Bloody Books Review - LORD OF THE CLANS by Christie Golden

Continuing the collection of reviews dropping that I've had sitting waiting for a place to land come this Warcraft Tie-In Novel from a game that was never released.

It's worth pointing out at the beginning of this book that I am firmly in the camp that this light, fast-paced exploration into the Orcs of the Warcraft universe fits into. I loved Warcraft 1 - 3, and was always saddened by the lack of the point and click game that this novel was birthed from. Until I played the leaked version anyhow. Now I think it was absolutely the right choice.

I also got bored of World of Warcraft very quickly. I cannot help but feel that the creation of WoW was, whilst a very lucrative and smart decision on their part, turned the world of Azeroth into something that I cannot recognize.

Onto the novel itself. Lord of the Clans is one of the easiest reads in my library, and I don't say that as a negative. Putting an Orc front and centre of the tale gives it a feel that, at the time in 2000/2001, was very orginal outside of Stan Nicholl's Orcs: First Blood Trilogy.

It works beautifully. Thrall goes through a Conan-lite journey for the first three quarters of the book, uncovering the history of his race and moving from a beaten down slave to a heroic Shaman, It's deftly worked with a steady hand, layering in familiar elements constantly and building the stakes. There's little really new here, but it is done extremely well, adding in the humanity that Orcs of Warcraft ending up having. He is genuinely sympathetic and the reader cannot help but empathize with his ordeals, and in one moment, his incoherent rage.

On the other side of the tale stands Blackmoore, a strangely layered antagonist for the book. He dips between being close to likable and understandable and a screeching cartoon villainy as the alcohol he is so fond of slowly sinks it's hooks deeper and deeper into him. He has motive, and reasons out his concepts. He is portrayed as a deeply flawed man, one that falls to ego and alcohol rather than a two dimensional bad guy.

The final third of the book ramps up into places that you may not expect. The Conanish tale drops away to be replaces with something far less tread. Duality becomes a strong theme here after being hinted at in the earlier chapter. Blackmoore's dual nature of a despicable creature who wants to shed his and his family's sins to be something better, something more mirrors the Orcs as they turn away from their brutal past to embrace the shamanistic ritual to cleanse them of the dark bargains of past masters. Thrall embodies all these concepts as he struggles with balancing his hungry need for vengeance against the lessons of mercy he so recently learned. Whilst it doesn't get too deep into the darkness neither does it shy away from the mature themes that crop up in the telling.

Light, but highly enjoyable.