World of Warcraft: Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects

This book was absolutely amazing. it not only followed the in game story line, but pulled me in like any of Chtrisy's other books on wow lore. GREAT BOOK. a definite recommendation. i just couldn't put it down!!

This is, without doubt, the worst novel I have read. Reads like a grade school essay. Blizzard has so many great writers to choose from. Why they approved this book is beyond me. I wish I can get my time I spent reading this back.

Bookworm Speaks!

World of Warcraft: Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects

by Christie Golden

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Acquired: Barnes and Noble Booksellers
Series: World of Warcraft (Book 9)
Hardcover: 336 Pages
Publisher: Gallery Books (July 19, 2011)
Language: English
Subject: Science Fiction and Fantasy

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The Story: When Azeroth was young, the noble titans appointed the five great dragonflights to safeguard the budding world. Each of the flights' leaders was imbued with a portion of the titans' vast cosmic powers. Together, these majestic Dragon Aspects committed themselves to thwarting any force that threatened the safety of the WORLD OF WARCRAFT.

Over ten thousand years ago, a betrayal by the maddened black Dragon Aspect, Deathwing, shattered the strength and unity of the dragonflights. His most recent assault on Azeroth—the Cataclysm—has left the world in turmoil. At the Maelstrom, the center of Azeroth's instability, former Horde warchief Thrall and other accomplished shaman struggle to keep the world from tearing apart in the wake of Deathwing's attack. Yet a battle also rages within Thrall regarding his new life in the shamanic Earthen Ring, hampering his normally unparalleled abilities.

Unable to focus on his duties, Thrall undertakes a seemingly menial task from an unexpected source: the mysterious green Dragon Aspect, Ysera. This humble endeavor soon becomes a journey spanning the lands of Azeroth and the timeways of history itself, bringing Thrall into contact with ancient dragonflights. Divided by conflict and mistrust, these dragons have become easy prey to a horrific new weapon unleashed by Deathwing's servants . . . a living nightmare engineered to exterminate Azeroth's winged guardians.

Of even greater concern is a bleak and terrifying possible future glimpsed by Ysera: the Hour of Twilight. Before this apocalyptic vision comes to pass, Thrall must purge his own doubts in order to discover his purpose in the world and aid Azeroth's dragonflights as they face the Twilight of the Aspects.

The Review: If Bookworm had to choose, then Bookworm would say that the orc Thrall is probably their favorite character in all of World of Warcraft.

It has been said that the best way to develop characters is to torture them. While ‘torture’ may be a bit too far, the text succeeds in putting Thrall through great hardship and adversity. Thrall, like the world of Azeroth has undergone great changes. He has stepped down from his position as Warchief of the Horde and has joined the Earthern Ring of shamans in order to heal the sundered world. This has not been an easy transition though. Thrall has been a statesman (or orc) longer than he has been a shaman and the other shamans of the Earthen are aware of this. Even though Thrall is not power-hungry like other characters, he has grown accustomed to power, as almost anyone would be. He was Thrall! Savior of the Orcs, Warchief of the Horde! When he talked, people listened. Now though, he is among the shaman, he is almost a rookie. The other’s have been Shaman’s a lot longer than he has and while they aren’t outright hostile, they are on the same side after all

For a long time now, there were persistent rumors that Thrall would end up in romantic relationship with the human character Jaina Proudmoore, with whom they shared a close friendship for many years and was partially responsible for maintaining piece between the Horde and the Alliance. Thusly the ‘shipping’ between Thrall and Jaina lasted quite a while and was vocal component of the fandom. One that Blizzard did much care for and thusly crafted a character in order to silence the shippers and set the record straight, hence: The Orc Shaman Aggralan.

The developers pretty much admitted that was their intent and shows in regards to the character. Aggra is not the most interesting character. Bookworm actually had to consult the World of Warcraft Wiki because they could not even remember her name! Perhaps future expansions, both in the games as well as the bookshelves will develop her character. If Aggra has any hope of being as memorable as her husband, it will be a necessity.

Bookworm was rather neutral in regards to the prospect of romance between Thrall and Jaina but Blizzard would have done well to settle it one way or another, without creating such a token and forgettable character. Thankfully, Aggra is not in this book for very long and spares the reader her blandness. Tremendous strides have been made in regards to representation of female characters over the dominant male characters but Aggra needs some serious writerly love.

