Feb 15, 2016 (Edited) 98

**As of 1/25/18 I will be updating this list with Chronicle Vol.2, Traveler(A WoW book that is meant to be a children's book but is still considered canon), and The newest addition to the series and one that I am SUPER excited for : Before the Storm by Christie Golden. Before the Storm takes place right before the events of the upcoming expansion Battle for Azeroth so get your hands on it right when it releases so you can get the juicy details of the upcoming war between the Horde and Alliance!**
Alright after several hours of scouring the web I have tracked down what I am extremely confident is the full chronological order of the WoW Novels for anyone who may wish to catch up on their lore. I am not going to include the mangas,short stories, etc. on the list at the moment this is purely just the novels.
(Most people including myself recommend reading them in this order as well)
1. WarCraft Chronicle Volume 1
2. Rise of the Horde by Christie Golden
3. The Last Guardian by Jeff Grubb
4. Tides of Darkness by Aaron Rosenburg
5. Beyond the Dark Portal by Christie Golden & Aaron Rosenburg
6. Day of the Dragon by Richard A. Knaak
!! The War of the Ancients Trilogy takes place before Rise of the Horde but it is highly recommended that you read it after having read Day of the Dragon which is why I have the trilogy listed as 6,7,8 instead of 1,2,3.
7. War of the Ancients: The Well of Eternity by Richard A. Knaak
8. War of the Ancients: The Demon Soul by Richard A. Knaak
9. War of the Ancients: The Sundering by Richard A. Knaak
10. Lord of the Clans by Christie Golden
11. Of Blood and Honor by Chris Metzen
12. Arthas: Rise of the Lich King by Christie Golden
13. Illidan by William King
14. Cycle of Hatred by Keith DeCandido
15. Night of The Dragon by Richard A. Knaak
16. Stormrage by Richard A. Knaak
17. The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm by Christie Golden
18. Wolfheart by Richard A Knaak
19. Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects by Christie Golden
20. Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War by Christie Golden
21. Dawn of the Aspects by Richard A. Knaak
22. Vol'Jin: Shadows of the Horde by Michael A. Stackpole
23. War Crimes by Christie Golden
Important if you plan to purchase:
There are three books that will include 3-4 stories in one book I am adding them to this to help you save money so you can buy one of these rather than purchase each book individually. The name of these are:
1. World of Warcraft: Chronicles of War - Includes Rise of the Horde, The Last Guardian,Tides of Darkness, and lastly, Beyond the Dark portal
2. World of Warcraft: Archive - Day of the Dragon, Lord of the Clans, The Last Guardian, and lastly, Of Blood and Honor
3. WarCraft War of The Ancients Archive - Includes WotA(War of the Ancients): The Well of Eternity, WotA: The Demon Soul, WotA: The Sundering
Extra things worth noting
Several times throughout the books some of them will reference events in the other books that arent necessarily in the chronological order of which the book was published hence why this list was created to help clean that up a bit for your reading pleasure. However if anyone wants me to add the date published of the books happy to do so. If you have any other info you think I should add in that people should know please leave a comment and I will add it as soon as I can. Happy book hunting and enjoy the reading! :)
**Rendford in the Story Forum made a post with this link and figured since this is a novel post afterall why not add it here for you guys to get a taste of the new book Illidan by William King which takes place after the events of Arthas: Rise of The Lich King and goes into detail Illidans plight in Outland. Its the prelude and chapter 1 of the new book enjoy! http://www.randomhousebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/WOW-Sampler_INTERIORforcampaignpage.pdf

