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7/19 c17 48reality deviant
well, this was nice chapter, slower pacing as everyone gets their bearing...

I sense that Tyrande has some OPINIONS about Ysadean and her druid order... and the way they use the dream.

I wonder what her thoughts were, seeing Soffriel, and hearing what he said... is it too much to hope for more active interaction with her?
And who were the others important people in that council? i got the sense that they are leaders of other groups within the alliance, like Anduin, graymane, etc...
7/19 c17 9CHPrime
What a delightfully vague ending sentance.
7/19 c17 woodcutterw
God I think I could read 100 thousand words of the gang just slice-of-living it up. The dynamic you’ve made is really excellent. With that said, HOLY CRAP what a cliffhanger. I cannot wait
6/17 c16 Zedicus101
I would pay much for the magic squad being nerds :o
6/17 c16 48reality deviant
good chapter- as always, i love the Jaina here- she doesnt get nearly enough attention!

And curious about Ysadean
6/16 c16 woodcutterw
Another stellar chapter. I feel like the answers only bring even more questions and all the whole the events of draenor begin to emerge in the background. Edge of my seat.

As to more tales… I would be lying if I didn’t admit I want more Jaina / Kel’thuzard interaction but the whole squad is amazing.
6/16 c16 1Impstar
Jaina. Jaina, stop. What happened to "I can bear it?"

Who else would you trust with that power?

Man this has me on the tip of my toes wondering what will happen next.
6/11 c15 1Silent.Storm
All right! Finding this was a real treat!

I followed Frostblood waaaaaay back when it was going on and when it finished I was (very sadly, I might add) under the impression that there would be no sequel to what I believed then and do now is perhaps the best portrayal of Jaina anywhere (including canon). Ironically, giving her the powers of the Lich King only served to showcase the quality of her morals and the strength of her conviction... which is why I really never could understand how and why Blizzard took WoW lore where it went ever since Lich King.

I stopped playing shortly after cataclysm came out but have kept abreast of the lore (or what passes for it in WoW these days...) and I can say, without fearing any sort of hyperbole or undue flattery that you have, in a little less than three hundred thousand words, crafted a world richer and more vibrant than anything done in the game(s) and even most of the published works of the franchise, whose quality of writing you certainly put to shame.

While I'm not aware of the fine details of the latest expansions beyond the broad strokes, I know enough to follow the ways in which you integrated their narrative into your own work and I like how you've managed to keep Jaina both relevant and still neutral. Perhaps my only gripe about Jaina's tenure as Lich King is that she shies away from replenishing her undead forces (her numbers must have been great indeed to have managed full muster for Deathwing and Garrosh V1, but I concur with Kel in that replenishing is in order post haste).

Your take on necromancy is one I have shared in other platforms as well (god knows it's always a point of contention with my D&D troupe when I argue that I shouldn't have to be evil to be a necromancer).

The introduction of the exiled night elf necromancers and how you have integrated the newer race/class allowances allows for nuance in the magical practices of all the races, whether they are new developments or historical fact only recently rediscovered... although the fact that there are now Tauren and Blood Elf paladins running around should certainly give Jaina some ammunition against Tirion (thy name is hypocrite!) if ever she cared to use it. I wonder about the deer druids though, are they your own creation or were they introduced in Shadowlands? I like the idea of them a lot because the night elves were the only race sanctimonious enough to say they hadn't ever dabbled into the darker works (which is patently absurd if you ask me; any sentient civilization with free will will have its bad apples and some of those will eventually reach for power where it is forbidden) and the idea that they contributed the reincarnation spell was delicious. Perhaps Jaina could make that uncomfortably public if she decides to reopen some version of the Scholomance to the public? It'd certainly serve the elves right.

I have only minor gripes about the story itself and some of those are in the process of being addressed, even. I dislike how Jaina has been fighting on a handicap from day one, but I understand it because of how you have established the relationship between the Lich King mantle and her living body to be. I had hoped that a balance where she's merely undying but not undead could be reached, but I don't dislike that a more refined form of undeath has found its way to her and that she'll (hopefully!) take it so that for once, when shit hits the fan, the true demigod-like lich king can actually bring her power to bear, although the (possible) training to wield the power for real promises to be endlessly amusing. That's the other thing around this topic, I absolutely love your Kel Thuzad and how everyone (myself included) knows that he's an unrepentant, amoral psychopath and still he's not only a very likeable, curmudgeonly, sarcastic pile of bones... I actively root for the bastard!

