What's bad about Knaak books?

[Aeula]

Just look at the characters he's created.

[Deleted]

Just look at the characters he's created.

the only one i ever hear complains about is rhonin. nobody ever complains about his work on the dragonflights or broxigar to name a few.

[Deleted]

Self-inserted flamming hair Rhonin, the master of Illidan, and his Raptor Army.

the only one i ever hear complains about is rhonin. nobody ever complains about his work on the dragonflights or broxigar to name a few.

Krasus did took a hit back in the days.

The rest of the Dragonflight was already partly developed on the "good" Knaak book, Day of the Dragons.

[Graden]

[Kathranis]

Knaak's done a couple decent books (I thought Wolfheart was pretty good), but he's just not a great writer. He's made his career writing fantasy schlock: Dragonlance, Dragonrealm, shit like that. Cheap paperback fantasy novels.

He's brought the same sensibilities to most of his Warcraft books. He tends to insert his own original characters and ideas into plots rather than focus on established stuff from the games, and he's got a hard-on for dragons so you can damn well bet that he'll find a way to work Krasus (his dragon OC) into the plot.

Couple that with his penchant for purple prose and you've got a recipe for mediocrity.


I don't get the recent hate for Christie Golden's stuff. She's not an amazing write or anything, but he books are at least solid and feel like Warcraft, which is far more than can be said for Knaak's. Plus she wrote Rise of the Horde, which is easily one of the best books in the series. Rise of the Lich King isn't bad, either, even if it's mostly just a retelling of Warcraft III.


William King's probably the best thing to happen to Warcraft in print in a long while. Illidan might be my favorite Warcraft novel. His writing style is maybe a bit blunt, but it works for the subject matter of that book.

[Deleted]

I don't get the recent hate for Christie Golden's stuff. She's not an amazing write or anything, but he books are at least solid and feel like Warcraft, which is far more than can be said for Knaak's. Plus she wrote Rise of the Horde, which is easily one of the best books in the series. Rise of the Lich King isn't bad, either, even if it's mostly just a retelling of Warcraft III.

I wanted to murder myself all through Warcrimes. She's better than Knaak, but only slightly. Though to be fair I did like Lord of Clans, but that was over a decade ago when I was easily impressed.

[Aestholus]

War Crimes was the most horrible of all warcraft books for me.

The trial was laughable and the August Celestials judgment for Garrosh "let him live to learn from his errors" before he ran away was stupid.

And Jaina let go of her hate for the horde.................. which Blizzard forgot later.

[Wyrt]

What's the problem about a little bit of time-travel? It's being used in WoW and other Warcraft books too.

Besides, Broxigar and Krasus were well done. I liked Rhonin in WotA, not so much in the other books though.

Because it fucked up the WC3 story for no reason. It's a pointless retcon mostly so Knaak could insert his mary sue in WotA. Also, not every single story in Warcraft needs to have orcs and humans in it.

If night elves knew about orcs and even had a statue of one made, why would they attack them in WC3?

[Deleted]

Because it fucked up the WC3 story for no reason. It's a pointless retcon mostly so Knaak could insert his mary sue in WotA. Also, not every single story in Warcraft needs to have orcs and humans in it.

If night elves knew about orcs and even had a statue of one made, why would they attack them in WC3?

I don't remember. Haven't played WC3 possible in around 10 years.

Still wondering why you kind of make a big deal out of it. I enjoyed it, I see no issues.

Regarding Rhonin the all powerful... What about Illidan? He shredded demons too. See, I don't get the Rhonin hate all that much. Raptor army, yeah, that was kinda silly. But all in all, not as bad as some over presentation of other characters we've had/have (Both in WoW and books).

[Deleted]

Regarding Rhonin the all powerful... What about Illidan? He shredded demons too. See, I don't get the Rhonin hate all that much. Raptor army, yeah, that was kinda silly. But all in all, not as bad as some over presentation of other characters we've had/have (Both in WoW and books).

Rhonin teached Illidan. Not even joking.

