Best/Worst Warcraft writers

[Deleted]

Recently, I have been catching up with latest Warcraft books and it came to my attention that I like some writers of Warcraft literature more then others.

My best writer is definitely Christie Golden. I really like her way of writing and her books Arthas: Rise of the Lich King and War Crimes are my favorite WoW books so far.

The worst writer, in my opinion is Richard A. Knaak. I just finished his Dawn of the Aspects and found it absolutely boring as hell. Although the theme is great, his repetitive and predictable writing style made it very hard to read. Same thing with his War of the Ancients trilogy. Despite it being great thematically, due to his writing style,, it took me two weeks (with daily reading) to finish it. Same goes for Stormrage and Wolfheart.

So I wandered whats MMO champs user base best/worst WoW writer and why? Whose writing style you find to be best suited for writing these books?

[Mytheros]

Are you insane....Knaak is the man....at least if you read Dragonlance.

No I actually agree with you some of his warcraft novels are a little off....but seriously his work with Dragonlance was great though.

I do agree Christie Golden is excellent.

[Northy]

None of them suck.

[Menzolies]

I like Christie, always thought her books to be engrossing and hard to put down, but it also depends on the subject matter as well.

[Grenzstein]

William King was so damn great in his Warhammer novels, i felt really let down by his Warcraft work. His work in Gotrek and Felix and Space Wolf are amazing and yet his Warcraft work was pretty bland. Knaak is bad because he loves to create mary sues. Golden ain't bad but ain't great either.

[Rixis]

The only William King book I've read was Illidan and thoroughly enjoyed it, not sure if it was the writing or the story or both, one of the best I've read.

That said, I haven't disliked any of the Warcraft books I've read personally. It's fantasy, sometimes superheroes are made.

[Leodok]

Christie Golden is great, I have no problems with Knaak, haven't read anything from William King yet.

[FlemmMinis]

I can't stand knaaks style. Could be a translation problem, but I can't stand his books.

[RedGamer030]

Worst: Duncan Jones.

[Orby]

Knaak, case and point the mess that was the War of the Ancients Trilogy.

Now I don't mind Knaak when he writes about humans or dragons. Which is why I think at least the Day/Night of the Dragon series was okay, I liked them.

But for the love of god keep him away from Night Elves. One of the big problems with WotA Trilogy and Wolfheart were Knaaks inability to write Night elf culture, the way they behave and act they might as well be human. He cannot or refuses to nail them down as anything other than Night Elves by name only.

Let's not forget the butchering of Princess Tyrande Peach, who constantly falls over and faints. In Warcraft 3 she took out a horde of undead alone on a bridge. In Wolf Heart she faints at the sight of battle...

Oh and let's not forget his writing of Broxigar aka Hulk.

And if I have to hear him write "orbs" as a word for eyes I will go insane.

Yea sorry for rant but Knaak triggers me on the worst levels. People like Christie Golden can at least spark some emotion from her books, like Tides of War oh my god, there was passion written into the aftermath of the destruction of Theramoore, I felt for that gnome whose name passes me now who died, the only emotion I get from Knaak is rage lol


If you like his work great, I won't argue with you we all have our tastes, but I just cannot bear him.

[Thandrend]

Chris Metzen, while serious awesome, is the worst writer anymore. He drives me freaking crazy with all of his changes.

King's Illidan is awesome.

[ro9ue]

Worst: Duncan Jones.

[Zublits]

I'll get flak for this, but honestly I found them all to be unreadable. I guess I probably would have enjoyed them when I was in my mid to late teens. Sadly my bar is just a lot higher these days with how many excellent books are out there and how little time I have to read them. I can accept that I'm simply not the target demographic. I'm not knocking the people that enjoy them.

[shaunika123]

well i enjoyed the war of the ancients and day of the dragon, the rest of knaak's books are meh, but i enjoy anything warcraft to a certain degree

my favourite warcraft novel is lord of the clans, but i didnt really like tides of war at all for example so im not sure i'd say christie golden is the best, except for the final act which was great, the start was so meandering and jumbled.

[DemonHunter18]

Knaakshit is the worst.

Christie is the best.

[MoanaLisa]

I wish Knaak cared more about the game, which by his interviews, he clearly doesn't. He's a pro and churning out books is what he does. He's probably my least favorite although it's going too far to say I hate him.

Golden obviously knows the universe and the game and it shows up in her books. If I had a favorite it would likely be her.

I haven't read any of William King's stuff except for Warhammer. I like him OK but nothing he's ever written has ever really made me want to read it again.

I think the real problem is that books like this are churned out like commodities and all of these writers know how to do that pretty well. Nonetheless, they never rise much above the level of movie novelizations and are written more like young adult novels instead of straight-up epic fantasy and are written to a specific audience as commercial 'product'. So they're OK but there's not much art to them--deliberately but that's a conversation about publishing in the 2010's-- and I've never wanted to read any of them more than once. Enjoyable enough but ultimately forgettable. That may not be the writer's fault entirely but it's still hack writing no matter how much you dress it up with love and affection for the game.