Reviews

The Masked Empire by Patrick Weekes

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shieldmaidenj's review against another edition

5.0

Bit of a slow start BUT boy does it ramp up. Best one yet! I'm consuming all of the Dragon Age media in order so I hope I encounter some of these characters in the next game (Inquisition) because they're awesome.

Loved that there's a lot more elves in this one :)

annanymity's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

ethias's review against another edition

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5.0

Loved it! Thoroughly enjoyed it and it gave a lot of context for some important aspects of the games

elahrairah's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

mysticwiki's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-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

4.0

spoilers ahead for Dragon Age: Inquisition

I picked up this book after finishing the "Wicked Eyes and Wicked Heart" quest in Dragon Age: Inquisition because I thought it was a serious problem how much the writing excluded talking about what Celene really did to Briala. The fact that the game brushed their break up and no longer being lovers as them having a "falling out" pissed me off so much, so I felt pretty vindicated reading this book and being happy about my decision to let Celene be assassinated in Inquisition LOL.

Anyway, I enjoyed this book! Patrick Weekes is a really good writer and I'm looking forward to their writing for the next DA game. I hate that I was sympathetic towards Celene at some point, but the tides really did change when the reveal of her actual atrocities outside of letting the elves in Halamshiral die came out. Purposefully manipulating Briala and killing her parents to continue the Game and betray the person she so claims to love... extremely spicy, loved the drama, and I hate this woman so much wow. Briala deserves so much better, and I'm glad that in Inquisition she's helping my Dalish Mage Inquisitor and we're doing all we can to make the lives of the elves in Orlais a bit better.

In regards to other characters, I surprisingly grew fond of Michel and was glad to know that in Inquisition, we're able to help him get rid of his (literal) demon and he can do things he loves, like actually helping people. Gaspard is a bit tricky, but I kind of like him more than Celene, even if his methods are more brute force and warlike than anything (and at least Briala is the real empress in my Inquisition save with Gaspard as a puppet haha). And Felassan... tragic what happened to him, really. I wish we could have seen more of him in future installments, besides the passing mention in the Trespasser DLC, but he did give the book a lot of quality and air of mystery as a guiding figure for Briala. I really appreciated him a lot in this, especially for being a strong ally to Briala.

Anyway I'm rating this book a solid 4/5. No 5 star because, well, I guess it's complicated. I know Briala was manipulated, but it did take her a long time in the narrative to realize so and in the interim, she still kept loving Celene. Girl, as a lesbian who loves their gf so much, what YOU had just made me really sad and again, you deserve better! But I guess that's the beauty of how much I liked this writing--Weekes was able to showcase how bad it truly was, even if it took a little while to get there.