Prepare for the Shadowlands

In today's book review, I will be sharing my thoughts on World of Warcraft Shadowlands: Shadows Rising by Madeleine Roux.

Shadows Rising is the prequel which helps to set up for the upcoming World of Warcraft Shadowlands expansion. In this book, Sylvanas has left the Horde and now, she tasked her remaining loyalists with a dangerous mission, to kill the Loa of Death, Bwonsamdi. Meanwhile, still devastated over the loss of her father, King Rastakhan, Queen Talanji walked out of the Horde Council because they are not willing to enact vengeance on the Alliance and Lady Jaina Proudmoore for the destruction that they caused to Zandalar. Furthermore, she was almost assassinated in Orgrimmar but thankfully was save by Zekhan . Both the Horde and Alliance are currently in a armistice and a wrong move by either side can bring them into war again. As such, the Horde Council sent Zekhan to Zandalar representing the Horde, hoping to regain Queen Talanji's favour and her trust. Soon after Zekhan's arrival, Queen Talanji and he would discover that there is a far more insidious plot happening and the consequences would be dire for them all. Overall, this sets up relatively well for the new expansion. It definitely fits well as a filler between BFA and Shadowlands. The story is straightforward and the length is just fine in my opinion. It was not too long and incidents happened at a right time. From the story, I can also feels that things are not going well for both the Alliance and the Horde at this time. They had just ended the war and there are still tension in place. Both sides are threading very carefully not wanting to cause any aggravated action which would results in another war. What I like the most from the story is definitely the character development of Bwonsamdi. In the game, he is often seen as a mischievous Loa and one who cares only for himself however. in Shadows Rising, we get to see another side of him. A side that is unexpected from him. Furthermore, I also like how things are going between him and Queen Talanji at the end. We would definitely see more of Bwonsamdi in Shadowlands and I cannot express how eager I am. To conclude, I enjoyed reading Shadows Rising and although it is a little short, it was still overall a good read in my opinion.