World of Warcraft: Paragons

by Micky Neilson

rare book

Genres: Warcraft, Fantasy, World Of Warcraft, Fiction

467 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 31, 2014

About the author

Micky Neilson is a two-time New York Times best-selling author whose graphic novels, Ashbringer (#2 on the list) and Pearl of Pandaria (#3) have both been published in six languages. As one of the first writers at Blizzard Entertainment, he has more than two decades of experience in the cutting edge of the gaming industry. He has self-published three horror novels in his original series The Turning, on Amazon. In 2017 Micky was tapped to write The Howling: Revenge Of The Werewolf Queen, a comic book continuation of the beloved 1981 Joe Dante horror film The Howling. In 2018 Micky completed his first original sci-fi novel, Ridgerunners, and co-wrote the graphic novel The Invisible Empire: Madge Oberholtzer And The Unmasking Of The KKK, as well as the illustrated novel Strange Highways. Most recently Micky wrote the bestselling book The Art Of Spyro: Reignited Trilogy and completed his sci-fi trilogy Skiptracer. Micky lives in beautiful Washington State with his wife and daughter where he enjoys life's essentials: movies, comic books, chocolate and sushi.

Reviews

[Dottie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of short stories regarding the heroes of Warcraft and World of Warcraft. Some of the stories were really good and some were okay. If you don’t know who the characters are I️ suggest to research before reading their short story. I️ will still recommend to read this book because it is Warcraft lore history.

[Aneka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me hubiese gustado darle cinco estrellas. Me encanta la historia que Blizzard ha creado, la ambientación, los personajes. Al haber jugado al WoW resulta mucho más sencillo imaginar los paisajes, porque ya has tenido la posibilidad de pasearte por ellos. Es como volver a ver a un viejo amigo, a escuchar sus historias. Descubres cosas que antes ignorabas o que directamente jamás te habías planteado.

Sin embargo, son muchos los autores que contribuyeron a escribir esta novela, y no todos ellos me gustaron por igual. El capítulo dedicado a Velen me pareció soberanamente aburrido, y el de Sylvannas tampoco me entusiasmó demasiado (a pesar de que la reina de los renegados es un personaje que sí me gusta). Otros, como el de "Varian Wrynn", "El consejo de los tres martillos" o "La sangre de los altonato" me encantaron.

Cuatro estrellas y muchas ganas de volver a leer algo del WoW :)

[David(LA,CA) · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of short stories focusing mostly on the leaders of the various races found in the game. The better selections where the ones that did their own important thing or dealt well with people that aren't really covered all that much. Sylvanas' interaction with the Val'kyr, Mekkatorque trying to retake the homeland of his people, the secrets of Gallywix's rise to power (with footnotes about how you can't ask for your money back if they don't work for you).

On the other hand, there are a number of stories that don't make the best use of their material. Valen's story isn't so much about him and his people as much as it's about how they interact with outsiders. Greymane's feels like it wastes time on their evacuation by another faction. The Wrynn story is another retread of Varian and Anduin not getting along.

Over all, the stories balance out to be good. I would have given it one more star, but some editing choices hurt it as well. Over all, the stories are all separate things and don't tie together. But when they do share a character, we have a few occasions where the end point of one does not match the start point of another. That and the final short story should not be able to claim the word "short" as a description. I don't need an almost complete history of a people to understand the rise of an organization within it. And another story in the collection proves that point.

[S.M. Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a compilation of stories and some of them are better than others; I'd say they range in quality from a 2-3 to a solid 5 so we'll settle for a four star score.

At the risk of sounding terribly biased I think that for the most part the Horde stories were better than the Alliance ones! Sarah Pine is a gem who needs to keep writing; her stories were very well done and also my favorites. I also greatly enjoyed Blood of the Highborne by Micky Neilson, although his other stuff is kind of hit and miss.

Overall a fun read although do note that you can get most of the "leader stories" for free on the website.

[Sierra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I could get a physical copy of this as it's really good and adds a lot to other stories to the main book series. These range from Wraith of Lich Ling to Catalysm, but they fill in a lot of blanks.
The only way I could find to read this was to buy the digital copy and download it. I would recommend reading this. There are a lot of plot lines that get more world building and story archs rounded out.

[Lynn Mitts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is made up of short stories or even small novellas that brings you inside the stories of World of Warcraft main characters - I enjoyed every minute reading it and getting totally immersed in the stories that were presented. It did help flesh out some of the stories that appear throughout the game itself.

[Dingo Kis · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's a collection of short stories, a couple of good scenes are buried underneath tedious storytelling. Most stories are too slow and not enough detailed to be interesting.

[Mantas Dzemedzionka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the short stories, reading by official Warcraft timeline works the best though. :)

[Derek Ambrose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories that fills the gaps between expansions of the popular MMO World of Warcraft. A few buried treasures here. Most, if not all, can be found for free on the official website. Packaged together they flow well.

[iTZKooPA · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't realize this was all the free stories available on the website and that I've already read. Description could be more clear. Stories are interesting, but grab then there.

[Michael Melilli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun idea and worth reading if you're a lore addict. My only complaint is that it focused on the usual big names...I wish we'd get a look at lesser know characters. Even NPCs.

[Rini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty great

I was waiting for my wonderful blood elf lore, but I do wish they'd write a novella that's more current to the timeline for them!

[tania · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*