Waiting on Wednesday – World of Warcraft: Shadows Rising by Madeleine Roux

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy. I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them. In my latest Waiting on Wednesday, I check out the next upcoming tie-in novel to the World of Warcraft franchise, Shadows Rising by Madeleine Roux.

Shadows Rising Cover

This upcoming book is going to be the latest addition to rather fun franchise which is based around the MMORPG World of Warcraft and its precursor Warcraft games. The Warcraft franchise has been around for nearly 30 years at this point (and now I feel old), and in addition to the great games, it has produced a multitude of additional content from novels, comics, South Park parodies (that’s how you know you’ve made it) and even its very own movie. People who are unfamiliar with the Warcraft games may be surprised to know that they have a rich and complex internal lore, and there are some rather captivating and well-written storylines featured within the games which is often refined in the tie-in material. Unsurprisingly, this is another franchise that I have a lot of history with, and I have been a big fan of everything Warcraft since I got my copy of Reign of Chaos. I particularly love the fantastic and intricate storylines, history and universe lore that has been crammed into this franchise, and I have read several of the previous tie-in novels that have been released (for example, check out my review of the previous World of Warcraft novel Before the Storm). While I may not play the game as much as I used to, I do still keep my eye on how the universe plot is going (especially with the gorgeous and impressive cinematics they use to convey key moments) and I am eager to see what elements of this are included in this upcoming book.

Shadows Rising is the latest World of Warcraft tie-in novel and is currently set for release in July 2020. Shadow Rising is the official prequel novel to the upcoming Shadowland expansion, which is coming out later this year at some point. This novel will help bridge the gap between this upcoming expansion and the events of the current expansion, Battle for Azeroth, and will focus on the aftermath of Sylvanas Windrunner abandoning the Horde and setting out on her dark quest to destroy the world.

Goodreads Synopsis:

“The Horde is nothing!” With those infamous words, Sylvanas Windrunner betrayed and abandoned the Horde she vowed to serve. The Dark Lady and her forces now work in the shadows as both the Horde and Alliance, including her own sister, Alleria, race to uncover her next move. Struggling to shoulder the crushing weight of leadership, King Anduin entrusts the void elf and High Exarch Turalyon to uncover Sylvanas’s whereabouts.

The Horde now stands at a crossroads. The various factions form a council, leaving the mantle of warchief to rest. Thrall, Lor’themar Theron, Baine Bloodhoof, First Arcanist Thalyssra, and many other familiar faces rise to this new challenge. But the threats are numerous, and the distrust runs too deep.

When the council is derailed by a failed assassination attempt on Talanji—the Zandalari queen and a key ally—Thrall and the rest of the Horde leaders are forced into action. They empower the young troll shaman Zekhan, still grieving the loss of Varok Saurfang, with a critical mission to aid Talanji and help uncover the rising threat against her.

Meanwhile, Nathanos Blightcaller and Sira Moonwarden have been tasked by the Dark Lady with a terrifying gambit: to kill the troll loa of death himself, Bwonsamdi.

As Zekhan and Talanji work to save Bwonsamdi, their journey will be a key turning point in bolstering the Horde against the coming darkness and finding themselves along the way. Failure to save their allies and the trickster god will surely doom them—but through success, they may rediscover what makes the Horde strong.

Now this sounds like it is going to be a rather cool and intriguing novel, and I think that this plot has quite a lot of potential. It looks like Roux is going for a rather wide-ranging plot that will cover several key Warcraft characters and feature multiple unique storylines. I myself am particularly keen to see what happens with the leadership of the Horde in the aftermath of the last game, and a council of rulers rather than one specific warchief should produce some rather intriguing story moments. I also look forward to seeing what is running through the mind of Sylvanas Windrunner during all of this, and I am interested to see why some her followers are remaining so damn loyal to her.

Aside from the great-sounding story, I am also interested in the choice of author for this book. Madeleine Roux is an author who I have not previously had the pleasure of reading before, although some of her novels sound rather fun and might be worth checking out in the future. What intrigues me the most is that Roux is primarily a horror author, and I am curious to see if Shadows Rising will have more of a horror take to it than some of the other Warcraft novels. Even if it does not, I am always eager to try out new authors, and I am looking forward to seeing what sort of bold and captivating adventures Roux produces within the rich Warcraft universe.

I have to say that I am very much looking forward to checking out this new World of Warcraft novel in a few months. Due to my love of the franchise, I was always going to grab the next Warcraft tie-in novel when it came out, especially after seeing the related World of Warcraft in-game cinematics and trailers that were released last year. However, after reading the above synopsis and learning more about the new author attached to it, I am much more excited for it now and I think that I am going to have an outstanding time reading Shadows Rising.