Book Review: Vol'jin: Shadows of the Horde

Vol’jin: The Next Karate Troll? 

With all the juicy drama and tension that has been boiling within the Horde, I couldn’t wait to read
about Vol’jin, the leader of the Darkspear trolls. However, it left me disappointed from its lack of any believable tension. That’s probably the biggest weakness of the book—the characters are dull, the tension is dull, and even the “climactic” conflict against the Zandalari and Mogu forces is dull because I didn’t get a sense of urgency from the tranquil pacing of the book.

Pros:

·         Good insight into Pandaren culture and the two contrasting ideologies.

Chen Stormstout is somewhat of an alien among his own people because he is so adventurous. There is Huojin (live in the moment, act) and Tushui (meditate, inner harmony) that exist in each person. Different people will lean towards one, but the goal is to find balance between the two. I got a strong sense of Pandaren norms and how they preferred to live out their lives. It kind of reminded me of the domestic hobbit lifestyle. Lots of food, lots of booze, lots of farming, and very little adventuring.

·         We get to see Chen Stormstout fall in love.

I had to wonder what an interracial relationship between a Pandaren and a human would spawn. And then, Pandaren + Tauren = ???

But no. Even Chen is a traditional Pandaren who likes his Pandaren women.

·         Internal character development.

We get to see Vol’jin, Tyrathan, and Chen Stormstout grow in this book. It’s too bad that they got along a little too well, because it would have been a lot less dull to read about them hanging out.

Fighting doubt. The shas are physical manifestations of our inner demons, and doubt is a big one. Tyrathan, after his traumatic experience, suffers from a lot of self-doubt and deals with it throughout the novel. I thought this development was insightful to human nature, as it really is a battle that exhausts the soul.

Vol’jin’s identity crisis. Going from the pre-Karate Kid troll to the post-monastery-trained Vol’jin, while his changes were extremely predictable given the circumstances of being in a monastery boot camp, learning to adapt in the transformation from old to new is a meaningful concept that’s explored in this book.

Chen Stormstout’s alienation. As a well-traveled Pandaren, Chen’s a bit of an outcast in his own society. Many Pandarens love him, some look down on him, and most think that he’s a little odd for having adventured outside of Pandaria so much. It’s this feeling of being an outcast among your own people because you don’t follow norms dictated by your own culture. Anyone who’s ever lived overseas of their motherland for a long time can relate to this.

·         A critique of imperialism.

This part was genius. The Mogus imperialized the Pandarens a long time ago, and living conditions were awful for the exploited pandas. The Pandarens managed to overthrow their oppressors, but have adopted a lot of their influences in architecture and culture. The Zandalari have teamed up with the Mogu, but it’s obvious to both parties that the Mogu are stronger and more powerful. The Zandalari trolls aspire to become like the Mogu and this is shown with a particular Zandalari commander who does his hair the same way the Mogu do theirs, even dyeing it to the right color. It’s gross. There are many parallels between Mogu imperialism and the consequences of colonization that we’ve seen in our own world. We see this when people living in a formerly colonized country aspire to look, dress, and live like their former oppressors.

Cons:

·         Slow pacing.

All the focus that went into developing the sense of harmony in the monastery took away the tension from the outside world. From the way everyone was so nice and understanding, the only believable tension Vol’jin had was with himself. It was so slow because nothing much was really happening except bonding and good times. Bonding and good times are good for character building but do little to propel the story forward.

·         Predictable. Extremely predictable.

My impression: after Vol’jin got ganked in the alley by an orc rogue, he decided take a vacation from WoW to recuperate and meditate. He joins a support group in which there is a human hunter named Tyrathan. Oooh, drama, I thought. But no. Tyrathan is stoic and noble and holds his feelings of disgust in. Vol’jin is stoic and noble and holds his feelings of disgust in. So obviously, with time, they come to learn more about each other and respect each other. What, we have the same enemy? And then they’re friends. Forever. After bonding for like three-quarters of the novel, they get together, return to WoW, and do a raid. There are some difficulties and complications, of course, given that their raid is mostly made up of windwalker monks. But they get it done, and after a couple of wipes, they win.  The end.