Alright after several hours of scouring the web I have tracked down what I am extremely confident is the full chronological order of the WoW Novels for anyone who may wish to catch up on their lore. I am not going to include the mangas on the list this is purely just the novels.
(Most people including myself recommend reading them in this order as well)
1. Rise of the Horde by Christie Golden
2. The Last Guardian by Jeff Grubb
3. Tides of Darkness by Aaron Rosenburg
4. Beyond the Dark Portal by Christie Golden & Aaron Rosenburg
!! The War of the Ancients Trilogy takes place before Rise of the Horde but it is highly recommended that you read it after having read Beyond the Dark Portal which is why I have the trilogy listed as 5,6,7 instead of 1,2,3.
5. War of the Ancients: The Well of Eternity by Richard A. Knaak
6. War of the Ancients: The Demon Soul by Richard A. Knaak
7. War of the Ancients: The Sundering by Richard A. Knaak
8. Lord of the Clans by Christie Golden
9. Of Blood and Honor by Chris Metzen
10. Arthas: Rise of the Lich King by Christie Golden
11. Cycle of Hatred by Keith DeCandido
12. Night of The Dragon by Richard A. Knaak
13. Stormrage by Richard A. Knaak
14. The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm by Christie Golden
15. Wolfheart by Richard A Knaak
16. Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects by Christie Golden
17. Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War by Christie Golden
18. Dawn of the Aspects by Richard A. Knaak
19. Vol'Jin: Shadows of the Horde by Michael A. Stackpole
20. War Crimes by Christie Golden
21. Illidan by William King (Brand new book releasing April 12,2016)
Important if you plan to purchase:
There are three books that will include 3-4 stories in one book I am adding them to this to help you save money so you can buy one of these rather than purchase each book individually. The name of these are:
1. World of Warcraft: Chronicles of War - Includes Rise of the Horde, The Last Guardian,Tides of Darkness, and lastly, Beyond the Dark portal
2. World of Warcraft: Archive - Day of the Dragon, Lord of the Clans, The Last Guardian, and lastly, Of Blood and Honor
3. WarCraft War of The Ancients Archive - Includes WotA(War of the Ancients): The Well of Eternity, WotA: The Demon Soul, WotA: The Sundering
Extra things worth noting
Several times throughout the books some of them will reference events in the other books that arent necessarily in the chronological order of which the book was published hence why this list was created to help clean that up a bit for your reading pleasure. However if anyone wants me to add the date published of the books happy to do so. If you have any other info you think I should add in that people should know please leave a comment and I will add it as soon as I can. Happy book hunting and enjoy the reading! :)

Very impressive. Thanks for the guide and your hard work.
Have you considered expanding this to include all of the released short stories, mangas, comics, etc..

Thank you for your feedback. I might in the near future if several people request it I'll add them in. Figured for now I'd keep it simple and stick to the novels if it turns out well, people like the list, and they request more I'll definitely add in comics, short stories, etc.

You missed Day of the Dragon in the big list (inbetween Beyond and WotA trilogy) but you mentioned it in the bundle books.

Thank you Denona added it in. Funny I have the bundle book with that novel in there and had it on my personal list just slipped up and forgot to add it in the big list tyvm for catching that.

For the new set of books Warcraft Chronicle - I will add them to the list in a chronological order fashion but will most likely be making a second list under the first for them.

Doesn't War of the Ancients take place between Warcraft III and WoW? Broxigar is a veteran of the Third War, isn't he?

Well, the guys time travelling are around that time period, but the bulk of the story is waaaay back in the past, so it's an iffy one.

War of the Ancients should be after Cycle of Hatred as Org is fully established in the first book.

@Sindriane No, the events of War of the Ancients are ten thousand years ago. Like Neutral said it involves time traveling so we have a few characters from a different time in there.
@Nathreim you can read war of the ancients in any order doesn't matter to much considering its time in history, the only key thing is that your somewhat familiar with the characters it mentions. I and the majority of others I know just recommend reading it in the order I listed but glad you posted others may want to switch it up for preference.

@Sindriane No, the events of War of the Ancients are ten thousand years ago. Like Neutral said it involves time traveling so we have a few characters from a different time in there.