Final Verdict: This Book is an interesting dive into one of Warcraft’s most iconic characters. Anything not related to Thrall tends to fall to the wayside and the book as a whole suffers for it. The Thrall chapters save this book but ultimately it feels like a half-hearted attempt at chronicling World of Warcraft

The Rating:

Three Shaman Crests out of Five

Thrall Twilight Of The Aspects by Christie Golden

This is another World of Warcraft novels. This time Thrall the Orc is questing for the lands of Azeroth and specifically for the green Dragon Aspect, Ysera.

Somehow I think books should come first and then the game but in the real world to get young boys to read you do what you can. If this series encourages boys to read then it is well worth the effort.

Never having played World of WarCraft I feel like I am at a serious disadvantage in reading this book. I am sure that advocates of the game will welcome the rich and colorful details that the can experience in a book focused on their favorite game. I do not care how careful and what level of expertise programmers bring to a rpg game, they can not expect to exceed the infinite expression of imagination. Reading this book can provide a more satisfying gaming experience with Golden's excellent character development and screen painting.

For me, the book wasn't particularly intriguing but for the World of WarCraft aficionado I suspect this will be a must have book.

I recommend the book for World of WarCraft gamers.

The Titans imbued different Aspects of their power into the five Dragonflights with the mission to protect Azeroth. The Dragonflights worked cohesively until the Black Neltarion/Deathwing turned against his comrades and threatened the world with the Cataclysm that at Maelstrom is ripping apart Azeroth. As the shaman try to prevent the end, one of them Thrall the former Horde warchief struggles to focus on the current Cataclysm.

Ysera the Awakened Green Dragonflight is frustrated as she is unable to tell her three comrades (Malygos the Spellweaver Blue, Alexstrasza the Life Binder Red and Nozdormu the Timeless Bronze) that she envisions the final catastrophe; but is unsure of when as what she vaguely sees may be aeons in the future. She senses a special shaman so she assigns a trivial task for this Thrall to accomplish. He journeys from Maelstrom to Feralas on Kalimdo and from there on places on this island. Finally he goes on to Nexus on the island of Northrend. His seemingly insignificant trek leads Thrall to understand how the Dragonflights became distrusting of one another and a biological weapon of total extinction is being deployed by Deathwing. The life of a planet is at stake unless he can lead a counterattack.

This is a fascinating fast-paced World of Warcraft epic fantasy. The story line enables the reader to see much of the world through Thrall and learns the different skills possessed by the Dragonflights. However, the faster than the speed of light plotting impedes the character development of the Dragonflights or that of the protagonist. Still fans of the World of Warcraft will appreciate Thrall's adventure to protect the four Dragonflights adhering to their mission in order to save Azeroth.

Harriet Klausner

The title of this book is very misleading. Being a fan of Thrall, I was excited to jump right in and read more about him. However, after the prologue, there is never a mention of him again through the rest of the story. Instead the main characters are Kalec, Jaina, and the four Aspects.
Unwillingly using a mysterious artifact, Kalec's mind goes back in time to before there was the Four Aspects. Riding piggy back with Malygos, Kalec learns more about the ancestors of dragon- the protodragons- and how eventually four of them become the Aspects. Unfortunately, the artifacts has dangerous side affects that require the assistance of Jaina to counteract.
As a stand alone novel, this was interesting to read. However I fail to see how it fits into World of Warcraft story-line. It really did not do anything to progress the story as a whole forward. The prologue did not even seem to have anything to do with the rest of the book and in fact, made the first part of it rather confusing.
If you are just looking for a little side reading for entertainment, I would suggest this book. Otherwise, I would say just skip over this book entirely.

Reading about Thrall is probably one of the most intriguing things to do. I loved the last book Christie Golden wrote on his rise to power as the watching of the Horde and couldn't put that one down. This book was no different. Absolutely fantastic!!

"Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects" is a book that might be unique in the WarCraft franchise in that it is a story about intimate, personal journeys. The tale centers around Thrall who, questioning his recent decisions and uncertain whether he is doing the right thing, finds his focus fragmented and his ability to contribute to the Earthen Ring's efforts at the Maelstrom hampered. Ysera the Awakened (formerly the Dreamer) comes to the former Warchief in this period of doubt and gives him a seemingly simple task to perform that, as Thrall learns more, morphs into something far larger with the fate of the dragonflights and the future of the world at stake as the Twilight's Hammer Cult prepares to awaken a new weapon of terrifying power. Only by standing together can the dragons defeat this threat, but the unity of the Wyrmrest Accord has been shattered following Malygos's death and the dragonflights and their leaders are in disarray: Ysera's dreaming has given her visions of the future that even she doesn't fully understand, Nozdormu is lost in the Timeways, Alexstrasza has succumbed to grief, and the Blues are divided over who should be their next Aspect. To save Azeroth Thrall must help the dragonflights overcome these wounds and their divisions and, in doing so, rediscover who he truly is.

