Before diving into the review proper, it’s important to note that Blizzard is releasing this book in a new fashion. Knaak’s latest work in the World of Warcraft universe will trickle out over the next few months in five installments. Each ringing up at $1.99, effectively costing more for those that purchase the full set. The serialized eBook is currently scheduled to wrap up in mid June. As such, this review will be concise.
Dawn of the Aspect has been a struggle to read through. The delayed releases of the individual parts of the eBook has endangered the novel further in my eyes. Rather than continuing reading to reach the next interesting plot point or gloss over additional unnecessary and repetitive detail, one has been left waiting weeks to see anything move forward. It’s been slow going during the first two installments, comprising of 10 chapters. Continue Reading
Before diving into the review proper, it’s important to note that Blizzard is releasing this book in a new fashion. Knaak’s latest work in the World of Warcraft universe will trickle out over the next few months in five installments. Each ringing up at $1.99, effectively costing more for those that purchase the full set. The serialized eBook is currently scheduled to wrap up in mid June. As such, this review will be concise.
The story arc of Dawn of the Aspects is slow. Knaak divides the book between two timelines. The reader is rooted in the current timeline, focusing primarily on Kalecgos and, like his predecessor, his fearful decline into madness. Jaina Proudmoore is the only character aside from the former aspect that has a meaningful role in this thread. The reader may be rooted in the current World of Warcraft universe, but the majority of the novel pertains to the evolution of proto-dragons to dragons and the eventual creation of dragon aspects.
Hit the jump for the full review of Part II of Dawn of the Aspects. Continue Reading
Before diving into the review proper, it’s important to note that Blizzard is releasing this book in a new fashion. Knaak’s latest work in the World of Warcraft universe will trickle out over the next few months in five installments. Each ringing up at $1.99, effectively costing more for those that purchase the full set. The serialized eBook is currently scheduled to wrap up in mid June. As such, this review will be concise.
Knaak returns to his dragonkind after their pyrrhic victory against Deathwing. The former Earth-warder gone only at the cost of the Aspects themselves. The Aspects remain alive, but without their powers leaving them to be known only by their proper monikers. Kalecgos, the former blue aspect after Malygos’ terror was ended, notices a disturbing change in the other, older comrades. They’ve given up, removed themselves from the struggle against the persistent evils of Azeroth. Leaving the chore up to the “younger” races.
Hit the jump for the full review of Part 1 of Dawn of the Aspects. Continue Reading
And I’m Back is a mini-series column dealing with the return to Azeroth after being away for so long. The series chronicles personal reactions to changes to discoveries and making the needed adjustments to the new Azeroth.
Okay, so the world was recently split in two by the former earth-warder Deathwing. Corrupted and unreachable, the massive iron-clad dragon was brought down by an army of unprecedented strength, camaraderie and perseverance. Markedly different than the composition that ruined Archimonde’s plans, but no less effective. What do you do as a collective after saving the world from certain destruction (again)? Visit Darkmoon Faire? Instantly turn on each other? How about rebuild your ruined home, some still burning, others wickedly scarred by the Cataclysm?
For the denizens of Azeroth, it seems that war will always be the answer.
To be fair to the lore, the two hotheads in charge make factional war inevitable. I’m not belittling the point that tensions haven’t eased. Moreover, I’m concerned with the fact that we’ve left our homes in ruins while we invade Pandaria, bringing our war to their unblemished shores. I’m not sure of the timeline difference between the demise of Deathwing and the discovery of Pandaria, but you’d think the people of Stormwind would have cleaned up a little, right? Put out the fires, mayhaps?
Hopefully some upcoming content patches have us looking domestically. The current construction workers certainly aren’t doing their job. Fair to assume they heard how the last reconstruction went…?
And I’m Back is a mini-series column dealing with the return to Azeroth after being away for so long. The series chronicles personal reactions to changes to discoveries and making the needed adjustments to the new Azeroth.
What’s the first action you do after logging in to an MMOG you’ve been absent from for some time? Me, well, I checked my guild statuses and friends lists. A guild had disbanded but friends were still logging in from time to time. The second action I took, one more interesting but not as important, was to hit shift+B and take a gander at my bags. Considering my departure from Azeroth was unplanned and pretty abrupt, I expected to find my bags a mess despite my storage OCD.
I was so correct. So horribly correct.
Once I pulled out the cobwebs and collected lint I realized where my characters were in their lives, raiding. Both characters had at least two bags dedicated to the end-game activity. It was a treasure trove of early Cataclysm items. Potions, food, feasts, stacks of ingredients for other guildmates to use, extra gems and even multiple sets of gear for distinct situations or offspecs were represented.
Today’s episode of Lore Cast is a mild spoiler kind. Mordil and Beararms are accompanied today by none other than Mrs. Mordil herself, as Sephalon. The majority of the conversation is of Star Wars: The Old Republic and what we’ve been doing, so it counts for today and Wednesday’s episode.
Note: Mordil was getting ahead of himself and spoke incorrectly during the video. It IS indeed, episode 5, and not 6.
Enjoy! As always, the agenda of the conversation is down below the jump.
Doesn’t the title say it all? Do we truly need an explanation to one of BlizzCon‘s consistently anticipated events? No, not the inevitable reveal of a new World of Warcraftexpansion or something new in the StarCraft or Diablo universes. Not Jay Mohr’s recycled punchlines and Grand Theft Auto anecdotes, but the customary Costume Contest. Which, by the way, is the only contest to remain largely unmolested, changing some key rules – size maximums – but continuing its tradition of showing any and all dedication to cosplay, from enormous turtles and a mistress of pain to hand-studded leather gauntlets and a Minecraft player that fell off the stage!
And so let it begin. You can see an ever-so-small morsel of the extravagance directly below, but the meat of the situation is after the jump. Our compilation spans the up-close-and-personal pictures to the far-and-away snapshots taken during the procession.
Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects opens like many other recentWorld of Warcraft novelizations. We’re introduced to the star character, Thrall. Said character is then introduced to a challenging force known to any player that has been following the overall storyarc. Today, that’s Deathwing and the devastation his reentry left on Azeroth. Readers are quickly shown how inept Thrall is at his new craft, shamanism. An adjective rarely applied to the renowned – on both sides – leader. Despite his spiritual growth at he hands of Draka in The Shattering, he can barely keep up with his Earthen Ring brethren, leading them to dismiss him, a former Warchief.
Thrall. He’s known by many names, for many reasons. The greenskin is known by both factions, loved and hated independent of such fissures. Warcrafters know more about him than any other faction leaders, quite possibly any other figure in the decades-long universe. And yet, fans don’t know him. Fans know his deeds, the legends, what he’s created and what he has left behind. Golden rectifies this in Twilight of the Aspects. Continue Reading
This review of the World of Warcraft: Dawn of the Aspects: Part 3 novel by Richard Knaak is of the spoiler-free variety. Check out the entire Blizzard catalog in our Extensive Extended Universe post.
Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects opens like many other recent 
