Beyond the Dark Portal (World of Warcraft) Mass Market Paperback – June 24, 2008

For timeline purposes, this book takes place right after the 2nd War with the orcs. This book is the 4th book you should be reading if you want to go in chronological order. It takes place right after Tides of Darkness the game or the book and you will see more than a few familiar faces carry over from that story. Rosenberg takes the story of the game, Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal and does a solid job of putting it into a novel that serves as a refresher on events that happened years before the current setting in World of Warcraft. It also gives you a glimpse into some of the characters that you'll find in the World of Warcraft and give you an idea why there are statues of some of them outside of Stormwind. Some major characters that appear/mentioned are Turalyon, Khadgar, Lothar, Doomhammer, Gul'dan, Terenas (Arthas' dad) and Deathwing who is a major player in the story. I understand some of the plot holes people complain about which are annoying (Distances traveled, a bit one sided, unrealistic strategies, etc.) but I got what I expected and enjoyed it. I now hope they remake Warcraft 1-3 so I can play them, never got a chance to play the first two games. If you're looking for the proper order to read the Warcraft books I suggest the following:Rise of the Horde (book) - Covers approx. a 10 year period prior to WC I.The Last Guardian (book) - Touches on the closing days of the First War with bookends set prior to WC III.Tides of Darkness (book) - Covers WC II in continuity.Beyond the Dark Portal (book) - Covers WC II expansion in continuity.Day of the Dragon (book) - Wraps up some dangling threads from WC II with Deathwing and the Red Dragonflight.Lord of the Clans (book) - Covers a wide swath from just before WC II all the way to prior to WC III. Should be subtitled All You Wanted to Know About Thrall But Were Too Much of An Alliance Lover to Ask. ;) J/k.Of Blood and Honor (book) - Set just prior to WC III.Warcraft III Battle Chest (game) - Reign of Chaos covers the origin of the Scourge and the return of the Burning Legion. The Frozen Throne covers the exile of Illidun, the rise of the Forsaken and the crowning of a new Lich King. Founding of Durotar covers the most recent conflict between Horde and humans prior to WoW.Arthas: Rise of the Lich King (book) - Recaps material from Tides of Darkness all the way up until the end of Frozen Throne with bookends just before the WotLK cinematic.Ashbringer (comic) - Covers the fallout from Arthas dissolving the Order of the Silver Hand and the rise of Argent Dawn and Crimson Crusade.Cycle of Hatred (book) - Picks up after Founding of Durotar and begins to set the stage for WoW Vanilla.Well of Eternity (book) - Try and follow: characters from current Azeroth are sent back to the War of the Ancients 10,000 years before by the Bronze Dragonflight to make sure what was supposed to happen happens. Part of War of the Ancients TrilogyDemon Soul (book) - See above, part of War of the Ancients Trilogy.The Sundering (book) - See above, part of War of the Ancients Trilogy.Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy (Comic) - This is just before WoW vanilla since some Horde holdings (Tauren Mill) are still Alliance held. Sets up Kalygos and his motivations mostly.Warcraft Legends Vol. 1-5 (Comic) - These are all over the place, but primarily just before WoW Vanilla with some flashback stuff.The Dragons of Outland (Comic) - Trilogy set between Vanilla and TBC. Running a bit late, second volume should be out later this year.World of Warcraft Books 1-4 (comics) - Set between TBC and WotLK, covers a lot of plot spillover. Ever why the Missing Diplomat questchain ends so quickly in Thereamore? The answer is here.Death Knight (comic) - Set before and during WotLK. Sets up Thassarian.Mage (comic) - Set before WotLK. Sets up why Dalaran is a floating city over Northrend.Night of the Dragon (book) - Set before WotLK, deals with some stuff spilling out of TBC, especially dealing with Kalygos and the two new dragonflights in Outland.Stormrage (book) Set after WotLK. Sets up Malfurian Stormrage and Tyrande and the status of the Emerald Dream corruption.Shaman (comic) - Set between WotLK and Cata.The Shattering (book) - Covers all the details between WotLK and Cata that were going on while we were doing the pre-launch events.Wolfheart (book) - Details the Worgen and Gilneas' recruitment into the Alliance after the Cataclysm.Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects (book) - follows the former War Chief of the Horde as he struggles with the ongoing repercussions of the Cataclysm.Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War - The ashes of the Cataclysm have settled across Azeroth’s disparate kingdoms. As the broken world recovers from the disaster, the renowned sorceress Lady Jaina Proudmoore continues her long struggle to mend relations between the Horde and the Alliance.Dawn of the Aspects - The former Dragon Aspects are on the brink of going their separate ways to forge new destinies...Vol'Jin: Shadows of the Horde - Follows Vol'Jin as he travels to Pandaria, where the troll chieftain's loyalties are put to the ultimate test when a member of his own faction moves to assassinate him. . . .War Crimes - Centers around Garrosh Hellscream after the Siege of Orgrimmar. It provides a bridge between the events at the end of the Mists of Pandaria expansion and the upcoming Warlords of Draenor expansion.Hope this helped i tried my best to get it right but as always there may be some mistakes just try to look into it on wowwiki or wowpedia. Special Thanks to Kordd on the battle.net forums for creating the original part of the list.

