• World of Warcraft: Arthas - Rise of the Lich King

  • World of Warcraft: Blizzard Legends
  • By: Christie Golden
  • Narrated by: Christie Golden
  • Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (1,715 ratings)

Prime logo Prime member exclusive:
pick 2 free titles with trial.
Pick 1 title (2 titles for Prime members) from our collection of bestsellers and new releases.
Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks and podcasts.
Your Premium Plus plan will continue for $14.95 a month after 30-day trial. Cancel anytime.
World of Warcraft: Arthas - Rise of the Lich King  By  cover art

World of Warcraft: Arthas - Rise of the Lich King

By: Christie Golden
Narrated by: Christie Golden
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $9.10

Buy for $9.10

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

The book World of Warcraft fans have been clamoring for - the true story behind one of the Warcraft universe’s most terrifying villains, Arthas the Lich King. 

Author Christie Golden does for Arthas what she once did for the Orc Lord Thrall in the best-selling Warcraft: Lord of the Clans, in another epic exploration of one of the key characters from the 11-million subscriber massively multiplayer online role-playing game.

©2010 Blizzard Entertainment (P)2019 Blizzard Entertainment

Featured Article: Achievement Unlocked! 21 Listens Based on Video Games to Take You to the Next Level


No console? No problem. These listens set in some of our favorite digital worlds offer new lore, adventure, and storytelling, all with no controller required. Whether you're fascinated by the stories held within some of the most lauded franchises or you're a pro searching for what to listen to while gaming, you're in luck. This collection of listens based on video games celebrates the stories, characters, and settings of popular series.

What listeners say about World of Warcraft: Arthas - Rise of the Lich King

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,424
  • 4 Stars
    218
  • 3 Stars
    49
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    15
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,086
  • 4 Stars
    231
  • 3 Stars
    103
  • 2 Stars
    30
  • 1 Stars
    23
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,253
  • 4 Stars
    162
  • 3 Stars
    40
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    8

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Monotone and lacking engagement

After hearing the thrilling prologue narrated by Chris Metzen on a Blizzard podcast, and after having been blown away from the masterful piece that was the audio book of Before the Storm by Josh Keaton, complete with musical cues and stunning voice-work, I was severely disappointed that Golden was chosen to do the full audio book.

It lacks all the immersion of the two prior narrators and felt dispassionate. I felt myself needing to turn it off at the 10 minute mark, lest I lose interest in the rest of the book.

The story, however, is beautiful, tragic, and thrilling in its own right. Golden is a fantastic writer, but a lackluster narrator. I wish that Metzen himself would have finished the prologue as he had started it. You can have a listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sitdg2CMiVM

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

27 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Missed Opportunity

I can't help to think that this is a missed opportunity for Blizzard. Arthas and his arc is by far the most well known story in Warcraft and the production of this audiobook does not do it justice. It's not that Christie Golden does a bad job reading it, it's that it just feels like someone is reading it to you instead of you yourself being immersed in the author's writing. They could have dedicated more resources to the production of this audiobook and made it 100 times what it is.

I recommend it for the story, it's pretty good as far as teen fiction goes...but the production is definitely lacking.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great writer terrible narrator

I love Christie’s writing, however she is not a great narrator. You need a great narrator for a book this long.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Story was great, delivery was not comparable

Golden writes a great, gripping, and detailed story here. The surroundings are painted with precision, and events are explained more than thoroughly, leaving no stone unturned. But the delivery of the content seemed lackluster for the most part. There were times where anguish and anger were expressed excellently by Golden, but for the most part, the narration seemed feeble, almost teetering on a sense of sadness and crying that was wrought with emotion when the storyline and the context did not yield such a feeling. There was much unknowing and power written into the story, but it would seem otherwise with the tone of this iteration of the audiobook as it was. That being said, the book was written well and worth an actual read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great story

It was a good reading but it's very hard to listen to a woman act a supposedly deep make voice. This should have been read by two people, one for male and one for female.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

It is exciting to see more of the Warcraft novel universe being made into audiobooks. I send my deepest thanks to everyone involved in making this happen. I don’t always have time to read physical books, so I was excited to listen to all of the Warcraft novels available so far. I binged Arthas and enjoyed it as much as the rest.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Narrator

She writes amazing books, seriously some of my favorites. But in a basically all male cast it doesn’t do the book justice, she’s kinda monotone

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Ghastly.

Christie Golden is one of what I call ‘The Terrible Trio’, which is made up of three of the worst authors to ever be published. I rank her with the woman that wrote ‘Twilight’ and the woman that wrote ‘Fifty Shades of Nonsense’. Much like former President Barrack Obama and current Puppet Joe Biden, these people did not become successful because they had any talent whatsoever. Ms. Golden writes, at best, around a third-grade reading level. Her writing is so atrocious that it could be used by the CIA at their Black Sites to break terrorists rather than using waterboarding on them; after a few minutes of her writing the terrorists would gladly give up the identities of the other member of their terrorist cells and all of their plans. They would even turn in their own mothers if the CIA promised that they would not force them to listen to anything written by Ms. Golden again. It should be made illegal by an act of Congress for Ms. Golden to ever write anything more involved than a grocery list.

