All you Lore peoples.

[Bbproz]

I need help, I am interested in starting to read the Warcraft books etc. I would like to know which book to start off with, would be very much appreciated.
PS: When I tried buying a book before they had so many, I didnt know how they were ordered.

[Khorianas]

Well there are some of the books which have connections. Those you should read in order, but all others can be easily read solo. I'm a lot behind on my WoW Novel reading, but as far as I remember them I might give you some pointers.

Many of the Knaak novels feature Rhonin as a character, so you might want to start with Day of the Dragon which introduces him. After that you can read Night of the Dragon and the War of the Ancients Trilogy.

The Christie Golden books can be easily read solo, and so far I personally enjoyed those the most. That would be Lord of the Clans (Thrall's Background) or Arthas, Rise of the Lich King, or The Shattering.

I also read Cycle of Hatred, the Last Guardian and Rise of the Horde, they are not connected in any way I can remember, though I read them some years ago. Also good reads.

Meanwhile they released some more, like Beyond the Dark Portal and Stormrage, I didn't read those to so far, so I can't give any opinions.

My tip for you would be to read the synopsis of the books on Amazon, to get the setting and go with the one that peeks your interest.

[Realization]

Stormrage was my first book, I definitely reccomend that book specifically.

[Deleted]

I've read a couple of the WoW novels. The War of the Ancients triology, Rise of the Horde, Tides of Darkness, The Last Guardian, Beyond the Dark Portal, Day of the Dragon, Night of the Dragon, Lord of the Clans, Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, Cycle of Hatred, Stormrage, The Shattering. Just finished Beyond the Dark portal yesterday.
I have not read Wolfheart (I believe Knaak's last book was called, about Varian?).

My favourites are Lord of the Clans and the Arthas book. I like that you get a closer look at both Thrall's and Arthas childhoods and growing up, and eventhough I play alliance Rise of the Horde also stood out to me. I guess I'm a bit of a Christie Golden fangirl. While I like Knaak's books sometimes he tends to put focus on things that feels odd (Rhonin's red hair being mentioned a lot is one of them).

War of the Ancients triology is a good read but I wouldn't recommend starting with it because two of the important characters - Rhonin and Krasus - are being introduced in other books (Day of the Dragon being one of them). Which by the way, is a good read if you are into dragons.

Are you a horde player, maybe you would like Rise of the Horde, Lord of the Clans, and Beyond the Dark Portal.
Are you into reading "war books"? (I don't know how else to describe it...) Then maybe you would like Tides of Darkness.

I agree with what Khorianas said, read shortly what the books are about before you decide to buy one. Maybe there's one about your favourite character?

[GeordieMagpie]

Any, and I mean ANY book by Christie Golden, by god she is the best Author I have seen, though I'm curious to read Cycle of hatred, Rise of the horde is an amazing 353 page-read, I could only assume the same goes with Lord of the Clans. Also, day of the dragon bro, read it.

[The Madgod]

I'm just going to say it before it happens. Knaak bashing will not be tolerated in this thread.

That said, I'd actually reccomend The Shattering and Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects if you're just starting out. They're both pretty interconnected with the current in-game lore, particuarly that of 4.3, and they weren't bad reads, at least to me. If you've played the previous Warcraft games, some other good starting books are Arthas, Tides of Darkness, The Last Guardian, Beyond the Dark Portal, and Day of the Dragon, since those are set during the first through third wars.

If you're still interested in reading them all after getting your feet wet... there's a complete list of Warcraft books here for your perusal. I think most of them have been mentioned already, but it's nice to have a list!

[Deleted]

Any, and I mean ANY book by Christie Golden, by god she is the best Author I have seen.

Yay! I'm looking forward to that Jaina book.

My apologizes, I didn't mean to bash on Knaak or start any hating on him with my comment, I like his books aswell. Sorry. :/

[The Madgod]

Yay! I'm looking forward to that Jaina book.

My apologizes, I didn't mean to bash on Knaak or start any hating on him with my comment, I like his books aswell. Sorry. :/

No no no, you're fine!

You're discussing him in a mature way, that's fine. I don't want to stop discussion, I just want to keep it constructive. You don't have anything to worry about.

