XolokReads reviewed Day of the Dragon by Richard A. Knaak (Warcraft, #2)
Not a book for Warcraft fans, people who aren't Warcraft fans, or people in general
1 star
I think this might be the first Warcraft novel written. The lore conflicts with what comes later. Warcraft had not yet really taken off in 2001. This was a novel for a fairly popular computer game in a time when that didn't mean too much culturally in 2001. It feels like the author didn't put that much effort into this. It's full of tired tropes and loans from Tolkien. Knaak's WoW books tend to be full of Events surrounded by characters that could be replaced by any other character from any other book or genre. For example, this book introduces Rhonin. He's a capable magician and he's a jerk. We're supposed to side with him because we are told that the people he's a jerk to are being irrational. Told. Not shown. Judging from what we are shown, Rhonin is merely the most boring kind of bad person. You know …
I think this might be the first Warcraft novel written. The lore conflicts with what comes later. Warcraft had not yet really taken off in 2001. This was a novel for a fairly popular computer game in a time when that didn't mean too much culturally in 2001. It feels like the author didn't put that much effort into this. It's full of tired tropes and loans from Tolkien. Knaak's WoW books tend to be full of Events surrounded by characters that could be replaced by any other character from any other book or genre. For example, this book introduces Rhonin. He's a capable magician and he's a jerk. We're supposed to side with him because we are told that the people he's a jerk to are being irrational. Told. Not shown. Judging from what we are shown, Rhonin is merely the most boring kind of bad person. You know what? What if he were Dr. Nick Riviera from The Simpsons? One gets the feeling that Dr. Nick could fit into Rhonin's part of the narrative and it would be far more interesting and relatable. What about Joey from Friends? I don't even like that show, but I would still enjoy reading about Joey bumbling his way towards heroism more than I would reading about Rhonin rallying despite being really tired because he is physically attracted to an elf. Captain Janeway - again, just pulling out random characters - she wouldn't understand what was going, but you'd love to read about her putting things together and figuring out a way to destroy the Demon Soul. There is one humanoid woman in this book too. We are told about how physically attractive she is from the viewpoint of every character she runs across. Rhonin is a jealous of other men talking with her, but he barely knows her or talks with her himself. That's the sign of a dangerous person. Aside from that, the motivation of most characters is kind of obscure for most of the book. It feels weirdly detached because of this. Too many characters have too little reason to be involved. I don't know if this was ever expected to be read as widely as it has been, but it's pretty bad. This is a Warcraft book to skip, for sure. You don't get any bits of story you can't find elsewhere.