The only thing that Ms. Golden is worse at than writing fiction is narrating.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Just a recount

it's a good book. the first act is new lore for Arthas but act 2 and 3 are just a retellingof wc3 the epilogue is new lore..

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Rise of the lich king- a love story?

Maybe I just had expectations of a well paced fantasy novel... instead reads like a generic romance/ biography

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Mattan
  • Mattan
  • 11-04-19

Good information

It was a good information on how he became the lich King and how he was thinking through his choices. I had only seen through the games how he became the lich King but this showed me alot more and it was good.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Anonymous User
  • Anonymous User
  • 10-31-20

Insanely good

10/10 would recommend to anyone. The narrator does an amazing job at making you interested in the story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Fredrik Roaldset
  • Fredrik Roaldset
  • 09-27-20

Good story, just awful writing

Way to make an interesting story absolutely boring to listen to. The narration is OK at best.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for E
  • E
  • 01-13-20

A terrible cost, a magnificent story.

Let me clarify something here. I played WoW before the first expansion pack came out. infact, I played the Warceaft games and played through the Frozen Throne campaign before I had a router. Arthas' tragedy is and always will be one of my favourite stories, and in my opinion, the best story in WoW. Christie Golden captures the pain and desperation of Arthas, Uther and Jaina so well that at times it is truly harrowing and that's why this deserves more than 5 stars. I would love to he able to get the next installment but it isnt available in England. but that doesnt detract from this brilliant part of gaming history.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Maciej
  • Maciej
  • 01-08-20

Waste of time

if you know Warcraft 3 this book is obsolete. Poor performance by the author too. She makes all the exciting lore of W3 boring. Avoid at all cost!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Evil-lyn
  • Evil-lyn
  • 05-09-19

let down by poor narration

I had to really push myself to listen all the way through. the story was ok but the narration is very robotic it's painful to listen to.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Anonymous User
  • Anonymous User
  • 09-18-23

All I had hoped for

With Arthas being my favorite character from this universe, I feared that this story wouldn't live up to the character. But it truly did.
As far as I know, this telling stayed true to the original, but dared to take some liberty to fill out the gaps.
When it comes to the narration, I was blown back. I immediately thought of the character who was speaking and at some point I had to google the name of a voice actor to make sure it wasn't them narrating.
I'm overall impressed.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Sarah
  • Sarah
  • 06-11-23

absolutely love this!

Arthas is one of my favourite characters in the warcraft universe. I love this book and the narrator.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Anonymous User
  • Anonymous User
  • 04-03-23

A Thoroughly Chilling Story!

I've always loved the story of Arthas, and Christie really did it justice. Loved it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Peter
  • Peter
  • 03-16-23

Fantastic!

The Lich King is the best villain in WoW and this book tells you his tragic origin. Definitely a must read!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for travis
  • travis
  • 07-16-20

Good.

great book, arthas mental battle with himself was a great progression. You dont need to start these books chronologically, but you'll want more afterwards, be prepared.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Anonymous User
  • Anonymous User
  • 09-05-22

good story

good story but abit disappointed that most battles like dalaran were prettymuch skipped. would have been great to learn how dalaran was beaten.

great book and story either way.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Anonymous User
  • Anonymous User
  • 08-04-22

Worth the read

Well written, engaging and great to see story read by author. If your a wow fan I recommend the read as it explains a lot of lore.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Anonymous User
  • Anonymous User
  • 12-06-21

Doom town for Azeroth

A story of stabbing and paling around town, worthy book 👍 NIce insight to baby Arthas.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Anonymous User
  • Anonymous User
  • 09-10-21

Epic origin story

From boy to Lich King, fantastic writing and amazing narration! Such an expansive story encompassing so much of the world.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Anonymous User
  • Anonymous User
  • 12-10-20

Incredible story telling of warcraft lore.

I love these books. I can't put them down. I want to listen till the end every time.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Anonymous User
  • Anonymous User
  • 11-04-20

Loved it!

Great story! Christie does a good job of allowing you to experience Arthas's early years and his love for Invincible

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Hayden mula
  • Hayden mula
  • 08-10-20

An amazing experience

loved the story. Told the lich king epic perfectly. VO struggled at times. still amazing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Philip Balletta
  • Philip Balletta
  • 12-04-19

First audio book

From start to finish I was engrossed in the lore - bei g a world of Warcraft player it was amazing to go deep into the lore.
I found myself excited to travel to my next destination just so I could continue the story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Anonymous User
  • Anonymous User
  • 09-12-19

highly recommended

having played the warcraft games it was great to hear a more in depth story about the rise of the litch king.

only downside is that the audio wasnt quite loud enough and i had a hard time hearing some pieces while i drove at higher speeds.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!