[Littleraven]

there really is no order for ALL of them if thats what you are looking for. like people are saying some of them are tied together and those should be read in order but theres 2 series series of books right now.

theres the warcraft series and the WORLD of warcraft series.

the order that is on wowpedia is as follows. the war of the ancients trilogy can be put at the beginning of all of these technically since it takes place 10000 years before the series.

warcraft series:
of blood and honor
day of the dragon
lord of the clans
the last guardian

world of warcraft series:
cycle of hatred,
rise of the horde,
tides of darkness,
beyond the dark portal,
night of the dragon
rise of the lich king
stormrage
the shattering
twilight of the aspects
wolfheart
tides of war (not yet released)

[pateuvasiliu]

Knaak is the most

I'm just going to say it before it happens. Knaak bashing will not be tolerated in this thread.

Oh sh- !

Well, I heard most of them are good but from what I know Christie is golden. ( pun intended )

[Kokiron]

The first reply really has it. There are only certain ones that need to be read in any sort of order and the rest can be read solo as long as you keep in mind what point in WC history the book is taking place (Stormrage happens between WotLK and Cata, Rise of the Lich King is flashbacks to WC3 and what isn't flashbacks happens just before WotLK, etc). Even if you do read the books that are related to eachother out of order, you won't get too lost.

[Deleted]

Here you go, your very own novel guide:
www . wowwiki.com / novel_guide

(can't post links yet)

[Deleted]

I only read Stormrage, guess u could say it's a "must read" book if u're a wow Lore fan.

[Deleted]

I'd recommend The Last Guardian most of all. It's the only book that I really had a fond time reading. The rest, for the most part felt so-so. Though I haven't read Stormrage or Rise of the Lich King

[Lalalaname]

Day of the Dragon was the first I read. Its a good read, and I think its the first book released. I enjoy most of Knaak's books and would follow Day of the Dragon with War of the Ancients trilogy.

[darxide]

I'm currently reading Chronicles of War which consists of 4 books: Rise of the Horde, The Last Guardian, Tides of Darkness, and Beyond the Dark Portal.

I don't really think there's any specific books to start reading with, but when you do get to these books, I recommend reading these 4 in this order. They are all one story line that starts 10,000 years ago on Argus and shows the corruption of the Eredar by Sargeras, the Draenei fleeing to Draenor (the homeworld of the Orcs), the progressive corruption of the orcs by Kil'jaeden and Mannoroth, the possession of Medivh by Sargeras and his role in opening the portal from Draenor to Azeroth and all of the events of the First and Second War.

More info: http://www.wowpedia.org/Chronicles_of_War

I personally like this story arc because it starts off not too far into the lore's past. The first book follows Durotar (Thrall's father) and Orgrim Doomhammer and is narrated by Thrall himself. The whole first book is set mostly in Nagrand, Shadowmoon Valley and what later became known as Hellfire Peninsula which takes me back to TBC which was my favorite expansion so I get a nostalgia trip reading them, too.

This book is also very cheap. It sells new for only $20 but I picked my copy up at Half Price Books for $8. That's only $2 a book which you just can't beat.

[Yorap]

Anything..and i do mean ANYTHING, with the Night elves, they truely are the start and end of all things Warcraft. Scary eh? Bet you thought it was the trolls! Joo crazy mon!

[zirasmate]

You want a good read, generic at this point, but pick up ARTHAS, its a solid night yo

[Lon-ami]

I may be late, but anyway, the best reading order is by release date. Why? because of the references and cameos. You won't understand them if you don't read the books by release date.

This is the complete list by release date:

Warcraft: Of Blood and Honor
Warcraft: Day of the Dragon
Warcraft: Lord of the Clans
Warcraft: The Last Guardian
Warcraft: War of the Ancients Trilogy
Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy
World of Warcraft: Cycle of Hatred
World of Warcraft: Rise of the Horde
World of Warcraft: Tides of Darkness
World of Warcraft: The Comic
World of Warcraft: Beyond the Dark Portal
Warcraft: Legends
World of Warcraft: Ashbringer
World of Warcraft: Night of the Dragon
World of Warcraft: Arthas: Rise of the Lich King
World of Warcraft: Death Knight
World of Warcraft: Stormrage
World of Warcraft: Mage
World of Warcraft: Shadow Wing
World of Warcraft: Shaman
World of Warcraft: The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm
World of Warcraft: Curse of the Worgen
World of Warcraft: Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects
World of Warcraft: Wolfheart