great book, book in good condition- but at least take the 75 cent sticker off before you ship a $7 book lol

Having lost the war on Azeroth, the Horde, leaderless with Doomhammer captured, returned to Draenor.The damage Guldan and the Warlock's had done to Dreanor left the planet dying so Ner'zhul convinces what's left of the Horde that he can open rifts to other worlds for them, but he needs a few items from Azeroth.Sending Hellscream (who's never been) to Azeroth he attacks the Alliance as a distraction while others set about finding the artifacts Ner'zhul requires.Once they have what they need the Horde retreats, and Khadgar realizes what's happened, and that the damage to Draenor was leaking into Azeroth and what was the Black Morass is now the Blasted Lands. Khadgar needs two of the artifacts that was taken to close the portal forever or Azeroth will suffer the same fate as Draenor so he, Turalyon, and Alleria marshal and army and pursue.On the other side we're in Hellfire Peninsula and the Alliance construct Honor Hold. From there they take Hellfire Citadel. Once the Citadel is theirs Turalyon, Khadgar, and Alleria travel north to Blades Edge following the trail of Guldan's skull while the remaining army takes a course into Terrokar Foreset, Auchindown, and then on to Shadowmoon Valley and the Black Temple.We're introduced to the Arakkoa and Dranai. It's a really well written book, great pace, and a great addition to the lore. The one question I have is that with the exception of the Gronn and a handful of sick Orc's in Nagrand, the remaining Horde on Draenor is all but wiped out, and there didn't seem to be many females left on Azeroth, yet they flourished?

Very large storyline and easy to read. At work I would read it on my break and lose track of time. Like all the other warcraft books ive read i wish they spent more time on the horde side telling the story but thats just because im a hordie! Ive never liked the alliance but this book makes them likeable to me. I even cried a couple times reading the alliance side. SPOILER ALERT FOR WOD AND THIS BOOK: I noticed that once khadgar said that they had to make a sacrifice, giving up the men that were fighting the horde at one point and leaving them behind. In wod he also does this in the tanaan forest... it gave me a bit kf de ja' vu reading that piece.

An absolute gem. I loved this book, I felt so connected to the characters and the lore and it has so many twists and turns that just leaves you wanting more. I was actually sad that the story ended and didn't pickup in the following book. More than a few times I got emotional, teary eyed just from the vivid descriptions of how the story went down. I only wish that I could be as lucky as you guys and read it for the first time. Enjoy it!!

I really loved this book. It was well written and hard to put down. Really interesting lore that WoW players and non WoW players alike will enjoy. If you’re a fan of the game lore or fantasy I definitely recommend it.

I recently got back into WoW and one of my favorite things about the game is the lore behind it. It is a world with a rich history and fascinating characters.This is the second Warcraft novel I've read, the first being The Rise of he Horde. I think this book is much better. There is plenty of action, epic battles and events of momentous scale. Both heroes and villains are well portrayed and you get to understand their motivations. For example Ner'zul starts as a well meaning shaman trying to help his people but is corrupted by the demonic powers he dabbled in.It also reveals how Draenor became Outland, and what happened to the Alliance expeditionary force that was sent to close the portal.I really enjoyed this book, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in WoW and it's lore.