[Thage]

Let's put it this way: one of the first writing projects he got under the Warcraft label was to write about the War of the Ancients, the single-biggest turning point in night elf history and arguably Azeroth's history as it led to the Sundering. Kanaak made it a time-traveling story about his OC Rhonin and a handful of forgettables and Broxigar, who is noteworthy only because Knaak (in typical Knaak fashion) gave him the most hilariously over-the-top, overwritten, yet emotionless death scene in Warcraft fiction. And somehow, that death scene caused readers to latch onto Brox with the same memetic tenacity people latched onto Saurfang with.

Since then, Knaak spent years more or less dipping his ballsack in the lore when he wasn't vigorously violating it from behind at a rate that even Kosak at his worst couldn't hope to measure up to. Much like his earlier work in Dragonlance, Knaak cares little to nothing for an established setting except as a vehicle to show off his precious original characters, and he'll derail whichever existing characters he has to to get them to toss his characters' salad while sitting on the sidelines, like it's a fucking episode of DBZ where all the interesting characters talk to each other seeing who can out-shill Goku the hardest 'cause fuck me if they're doing anything worthwhile except being his cheerleaders by the climax.

Thankfully, around Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects and onward, Bizz seems to have realized he's a talentless hack coasting off his old Dragonlance work the same way R. A. Salvatore has been coasting off Drizzt for decades, and they've more or less actively retconned most of his books. War of the Ancients is no longer the canon representation of those events (Rhonin's posse being a part of it doesn't get so much as a passing reference ingame), Stormrage seems to have happened only in broad strokes as Xavius and the Emerald Nightmare are alive and active in Legion, Rhonin and Krasus were killed in books, and the Dragonflights (arguably the only good work he's done for the franchise as a whole) have disbanded and the Aspects lost their special powers. Vereesa is still active, but ultimately plays second fiddle to Jaina and the player.

- - - Updated - - -

William King's probably the best thing to happen to Warcraft in print in a long while. Illidan might be my favorite Warcraft novel. His writing style is maybe a bit blunt, but it works for the subject matter of that book.

I'd really like to see Jeff Grubb and Shadows of the Horde's writer given more work. The Last Guardian was a splendid mix of action and mystery/thriller as Khadgar uncovered the secrets of Karazhan, and SotH actually felt like a novel told from Vol'jin's and Chen's points of view.

[Nero Duskwind]

Let's put it this way: one of the first writing projects he got under the Warcraft label was to write about the War of the Ancients, the single-biggest turning point in night elf history and arguably Azeroth's history as it led to the Sundering. Kanaak made it a time-traveling story about his OC Rhonin and a handful of forgettables and Broxigar, who is noteworthy only because Knaak (in typical Knaak fashion) gave him the most hilariously over-the-top, overwritten, yet emotionless death scene in Warcraft fiction. And somehow, that death scene caused readers to latch onto Brox with the same memetic tenacity people latched onto Saurfang with.

Since then, Knaak spent years more or less dipping his ballsack in the lore when he wasn't vigorously violating it from behind at a rate that even Kosak at his worst couldn't hope to measure up to. Much like his earlier work in Dragonlance, Knaak cares little to nothing for an established setting except as a vehicle to show off his precious original characters, and he'll derail whichever existing characters he has to to get them to toss his characters' salad while sitting on the sidelines, like it's a fucking episode of DBZ where all the interesting characters talk to each other seeing who can out-shill Goku the hardest 'cause fuck me if they're doing anything worthwhile except being his cheerleaders by the climax.

Thankfully, around Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects and onward, Bizz seems to have realized he's a talentless hack coasting off his old Dragonlance work the same way R. A. Salvatore has been coasting off Drizzt for decades, and they've more or less actively retconned most of his books. War of the Ancients is no longer the canon representation of those events (Rhonin's posse being a part of it doesn't get so much as a passing reference ingame), Stormrage seems to have happened only in broad strokes as Xavius and the Emerald Nightmare are alive and active in Legion, Rhonin and Krasus were killed in books, and the Dragonflights (arguably the only good work he's done for the franchise as a whole) have disbanded and the Aspects lost their special powers. Vereesa is still active, but ultimately plays second fiddle to Jaina and the player.

