Audiobook Review: Durotan

On the recommendation of the MMO Gamer Chick, I picked up Durotan on Audible to listen to on my daily commute. Despite any misgivings I have about the evolution of World of Warcraft gameplay, there's no denying that Chris Metzen and the Blizzard creative team have built an epic world with nuanced depictions of characters and cultures. More nuanced, I dare say, than Tolkien or many other greats of speculative fiction. Christie Golden's fleshing out of Metzen's story is no exception. And Toby Longworth's excellent narration and portrayal of the characters kept me in rapt attention. I have never been partial to Orcs in Warcraft, but hearing the tale of how Thrall's father guided his Frostwolf clan through the hardships they faced leading up to their entrance into Azeroth was both heartbreaking and inspiring.

Changes and retcons, both intentional and unintentional, are common in the Warcraft universe, and Durotan is no exception. For exampe, the "bromance" of Orgrim Doomhammer and Durotar is given a different backstory. I noticed a few people doing Amazon reviews were critical of the changes made the "their" story. But the story changes a little with each retelling, and this not necessarily a bad thing.

Draenor (the world of the Orcs) is dying, and the spirits guiding the five elements are in pain. Life has always been tough for the proud Frostwolf clan of Frostfire Ridge, and it's only getting tougher. A Warlock named Gul'dan comes with promises of a land where fruit and grain is plentiful, and wild prey practically throws itself at Orcish arrows. But the promises come with a price. Are the Frostwolves prepared to pay it?

I listened to Durotan as an audiobook featuring Toby Longworth. His crisp narration helped whisk the story along, and I don't remember it dragging anywhere. A few of the accents he used seemed out of place to this amateur linguist, but served the goal of distinguishing the dialogue of multiple characters. Having recently listened to two Star Wars audiobooks, I had become accustomed to sound effects and music accompanying the narration, of which there was none here. However, through Mr. Longworth's delivery of Ms. Golden's words, I thrilled at the Frostwolves' proud moments and shared their heartbreaks. I grew to care about Durotan and his proud followers.

I had been anticipating the upcoming Warcraft movie already, being a lover of lore and history. But listening to this book has excited me for the potential of this story on the big screen, and even tempts me to return to Azeroth myself, which is Blizzard's hope, I am sure. Well done.

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Fatal Alliance, a Review

Fatal Alliance by Sean Williams

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Beware: possible MINOR SPOILERS.

I enjoyed reading Fatal Alliance. As has been said, it is a bit of a showcase for the world and classes of the upcoming BioWare MMO, Star Wars: the Old Republic. However, given what I know about the behavior and personalities of the in-game characters, I felt that FA was a good departure from that template. Ula Vii, the Imperial "Agent" in particular, was not the cool James-Bondish Agent we've seen in videos of the game. I saw someone else's review, critical of the smuggler's name, "Jet Nebula." That it was unrealistic. The person obviously did not pay attention, as it was clearly not his real name from the first mention of it. The book is what it is, a StarWars-based game tie-in. Anyone looking for more will be sorely disappointed.

I am generally fond of game tie-in novels, though I wouldn't consider any to be among my favorite books. This one satisfied my itch for a TOR era book and I look forward to reading Deceived and Revan.

I feel I should mention this is my first Kindle e-book, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it through the Kindle app on my new Android phone.

STO: The Needs of the Many Reviewed

So I have finally finished The Needs of the Many by Michael A. Martin (and Jake Sisko), the first "novel" set in the Star Trek Online era of the Star Trek Universe. I put "novel" in quotes because the book does not follow the typical story/plot format of most novels. It is a series of "interviews" with various prominent and obscure characters from the three TNG era television series and novels, interspersed with documents and publications from the same fictional era. As such, it is more like an analysis of events than a retelling of them, like reading a book about the causes and effects of World War II, rather than a narrative about what happened during the War. Also, like many science fiction works including TOS and all the series, the author took the opportunity to comment on current (early 21st century) political and social issues. I found the book enjoyable and it answered questions about the STO era I didn't know I had. Mr. Martin did bring out the personalities of the different characters Jake interviewed. I especially liked the Quark and Garak interviews. Of course, the enigmatic tailor was always my favorite character on Deep Space Nine.

I think my favorite part was the interview with the Temporal Investigators Lucsly and Dulmer, first introduced in the DS9 episode "Trials and Tribble-ations." Dulmer's references to events from Star Trek (2009) and various novels as alternate timelines was priceless, a reminder to the purity nerds that stories can be enjoyable and not destroy their precious sense of the Way Things Should Be.

One issue I had problems with throughout the book was when exactly Jake was supposedly conducting each interview. My assumption before reading was that the interviews would be about the era of STO, called The Long War. (A bit of wishful thinking on the part of Cryptic, as I have said before.) But then, as I started reading, it seemed he was interviewing people right before 2409 (when STO takes place) about events that occurred between the time of ST: Nemesis and STO itself. Then toward the end, I decided again that my initial assumption is probably right, and the Long War is meant to refer to 2409 (STO) and beyond. Unfortunately, I can't be sure either way, as there is no reference to Jake in the timeline given at the end of the book, nor in the online version, which is more detailed. I like when Star Trek novels pin themselves to a certain spot on the time line, like Final Frontier by Diane Carey, which places at least the framing story directly after the events of "The City on the Edge of Forever."

The book did give me insight into the game, which I think is its main purpose. I often read similar analytical non-fiction, like Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse both by Jared Diamond, so the format was no trouble. Is this a must read for Star Trek fans? No. Is it even a must read for STO players? Probably not. Was it enjoyable? Thoroughly. Especially in the small chunks I was reading on this trip. If I had read it straight through, it might have a little harder to swallow. Having not experienced all the content of STO, it will interesting for me to see how in-game missions relate to events described in the book.