World of Warcraft: Arthas: Rise of the Lich King Book

"This kingdom shall fall," he promised his beloved steed as he threw his cloak over its bony back and mounted. "And from the ashes shall arise a new order that will shake the very foundation of the world!"

This book tells the story of Arthas Menethil and his Darth Vader-ish path from being a little prince of Lordaeron to becoming a catalyst and master of unspeakable evil.

Rise of the Lich King is mostly just a novelisation of Warcraft 3, putting the escapades of Arthas and Jaina, and the encounters with everything from demon lords to powerful wizards, down on paper. Even many of the lines are copied directly from the game, but I thought that gave a nice touch to it.

Christie Golden is the best of the Warcraft writers, but Arthas is no longer the best of the Warcraft characters. I realised while reading that he's much weaker and more shallow than I had expected. He's still an intriguing character, but there's little depth to him compared to some of the people he meets (who also happen to be my favourite characters), namely Illidan Stormrage and Sylvanas Windrunner.

Overall, though, it was totally worth an hour or two of my time.