Shadows Rising (World of Warcraft: Shadowlands)

Madeleine Roux

Jul 2020 · World of Warcraft Book 3 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Susan Wokoma

About this audiobook

An all-new official prequel novel to Shadowlands, the next expansion for Blizzard Entertainment’s legendary online game World of Warcraft
 
“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.

Ratings and reviews

It was an entertaining read as a WoW fan, but also I wish it's story had more impact on the expansion to come (Shadowlands). If you aren't a WoW-fan however, this book will leave you completely lost just a heads-up.

This book was super enjoyable to listen to. Very well writen and fun all the way to the end! It shows a darker side of the alliance and how the horde struggle with their new council setup now that they dont have a warchief. The true stars of this book in my opinion are Talanji and Bwomsanji. So much story that fleshes out these two and its very well done. And the romance subplots are just amazing! We need more from this author!

Cringe worthy 😬, the voice actor makes it almost embarrassing to listen . Blizzard did a good job improving audio books and then they do this. Its impossible to follow and unenjoyable. Narration made the worse written WoW book even worse.

About the author

Madeleine Roux is the New York Times bestselling author of the Asylum series, which has sold in eleven countries around the world. She is also the author of the House of Furies series, Salvaged, Traveler: The Shining Blade, and the Allison Hewitt Is Trapped series, and she has contributed to anthologies such as Resist, Scary Out There, and Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View.