I'm aware that the War of the Ancients itself takes place 10,000 years in the past.
The framing device that sets up the events in Richard Knaak's The War of the Ancients trilogy, however, does not. It takes place in the present, shortly after the Third War, not between Beyond the Dark Portal and Lord of the Clans.
Because understanding this novel's key characters requires an understanding of the events of the Third War, which leads to the orcs breaking their dependency on Mannoroth and much of Broxigar's character motivations, I decided to comment on it.

Because understanding this novel's key characters requires an understanding of the events of the Third War, which leads to the orcs breaking their dependency on Mannoroth and much of Broxigar's character motivations, I decided to comment on it.

Unfortunately, if people want to understand what happened during the Third War, they need to play WC3. None of the books really cover it in any depth, as far as I remember from reading most of them. The only one that comes close is Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, and even that is minor as it pertains more to his conflict with Illidan/Kael'thas and the Scourge's destruction of Lordaeron, neither of which are important to Broxigar's character. I will also note that Broxigar gets his character development within the War of the Ancients novels. The only other information you would want to know is the events of Mount Hyjal, which as mentioned above, require WC3 to be played or the raid in WoW to be done or a Wowpedia page to be read.
Also, the Illidan novel should probably be.. before Stormrage, as it appears to cover the period of time Illidan spent in Outland before we defeated him atop the Black Temple in TBC.

02/23/2016 05:13 AMPosted by Jikuan

Illidan would be right after Arthas: Rise of the Lich King if you're going by when it begins, or before Night of the Dragon if you're placing it in the time period of The Burning Crusade.

That is a better position, yes.

02/22/2016 11:17 PMPosted by Microstealer

02/23/2016 06:06 AMPosted by Sindriane

Just ordered the first trilogy.
I also bought Chronicle V1 but it's on back order, even though I pre ordered it.

Just wanted to say thank you! Was wanting to know where Illidan by William King placed in the lore series and this answered it perfectly.

What about the Paragons e-book? Where does each of the short stories in it place in the timeline? Not to mention Dawn of the Aspects (should be the earliest point in the novel timeline, given that it deals with the creation of the Dragon Aspects.)

What about the Paragons e-book? Where does each of the short stories in it place in the timeline?

I'll read through and try to place them:
Heart of War - During the Wrath of the Lich King launch patch.
Lord of His Pack - Post-Gilneas starting zone, pre-Worgen player arrival in Darnassus.
Trade Secrets of a Trade Prince - Post-Cataclysm.
Fire and Iron - Set after The Shattering novel, Cataclysm.
The Judgment - Flashbacks are before/during Warcraft 3, before the Orcs find the Darkspear.
Cut Short - Pre-Cataclysm, end of Wrath of the Lich King - after Operation: Gnomeregan.
As Our Fathers Before Us - During Cataclysm.
Seeds of Faith - I am not entirely sure. Malfurion is in it, so I am going to assume Cataclysm.
Edge of Night - Post-Shattering, due to the Greymane Wall being broken and Garrosh being Warchief - is debatable though, but I agree with the Cataclysm suggestion.
The Blood of Our Fathers - Post-Shattering/Cataclysm.
In the Shadow of the Sun - Pre-Wrath of the Lich King. Likely post-Sunwell restoration.
Prophet's Lesson - Post-Wrath of the Lich King. During Cataclysm, since Anduin is training with Velen during this time.
Road to Damnation - Pre-Warcraft 3, before Kel'thuzad dies.
The War of the Shifting Sands - Pretty self explanatory, before the First War, during the Long Vigil of the Kaldorei.
Unbroken - During the Orcish/Human wars on Azeroth, while the Draenei are hiding on Draenor.
Blood of the Highborne - During and after the Fall of Quel'thalas.

English (US)

Americas & Southeast Asia

Europe

Korea

Taiwan

China

English (EU)

Français

Polski

©2019 Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved.

All trademarks referenced herein are the properties of their respective owners.

en-US