There are several authors working on books for Warcraft universe, which is a first reason why I don't want to go into such stuff.
The story after Warcraft3 rapidly losses quality, the one used in WoW and such.
Usually those books cover the scenes already told by previous Warcraft iterations, made after the products release or before? If it's after, then it's a bigger no-no from me.
Of course, these are superficial thoughts developed via small clues, since you seem to like those Wacraft books, I would appreciate your experience share from the whole matter.
In regards to Heroes4, I was indeed impatient, but that depended on numerous factors. I was originally introduced to heroes4 via skirmishes, rather than campaign, playing with some friends. Like I said, the ambient was nice indeed, and I did read lots of stuff there in my singleplayer (which was 99% of my gaming with Heroes), but in disconnected parts.
The fact that someone made the story so "aside the road" makes me think they didn't give enough effort to it, normal initial reaction, I also had a feel the story didn't have continuity but that it was made up for the background/ambient reason depending of the circumstances - that may or may not be true, just remembering a feel.
I was reading the plot for the scenarios, but it didn't play a big part in my gameplay, I was choosing scenarios with balanced play, where the computer would challenge, and where I would have the opportunity to develop my hero and army to see lots of fancy abilities and artifacts, etc.
The combat gameplay was really rich for me.
Story I was making up in my head, rather than enjoying the scenario plot line, seemed generic to feel good about it.
Eventually, I found out Emerald Arcanix loves Heroes4 too, so we played in multiplayer a dozen games maybe, was quite a fun ride.
And lastly, Heroes online lacks a lot of stuff, but it's fun in its own way. Still testing it, since there is a lot of people there, good opportunity for some non-computer battles, once I spend some time in PvP I will make some final conclusions about it. Not a serious game yet, but can be fun.
@Rophs: I remember Emerald talking highly about Baldur's Gate, was on the edge of giving it a try myself :P