I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Boo fan. I’ve liked him on Facebook for at least a year now. The updates of adorable pictures from the cutest dog on Facebook makes me smile after a rough day.

The pictures of Boo are so popular that Chronicle Books published “Boo the life of the world’s cutest dog”. His owner J.H. Lee puts a voice to Boo while the pictures show Boo “lounging around, playing with friends, exploring the whole wide world, and making those famous puppy-dog eyes.”

The preview is adorable and there are desktop wallpapers available to download on the official site.

The Shattering

As a warning this review will contain some spoilers so if you don’t want to be spoiled with pre-Cata events, do not read further!

This book contains a lot of different aspects to the lore that I’m surprised that the length is so short. Even so, I think what I liked was the fleshing out of Anduin Wrynn, Varian’s son, as a character with thoughts and feelings. Reading the book you really get a good glimpse into his thoughts and feelings, and how much he dislikes his father. Now the dislike is too severe, but it’s definitely more than that teenage “I hate my dad because he has all the power.” We get to see Anduin’s reaction when Varian goes into one of his Lo’gosh fits regarding the massacre of some Night Elves by the Horde (or what seems to be the Horde).

On the flip side, we get to see more into why Thrall abandons his post as warchief and leaves Garrosh in his stead. Now after knowing that this was going to happen and that Garrosh has a hand in the death of Cairne, I was anxious to read about the backstory. In fact, the book opens with Cairne going to Northrend to bring Garrosh and his troops back home, and the juxtaposition between the two makes for some interesting plot points. In general you are able to get to know more about Garrosh and his personality. It made me understand his motives more, but I’m still not a fan of the guy.

Shattering also gives us a good look into the Tauren society with the massive takeover orchestrated by Magatha Grimtotem. It’s actually a pretty brutal scenerio where the Grimtotem tribe massacre any and all Tauren who are not of their tribe or supportive of their views. Thankfully Bane, Cairne’s son, is not part of the massacre and escapes with some others in order to return again and hopefully seek vengeance.

Within all this is the curious position that Jaina is in as a mediator between the Horde and the Alliance. She’s been known to meet and talk with Thrall regarding political issues, and in Shattering winds up talking with and advising Bane on his situation. Anduin even plays a role in this by giving Bane an ancient weapon that was given to him by Muradin. It’s actually a touching scene and it gives me hope that if we loose Varian, at least his son is diplomatic enough to handle dealing with members of the Horde.

End of spoilers.

All in all though I really do wish the book was a bit longer. It felt short to me, even with so much packed into it. Granted maybe that’s because it ends right before Deathwing bursts from the earth and starts burning the countryside. Now a book about what happens next is something I would like to read, even though it may encompass in-game events. Not sure if I’m going to make it to Loremaster right away with all of the new quests and I’d like to read about all the upheaval within the leading bodies of the Alliance and Horde, not to mention what’s going on with the different remaining dragonflights.

But if you’re a lore fan and want more of an insight into what happened before Deathwing came back? I highly recommend reading The Shattering.

The novel is written from Seth’s view after he is given some letters and leather bound books by a customer who would regularly come to his store. This customer and these writings turn Seth’s world upside down from what he knew about the world and from what he thought he had learned about history. But it probably wouldn’t be easy to realize that vampires are real and that Abraham Lincoln was one of the best hunters.

But if you’re still iffy, you can check out the first two chapters here. I took a read and I have to say I think that this book has some good potential and I’ll probably pick it up on my next trip to the bookstore.

Random House has said that they are currently working on two ideas, but have only hinted that one is an “adventure” and the other is a “horror” genre. They also have a partnership with Stardock to write stories about their game Elemental: War of Magic which is due out this fall. Now hedging their bets on books based on video games can be a bit risky, but I think that if they have good authors behind the books, this idea could be a good one. I’ve already seen games which have had some amazing books come out of them and I could easily see that books relating to a video game becoming a bigger market.

Via PaidContent.org

Random House has posted information and an excerpt from the first chapter of the Infernal City, a novel based on the Elder Scrolls. The same Elder Scrolls that is the popular game from Bethesda. This is the first of two books that will be based in the Elder Scrolls world.

The book is written by New York Times bestselling author, Greg Keyes. The novel will be available on November 24, 2009 but you can pre-order at various book retail stores now.

A preview excerpt is up here and gives you a slight indication as to how the book will be.