was great to see Maiv and Akama and their part and vision on Illidan along side with himself and everything he has been working on. Sometimes on the other hand, I felt it was more about Maiv and not as much about Illidan, even if it was her crusade. This made me loose interest in the book and this parts is, according to me, not as necessary for the story as you may think. They really dont tell you anything and it is a lot of repetition about Maiv and how obsessed about Illidan she is and how she hates how everyone not want to help her. It is good to some part but it is to much for me in the book. The language and word use is sometimes a bit awkward and weird. It sometimes felt like the author didnt really know how to drive the story and use the language to drive it on its own. If you dont know anything about World of Warcraft and haven't played the game, then you shouldn't really read this book because it is really written for fans and fans who has knowledge from games and other books in the lore. This is not a good high fantasy book as it is and not the best in the books written with World of Warcraft in focus but I still enjoyed the book and the second part was much better even if there is plenty of loose thread that could have been better. If you like World or Warcraft and want some background reading before Legion, then this is a good book for you but to get the full story about Illidan you have to look at other books. This start with him being freed after ten thousand years in imprisonment and ends where Legion is about to start. Overall I enjoyed the book and I dont regret buying or reading it. it is a must for WoW lovers.

I've been really skeptical about WoW books in recent years and had a great deal of nervousness about what they'd do when actually presenting Illidan's story. The Burning Crusade screwed up Illidan's character so much that I didn't know if they'd really be able to bring him back to the antihero he's supposed to be. Others will accuse the book of 'whitewashing' him and trying to make him too noble - No, Illidan is still single-minded here, refuses to consider less destructive options, and still narcissistic about his goals. We even discover some things we WEREN'T aware he did that are pretty dark during the BC time period. The book does not excuse Illidan - it explains him. Whether the explanations are enough to make you side with him or not is up to the individual reader, but I thought it even gave a more nuanced view of Akama and Maieve as well that has been missing. None of them are perfect, none of them are completely evil. All of them make mistakes. The writing isn't genius or profound but it's very readable and doesn't belabor points. It is just descriptive enough to let you clearly envision what is going on without waxing poetic about things any player of the game has seen multiple times. I could barely put it down. I highly recommend it to lovers of lore and those who want more understanding about what's going on in Legion. Legion is doing a good job of giving everyone the basics even if they hadn't read the book, the book presents backstory to more fully 'get' it. Over all, it's pretty much everything I could want in a companion novel to a game. The back knowledge is just that - back knowledge. Finally, we have a book that doesn't completely leave those who DON'T read it stumbling in the dark as to what's going on, but those who do read feel like they understand the story a bit better.

Illidan history

Un livre excellent pour les fans de wow qui veulent en savoir plus sur son univers et un très bon avant-gout de ce que réserve Illidan pour la légion.

L'ultimo romanzo della serie Warcraft è certamente uno dei libri meglio scritti della serie (non che la concorrenza sia particolarmente agguerrita, in verità), oltre che più interessanti: è un peccato che non sia uscito durante l'espansione Burning Crusade (per quanto possibile sarebbe potuto essere, essendo in parte basato sul nuovo lore introdotto da Chronicles e Legion), avrebbe davvero avuto un "peso" diverso (ed avrebbe fatto solo bene alla narrazione molto confusionaria di quell'espansione). Essendo la storia ambientata nel passato, principalmente durante l'espansione Burning Crusade, non è assolutamente necessario essere tutt'ora dei giocatori di World of Warcraft per godersela. La storia raccontata è interessante e mai noiosa, e la qualità si mantiene alta fino alla fine. L'autore fa un buon lavoro nel sistemare le molte incogruenze della trama di Burning Crusade, introduce le premesse "storiche" di quella che sarà la prossima classe giocabile di WoW (i Demon Hunter) e ci da un inedito punto di vista sugli eventi di quell'espansione, dando un senso all'apparente letargia del personaggio di Illidan (che nel gioco sembrava far poco più che attendere che andassimo a fargli la pelle). Una cosa molto particolare è che la narrazione rimane estremamente fedele agli eventi in-game, tanto da diventare nella parte finale quasi la versione romanzata di un raid al Black Temple. Ciò forse abbassa leggermente il livello qualitativo rispetto ad una narrazione classica in cui l'autore si tiene riserva il diritto di alterare gli eventi a beneficio della storia e della leggibilità, ma al tempo stesso è originale e divertente vedere inseriti nella storia personaggi, classi, ruoli, abilità, boss, le frasi che dicono in fight, e persino le loro meccaniche. Nel complesso Illidan mi è decisamente piaciuto, dovessi proprio trovarvi dei difetti questi sarebbero due: 1) il personaggio di Illidan è potente e pieno di risorse, ma ha di fronte un nemico che non è credibile possa battere; 2) nel finale gli viene tracciato un destino che sembra davvero inadatto al personaggio che è stato finora. Forse la cosa migliore di tutto il libro è come l'autore tratta i suoi due protagonisti, Illidan e Maiev, entrambi antieroi con forse più ombre che luci. Non vengono mai addolciti, scusati, giustificati per le loro parole / azioni spesso discutibili : sono quel che sono, due esseri con delle missioni che compirebbero a qualsiasi costo, e come tali vengono rappresentanti. Chi è il buono, chi il malvagio? L'autore lascia che sia il lettore a decidere.

O livro conta a saga Burning Crusade e é impressionante como o autor consegue envolver o leitor numa narrativa cheia de detalhes e essencial para a compreensão da história do universo Warcraft. Durante o jogo não se tem muita noção sobre a perspectiva do "vilão" Illidan, é impressionante como uma simples mudança de ponto de vista pode mudar todo seu entendimento sobre um mesmo evento. Se vc deseja saber o porque deveria ter enfrentado a Maiev ao invés de Illidan na batalha pelo Black Temple, não deixe de ler este livro!

As far as I know, this is the first of William King's Warcraft novels. Having a bunch of different authors write books in a series can swing both ways, but King definitely did a great job! I like his style, his pacing, and he seems to have great grasp of the universe. The book feels very similar to Arthas: Rise of the Lich King by Christie Golden, which is by far the best Warcraft book. I'm happy a bit disappointed at how some side plots and side characters kind of just disappeared out of the story. Some things where revealed to have happened by the end of the book, but we never got to read about it. Then again, Illidan is the focal point. Another great book in the series, and one I'd highly recommend to any Warcraft and fantasy fan!