Day of the Dragon

Title: Day of the Dragon
Author: Richard Knaak
My take: I can’t really recommend this unless you’re really into Warcraft lore
Spoiler-free synopsis: A wizard is sent on a dangerous mission, but he doesn’t realize he’s being used as a pawn by more than just the man who sent him.




Why do books that tie into other media suck more often than they’re good?

This book is a Warcraft tie-in, and honestly, most of the enjoyment I got out of it was looking at how the game mechanics matched up to what the characters could do in-story.

Rhonin, a “rogue” wizard whose last mission resulted in the deaths of his teammates, is given a chance at redemption by taking a trip into the heart of Orc country and scouting the area. But the mission is far more than that. He’s actually going to try to free a dragon queen, who’s been imprisoned so the orcs can use her children for war.

He’s accompanied by an elven ranger who initially mistrusts him (EVERYONE mistrusts wizards in this book – that was something that sort of caught me off-guard, but one of the few things I liked.)

Of course, everyone’s attracted to the ranger. Of course, she has an “inexplicable” need to trail along behind him and try to save him when he disappears from the group. I wanted to like her but she felt so… so stock.

So, anyway, Rhonin’s going to try to free the dragon queen, but along the way, a far more powerful person also seeks Rhonin’s “aid.” Deathwing, the great black dragon, the bringer of chaos, asks for Rhonin’s help, but it’s really not asking and its really not help and they both know it. Deathwing is giving him the choice between doing what he says and dying. Unsurprisingly, he decides to help.

I will give the story this – everything weaves together nicely from a story standpoint. The characters and the somewhat purple descriptive passages were a bit more of a nail in the coffin.