Reviews

After "The Masked Empire" soared so high above the average fantasy fiction that this novel cannot help feeling lackluster. It is not bad per se, but if you can skim through dozens of pages without losing the thread (because it's more about plot than character, and the plot is pretty basic), that is not a good sign.

autumnalfaeriequeen's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

4.0

revbeckett's review against another edition

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5.0

I still have one more Dragon Age (DA) book to read in the series, but this is my favourite one so far. The book jumps cohesively back and forth between the present in the perspective of elven mage Valya and the past in the secret diary she discovers that belongs to Isseya, a Grey Warden and twin sister of the famous Garahel who had sacrificed himself to end the Fourth Blight. Isseya once fiercely battled with her griffon, a long extinct species. With Valya, you gain the perspective of those who are trying to avoid the Mage-Templar war during DA: Inquisition, and Isseya’s diary leads her to an absolutely MINDBLOWING secret at the end, possibly setting up some major gameplay and/or story in the upcoming new game, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.

libraty's review against another edition

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4.0

This book feels different than the other dragon age books. While I was not as invested in to the characters as In the stolen throne or Asunder, the book managed to tell a terrific story about the horrors of the blight like no other medium did before. This book reminded me a lot of Dragon Age Origins, not only because both tackle the blight, but also because both have this dark and gritty fantasy feel, which made me fell in love with the world of Dragon Age in the first place.

Albeit Dragon Age Origins is my favorite game of the series, Last Flight tells a better and deeper story, about how it really is to be a Grey warden during a blight. It sugarcoats nothing. For every glorious moment, you get lots of horror, death and despair. This book made Darkspawn scary again, after they were more of an inconvenience in DA 2 and Inquisition (Which is fine, both games play mostly after the fifth blight, so it makes sense to shift the focus to new threats).

I mentioned earlier not being as invested into the characters as I was in other Dragon Age Mediums, BUT that doesn't mean that the characters were not great. Lots of strong female characters as well as strong non binary and male characters! While one part of me liked Isseya and Cailen together, it was very refreshing to don't have a romance subplot shoved into the story. It wouldn't have fitted the tone at all and probably wouldn't be in character for Isseya. I really enjoyed her sibling bond with Garahel. Oh and Amadis Vael was awesome. I know the book took place long before Dragon Age 2, but still, imagine we would have gotten her instead of Sebastian as a companion!

What I liked most in the book was experiencing Isseya's story: How she felt the taint growing inside her and how strong it was in the end, how relentless the dark spawn were and how dangerous they were through their sheer numbers, how horrifying some of the deaths of her fellow wardens and griffins were and how death in general was a constant companion, how big the toll was that it took from the people, how the necessity to win the fight against the archdemon at all costs doomed the fate of the griffons, how they barely defeated the archdemon and how many lifes it took to achieve it,... I could go on for a while.

A very dark story that I couldn't put a side after hitting 2/3 of the book. The ending provided a hopeful note and rises an important question: Will we have griffons avaialbe as mounts in Dragon Age Dreadwolf?? This would be so epic, especially after the horses in Dragon Age Inquisition were so lame (cutting of banter and not even being faster than the running speed without a mount)

meme123's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

4.5

warragh's review against another edition

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4.0

Disclaimer: I love the Dragon Age games and their world and characters and stories and everything

Last Flight tells two different stories.

In the "present" day (concurrent with the events presented in Dragon Age: Inquisition) an elf mage takes refuge with the Grey Wardens in Weisshaupt and is tasked with researching previous Blights for odd Warden/darkspawn behaviour. Shortly after she discovers an old diary.

The second story, as told from that diary, takes place during the 4th Blight and has its main character Isseya, an elven Grey Warden mage who is also the sister of Garahel, the man who slew the Archdemon who caused the 4th Blight.

The book is quite dark and dreary. It doesn't shy away from painting a very vivid picture about the realities of a Blight and the sacrifices that have to be made when fighting darkspawn. Isseya also gets quite the arc and very noticeable grows from page to page which doesn't really seem to happen often enough in video game tie-ins.

There are some bits and pieces missing, some inconsistencies and small mistakes which maybe some extra editing could have prevented but overall it didn't really affect my enjoyment more than a few raised eyebrows.

mojja's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

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