Attack Of Knaak!

[Onýx]

Well everyone has their own taste, and I found them to be better than the forgoten realms books. My oppinon is mine and yours is yours.

[Dudeyouknew]

Shit. Somebody find the thread Crawford did about Knaak and Rhonin.

[Wildberry]

I'm not sure whether or not Metzen likes Knaak's writing so much as his ability to churn out alot of material in a short amount of time

[Nahte]

I'm not to clear on why the general consensus is that Knaak is a bad writer. True I have not read any of the WOW based books (My nerdom can only go so far) But from what I have read of Richard Knaak in the past (Dragon lance books) I found his book "The legend of Huma" to be one of my favorite fantasy books of all time.

It's hard to explain without bashing or sounding pretentious, but the books seem to have more of a comic book feel if you can understand what I'm getting at.

For instance, the main character, Rhonin, is rediculously overpowered at many points and the story seems to revolve around him in most of the books. This, to some, isn't good writing. I'd say they would make nice action comics, but that's just me.

[Dudeyouknew]

I'm not sure whether or not Metzen likes Knaak's writing so much as his ability to churn out alot of material in a short amount of time

I was told that Metzen enjoyed the Knaak's work on Dragon Lance, but I can't recall where.

[Xeraluin]

thrall, i hope christie doesn't either. preordered that book, hope it's good

[Deleted]

I was told that Metzen enjoyed the Knaak's work on Dragon Lance, but I can't recall where.

i remember its in the first few page's of the warcraft achieve (not the WoA one)he calls him "The Richard Knaak!"

[Onýx]

It's hard to explain without bashing or sounding pretentious, but the books seem to have more of a comic book feel if you can understand what I'm getting at.

For instance, the main character, Rhonin, is rediculously overpowered at many points and the story seems to revolve around him in most of the books. This, to some, isn't good writing. I'd say they would make nice action comics, but that's just me.

I completly understand thank you for the insight.

[JeKv]

I'm not to clear on why the general consensus is that Knaak is a bad writer. True I have not read any of the WOW based books (My nerdom can only go so far) But from what I have read of Richard Knaak in the past (Dragon lance books) I found his book "The legend of Huma" to be one of my favorite fantasy books of all time.

The problem people have with him is that he generally doesn't seem to have much respect for the source material. He regularly commits two of the cardinal sins of franchise fiction: Mary Sue/Larry Stu, and Retconning.

Mary Sue: He picks a character as his "pet" (Rhonin is a fine example) and shoehorns that character into as many different lore events as possible, no matter how unlikely or nonsensical.

Retconning: This is where the lack of respect for the source comes in. He'll just change events and character histories on a whim if he feels its needed for his particular story. Creating a Mary Sue character generally involves a good bit of retconning.

[Deleted]

thrall, i hope christie doesn't either. preordered that book, hope it's good

christie MADE thrall, and i can be very critically cruel to female writers!

she still dose better then anything knaak shits out his back end

[Igneous42]

Ok so I know a lot of people don't like Knaak, but what exactly has he done?
I know he made Rohnin (sp?) his bitch and same with Krasus, but what does he do to the lore that spoils it beyond repair?

tl:dr I'm not defending Knaak but what did he do to f*ck up the lore?

Actually I'm fairly certain both Rohnin and Krasus were characters he created. But the reason people don't like his books is because he does tend to give his favorite characters super plot devices. Though to be fair, I think his first warcraft book Day of the Dragon wasn't bad. It wasn't till he started sending his characters back in time and stuff that it go dumb. And Night of the Dragon....all I can say is Raptor Army (facepalm)

[George Costanza]

I have just read night of the dragon other than that none.

[Fenixhart]

Why do people hate Knaak?


In terms of writing, he writes like one would RP. Which is to say, not very good at all. Rhonin's Red hair was emphasized Ad-Nausium.

