The Orc hordes have been defeated and driven back to their strongholds in Khaz Modan. It seems that peace has finally returned to the land of Azeroth. Yet the shadow of evil has not left this world. By treachery and deceit it seeks revenge for the defeat it suffered centuries ago.
"Day of the Dragon" by Richard A. Knaak is another after "Liberty's Crusade" position having its roots in the virtual world created by the company Blizzard. This time, the story takes place in Azeroth, a fantastic land straight out of Tolkien's trilogy, where Warcraft players fought hard against hordes of orcs. As it turned out, they were very successful, as the green invaders were finally defeated and pushed back to the mountainous Khaz Modan. A fragile peace has begun and at the same time a testing time for the war alliance, which is shaken to its foundations by the recurrence of old conflicts and disputes. As such, the mysterious figure of Prince Prestor, able to ease the greatest disputes of the crowned heads, seems to be a blessing in the face of this new conflict. The council of supreme mages of Kirin Tor is also concerned about the current situation, but even more so about the rumors of the appearance of the ancient dragon Black Death, a great threat to all life in Azeroth. What connection does this information have with the mysterious prince and another dragon, the red Alexstrasza, trapped in an orcish fortress. Does the seemingly exploratory mission of the young mage Rhonin not hide a groundbreaking task for the further fate of humanity and its allies?
Richard A. Knaak has made a name for himself as the author of the Dragonlance series of books, most notably the story of Lance's greatest hero described in "The Legend of Hum". Like there, also in "The Day of the Dragon" the author uses the world created earlier, which allows him to focus on the plot side of the adventure. Fortunately, he did not follow in the footsteps of Jeff Grubb, who in "Liberty's Crusade" created only a literary copy of a computer game. Here, the author treats the events and images known from Warcraft only as an introduction and "skeleton" for a completely original story. We meet new heroes, who are born more out of the need of the moment than glorious deeds. Although we know the land of Azeroth only from our screens, Richard A. Knaak with great ease leads the reader through the forests by the Great Sea and the destroyed Khaz Modan, dynamically presenting the world and the events accompanying the team. The plot doesn't reveal all the secrets at once and, with the passage of time, can develop into several parallel threads, which, however, connect into a logical whole. What's interesting, the three main characters have been treated by the writer a bit lightly and we get to know them only briefly during the expedition. However, the story of the seemingly secondary characters was presented in a much more colourful way, as they turn out to be the cause of the events described and the real protagonists of the novel.
The book not only has a compelling plot, but is also very accessibly written and reads with real pleasure. Only the parts explaining the turmoil around the Alterac kingdom were a bit complicated, which is a feature of all politics. Although we shouldn't expect a great work, "The Day of the Dragon" should be considered a very successful title and a promising one for the next instalments in the world of Warcraft. It can also be counted as another entry in the trend of books about "conspiracy theory of the world", where a mysterious group pulls all the strings, influencing our lives.
