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WoW Rookie: Reading about Warcraft

Lisa Poisso
Updated ·3 min read

New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the basics of a good start in the World of Warcraft. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic, and be sure to visit the WoW.com WoW Rookie Guide for links to all our tips, tricks and how-to's.

Even if you're not a roleplayer, it's almost impossible not to find yourself swept up by some aspect of the hundreds of compelling stories tucked into the World of Warcraft. The question is, how can you dig deeper? Where do you find more? The answer: Books ... Manga ... Comics ... RPGs .... Page after page after page of glorious lore. Blizzard approves the storylines and lore included in the Warcraft and World of Warcraft line of novels, although you won't find a straight and clear progression across the whole line. Not every story and character crosses over from books to game (and vice versa).

Besides the Warcraft novels, WoW-starved readers can chew through enough manga, roleplaying game books and gaming guides to sate any lore feeding frenzy. The best part? You enjoy +Lore bonuses to your online play experience. Even the RPG books add color to the overall picture. Follow us beyond the break for a basic reading outline to escort you down Warcraft's path of lore.



Start at the beginning
Most readers who are just getting into Warcraft's rich lore want to take things from the beginning. Here's our supplemented version of the canon according to Blizzard, including novels and manga and showing where the games fit into the timeline. (Note that this listing is in story timeline order, not publication order.)

  • (Novel) War of the Ancients trilogy

    • The Well of Eternity (Richard A. Knaak)

    • The Demon Soul (Richard A. Knaak)

    • The Sundering (Richard A. Knaak)

  • (Novel) Rise of the Horde (Christie Golden)

  • (PC game) Warcraft: Orcs & Humans

  • (Novel) The Last Guardian (Jeff Grubb)

  • (PC game) Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness

  • (Novel) Tides of Darkness (Aaron Rosenberg)

  • (PC game) Warcraft 2 expansion: Beyond the Dark Portal

  • (Novel) Beyond the Dark Portal (Aaron Rosenberg, Christie Golden)

  • (Novel) Day of the Dragon (Richard A. Knaak)

  • (Novel) Lord of the Clans (Christie Golden)

  • (Novel) Of Blood and Honor (Chris Metzen)

  • (PC game) Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos

  • (PC game) Warcraft 3 expansion: The Frozen Throne

  • (Manga) The Sunwell trilogy

    • Dragon Hunt (Richard A. Knaak, Jae-Hwan Kim)

    • Shadows of Ice (Richard A. Knaak, Jae-Hwan Kim)

    • Ghostlands (Richard A. Knaak, Jae-Hwan Kim)

  • (Novel) Cycle of Hatred (Keith R. A. DeCandido)

  • (PC game) World of Warcraft

  • (PC game) World of Warcraft expansion: The Burning Crusade

  • (Novel) Arthas: Rise of the Lich King (Christie Golden)

  • (Novel) Night of the Dragon (Richard A. Knaak)

  • (PC game) World of Warcraft expansion: Wrath of the Lich King

Not yet published

Also worth reading

WoW Rookie

walks you through all sort of new-player concerns, from game lingo for the beginner to joining your first guild as a mid-level player and on to what to do when you finally hit level 80. Visit WoW.com's WoW Rookie Guide for links to all our tips, tricks and how-to's.