horde Interrelated Info

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1. Hopper says

   This was the first WoW book I have ever read and I have to say that I was pretty happy with it. It wasn’t the best book I have ever read but it was very entertaining and I always enjoy background stories for things that I am interested in.

   I am an avid WoW player and over the years I have played I have become more and more interested in the “why” and “how” of what I am doing… like “How did Lordaron fall?” or “What happened to Karazhan” – things of that nature.

   All-in-all this was a fun and enjoyable read.

   December 20, 2009, 6:50 pm
2. Peltzer says

   A fantastic Warcraft-lore read. It gives insight into not only the history of the orcs and the origins of the Horde, but the Draenei as well (and their flight from Argus).

   Seeing Draenor/Outland prior to the events in the “World of Warcraft” was a treat as well. Oshu’gun, the Temple of Karabor (aka the Black Temple) are just a few places covered.

   With periodic narrations by Thrall and featuring characters like Velen, Durotan, Orgrim Doomhammer and Kil’Jaeden, it’s chock full of Warcrafty goodness.

   The characterizations were largely solid, though one may find themselves questioning the validity of some decisions (“Why yes, I think we shall imbibe of this demon blood. Capital idea if I may say so!”) made by the key players. Of course, with a continuity mostly in place prior to being written, the author had to work with and around what was already established as canon.

   Regardless of that hiccup, this book is a mandatory read for anyone interested in Warcraft lore, especially time periods preceeding the “World of Warcraft” game’s setting.

   December 21, 2009, 6:38 am
3. Regal says

   Don’t get me wrong, this book served its purpose of giving me a fairly entertaining download of the backstory behind WoW. It was a bit more graphically violent than I anticipated, though I can live with that. If the intended effect was that I feel anger and revulsion toward the orcs and sympathy for the Draenei, the butchery certainly achieved that. In fact, my Draenei (my only ally toon, actually) has seen a lot more playing time since I read this book, and I went so far as to delete my level 40 warlock based on a RotH-inspired dislike of warlocks. So, any book that can drive that kind of real-life (if playing the game equates to real life) behavior change must be pretty decent.

   The plot itself kept me interested, and I nodded my head in recognition of the in-game bits such as descriptions of how the warlocks summon their minions and how those minions look and behave, etc. I found myself wanting to read it, to see what was going to happen, so yes, it was a good book and worth the money. I can’t personally give it more than three stars because Christie Golden’s style is just a little off for me. I like fantasy books, I just don’t really like when they are written in “fantasy” style to the point where it feels forced. Hard for me to put my finger on what I’m trying to convey here, suffice to say that when any character in a book — particularly an Orc — responds to a question with the word, “nay,” instead of a simple “no” and the dialogue is peppered with “shall” in place of “will,” I start to get turned off. Minor complaint, and I’m more critical than most when it comes to an author’s “voice,” so most fans of the WoW universe will probably not be the least put off by it.

   For me, though, it keeps me from putting this book in with others that I would rank 4- or 5-star works. Three stars isn’t bad from me, though; oh nay, verily I sayeth that it be not.

   December 21, 2009, 7:05 pm
4. Vela says

   I got this book a few weeks ago, mostly just for something to read while on Amtrak going home for break. Basically I just wanted to read something quick and easy, and most of these “Based off of…” books are quick reads, so i thought I pick this one up and to my pleasant surprise this was a DAMN good book. The author Christie Golden, whom wrote another Warcraft book I enjoyed, Lord of the Clans, writes this great and tragic story of how a Noble race fell from grace and became a force of destruction because of their own inability to think for themselves and to be led blindly. The book is filled with touching, and emotional scenes, mostly concerning the main character, whom most of the book talks about, Durotan, as he finds himself stuck between duty to his people and what he knows is right in his heart. SPOILER: One of the most particularly well written scenes in this book is when the horde overruns the Dranei city of Telmor, and Durotan see’s the brutality of the new orcs and the wrongs they are doing but he knows in his heart he must obey orders or die because of Gul’dan’s orders. He watches as Orcs kill Dranei men, women, and children, and Golden’s writing really shows here the pain this character feels is heart as he watches this happen and when he has to do it himself. By far the best Warcraft book I have read, and probably one of my all time faves ever as well.

   December 22, 2009, 7:01 am
5. Roquemore says

   We all think of the Orcs as mindless beast… well this book gives us insight into how the Shamanistic Orcs got to be the Horde. As a WoW player that has never liked the Horde, this book inspired me to roll an Orc Shaman. Also it tells where the Draenei came from…

   I loved it so much I sent my sister a copy!

