The World of Warcraft: Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War Hardcover ( or Kindle version) pre-orders have begun.

This upcoming novel by Christie Golden was first revealed in her blog, and later discussed at the 2011 San Diego Comic Con.

This is what Chris Metzen said at the event:

“We are also working on Christie by the way. She is working on a new Warcraft book. This will make Alliance in the room very happy, and you get two Alliance books in a row, and as it turns out, but the new book — it still doesn’t have a title yet attached to it currently, but it’s going to — tensions post-Cataclysm between the Alliance and the Horde are ramping up again. This book is going to focus on Jaina Proudmoore, a character we haven’t really been able to do a whole lot over the years, but she’s definitely got some life changes coming, and her story is going to literally kick ass and really begin to take the tension between the Alliance and the Horde up a few notches going forward.”

The World of Warcraft: Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War is a World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria novel tie-in.

It is said that Theramore will be destroyed — speculation places that during the pre-Mists of Pandaria world event.

In chronological order, Garrosh Hellscream invaded Ashenvale shortly after the Cataclysm, during the Alliance Summit at Darnassus where Varian and other leaders were to decide whether to incorporate the Gilnean Worgen into the Alliance.

As retaliation to Garrosh’s invasion, the Alliance used Theramore as a military port to invade the Barrens and Stonetalon. This happens in-game in level 30 quests.

The World of Warcraft: Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War will fill players in on what happens between that and the destruction of Theramore.

Details

The hardcover, to be published by Gallery Books (a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.), contains 352 pages and it’s slated to ship on June 12, 2012.

Speculation

  • We’ll likely get to see the naval battle off the coast of Pandaria, although that hasn’t been confirmed.

  • Considering The Shattering (Cataclysm tie-in) shipped on October 19, 2010 (just weeks prior to Cataclysm release date — December 7, 2010) one might draw conclusions that Blizzard might ship Mists of Pandaria in the Summer or “earlier?”.

July would be the 19th month since Cataclysm shipped. Kinda far from the plans to ship a yearly expansion. Rant aside, if Blizzard was truly aiming for a Summer release, given a beta test would last 4-6 months, that would place Mists of Pandaria beta test starting around January-March range.

Hint-hint: Activision Blizzard Q3 2011 Financial Results Conference Call will be broadcast on November 8, 2011 — this upcoming Tuesday. Will Mike Morhaime announce a month range or exact date for the Mists of Pandaria Beta Test? Dun-dun-dun-dun.