His created characters are perfect and boring, and the pre-existing characters he writes about either become near godlike if they are men (He made Malfurion Superior to even the aspects in a couple instances) or reduced to fawning over said godlike characters or just being plain inept if they are women. (Saurfang's idiot niece, Alexstraza being reduced to a Portal jockey, Human-hating Sister of Sylvanus FALLING MADLY IN LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT with Rhonin, a Human Mage.)


Also, rather than simply telling a story about how it happened, like with War of the Ancients, he sends his Flagship character back in time to mentor Illidan and play the hero.

And finnaly, he made Hearthstones-stupidly common in-game item that was perfectly fine just being an in-game item, given out to every adventurer for sake of convinience, was made into a super-rare item from an ancient Highborne City.


And that's just off the top of my head.

[Deleted]

Why do people hate Knaak?


In terms of writing, he writes like one would RP. Which is to say, not very good at all. Rhonin's Red hair was emphasized Ad-Nausium.

His created characters are perfect and boring, and the pre-existing characters he writes about either become near godlike if they are men (He made Malfurion Superior to even the aspects in a couple instances) or reduced to fawning over said godlike characters or just being plain inept if they are women. (Saurfang's idiot niece, Alexstraza being reduced to a Portal jockey, Human-hating Sister of Sylvanus FALLING MADLY IN LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT with Rhonin, a Human Mage.)


Also, rather than simply telling a story about how it happened, like with War of the Ancients, he sends his Flagship character back in time to mentor Illidan and play the hero.

And finnaly, he made Hearthstones-stupidly common in-game item that was perfectly fine just being an in-game item, given out to every adventurer for sake of convinience, was made into a super-rare item from an ancient Highborne City.


And that's just off the top of my head.

i still have nightmares about that red hair mage

[Alraml]

Why do people hate Knaak?


In terms of writing, he writes like one would RP. Which is to say, not very good at all. Rhonin's Red hair was emphasized Ad-Nausium.

His created characters are perfect and boring, and the pre-existing characters he writes about either become near godlike if they are men (He made Malfurion Superior to even the aspects in a couple instances) or reduced to fawning over said godlike characters or just being plain inept if they are women. (Saurfang's idiot niece, Alexstraza being reduced to a Portal jockey, Human-hating Sister of Sylvanus FALLING MADLY IN LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT with Rhonin, a Human Mage.)


Also, rather than simply telling a story about how it happened, like with War of the Ancients, he sends his Flagship character back in time to mentor Illidan and play the hero.

And finnaly, he made Hearthstones-stupidly common in-game item that was perfectly fine just being an in-game item, given out to every adventurer for sake of convinience, was made into a super-rare item from an ancient Highborne City.


And that's just off the top of my head.

There-in lies the problem with perfect characters. They're already perfect so there's no character development, no twists and turns in their philosophy

[Igneous42]

Oh BTW what does this have to do with Cata? Like really....there are places where this belongs, this isn't one of them.

[Everafter]

Oh BTW what does this have to do with Cata? Like really....there are places where this belongs, this isn't one of them.

We HOPE it does not have to do anything with Cata.

[Deleted]

Hey,
I kinda just created an account on purpose to ask about Knaak.
I've started reading WoW books quite recently and couldn't help but notice that while his writing is certainly not 'THE BEST' ever, it's quite bearable... and his lore is apparently approved by blizzard and considered official.
What's the big problem with him then? Other than his writing style and the Mary-sue issues, is there any reason I should avoid his books as a way to keep up with lore?

[pickley]

christie MADE thrall, and i can be very critically cruel to female writers!

she still dose better then anything knaak shits out his back end

Pretty much, shes a great Author, i read Arthas and the one about Thrall, they were great, then I picked up day of the dragon, it was so damn hard to read.

[Agroculture]

Well everyone has their own taste, and I found them to be better than the forgoten realms books. My oppinon is mine and yours is yours.

But that's the problem;the Forgotten Realms books (or rather Salvatore's books) fall into the same rut.Drizzt and to an extent Elminster in the 3rd edition books (good god,from quirky yet benevolent old wizard,to lover of goddesses).

Knaak does the same thing.And it looks nothing like comics;comic book characters are occasionaly flawed.Rhonin is infallible!