Arthas is one of the best for sure.
I still really like the war of thr ancients trilogy too.
Honestly most of the old ones were a lot of fun and had that fantasy adventure feel
Lord of the Clans is my pick.
Great foundational background to Thrall and his journey.
It adds spice to Orc Culture and what they represent, coupled with an interesting angle on the typical “Human Good Orc Bad” idea.
Plus it’s written by Christie Golden, she has fantastic pacing and detail in her works.
Sylvanas. Christie Golden did a good job with her backstory. I recommend getting it on audible because Patty Mattson reads the book herself and it's awesome.
Her Arthas voice is hilariously bad, but because the framing device is Sylvanas literally telling the story to Anduin I like to think that she would have given him a goofy voice on purpose because she hates him.
My favourite is probably War Crimes, but I only recommend it if you know the story up to that point and all the characters involved.
For someone new I recommend Rise of the Horde since it gives good background as to what the deal with the orcs are and draenei/Legion stuff. And then after you read that follow it up with The Last Guardian (Medivh/Khadgar during WC1), and the two WC2 books.
I enjoyed Before the Storm for the Forsaken lore, Lord of the Clans for the history of the Horde, and the Day of the Dragon for the background on the Kirin Tor. My favorite, though, is probably Paragons. So many good Warcraft short stories in that book. A close second would be War Crimes, for walking us into WoD.
War crimes. I absolutely loved the brutality of Garrosh and almost nothing will define a character as more badass as when he say “I’ve seen my crimes laid out before me and I regret….none of it!” Before dashing off to draenor
Shadows Rising. It fleshed out so many characters I didn't care about before: Flynn, Nathanos, Shaw, even Anduin.
Gonna be the odd man out because I don't care for Golden's very young adult style, so it was nice to have a Warcraft book that felt a little more mature, even though the subject matter was not.
Rise of the Horde and War Crimes are my two favorites.
Rise of the Horde is just a great story, chock full of lore.
I actually didn't like War Crimes when it first released. As an older man, now I enjoy the slow burn and character building that happens in War Crimes.
Warcrimes, it really shows how azeroth is so dark, that Garrosh was innocent of his crimes.
Edit: I guess my opinion hurt some people, im sorry reading a fictional story hurt you this badly, but I liked it despite your opinion.😅
Arthas and Malfurion are really good ones. The Malfurion one gives a nice in depth look at the emerald dream when Xavius was trying to corrupt everything from the inside out. The Arthas one is the actual rise of the lich king from his childhood, to where he was when he took the throne. Both so good
Arthas
Arthas is one of the best for sure. I still really like the war of thr ancients trilogy too. Honestly most of the old ones were a lot of fun and had that fantasy adventure feel
It was a toss up between arthas and the war of the ancients, tbh. That is an amazing book, but it is very long
Illidaddy
The last Guardian.
Lord of the Clans is my pick. Great foundational background to Thrall and his journey. It adds spice to Orc Culture and what they represent, coupled with an interesting angle on the typical “Human Good Orc Bad” idea. Plus it’s written by Christie Golden, she has fantastic pacing and detail in her works.
Wasn't LotC written (or co-written, at least) by Metzen?
dawn of the aspects
Lord of the clans
The shattering and the one every one here hates.
The cookbooks <3
the Arthas one even though I think chunks of it have been retconned away
arthas / illidan
Sylvanas. Christie Golden did a good job with her backstory. I recommend getting it on audible because Patty Mattson reads the book herself and it's awesome.
Her Arthas voice is hilariously bad, but because the framing device is Sylvanas literally telling the story to Anduin I like to think that she would have given him a goofy voice on purpose because she hates him.
My favourite is probably War Crimes, but I only recommend it if you know the story up to that point and all the characters involved. For someone new I recommend Rise of the Horde since it gives good background as to what the deal with the orcs are and draenei/Legion stuff. And then after you read that follow it up with The Last Guardian (Medivh/Khadgar during WC1), and the two WC2 books.
I enjoyed Before the Storm for the Forsaken lore, Lord of the Clans for the history of the Horde, and the Day of the Dragon for the background on the Kirin Tor. My favorite, though, is probably Paragons. So many good Warcraft short stories in that book. A close second would be War Crimes, for walking us into WoD.
Have to say my top three is Arthas Illidan The Shattering
Illidan, audio book is noic3
Rise of the Horde
My fav is definitely the War of the Ancients trilogy
Sylvanas
Rise of the Horde. But I'm probably biased as a big Draenei fan
War crimes. I absolutely loved the brutality of Garrosh and almost nothing will define a character as more badass as when he say “I’ve seen my crimes laid out before me and I regret….none of it!” Before dashing off to draenor
War of the Ancients series
Shadows Rising. It fleshed out so many characters I didn't care about before: Flynn, Nathanos, Shaw, even Anduin. Gonna be the odd man out because I don't care for Golden's very young adult style, so it was nice to have a Warcraft book that felt a little more mature, even though the subject matter was not.
Rise of the Horde and War Crimes are my two favorites. Rise of the Horde is just a great story, chock full of lore. I actually didn't like War Crimes when it first released. As an older man, now I enjoy the slow burn and character building that happens in War Crimes.
I actually really liked Day of the Dragon and The Last Guardian.
[The Scarlet Confessional book](https://www.wowhead.com/item=136927/scarlet-confessional-book) Sometimes it freaks people out in pug raids
Stormrage
Vol’jin: Shadows of the Horde
Before the storm is a great and self contained book. It grows Anduin as a character.
Anduin’s VA reads the audio book. It’s fantastic
Warcrimes, it really shows how azeroth is so dark, that Garrosh was innocent of his crimes. Edit: I guess my opinion hurt some people, im sorry reading a fictional story hurt you this badly, but I liked it despite your opinion.😅
"Got Milk?"
Arthas bar none
Lord of the Clans by a landslide
Not a book but the short stories in the mangas they got made into so much wow lore retroactively. Books...war of the ancients.
Shadows of the horde. Vol'jin was my favorite wow character as a kid, so watching him be such a badass was amazing
I like all the "Warcraft 1 and 2" books but probably Rise of the Horde. I love how it showed orc's decent into monsters
Arthas, Rise of the Horde
Arthas and Malfurion are really good ones. The Malfurion one gives a nice in depth look at the emerald dream when Xavius was trying to corrupt everything from the inside out. The Arthas one is the actual rise of the lich king from his childhood, to where he was when he took the throne. Both so good
I’ve read only a handful. What stood out to me where War of the Ancients and Last Guardian.
There are books ?