Christie Golden War Crimes Review

War Crimes is a Warcraft novel written by New York Times bestselling and award winning author Christie Golden. The novel covers the timeline between the ending of Mists of Pandaria expansion where Horde Warchief Garrosh Hellscream is finally captured by the Alliance and Horde forces after the Siege of Orgrimmar to answer for his crimes up until he escapes from his trial by travelling to an alternate timeline in Draenor to warn his father Grommash Hellscream before they form the Iron Horde.

So basically for World of Wacraft players, War Crimes fills the gap between the expansions of Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor, and for everyone else it is also a completing novel in the franchise.

The novel depicts the trial Garrosh undergoes for all his crimes, especially his actions that us players were trying to stop in Mists of Pandaria expansion. The judge that will decide the fate of Garrosh are our beloved 4 Celestials; Niuzao the Black Ox, Chi-Ji the Red Crane, Xuen the White Tiger and Yu'lon the Jade Serpent.

From now on, this post will look like I'm writing a review for one of The Good Wife's episodes. In order for trial to be fair and just, it is decided that one must be on the defender's side and one on the accuser's side. Simply put, we are talking about lawyers here :D 

Tyrande Whisperwind willingly takes on the accusing side to prove Garrosh's guilt while ironically it is Baine Bloodhoof who "unwillingly" is sort of forced to defend Garrosh. I said ironic because as you know (or if you don't care about lore, you don't know); it was Garrosh who killed Baine's beloved father Cairne Bloodhoof, who challenged the Warchief to a Mak'Gora, a duel of honour but with old rules; a duel to the death.

Despite this lore fact, Baine does a hell of a job defending Garrosh especially when Tyrande is on a mission of vengeance and makes her arguments based on ruthless events after another, even the ones that don't even have anything to do with Garrosh himself. She even makes an argument on Grommash drinking the blood of Mannoroth, something Garrosh has always been ashamed of and blamed his father for... Come on Tyrande get a grip will you?...

The events depicted by our "lawyers" and the proofs that are presented to the "court" are done with the help of two Bronze Dragons Kairoz and Chromie who introduce the Vision of Time to the trial to present hard evidence of either Garrosh's guilt or innocence. Kairoz assists Baine while Chromie works alongside Tyrande during the trial. This Vision of Time is the device itself that Garrosh uses to escape from the trial.

Meanwhile Garrosh, again ironically, forms a weird bond with Anduin Wrynn, the Prince of Stormwind and son of Alliance Leader Varian Wrynn. I am saying ironic here again because unless you slept through Mists of Pandaria or you just don't play the game, you must know that Garrosh almost killed Anduin. Their dialogues were among my favourites while I read the book because Garrosh doesn't talk at all during the trial, so the very limited dialogue Garrosh has is when he talks to Anduin. He knows he will be killed when the trial ends so he doesn't see any reason for defending himself. But he is somehow open about himself and his intentions when Anduin visits him in his cell.

The book is wonderfully written and it is a joy to read; however, there is really no surprise element as we already know that Garrosh would escape but the real twist at the end of the book is the outcome of the trial. I won't give any spoilers here but I will say that the outcome of the trial was already decided by our Celestials even before the trial began. If you are curious about what would happen to Garrosh if he hadn't escaped, read it until the end :) It's a very enjoyable book.

I strongly recommend you to read Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects and Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War first to enjoy War Crimes even more. If you do, you will have a much better grasp of the story in War Crimes and a more broad perspective of the events depicted through the Vision of Time by Tyrande and Baine during the trial of Garrosh.

In summary, War Crimes sets a prelude to our current expansion Warlords of Draenor. It bridges the gap between Garrosh's capture after the Siege of Orgrimmar up until Garrosh's father Grommash forms the Iron Horde. It's a great book and it gives us a much better understanding into the twisted mind of Garrosh and the reasons for why he did the things he did. Is he guilty or is he innocent?