World of Warcraft: Sylvanas
World of Warcraft: Sylvanas was written by New York Times Best-Selling Author, Christie Golden. The book was published by Del Rey and serves a media tie-in novel to Blizzard’s World of Warcraft game. This story takes place after the novel, Shadow’s Rising.
SUMMARY: Sylvanas Windrunner reflects on her life, from childhood all the way up to current day (in game). We follow her down the light and dark paths she took throughout her life, exposing the devastating details as to how and why she came to be so fierce. Sylvanas meets The Jailor in a place called the Maw. He reveals to Sylvanas that the afterlife is corrupt and unjust; that it needs to be transformed. If Sylvanas allies with The Jailer, together they can rebuild the afterlife to bring fairness and justice to the souls of not just Azeroth, but the universe.
OVERALL THOUGHTS: This book is packed with excellent character development, it has an entertaining plot, it’s loaded with emotion, and it’s tragic. It’s got all the elements needed to be a great World of Warcraft fantasy story.
This book has such an emotional story! Christie Golden managed to bring a tear to my eye a few times with this wonderfully tragic tale. Sylvanas Windrunner suffered great loss throughout her life, but her biggest flaw was her pride. She was forced into a life she did not want, being reborn to a world of chaos and endless pain, once she became the Banshee Queen. It was easy to feel sympathy for Sylvanas; but when she broke through her bondage to walk a new path, her swollen pride and eagerness for revenge, kept her enslaved to darkness.
Christie Golden explored the early life of Sylvanas Windrunner, and she did an outstanding job penning the family dynamic in the Windrunner household. Each character is unique; the love between them felt so authentic! I really enjoyed reading the backstory of the youthful Sylvanas and the times she had with her family; she had such a strong bond with her younger brother. The introduction of a man named Nathanos and how the relationship with Sylvanas came to be, was also written very well.
Christie Golden always does a wonderful job giving excellent descriptions. However, there are some elements in the story that I felt needed more explanation, such as the outcome of certain characters and events. I turned to web, browsing to see if some of these missing elements were found in other stories or videos published by Blizzard, some were.
I no longer play World of Warcraft, so I’m happy Blizzard has a YouTube channel with many videos that are highly entertaining and informative. The channel really is a helpful resource. World of Warcraft also has good sized library of short stories, comics, and books, which are a great substitute to spending hours in front of a screen playing the game.
RATING: This book receives a B+. Had more gaps been filled in to explain what happens to specific characters and event for non-gamers, I would have given the story an A+.