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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm not sure what to think! What a cliffhanger to end on. DA3 can't come soon enough!
Thedas is a wonderful universe to both play and read in; I've spent hundreds of hours reading the novels and playing the games. I love how the franchise truly works in such different media across a huge story arc; it's truly collaborative. The detail is tremendously rich, the characters, including your own, are people you come to know well and yet are still unpredictable. And if you're a fan of multiple play-throughs as I am, it's fascinating to take different choices and see how some things are inevitable and which scenarios are malleable.
In terms of Asunder as a novel, it fits right into the global mythos but it is *not* a stand-alone book by any means - it presupposes quite a lot of knowledge about how mages and the Chantry work, about the role and function of Templars and you really do need to know about that Nasty Business In Kirkwall. It's not *quite* as un-put-downable as the prequels, The Stolen Throne and The Calling, and I must admit I found Rhys a bit flat as characters go (he is no Alistair, but then who is!) - Anders, whiny as he was in DA2, was more interesting. Adrian, too, was a bit 2D. But Evangeline is great and I do hope Divine Justinia will come out to play in the next game as she sounds fascinating. It was good to meet old friends, too. All in all, if you've played the games it's required reading; I'm not at all sure you'd get on with it so well if you haven't.
Thedas is a wonderful universe to both play and read in; I've spent hundreds of hours reading the novels and playing the games. I love how the franchise truly works in such different media across a huge story arc; it's truly collaborative. The detail is tremendously rich, the characters, including your own, are people you come to know well and yet are still unpredictable. And if you're a fan of multiple play-throughs as I am, it's fascinating to take different choices and see how some things are inevitable and which scenarios are malleable.
In terms of Asunder as a novel, it fits right into the global mythos but it is *not* a stand-alone book by any means - it presupposes quite a lot of knowledge about how mages and the Chantry work, about the role and function of Templars and you really do need to know about that Nasty Business In Kirkwall. It's not *quite* as un-put-downable as the prequels, The Stolen Throne and The Calling, and I must admit I found Rhys a bit flat as characters go (he is no Alistair, but then who is!) - Anders, whiny as he was in DA2, was more interesting. Adrian, too, was a bit 2D. But Evangeline is great and I do hope Divine Justinia will come out to play in the next game as she sounds fascinating. It was good to meet old friends, too. All in all, if you've played the games it's required reading; I'm not at all sure you'd get on with it so well if you haven't.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Complicated
My overall opinion on this is in line with my opinion on almost every piece of Dragon Age media I've ever consumed: I liked it but I have many many complaints. (Which makes sense, since this is written by the longtime lead writer and all).
Pros:
- I'm charmed by the new characters for the most part, and I support Rhys and Evangeline's love I guess.
- Wynne ❤️ I like Wynne in this, she's so bitchy (positive)
- I found it readable - I don't blame anyone who can't stand Gaider's prose but I really don't mind it. I even like the fight scenes (though, some of them take way too long)
- I love Cole, and it's fun to learn more about him and see him suffer :)
Cons:
- Gaider's centrism and misogyny really jumped out, particularly in the character Adrian. She's consistently framed as foolish and hysterical while making completely reasonable points and doing completely reasonable things for the situation. There's a bizarre line from Cole's perspective that no joke is essentially "she could be so pretty if she smiled". Rhys meanwhile is always right about everything, and so charming as well. Also typical DA "what if oppression goes both ways" stuff, I mean it's about mages and templars so that goes without saying.
- Weirdly sloppily edited, there's multiple typos and at least one paragraph is duplicated, almost word for word, in a way that doesn't make sense and clearly isn't intentional.
Anyway I will be reading the rest of the DA novels eventually due to my personality defects, and I'm not mad I read this one.
Pros:
- I'm charmed by the new characters for the most part, and I support Rhys and Evangeline's love I guess.
- Wynne ❤️ I like Wynne in this, she's so bitchy (positive)
- I found it readable - I don't blame anyone who can't stand Gaider's prose but I really don't mind it. I even like the fight scenes (though, some of them take way too long)
- I love Cole, and it's fun to learn more about him and see him suffer :)
Cons:
- Gaider's centrism and misogyny really jumped out, particularly in the character Adrian. She's consistently framed as foolish and hysterical while making completely reasonable points and doing completely reasonable things for the situation. There's a bizarre line from Cole's perspective that no joke is essentially "she could be so pretty if she smiled". Rhys meanwhile is always right about everything, and so charming as well. Also typical DA "what if oppression goes both ways" stuff, I mean it's about mages and templars so that goes without saying.
- Weirdly sloppily edited, there's multiple typos and at least one paragraph is duplicated, almost word for word, in a way that doesn't make sense and clearly isn't intentional.
Anyway I will be reading the rest of the DA novels eventually due to my personality defects, and I'm not mad I read this one.
adventurous
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Dragon Age: Asunder is the third novel written by David Gaider and takes place in 9:40 Dragon, nine years after Origins and three after DAII. There is a heightened focus here on the increasing tension between templars and mages, with much callback to the events in Kirkwall. We don’t get specific details as to what side Hawke took in the conflict because Gaider didn’t want to take away the choices players made in the game which was fine by me.
The story takes place in Orlais, which was nice to see more of, especially with getting to spend some time in Val Royeaux’s White Spire, the tower used to house the mages. There was even a brief look at Tevinter! We have brand-new characters but we also get to see what a couple companions from Origins have been up to. Among other things, the story deals in more detail with the possibility of a tranquil becoming lucid and connected to the Fade once more, which, of course, first appeared in DAII with Anders’s friend.
Dragon Age: Asunder ends with the true start of the Mage/Templar war. I really wish there could have been another book showing the war in greater detail or that DAII could have had its expansion, rather than the glazing over it all receives in the beginning of Inquisition. Alas, it was not to be. This book is an enjoyable read for any Dragon Age fan. I don’t think it was intended to be so at the time but this becomes a must-read to fully understand a character in Dragon Age Inquisiton.
With this reading, I listened to the audiobook. The audiobook narrator is different from the first two books and I am not a fan of him. He’s kind of robotic, not really showing any feeling as he’s reading. And his characters nearly all sound the same. Sometimes you have to really pay attention to know who is speaking.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
you'd think the one that has the most cameos from beloved video game characters would be the best one yet (my wife leliana! she's here!), but no. god bless the gaider novels are over. i hope he sticks to game writing forever.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense