World of Warcraft: The Essential Sunwell Collection

WarCraft: The Sunwell Trilogy #1-3 & story

by Richard A. Knaak, Kim Jae-Hwan

This is the original bestselling "World of Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy" and the 4-part Trag story from "World of Warcraft: Legends" - packaged together in one thrilling volume! From the minds of Kim Jae-Hwan, artist of the best-selling "King of Hell" series, and Richard A. Knaak, the "New York Times" bestselling author, here is the Warcraft universe like you have never seen it before - The Dragon Hunt Is On!

Genres: Warcraft, Fantasy, Comics, Manga, World Of Warcraft, Fiction

608 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Richard A. Knaak is the bestselling author of Dragonlance novels, the Dragonrealm and Black City Saint series (his own creations), six novels for Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo series, and six works in the Warcraft universe. He has also written several non-series fantasy books.

Reviews

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE SUNWELL TRILOGY is really entertaining and really pretty look at but I can't really say that much remained with me after I read it. It's also the kind of lore specific Warcraft side content that gets overwhelmed by increasing additions to the canon. After all, it may be hard to remember the Blood Elves are EVIL magic addicts if you aren't playing the original World of Warcraft levels. That is, however, the premise here and trying to figure out a way to cure them of their horrifying addiction by restoring their source of magical crack. This is also where we eventually meet Jaina Proudmoore's dragon beau. Richard A. Knaak is a great author and I always enjoy his stuff.

[Altar Alkanat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hikayeye başlamadan önce evreni yaratan büyük olayların anlatıldığı kısma değinmek isterim. Öncelikle hikâyeye tamamen yabancı olanlar için güzel bir giriş görevi görüyor. Bu sayede okuyacağınız evrene karşı uzak hissetmiyorsunuz. Zaten biliyorsunuz, Warcraft tam anlamıyla devasa bir MMORPG evreni ve hikâye de bunu ciddi şekilde hissettiriyor. Sanki uçsuz bucaksız bir dünyanın içinde, ilk başta önemsiz gibi duran olayların arasında ilerliyorsunuz. Sonra bir bakıyorsunuz olaylar büyüyor, dallanıyor ve evren daha da genişlemeye başlıyor.
Savaş sahnelerindeki çizimler özellikle çok başarılı. Kılıç darbelerindeki ince kesik detaylarına kadar işlenmiş olması sahnelerin içine çekiyor insanı. Eğer okurken o kılıç seslerini ya da darbelerin çıkardığı sesleri kafanızda canlandırabiliyorsanız gerçekten bir RPG oyununun içindeymişsiniz gibi hissedebilirsiniz. Ben okurken birkaç yerde direkt bunu hissettim.
Bir diğer güzel taraf ise manzara çizimleri. Çizgi roman siyah beyaz olmasına rağmen atmosferinden hiçbir şey kaybetmiyor. Hatta bazı panellere birkaç dakika bakıp kaldığım oldu. Mekânların gizemli havasını çok iyi vermişler. Karakter çizimleri ise yer yer anime havası taşıyor. Bazı diyaloglarda da o anime tonunu hissedince bir an “Ben manga mı okuyorum acaba?” diye düşündürdü açıkçası.
Ayrıca her bölümde Warcraft evrenine ait yeni bir ırk, yaratık, canlı türü ya da karakterle karşılaşıyorsunuz. Bazı okuyucular için bu durum klişe gelebilir ama Warcraft’ın ne kadar büyük bir evren olduğunu bilenler için bence tam tersine merak uyandıran bir tercih olmuş. Hatta yer yer metal albüm kapağı hissi veren bir esrarengizliği bile var diyebilirim.
Kısacası Warcraft evrenini seven biriyseniz bu çizgi roman size o dünyayı tekrar yaşatmayı başarıyor. Sadece aksiyonuyla değil, atmosferiyle ve sürekli büyüyen gizem hissiyle de içine çekiyor. Okurken bazen bir RPG görev zincirinin ortasındaymış gibi, bazen de eski bir fantasy oyununun ara sahnelerini izliyormuş gibi hissettiriyor. Evrene aşina olanlar için güzel detaylar barındırırken, yeni girenleri de dışarıda bırakmayan bir yapısı var. Özellikle savaş çizimleri ve karanlık fantasy havası sayesinde bence Warcraft ruhunu başarılı şekilde yansıtan işlerden biri olmuş.
İyi okumalar.

