Arthas: Rise of the Lich King

Title Arthas - Rise of the Lich King
Author Christie Golden

I have to admit I was looking forward to reading this book.

The book follows the life and times of Prince Arthas Menethil, Prince of Lordaeron in the human kingdom in Azeroth.

Its a fairly common story in many ways: The young boy wanting to be more than life was allowing him to be, feeling that life is unfair or passing him by due to his family restricting his experiences. Desperate to write his own story he learns of the battles with the Orcs, their incarceration in camps and fueling his own - perhaps misguided - hatred of them. This is however aside from the point. Arthas life is directed towards a couple of key moments that would define him. One such moment is again down to trend - he met a girl. A girl he would fall in love with and he would eventually feel betrayed by.

Unfortunately for Arthas, his lovelife and his passion for Jaina are not the the key to his downfall - while important it just adds to the most difficult moment of his life, an event that takes place in the city of Stratholme. Much of this tale can be compared to many throughout the history of story telling, and it is not hard to compare Arthas to someone like Anakin Skywalker (not hard at all in fact).

I'm not going to write much more on this right now, particularly as I know Karen has just taken it to read - although she knows the lore - but will comment on Golden's writing style.
It is important to note that Golden is an avid Warcraft (World of) player and therefore a lot of the lore she is getting to play with may be close to her heart. This shows - a lot.
She creates a persona for the key names in the world that fits perfectly, and knows which lore to transcribe within this tale and which to shy away from. She keeps to the point, allowing the story to flow and not sidetrack. All in all, managing to give you a satisfying read which leaves you thinking how nice it would be to read the stories associated to it. That of Thrall, of Kael'Thas, of Sylvannas.

8/10 for fans
7/10 for those with less invested

Note:
I suppose I should work up a rating system if I'm going to blog in this way so for now, lets go with a standard of /10 for overall.

Introduction

It seemed logical to me to have separate blogs for separate media and therefore herein lies my books and literary section.

Once again I'll write my thoughts whether scathing or jubilant regarding that which I read. Mostly in novel form or comics. However occasionally online.