   December 22, 2009, 7:06 pm
6. Tetrow says

   This book is line upon line fact upon fact just well researched and documented history, it is not a bunch of opinion nor speculation. If you know Dr. Hordes like I do you know that this is the kind of man and quality of work to be expected from him, I say this as a descendant of the crypto-Jews. Sincerly Perry Pena

   December 23, 2009, 6:23 am
7. Eriksson says

   A couple of years ago I went to a lecture that Dr. Stanley Hordes presented to the New Mexico Genealogy Society. He discussed his then upcoming book about crypto-Jews in New Mexico titled “To the End of the Earth.” What intrigued me about Dr. Hordes lecture was that he found proof that the colony of Nuevo Leon, Nuevo Espana ( present day Mexico) probably was populated with crypto-Jews. This same colony en masse tried to illegally colonize New Mexico in 1591, and a few of these people were also part of the official New Mexico colony in 1598. Dr. Hordes’ makes a very good argument that there were crypto-Jews in New Mexico during the first years of colonization and that their descendants continued practicing Judaism up until the present day.

   A crypto-Jew is a person who converted or whose ancestors converted to Christianity yet still secretly practices Judaism. As with many other Christian countries, Jews were persecuted in Spain during the Middle Ages. In 1390 many Jews converted to Christianity after an especially devastating pogrom. In 1492, after King Fernando and Queen Isabel conquered the last vestige of Muslim Spain in Granada, the Christian monarchs officially expelled the Jews from Spain. All who stayed in Spain were required to convert to Catholicism. Many went to Portugal where they too were forced to convert.

   The Spanish Inquisition persecuted many of these New Christians as apostates and heretics. Many were accused of going back to their old religion. In order to avoid prosecution many New Christians went to the New World. Dr. Hordes shows how one such colony from Portugal under the leadership of Luis de Carvajal y de la Cueva were almost definitely New Christians, and most likely crypto-Jews.

   Carvajal was given permission by the King Philip II of Spain to found a colony in Nuevo Leon. The king gave specific instructions to officials not to question the ethnicity of the people in this colony. Dr. Hordes contends that these people were probably New Christians since at the time New Christians prohibited from going to the New World. The king’s instructions would have made it easier for them to cross over to Mexico. As further proof Hordes notes that Carvajal’s son was later prosecuted by the Inquisition. During the younger Carvajal’s arrest Gaspar Castano de Sosa lead the entire colony to New Mexico. Hordes contends that he probably did this in order to escape being prosecuted himself as a judaizer. However Castano de Sosa was arrested anyway for trying to illegally colonize New Mexico.

   Hordes uses church and government records to demonstrate the possibility that New Christians practiced Judaism throughout New Mexico history. His argument is strongest with the early years of the colony when Inquisition records documented investigations into possible judaizers. He also uses genealogy to show how certain assumed crypto-Jewish families intermarried within culture. However, his arguments are weaker when it comes to the present day. Although there is some proof that certain present day Hispano New Mexican families continue the practice of crypto-Judaism, there are questions as to whether certain evidence truly demonstrates this practice. Hordes does not completely dispel these questions, although he comes closer than others who have tried to prove this theory.

   Dr. Hordes’ book is well researched and was a fascinating read. Any person interested in Hispanic New Mexican history and genealogy should read this book. One then can make up his or her mind whether Dr. Hordes proves that crypto-Judaism indeed was practiced throughout New Mexico’s history.

   December 23, 2009, 6:17 pm
8. Abdallah says

   This book was an excellent history of the time the Jews were expelled from Spain to the present time which finds many of ther descendents lving i New Mexico and other parts of the Southwest.Many of these descendents of the Crypto Jews cling to bits and pieces of their ancient heritage while others have actively sought out information. Still others have actually undergone a conversion to Judiasm and now actively practice it.This was a very well researched and documented work.

   December 24, 2009, 6:26 am
9. Unwin says

   I’m afraid I’m in the minority here, but I have to disagree about the final value of Dr. Hordes’ treatise, “To The Ends of the Earth”: a History of the Crypto-Jews of New Mexico”.

   Like the other reviewers, I congratulate Hordes on his scholarship, but in his effort to put the final dot on the ‘i’, he massively fell down.

   I will reference one of the final statements which made me shudder – “Few people, save a handful of historians, are aware of the rich & dynamic interplay among Muslims, Catholics and Separdic Jews on the Iberian Peninsula from the eighth through the fifteenth century.” pg 281, “Conclusions”. Maria Rosa Menocal would take extreme exception to that comment. Menocal’s “The Ornament of the World”; How Muslims, Jews & Christians created a culture of tolerance in medieval Spain,2002:is only one of many academics who have written extensively on this topic.

