The book begins with a lesser seen character, Drek'Thar, an orc shaman who players would recognize as the former leader of Alterac Valley in the game. He will continue to pop up throughout the story, as a shaman who is seeing dark and dangerous visions of the future. This is only the start of the parade of characters that will appear throughout the book, both major and minor characters from dungeons and quests that players have experienced through the classic game before the current expansion was released.
The story continues, bringing us Garrosh Hellscream and Cairne Bloodhoof as they fight to withdraw their troops from Northrend, the parades and memorials to the fallen of both the Alliance and the Horde, the occupation of Thunder Bluff and Ironforge, the deaths of Magni Bronzebeard and Cairne Bloodhoof, and many other events that led up to the recreation of Azeroth that we see in the game now.
The book is a very entertaining read, and all the characters are well written and received. Garrosh is the example of one of the characters that is shown in a light that sets up his character in the game. He is seen as both a brash, uncontrolled young warrior who has little regard for others lives but his own, and as a somewhat tactical general who is able to conceive backup plans and contingencies along with the main objective.
However, there is a couple major problems that I have with this book. It doesn't stem from anything that Christie Golden could control, or the fact that she failed at writing. On the contrary, the book is a wonderful addition into World of Warcraft canon and helps set up the expansion of 'Cataclysm'. The first one is that there is no true 'villain' in the book. Because the book is told from two separate sides that are rarely interacting, as well as each of those sides having their own internal antagonist, there is not one person for each character to fight against, but many.
In the previous book, this wasn't a problem, because we were being shown through the eyes of the villain. Arthas was the antagonist, so we didn't need a villain for him to fight. However, that's also what made Arthas great. Arthas was a character that readers could relate to. He was a human first, he wanted to do what is right for his kingdom. Over time, that right crossed a line and changed from kind-hearted intentions to twisted visions of torment. People can see something of themselves in Arthas, and that allows readers and players to connect with him more.
The Shattering has a true villain that is never shown, as the one causing the torment of the world is Deathwing, formerly known as Neltharion. He is the one who used to help shape and form the lands. Now he is out to kill everything that lives. But a villain like that is hard to connect to, since all they feel is pure hatred and rage. Arthas wasn't like that, he was human at one point, and that makes him a much better character.
The other problem I have with the book is that this book leads into an expansion where the world is led into chaos. In Cataclysm, the Horde and Alliance's cold war has heated up to a more aggressive level, and are fighting each other on multiple fronts for territory and resources. But at the same time, the whole world has faced devastating consequences from Deathwing's return. But not much is shown about that. The book ends leaving the expansion to tell the story, and can be separated from the book. Unlike Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, which had a true ending, this one did not.
Overall, it was a great book, but nostalgia is what keeps me revisiting Arthas and his story. Warcraft 3 was the first Warcraft game that I actually played, and Arthas is one of the characters that I keep coming back to. He was the true darkness in the human heart, and Blizzard's writers brought that out beautifully. But The Shattering is an entertaining read, and to anyone who likes these books, will not disappoint.
My Review:
3/5 stars
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