Author: Richard A. Knaak
Illustrator: Jae-Hwan Kim
Publisher: TOKYOPOP
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: March 2005
What could have been tedious standard RPG fare instead turns out to be a nice surprise!
Previous experience has led me to the conclusion that books that are tied into RPGs, no matter how cool the universe may be tend to be-well-very boilerplate. It might be a relief to deal with a world where the physics and general rules are all laid out in a very rational matter but it seems to lend a very stilted quality to the prose. Graphic novels and manga based on RPGs also tend to leave me cold. However, I’m doing these reviews because I hope to get books that I wouldn’t ordinarily read with the goal of opening my reading horizons at least a little. I can happily say that this World of Warcraft book did accomplish that for me.
My previous experience with WoW involved a music video from YouTube a friend of mine played for me because he was pretty sure I’d think it was hilarious. I did, but that was really as close as I wanted to come to anything even resembling a massive on-line game. I’ve tried RPGs but it’s just not a part of the sci-fi/fantasy world that I enjoy all that much.
Conveniently, there’s a nice introduction to exactly what this WoW adventure is about, or at least, it’s a very good but slightly long (nine pages) summary. It’s printed in white on black, but the font they use is a reasonable size and fairly legible, so it’s not a strain to read it. It might prove to be tedious for those who are familiar with WoW, but for those who are getting their fist taste through this manga, it’s a welcome and much needed service.
The story centers around a pair of dragon shapechangers, a young woman, a dwarf, and a fallen paladin who go on a quest to find a lost artifact that essentially held all the magical power of a race of ancient elves. This first volume in the trilogy shows how the group came together and introduces their enemy, the Lich King and his hoard of undead warriors. The plot follows a rational arc, though there is a pretty forumlaic and abrupt epiphany moment that brings one memeber of the group into the fold.
There are many of the cliches that are so common to the quest subgenre here, things like a classic good vs. evil struggle, “heroic” slightly heavy-handed dialog, and the usual assortment of usual suspects. However, the story does progress well and it doesn’t feel like any of the plot was just frivolous page filler. Each character introduction has a point, each fight has a reason, and there’s a nice feel of backstory driving the characters forward. (Hopefully, the pertinent parts of that background does get revealed in the later volumes). There’s no blood and gore here just for blood and gore’s sake. Escapes are handled skillfully, with no clunky deus ex machina moments to ruin the flow. Even though it’s a story that I’ve sort of read before and it doesn’t feel completely new, there’s still a desire to find out what happens next. I like these characters and I want to know what they will face further on in their journey.
The artwork by Jae-Hwan Lee is very nice. The characters are easily distinguishable. There isn’t any of that pesky different hair on the same girls’ face kind of thing and the artist gives very different casts to the faces of humans, elves, and dwarves as well as to the shapechangers. This isn’t to say that it’s a stock set of features for each character class, just that there are some distinguishing characteristics. The backgrounds and costumes are also handled nicely and it makes me want to see the character and setting design book for this particular series.
I was skeptical when I saw this manga, but after reading it, I can say that I’m going to be picking up the other two volumes. Maybe not immediately, but they will definitely get added to my personal library.