This is the most beautifully accurate description I've read of Knaak's abominable tenure writing Warcraft novels for Blizzard.

[Deleted]

Rhonin teached Illidan. Not even joking.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, I'd say it's been ~10 years since I last read the books, possibly even longer, but Rhonin teaching Illidan wasn't all that weird. I think most Night Elves were set up to become Druids instead of mages. The Highborne were mostly into becoming mages I believe. Illidan didn't really want to become a Druid, he wanted more destructive power, becoming a mage. Rhonin was a mage. And Illidan was fascinated by his skill and he wanted to become stronger.

Again, it's been a long time, I hope my memory is still right regarding this.

I liked War of the Ancients, it's also one of the first books that I've read after Lord of the Clans & Of Blood and Honor. Maybe I'm a little bit biased.

Never read the WoW books with exception of Arthas (Which is my favourite Warcraft related book) and 1 or 2 more, I don't really remember.

[Wyrt]

I don't remember. Haven't played WC3 possible in around 10 years.

Still wondering why you kind of make a big deal out of it. I enjoyed it, I see no issues.

Regarding Rhonin the all powerful... What about Illidan? He shredded demons too. See, I don't get the Rhonin hate all that much. Raptor army, yeah, that was kinda silly. But all in all, not as bad as some over presentation of other characters we've had/have (Both in WoW and books).

I'm tired of the humans being Warcraft's mary sue race and constantly being forcefully shoved into every fucking story they don't belong in to show up the races that the story is actually about. Oh no, can't let WotA be about the night elves, better send in a human to save the day again AND fucking take over the Moon Guard for the night elves because they're so fucking incompetent.

[Sunshadow]

I don't remember. Haven't played WC3 possible in around 10 years.

Still wondering why you kind of make a big deal out of it. I enjoyed it, I see no issues.

Regarding Rhonin the all powerful... What about Illidan? He shredded demons too. See, I don't get the Rhonin hate all that much. Raptor army, yeah, that was kinda silly. But all in all, not as bad as some over presentation of other characters we've had/have (Both in WoW and books).

Rhonin was created with the purpose of having an independent viewpoint as well as an entry point for the reader which would have been fine if Knaak hadn't gone and Mary Sue the crap out of him and made all follow-up novels center around Rhonin and Krasus with every other established character playing second fiddle. While time-travel is a cliched trope, I think in the hands of a better writer, Illidan being taught by a time-travelling human would have at least been sold elegantly, instead of the way it was. I have to say that for my part, reading Knaak's novels was mentally exhausting. I did not enjoy the Dragon novels, or any other save War of the Ancients and that's partly due to a large cast of characters. He seems to get progressively worse with each story he churns out, with the style becoming more and more suitable for a children's book.

[Deleted]

and they've more or less actively retconned most of his books. War of the Ancients is no longer the canon representation of those events (Rhonin's posse being a part of it doesn't get so much as a passing reference ingame)

Sadly not true.
Brox is seen in one of the Illidan flashbacks, so is Krasus who Rhonin is riding and arcane blasting demons left and right.

[Tenjen]

he takes established stories and rather than continue them, he creates his own story and elements and then twists the long standing plot and character elements of the established story to fit his own story/characters and narrative. Instead of it being the other way around.

[Zephre]

Raptor armies and god like mary sue's like Rhonin.

[Dr Assbandit]

Isn't he to blame for the god-awful Mary-Sue abomination that is Med'an?

[Deleted]

Isn't he to blame for the god-awful Mary-Sue abomination that is Med'an?

That was someone else. Wheter that's good or bad is yet to be seen. Though just imagine what it would be like if Med'an's daddy is Rhonin and his mommy is Rhonin and his greatuncle is Krasus, who is Rhonin in disguise.