   But prior to that above heart stopping statement, I was becoming disturbed by Hordes’ increasing tendency to prove out his thesis with repetitive & non-scientific criteria. Endogamy aside, DNA data would be the conclusive information to prove out the continuum of the Crypto-Jewish thread in Hordes’ thesis. Jewishness is passed thru the female line, and mitrocondial information would conclusively settle the question.”Indications of Crypto-Judaism in Genealogy” would have been better served containing such data. Hordes does reference that such data began to be collected in 1997; certainly, results would have been available by publication of this book to better support this sub-text.

   In all, I found the majority of the book valuable, however I must point out what I found to be serious flaws in Hordes’ summation of his research. I will await a more thorough treatment of this very interesting subject.

   December 24, 2009, 6:37 pm
10. Vargo says

    Thesis: Many of the Spanish settlers of New Mexico were either secretely practising Jews or recent converts. Through the ensuing centuries, some kept up tradition and practice of their Hebrew faith, in all or part.

    I heard this hypothesis when I first moved to the Land of Enchantment in 1979. Most locals took it as likely. However, “studies” on the subject were mainly collections of anecdotes of familes that did not eat pork or that played with draedels in December but didn’t know why.

    Stanley Hordes has done scholarship a real service with his meticulous, well-documented, and systematic research, as presented in To The End of the Earth. Rather than rushing into anecdotes, he first gives a broad backdrop of the history of Judaism in Iberia and the political and religious upheavals there in the 13th through 16th centuries.

    Having set the stage, Hordes then follows families of “new Christians” to Mexico. Through an examination of correspondence, records of the Holy Office (Inquisition) and other documents, he traces the likely practice of crypto-Judaism in Old Mexico.

    Only then does he set forth north of the Rio Bravo to see the fate of some likely Jewish or formerly Jewish families, trace their practices, and scour for physical evidence among a group that was reticent to leave records of what was long an illegal practice.

    Hordes wraps up nicely with not only the family stories but with DNA and blood protein studies. He falls short in actually finding evidence such as hidden synagogues or secret Torahs, but he certainly paints a compelling picture that many of the Hispano settlers of New Mexico were, at the very least, reluctant conversos.

    This is an engrossing and well-referenced work for any serious scholar. While not light reading, it is also not too challenging for a non-anthropologist.

    By all means, if the thesis is of interest to you, you should order this book.

    December 25, 2009, 6:52 am
11. Unland says

    This is a very good source for western readers to learn about the Huns without them going into to much details. It is a good source for thier tatics, weapons and other stuff. A 5/5 for this one.

    December 25, 2009, 6:17 pm
12. Chuck says

    Although this book clarifies several issues and raises the debate in certain subjects (like the Hsung-Nu; are they the ancestors of the Huns, even with all the different physical, social and cultural differences?), it suffers of a major drawback…it doesn’t have almost anything on the Huns, and only half a page and a colour plate on Attila and his army; considering that the title is “Attila and the Nomad Hordes” this is a problem (and the re-issue under the name “Attila the Hun” is outright lying”).

    If titled just “Nomad Hordes”, this would be a 4 or 5 stars, because it is very informative (considering the space limitations), fun to read, and the colour plates are McBride at his best.

    Buy it if you want to have a general idea about Turco-Mongol, Khazar, Pecheneg and other horse peoples of the steppe; it’s worth the price.

    December 26, 2009, 6:13 am
13. Dirks says

    Of all the Osprey books I own, I think this one has gotten the most use. Packed with pictures, lots of plates by the incomparable Angus McBride, and text by David Nicolle. The book, despite its title, has little to say on the Huns but covers a number of Turkish, Mongolian, and Eurasian peoples, many of the standard and extremely successful ‘horse-archer’ way of life, one that has thrived for a good chunk of man’s recorded history. Like so many Osprey titles, its one major flaw is that there is not enough room for all the possible information (although I have seen much worse-’Ancient Armies of the Middle East’ and ‘Mounted Archers of the Steppe 600 BC-AD 1300′ come to mind). Other than this one inescapable issue, I could not give this book enough stars.

    December 26, 2009, 6:29 pm
14. Newby says

    A quick enjoyable read with fine artwork. The text jumps around and does not focus enough on the titles subject. Still it is a good book for begining students and wargamers. These various nomads were clearly an intriguing, tough, and deadly opponents to all who had the misfortune of battling them. Thankfully, they usually did not have the ability and tenacity for long sieges otherwise Civilization as we know it may have been wiped out.

    December 27, 2009, 6:15 am
15. Hamalian says

    A solid book that tell us about some very tough and scary folks on horse back. (The Pope had a lot of guts staring down Atilla, who wanted to sack Rome.) Great Text in the space provided couple with some wonderful pictures.

    December 27, 2009, 6:48 pm