played and enjoyed Dragon Age Origins I was intrigued by this book, While it is by no means a major work, in fact, I might have given ithad I not known the basics of the plot.
This is certainly a book where the knowledge of the game helps,
A group of adventurers get together to venture into the Deep Roads on the hunt for a missing Grey Warden.
Along the way the learn a lot about themselves and the reader gets a glimpse into the stories of the characters from the game.
From King Maric to Duncan the Grey Warden and Loghain, the major players are here and you see what they were like before the events of the game.
As the game focused on the Blight when the Darkspawn rise out of the depths and attack humanity, this prequel shows us the starting events.
From the interesting Architect to the reasoning behind the Grey Wardens there is much to consider,
Without knowledge of the game this becomes just a decent story, Not bad, but completely forgettable, Would I recommend this to someone with no knowledge of the game No probably not, But if you do have experience with itthen I think you will enjoy this one, This is an interesting dark fantasy which kept me entertained, The prose is a bit clunky and wordy, but the story is sufficiently engaging to overlook this, It is certainly a better story than the first in the trilogy and it was pleasing to find a 'middle book' with a satisfying ending, although clearly more to come in part.
A good example of the genre and I was happy to wade through it! The second installment in the Dragon Age book series was a good read, but it wasn't spectacular or satisfying.
For me, it lacked a really important element to a book or story which was character development.
Don't get me wrong, the few lead characters of the book had a decent backstory and element to them.
But due to some of the other character's having bad development, I could tell that they were going to meet a untimely and bad fate.
For some reason, it reminded me of playing Dragon Age Origins for the first time which this book is prequel to, and having a party of NPCs at the beginning of the game that lacked or had little motive, ambition or emotion shown, making me point to the screen and go "He's gonna die, he's a bland NPC he has to!" And then they did abouthours later I'm looking at you Daveth and Ser Jory.
Where these characters were lacking, the main characters Duncan, King Maric, Fiona and Genevieve were quite interesting.
Each had a strong motive, although some characters you don't really find out much until you get about halfway or so through the book.
A couple of the character arcs were explored by using the Fade as a way to see character's backstories, but for me it has been a little overused after playing all the games and reading this book, dammit.
I must say I do prefer the Fade in the game way more than I do in this book.
It just felt so rushed, whereas in the game, I could take my time and explore the mysterious Spirit World in wonder.
Some of the really interesting elements in the book involved The Architect, I should've expected it, as the book is called "The Calling", but alas I did not, I absolutely loved the follow up expansion to Dragon Age: Origins, Awakenings, it was
just as good the base game in my opinion, and to have The Architect in this book was an absolute delight.
All in all, "The Calling", was a good read, with reason being that I am a big Dragon Age fan.
I would only recommend this book for fans of the series, and for people who have played both Origins and Awakenings, as the world and lore isn't explained to a massive extent in this book.
People who haven't played the Dragon Age games will be so confused by this book, but I believe that is the whole point.
Only fans will get a good kick out of this prequel, one which I enjoyed, but did not find mind boggling or spectacular.
Edit:
Only thing I didn't like about Awakenings was not being able to romance Nathanial, dammit!
I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW GOOD THIS WAS!!!!! ESPECIALLY COMPARED TO THE FIRST BOOK!!!! Contains spoilers!!!!!
Absolutely amazing.
I love his writing style, and charactery are great, it has a gay couple which is writting the same as a hetero couple would be, and FINALLY a book that contains great female characters and romance without sexualizing them.
Here lies the abyss, the well of all souls,
From these emerald waters doth life begin anew,
Come to me, child, and I shall embrace you,
In my arms lies Eternity,
Andraste:
Maric Theirin has sat on the throne of Ferelden for years since defeating the Orlesian conquest.
But a new danger threatens from far below the ground, and dangerous secrets lie hidden in the Deep Roads
Where The Stolen Throne fleshes out the backstory of Ferelden and its heroes, The Calling digs deeper literally into the mysteries of the darkspawn, the Grey Wardens and Blights.
This provides a wonderful opportunity to present a fabulous journey through the dwarvencreated, horrorinfested, halfruined veins through the world below Thedas known as the Deep Roads, without question one of the most interesting settings in modern fantasy, let alone in Dragon Age.
The book is very similar to an expanded version of what the avid Dragon Age journeyman gets to see in the dwarven storyline of Origins.
But it also has a lot more to offer, Maric, for instance. And his relationship with a very important character in both later books and in Inquisition, Beautifully described scenery. And full verses from the Chant of Light,
The Calling is arguably the weakest of the Dragon Age books written by David Gaider.
But that doesnt really say much, Now I understand so much more, holy shit, I know why Loghain was such a dick and how it all started, Damn.
"And so is the Golden City blackened
With each step you take in my Hall.
Marvel at perfection, for it is fleeting,
You have brought Sin to Heaven,
And doom upon all the world, "
Canticle of Threnodies:
Buddy read with sitelinkLayla at sitelinkBuddies Books and Baubles!
As good, if not better than the first book.
I certainly enjoyed it more because it was a story I really cared about Alastair!, As it's been the case before, the strength of the Dragon Age books does not lie with the plot, but with the characters.
It is the characters that we care about, and the characters that really make the story, Even when I am left with confusing feelings about characters Fiona, I still embrace that confusing because that's what makes the story and the characters really good sometimes.
The Architect was also an interesting villains and I actually got his motivations and reasons for doing what he was doing for the most part.
Which is what makes a good villain in my book,
And very much like the first book, it was a book that was written like a proper fantasy books.
It may sound strange, but I actually got the feeling, from the prose and descriptions and so on, that I was reading a fantasy novel.
Ah, Dragon Age universe, please never leave me!
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