There are several The '''Diablo novels''' releasedare published books that tell stories set in the Land of Sanctuary. These works were commissioned by Blizzard and written in conjunction with the Blizzard lore and story creators, giving further and they are meant to add additional depth and detail to the Diablo universefictional Land of Sanctuary. Up until [[WWI 2008]], these  All of the novels had no connection at all with are free-standing and can be read without any knowledge of the actual gamesgame, but Diablo III seems though their stories will likely be of more interest to fans who want a deeper knowledge of the game world. The Sin War Trilogy was written to be reveal much of the early history of the first Land of Sanctuary and the wars between the Angels and Demons that led to the games creation of humanity. Additional novels are planned for release after Diablo III, though it's not known how closely their stories will tie in with information from the books actually put game's plot. The first was revealed in October 2011 with a release date in March 2012, though the gametitle and cover art has not yet been revealed.

These novels are all considered canon, though ''Demonsbane'' and ''Legacy of Blood'' tell smaller, self-contained stories that do not have much to do with or further the larger game plot. The Sin War trilogy develops much of the world lore and backstory of the creation of Sanctuary, plus the eternal struggle between the Burning Hells and High Heavens, and is considered the lore and canon that leads directly into the plot of Diablo III, with some small [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/bashiok-on-act-3-and/ retcon adjustments] here and there.

::'''Knaak:''' This is a pure collaboration between myself and Chris Metzen/Blizzard. All that is written is passed by him and the others there. This will be canon and has adjusted earlier info. The ramifications here will be used for any future project … and I ain’t writing for a dead game. smile

* [[Tales of Sanctuary (2001) ==Background==They are all official [[Blizzard Entertainment]] Novels of the Diablo universe and franchise. The first novel published was [[Diablo: Demonsbane]] as an ebook novella. Demonsbane did not sell well in ebook form (that was early in the dawn of that format2001), it was fairly widely read online, and its inclusion in the Diablo Archive has boosted awareness of the story. Subsequent titles have sold fairly well, in paperback form.

How tightly the story developments in the various novels will tie into the plot of Diablo 3 is not yet known, but they are pat part of the same storyline. The events in the recent series of books (The Sin War Trilogy) took place thousands of years before the "current" events of Diablo 3, so the connection isn't direct. It likely will be for future Diablo Novels, though. [[Leonard Boyarsky]] spoke on this in an October 2009 interview. [http://hellforge.gameriot.com/blogs/Hellforge/Diablo-III-The-Lore-of-the-World-An-Interview-with-Leonard-Boyarsky/page2]

::Leonard Boyarsky: Well, nothing specific. It happened 3,000 years before the events of the Diablo games, but it is… is... it was our attempt to really kind of get out there – you know, with some of the history of the world and kind of codify the lore to a certain degree. It’s been awhile since I read them. I’ve actually read all of them, and I helped during the process of them.