I would love to see both Kel's and Jaina's familial relationships explored more, because as they have developed they have managed to create friends and allies despite their circumstances... couldn't families get involved in some way? I think at least Jaina's should, considering that she's spent a good while making waves in the Alliance and rumors notwithstanding, it's clear she's not evil or anything... why hasn't her family reached out for real, beyond Tandred's only letter (although I suppose he gets a pass after the bomb at least). Kel's is a little harder... I keep expecting him to choose to reach out to the sister he knows is alive at some point but although you tease something of the sort several times, it has yet to happen :P I realize there's very little chance of it going well at all for the lich but it costs nothing to hope!

It used to annoy me that Jaina wasn't looking to establish a romantic relationship with anyone because I always thought it showed that she wasn't really willing to move on from Arthas and properly blame him for his actions. Nobody forced him to take up Frostmourne after all, that was all him. However, as the story progressed I realized something I hadn't noticed about the Lich King: In developing it as character (instead of the generic evil menace Blizzard turned it into and later a cardboard cutout placeholder in the form of Bolvar) Jaina had no real peers. She's equal to the other faction powerhouses only because, as I said earlier, she's fighting on a handicap... but if she ever figures it out, the list of those who can fight her toe to toe becomes vanishingly small: Malfurion, Illidan he ever shows his face again, maybe Tyrande? Probably Thrall after his whole elemental training arc, if he also turns into green Jesus here (mind you, I like Thrall a lot, I just think Blizzard abused the poor guy instead bothering to create new relevant charcters). At any rate, that certainly would make making any sort of connection with people very difficult if they fear her as she is now, never mind what she'll become! Although to be honest, considering that in canon she ends up shacking with a blue dragon boy toy perhaps even canon!Jaina had something of a similar problem.
In this regard, I've liked a lot how the recurring theme of her loneliness creeps up now and again and that she clutches at the friends she has made all the more fiercely for it. I also would have liked her to have a child or two before dying, but well, the above problem is a factor here and the surprise inclusion of Kinndy, who has so far been very entertaining and endearing, sort of covers the same niche? I still would like to see if she can build a relationship with anyone, or in some other way manage to put to rest the persistent nostalgia she has about he romance with Arthas, because it still feels that she wants something like that and believes (rightfully or not) that only Arthas could have given it to her and that now that he's gone she's content with pining after those halcyon days instead of looking for something similar elsewhere (even if it seems that she has put Arthas himself to rest, finally. Let's all give thanks to Kel for handling THAT with some tough love!).

Anyway, this was a REALLY long way of saying that I love how this story has developed and where it's going. I hope that it doesn't end when she becomes undead (or otherwise fixes her situation) because beyond the Warlords of Draenor arc, there's a lot of stuff I'd love to see in this world! I'm really enthused about Jaina building a real neutral faction where the (honestly, pretty stale) conflict between the horde and the alliance could be put down for good. If she makes it work for whomever flees to her shores, that could be a way for real peace to flow from Northrend out to Azeroth proper, when people of both factions who manage to live together peaceably take their experiences out into the world. I would also love to see Jaina be a bit more proactive with world events now Cataclysm's, well, cataclysm as well as Lorewalker Cho's letter have evidenced how little her nominal allies in the Alliance keep her abreast of their circumstances (I even thought a few chapters back, when she mused that the Horde had always been straight with her, that she'd go for joining the Horde and derailing the whole Garrosh arc :P ). Speaking of proactivity, someone should also point out to her that actually raising her fallen enemies in combat would reduce her own side's living casualties :P

Great story. Thanks for writing! I hope you are safe with all that's been going on and that we can read each other later!
4/22 c15 woodcutterw
The slow transition of Jaina into the undead-ish form shes planning to take is being done beautifully. It’s honesty awe inspiring. Every time I see this story update I drop everything to read it and I’m never disappointed at all. Thanks for writing it!
4/21 c15 48reality deviant
And so WoD begins...
4/14 c14 1Dastin
I’m so happy to see you’ve continued this universe. I read Frostblood what feels like forever ago and I reread it this last week and am now caught up through this sequel.

Your characterization is just so well done, and you’re so subtle with describing things the more powerful characters do. You really get a sense for their power compared to everybody else without being super specific. You seem to trust the reader to make the connection and it really feels better than being told a straight out all the time.

Thank you so much for the great read. Looking forward to the future of this series.
4/9 c14 snar
i love this story
4/5 c14 1Marczeg Szar
Wow, I think this was the chapter (and the one sentence) everyone was desperately waiting for.
It's a joy to follow this story.
Thank you for this month and I hope that it was fun for you, too.
4/3 c14 AdmiralBeck
Finally Jaina is going to become real Lich King. I am sure there's going to be plot twists that will spoil the ideal picture, but hopefully they won't be big. I've been waiting for this moment since I started reading frostblood
4/2 c14 Zedicus101
Live as in life or live and is in live? The big questions.
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