echoesofwinter's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
2.25
woahno's review against another edition
2.0
This was my 11th Warcraft novel. I read the three Warcraft novels and the War of the Ancients Trilogy and then the first four "World of Warcraft" novels before this. Maybe skipping five novels between Beyond the Dark Portal and Wolfheart was a really bad idea. I went for it anyway because I found a copy of this book at my local used book store and bought it thinking to myself "Hey, it's been like ten years since you read a Warcraft book you should do that again." Add to that the fact that I had a cold for about ten days and felt too fatigued to read at my usual times and I just didn't really ever get hooked on this story. In the past I would blow through these Warcraft novels in a few sittings and leave feeling like I had a lot of fun. Not the height of literature certainly but entertaining and immersive. This book was not that for me. It was disappointing.
Despite my lack of engrossment, and my general state of exhaustion, there are a lot of great and notable characters in this book. You get to see Malfurion, Tyrande, Maiev, Genn Greymane, Garrosh, Varian and a whole host of others in a smaller role or in a passing mention. Which I think is the main draw of books like this. If you are out there looking for more content on your favorite characters than this probably has it.
The plotting and overall story arc is solid. The rest is okay at best. There is a ton of exposition and retelling of older events for people like me who might have skipped books I suppose. There is a whole lot of telling you what is happening instead of showing you what is happening. And a lot of characters and actions lack any kind of depth.
I'll have to go back and read the books I skipped I suppose.
Despite my lack of engrossment, and my general state of exhaustion, there are a lot of great and notable characters in this book. You get to see Malfurion, Tyrande, Maiev, Genn Greymane, Garrosh, Varian and a whole host of others in a smaller role or in a passing mention. Which I think is the main draw of books like this. If you are out there looking for more content on your favorite characters than this probably has it.
The plotting and overall story arc is solid. The rest is okay at best. There is a ton of exposition and retelling of older events for people like me who might have skipped books I suppose. There is a whole lot of telling you what is happening instead of showing you what is happening. And a lot of characters and actions lack any kind of depth.
I'll have to go back and read the books I skipped I suppose.
justgeekingby's review against another edition
5.0
Really enjoyed the book and highly recommend it to WoW players as it fills in some blanks regarding Varian's sudden personality turn around, Anduin's progress with the Light and also Tyrande's behaviour in the novel War Crimes.
ezzydesu's review against another edition
4.0
“My name is Varian Wrynn, but I am also Lo’Gosh.”
★★★★✩
This book actually has a funny story behind it. I wanted to give my boyfriend a copy of this book for our one-month anniversary as I knew he wanted this book for a while yet. Ofcourse, as a fellow Warcraft fan, I ordered a second copy for myself with it. My idea was that when we both finished reading, we could talk about the plot and details and more. This was well over a year ago and he still hasn’t read it, though I don’t blame him as he isn’t a reader like me. (He loved getting it though, and that is what counts for me!) But yeah, this is the reason I postponed reviewing it until I outright forgot it (oops!). Better late than never, right?
The story takes place in the wake of the Cataclysm. Though the title Wolfheart refers to Variann Wrynn, the king of Stormwind and leader of the Alliance, the book is more focussed on the Night Elves. First there is a summit in their capital for a vote that the Worgen may join the Alliance and later the Night Elves have to defend their land in Ashenvale against the Horde looking to farm resources in the zone. At first, the title may be a bit misleading, but the character arc of Varian Wrynn is very interesting and important in this book, but not the main plot. But that doesn’t matter, as the book itself is quite good.
I am a Horde player myself, so I often don’t get the experience the Alliance side of the story of certain events, which made me enjoy this book even more. Though it was a bit of a bummer this book was so Alliance centered and the Horde was portrayed as a real evil and the Alliance as the good guys, while they obviously aren’t. It felt a bit unrealistic. I understand the perpective of the Alliance towards the Horde may portray them as such, but when a chapter is a Horde POV, it shouldn’t be that way. In the World of Warcraft, neither of the factions is bad or good and when one is portrayed as one, it is usually on character or a small group that go rogue or become evil, but that doesn’t define the whole factions. Feels a bit like bad writing from that point of view and I think this book could have been so much more if this wasn’t the case.
I absolutely loved reading this book, as I don’t know too much detailed lore from older zones in the game and this book tells the story of Ashenvale beautifully. You don’t have to read any previous books in the Warcraft series to understand and enjoy this book, aslong as you have some basic knowledge about king Varian, the Night Elves, the Worgen and the Horde under Garrosh’s reign. I do think that reading them all before this one will make you understand more things, but it is absolutely not needed. Most important things get addressed so the reader, even without too much knowlegde, understand what is happening and why.
The story itself was really a good and action packed. It wasn’t full of just fighting scenes, but also really strong and important conversations between various leaders and scenes with important events happening. This kept me hooked throughout the entire book and I really enjoyed these sorts of actions. The best thing is how the characters stayed really true to their in-game counterparts, which made everything feel really familiar.
I would really recommend this book, as it is really informative about certain events in the World of Warcraft. I gave it four stars as the title is a little misleading over the story, as it is more centered around the Night Elves, than on king Varian and sometimes the writing was a bit bumpy or hard to follow, but not too often that it was really a bother. Overall, a really enjoyable read and I look forward to read more Warcraft novels in 2019!
Read more reviews on my blog:
https://ezziesbookshelf.wordpress.com
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