War of the Ancients, Book Two : The Demon Soul

Rating:
Summary: The Demon Soul
Review: After reading the first book, the Well of Eternity, I was very interested in contiuuing the series. Althought I thought that the story line of the book had many parallels to the game, warcraft 3, for anyone who has played the campaigns, it was written exceptionally well. He jumps around alot so it makes you not want to put the book down, as you never know what exactly comes next, even with having played the game I was surprised by how the book kept my interest. Knaak is an excellent writer and this flows right from the previous book. The dragons role, Malfurion, Illidan, and Tyrandes' path become more evident in this one, and I can't wait for the next one.

Rating:
Summary: Missing Something
Review: I enjoyed the first novel in this series enough to read on, but after reading this installment I won't bother with the final book. The problem with this novel is mainly it is simply describing a battle. Although this is understandable since the book is based on a wargame, it still distracts from what should be the main characters. I found I could just skim over several pages at a time because they just were a play-by-play of this battle.

Also, the characters are shallow and it hurts the story. It isn't that the characters aren't interesting or without flaws, it's more that they aren't developed.

Finally, the story isn't really any different from the first novel. Sure, the situation is different but the plot isn't. It made for a long, boring read.

If you are into game-based books you might like it. I'm generally not, and I didn't.