[Nerd_Pilgrim · Rating 4 out of 5]

While manga isn't much my style (I prefer Novels or American Comic Books for my reading) this was an excellent East meets West scenario. Warcraft is delivered to you in a familiar yet slightly odd setting. Something about seeing the Warcraft universe in this style was a little off putting but towards the end I had grown accustomed to it. The Sunwell Trilogy is quite simplistic in terms of story with the usual sword and sorcery pulp style pacing and elements. I felt the dialogue a little basic too at times but did enjoy all the little references for fans of the World of Warcraft games. I felt that the book really came into its own towards the end of Book 2 and thoroughly enjoyed the extra story with Trag Highmountain at the end.

[John Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great High Fantasy story set in the warcraft world. Mr Knaak sets a wonderfully frenetic pace that doesn't let up for a second. The art is absolutely stellar full of great detail and depth that just pulls you in an makes you go wow!

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great art throughout and an easy to follow plot for those not well versed in WoW lore like myself, especially with the written prologue which details what has happened up to this point.

[Ikayuro · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of the Sunwell has always been a favourite of mine, and this is a wonderful rendition of it. My only complaint is the font choices at times; they can be very hard to read.

[Guy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is basically a comic book / graphic novel of several stories put together, it does contain some text-only explanation towards the front also. It is all black and white, the illustration style is OK, more "western" looking but there is a little subtle anime influence in how some of the characters are drawn such as some females having rather larger eyes. Some of the panels were a little unclear exactly what was happening, the story itself was OK, but not particularly engrossing to me compared to other books I have read. I can't explain exactly why it wasn't that interesting it was just kind of meh, not bad but not great.

This book is OK if you're a WoW fan or player, but otherwise it is probably just so-so. I have played WoW since Vanilla and so I was able to recognize characters from the game which made things a little more interesting.

[Rain Misoa · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a read! It was filled with action, adventure, magic, fantasy, and dragons! I am quite a fan of dragons... and elves... and anything magical for that matter! I never played any of the WoW games but I was still able to get involved in the story and the introduction in the beginning of the manga helps you understand quite a bit from the WoW universe. What appealed to me most about this manga was its artwork. Jae-Hwan Kim did an excellent job in drawing all the panels. The backgrounds are so beautifully designed as well as the characters and the other-worldly creatures. The dragons were my favorite design by far! I just cannot get enough of the artwork. The best character was Dar'Khan. He was so deliciously evil~ I couldn't get enough of him. Knaak did a fantastic job in writing this. The only thing I have to make clear is that if you haven't played the games, you might be slightly lost. But that's just a minor setback. Everything else is so enriching that not playing the games shouldn't hinder your enjoyment of this manga. I say pick it up and give it a shot!

[Unnur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly enjoyable and not very predictable. Interesting characters but in some cases not remarkable enough. It's my first introduction of the World of Warcraft. I think this collection in particular is a good beginning to gain interest in this fantasy world.
The plot was well executed and I am very fond of the world. It often reminded me of Tolkien's world, but not in a way that bothered me. I've never played any of the video games but I've always wanted to try it. Now I simply want to play them even more.

[Ivan Leong · Rating 1 out of 5]

A compilation of 3 books into 1. A thorough story about Kalegcos aka Kalec's adventures. Plot is quite blunt. The art is terrible, I know its manga style and I read tons of Manga but there is just so much black involves some pages looks messy.

[black Pheonix · Rating 5 out of 5]

awsome

[Vana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it with me being a Wowgirl! Very good comic that tells a very big part of the Lore that I didn't even know but now I do. Very recommended if anyone else plays World of Warcraft!

[Anthony Rewak · Rating 3 out of 5]

The artwork is phenomenal, the story is decent, and the dialogue is sometimes hilariously bad. Still, I enjoyed it.

[Jake Mandel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Knaak is haack

[Forsythia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great characters, story and artwork! Makes you want to reread it many times!

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I had known about these books. I love the lore.