Three-quarters of the book was of Vol’jin and Taran Zhu at the monastery reenacting The Next Karate Kid (1994, with Hilary Swank), except it’s more boring because Vol’jin isn’t a bitchy teenager forced to stay at the monastery for misbehaving. Then of course, there’s a climactic battle in which the main characters win. I didn’t mind this part so much, except I was mad that it took so long to get here.

·          Little tension between characters.

It bothered me a lot that everyone was so damn nice to each other in this book. There was a lot of potential for tension that went to waste. By getting along a little too well, the characters were robbed of convincing growth in character. 

Vol’jin and Tyrathan. A troll and a human residing in the same monastery, whaaaat? Okay, this did seem like a forced arrangement of tension, except what’s worse is that the tension never came. Tyrathan did Vol’jin’s laundry, even though Vol’jin acted like a passive-aggressive bitch by staining his clothes on purpose. Then they played some board games. The problem here is that Vol’jin and Tyrathan were both noble, stoic people. There was no tension here because they respected each other and eventually saw through the faction curtain into each other’s true selves. A nice-to-meet-you brawl would have been more interesting.

Vol’jin and Taran Zhu. There was a lot of mutual respect here, even though Taran Zhu was kind of a creep in the way he kept spying on Vol’jin. However, Vol’jin wasn’t in a position to protest, so it’s understandable that he didn’t throw up any tables. That would have been stupid, and Vol’jin is smart. I want believable tension, not stupidity.

Chen Stormstout and Yalia Sagewhisper. Sure, it was obvious that they were going to hook up, but nonetheless I thought this couple was cute. After a couple of chapters about them, I thought this couple was the most boring couple ever. I’m glad they bonded and opened up to each other. Chen and Yalia had a healthy relationship, but even the healthiest relationships have their dose of drama. Sure, Yalia felt apprehensive about going back to her village, but that tension was directed towards her former family and neighbors, not Chen. They were so understanding of each other that it made me sleepy.

Khalak and Vol’jin. Khalak’s character intrigued me because she was so reasonable (for a villain). She was interested in Vol’jin but her feelings weren’t reciprocated. The tension resulting from her desire for him to join her cause never escalates because Vol’jin escapes during the night. I think the course of the story went well, except we don’t see enough into her internal nature to find her true reaction that she has to hide from her Mogu superiors. She is logical and pragmatic, like a robot with a goal. I was aware of the stakes but couldn’t relate to them because she held in her inner motives so well.

Hell, even the monks were too nice. There are two types of monks that are acknowledged philosophically in the novel (the kinds that are comfortable in their shell and the kinds that need to grow bigger), but personally, there was no douche monk, even with these varying stages of personal development. Surely there must be at least a monk in there who's a prick. 

·         Khalak’s character. Why is such a rational and noble (she has her code) leader like her hanging out with some bums like the Mogu? She was interested in Vol’jin but we only see her from his analytical standpoint. Sadly, her character doesn’t get a chance to develop in terms of critical reasoning, and I am disappointed. She is so smart that the question must have popped into her head at some point, even if she eventually disregards the notion and shoves it aside. I feel as if she would have been persuaded to do something if Vol’jin had tried to convince her. She was clearly not blind, but happened to be fine with Mogus ordering her around, and troll superiors who do their hair the Mogu way. Her end is a quick death by Vol’jin, which did her character no justice. I kept hoping that she was just playing dumb, that there would be a twist at the end, but that didn't happen.

Conclusion: This novel had lots of character development, but without the tension or struggles between characters, the transformation and growth felt forced and unconvincing, or too slow to maintain my interest. 2/5

I’m puzzled by the high rating the book has on Amazon. There are a lot of suspiciously vague reviews for the book but maybe the majority of readers did enjoy the book. A lot. O_o What did you think of the book?