Christie Golden

After being in a reading slump for a couple of months, I really didn’t expect much from a World of Warcraft book. I’d read a few of Christie Golden’s novels in the past and really liked them, so I thought I’d give this one a try. Whoa… I’d forgotten just how GOOD Golden is! I really enjoyed LORD OF THE CLANS. I devoured it in a couple of sittings, pleasantly surprised at the character development, writing style, and overall grittiness of the story.

I’ve been playing WoW for show more nearly a decade now, on and off, but I didn’t know anything about Thrall’s backstory. I was really taken by him and his plight at the hands of humans. Golden’s handling of racially motivated hatred was so heartbreaking, and so relevant not just in fantasy, but in our day-to-day lives, too. Seeing the way humans treated Thrall just because of the color his skin and the size of his body turned my stomach. Such a great reminder that we can’t judge a book by its cover - in any setting.

Loved this, and can’t wait to read more World of Warcraft books - right after I go renew my WoW account and fire up a new orc character! show less

I was enjoying this one too much to take any notes, but it’s the second book in the Star Trek universe I’ve read lately that proved to be stellar. Rich and full and engrossing are words you usually don’t associate with Star Trek books, but Christie Golden’s, Marooned, which takes place in the Voyager franchise of Star Trek, is exactly that.

As for the timeline, Kes and Neelix are no longer together, but remain close, and Paris and Torres are not yet a couple. Their oncoming show more relationship is foreshadowed, however, in this story by the care she gives Tom when he’s bitten by an insect on a strange world in which they’re stranded, and extremely ill.

The story is propelled forward from the onset when a powerful being from a race with a lifespan of centuries becomes enamored of Kes and kidnaps her. In the attempt at rescue, part of the crew is stranded on a desolate planet where they must find allies in order to survive, and find Kes, while another part on Voyager is caught in a booby trap. While it sounds like standard Star Trek fare, it is richly layered with nuances and true-to-character moments by Golden. As readers know, this is not nearly the case with a lot of Star Trek entries. The alien encounters are interesting and well written, whether hostile or allies, and the interactions of the crew stranded on the surface is especially exciting. The crew reads like the crew here, spot-on.

Cutting between Kes and her charismatic captor, as Kes walks the razor’s edge of Stockholm Syndrome, Chakotay and the remaining crew aboard enterprise, Janeway and crew (Paris, Torres, Tuvok, Neelix etc.) stranded on the planet, Harry trying to gain access to an old booby trap to give the actual ship Voyager, with Chakotay left in charge, a fighting chance, and Neelix, who goes off on his own to find Kes and encounters a “friend” native to the planet, all combine to give this Star Trek novel a full-bodied flavor. There’s a lot of story here, and I mean a lot, and it’s marvelous for Star Trek Voyager fans.

There are dangerous battles in the sky and up close and personal, distress, aliens, psychology, fun interactions between crew members, and a whale of a richly layered story here. There’s so much here in fact, that this story definitely would need to have been filmed as a two-part episode in order to do it justice. Between this and the last one I read, Greg Cox’s The Black Shore, I’m 2 for 2 in finding good reads in this universe, which as any fan knows, is unusual. A splendid example of a series-to-book done right, and very highly recommended! show less

Any fan knows how hit and miss these Star Trek books can be; they range from awful to very good, with a lot of mediocre ones filling the in-between. Finding quality writing and a good story which lines up with characterizations that ring true with the way they were portrayed in whichever series the book is set within can be like looking for a needle in a haystack at times. The Voyager franchise seems to have even fewer good ones than the other Star Trek series books. I thought I had show more cherry-picked the best ones from the series already, but took a chance on this one, because I was in the mood for something light and fun. The Murdered Sun was a very nice surprise.

One of the greatest compliments you can bestow on a Star Trek book is to say it would have been a great episode of the franchise, and that is certainly the case here with The Murdered Sun. This entry seems rich and full, the characterizations spot-on for the most part, and the story, while perhaps derivative of Star Trek tropes, is very enjoyably done by Christie Golden.

Though Janeway, Chakotay and Tom Paris have the biggest roles in this story, I feel like I read an entirely different book than some here who make too much of that. Tuvok, B’Elanna and Kim have their fair share of screen time here as well; even Kes and Neelix get a few minor moments. The Doctor probably has the least screen time in this story. Janeway, Chakotay and Paris definitely carry the heavy lifting and interactions, but this still feels like a very good episode, with everyone involved. It is in no way or manner, “just” the three aforementioned involved in this story.

A possible wormhole that might get the Voyager crew home — it seemed to always be happening in the series, and never worked out — is a concavity that is murdering the sun of Veruna Four, where an intelligent species with many similarities in culture to Chakotay’s ancestors reside. But they are less concerned with their own dying planet than the attacks on them by the apparently war-like Akerians. The Akerians are at present more advanced, and they are using the concavity in some mysterious way for their own purpose, kidnapping, enslaving, and threatening the people of Veruna.