Christie Golden is this story's author and quickly demonstrates that, nearly 10 years after first introducing Thrall to the WarCraft universe in the novel "Lord of the Clans," she still understands this character and that there is still space for Thrall's identity to change and grow. Moreover, Golden structures the narrative so that, above and beyond the basic plot of Thrall uniting the dragonflights against the Twilight's Hammer's dark scheme, the challenges the Aspects are struggling with reflect Thrall's own. Ysera is confused by how things are supposed to fit together, Nozdormu has become so obsessed with the past and future that he can no longer find himself in the present, Alexstrasza is paralyzed by her mournful sorrow, and Aspect-candidate Kalecgos is afraid that becoming something new will fundamentally change who he is. In helping and healing them Thrall has the opportunity to help and heal himself, and this multi-layered approach to storytelling where the external and internal mirror each other gives this novel an emotional power that few books in the WarCraft series have attained.

At the same time, while the Twilight's Hammer are in some ways secondary to the central and intrinsically personal heart of the story, they pose a legitimate threat to the protagonists that brings past and present elements of WarCraft history together in their new weapon. And, just as Golden did for Aedelas Blackmoore back in "Lord of the Clans," the main antagonist of this novel, a man known as the Twilight Father, is more than the sum of his parts. He is despicable but compelling, cowardly yet powerful, and unsettlingly intelligent and dangerous. The revelation of his true identity near the end of the book could have used more grounding in the story because those who don't play World of WarCraft might not recognize him, but otherwise he is an effective villain that stands out in a tale filled with such large and well-known characters as Thrall and the Aspects.

"Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects" is at its strongest when it focuses on the implicit parallels and relationships between its title character and those he encounters and lets actions and events speak for themselves, such as the unspoken yet poignant meaning of what transpires when Thrall meets Alexstrasza for the second time. It is at its weakest when these character explorations are rushed to advance the Twilight plot and when the story feels like set-up for future MMO Cataclysm patches because, for all that happens here, Deathwing and the climax of what began in Christie Golden's previous WarCraft novel, "The Shattering," are saved presumably for the current World of Warcraft expansion's conclusion. In a certain way, though, this is appropriate because this is a story of journeys, and while Thrall travels far in this book his journey -- both personal and otherwise -- is still ongoing.

There were many personal struggles in this book. It got into the raw emotion linked to Azeroth being torn apart. Some events that took place left me wanting to say, "you have no right to do that". For example, killing off one of my favorite characters. Overall, it was a good read. I liked the back stories and the little pieces of history filled in. However, I do feel that they're holding Thrall a little too high. I like him, he's a wonderful character, I'm just having a hard time going along with some of this. I've read most of the Warcraft/World of Warcraft books and it I'm getting the feeling that this can't go much further...unless another war with the Old Gods opens a whole new door for the story of Azeroth to continue.

I really enjoy the novels in this series by Christie Golden. Every time I read her novels I find myself completed caught in her tales and easily imagine myself in the world she describes. Highly recommend to anyone that's a fan of the game, or just wants a great action fantasy read.

I found the story of the "rebirth" of vegetation in Descolace much more compelling than lands being changed and allowing water flow into the area. That's my main comment, but the book is really a fantastic read.

This is a heart felt powerful book that really delved into who thrall is, not just game plotting. I was very pleased. I actually do think it synchs nicely with the game unlike what others are saying. This book really tied together the shattering, lord of the clans, and warcraft 3, and thrall's story in game. must read.

Having never read Golden's work outside the Warcraft universe I will refrain from commenting on her ability as a writer in the broader sense. Within that universe, however, Golden has consistently delivered melodramatic, childish prose with largely absurd twists and convenient plot elements covering for a lack of any respect for the characters or lore set she is writing. This title, along with the recent Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, are poorly written by any standard, and even moreso considering the lack of effort required to invent backstory, plot elements, and characters in an original work. Even with canned sets of these, pages of previously written lore to draw upon, Golden delivers flat, stale narratives again and again within the Warcraft setting.

Like any of her previous books in the Warcraft lore, take a pass on this one and save yourself a headache unless you're a major fan and just want to know the story for a sense of completion.

Poorly written and far away from the high standards of the games.
I can't recommend this or any other Warcraft related work from Christie Golden.
Her former work "The Shattering" was actually the worst book I ever read and I read allot.
I can't imagine how she was able to get this Contract from Blizzard. And why they didn't hired a good writer.
The only thing which is selling these books is the Brand.