As you’d expect, the Akerians, who shield their faces, don’t appreciate Voyager’s presence, or interference. Also as you’d expect, the Voyager crew is sympathetic to the friendlier and more welcoming people of Veruna, even if their appearance is reptilian in nature. There is much back and forth about the Prime Directive, and some pretty inconsistent actions and reasoning for them. The appearance of the Verunans is especially repulsive to Tom. This becomes its own story when Tom finds a kindred soul in Kaavi and gradually overcomes his repulsion.

What you might not expect, because this sounds like very familiar ground for the franchise in all its various incarnations, is how wonderfully it reads as penned by Christie Golden. The Murdered Sun is not only enjoyable, but touching and resonating on a few occasions. And because it’s about the attempted genocide of one similar people against another, simply for existing, it is especially pertinent for modern readers. The Murdered Sun is nearly flawless as a Star Trek Voyager story and I found myself flying through it; always the case with the good ones in the Star Trek universe.

Ancient advanced technology, oral traditions of storytelling to preserve history, overcoming superficial differences and finding common ground, even a common past, and doing the right thing make this a really great entry in the Voyager book canon which should satisfy anyone who enjoyed the show doing its long run on television. Really great stuff ! show less

Orcs, ever since Tolkien, have been characterized as monsterous, fiendish, corrupted and evil. The Orcs of that world are corrupted elves that Morgoth twisted for his own machinations, and even though we know that their origins twisted them against their will, they are wholly without repetence.

What makes Warcraft Orcs compelling, narratively, is that they're not truly an evil race. In fact, as shown in this novel, their origins are humble, with them being nomadic hunters who travel across show more their world in pursuit of prey, knowing nothing of War, despite being massively powerful creatures. Their culture and lives are tied to the elements, the migration of their prey, veneration for their ancestors, and the change of the seasons; in this simplicity, they flourish and thrive.

It wasn't until a corrupting influence overtook them that they changed for the worst, and set in motion a cycle of events that would have consequences all the way to the current day (in lore in the video game). This book might not be the first in the Warcraft lineup, but it is certainly the earliest one chronologically, about the modern era in Warcraft Lore, setting the stage for the First and Second Wars and the future conflicts that would ravage Azeroth.

All told through the eyes of both Durotan - father of Thrall - and Orgrim Doomhammer - last Warchief of the Old Horde.

But how does it stand up? Is it a good novel for people to get into, even if they're not a Warcraft fan? I intend to share my thoughts on that below:

Positives

I think its a good standalone story, even if it was just a generic fantasy story. It's a quick read thanks to Christie Goldens writing style, and there's enough descriptions to get an idea of what the world looks like. Plus, Dreanor - the world that the story takes place on - is not that alien to either Azeroth or Earth. There are trees, grass, hills, blue skies, long grass, sweet-smelling flowers, and all that good stuff, so there's no real need to be bogged down in details outside of a few fantasy-themed locales and people, such as Osh'gun, the Draenei, and their cities and magic.

Narratively, it's not convoluted either. Avoiding spoilers, it sets up the themes it wants to present fairly well: Durotan and Orgrim become friends, a mistake happens and they meet the mysterious Draenei and have a good interaction with them, a conflict brews in the background that plunges the Orcs into corruption and War, and Orgrim and Durotan grow up as important people to their clans and must navigate the changing political climate to keep their people safe. All the while, they deal with their conflicting morals as they witness the evil changes happening to their once-proud, happy people.

Straightforward to the end.

Negatives

I actually don't have many negatives to say. I liked it throughout, and it was actually a very heartbreaking novel by the end, since you know what happens to Durotan and Orgrim, as well as the Orcs, if you've followed Warcraft lore. If not, well... have fun!

Follow Lore?

For the most part, yes! Not much has really changed outside of the Warlords of Draenor expansion for the World of Warcraft game (and even then, that expansion is considered an alternate universe). While the Warcraft movie does retcon a few things, such as the character Gul'dan turning from a weasely, mealy-mouthed cretin to a horrifically violent, evil antagonist, it's pretty much exactly what current lore states happened to the Orcs. So if you're new to the franchise, you don't have to worry about reading it and scratching your head at major plot changes later on.

Final Thoughts

I think this one is perhaps one of the better novels to read in the Warcraft lineup, and a great introduction to Warcraft in general. As usual, Christie Golden's writing is good for this sort of tie-in novel because her writing style is light and full of brevity. You don't get bogged down in details or descriptions because if you're reading these novels, chances are you've played Warcraft and know what those locations look like.

Plus, it's an overall good story about how people can become radicalized when they fear a perceived enemy, and how far they're willing to go to protect themselves, corrupting themselves in the process. It's a cautionary tale that I think is good thematically whether its tied in with the Warcraft franchise or not. show less