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A review by archytas
Asunder by David Gaider
3.0
This is the first, and will probably be the only, Dragon Age tie-in novel I have read. I thought I'd give it a go because a) Gaider is an exceptionally good writer of characters (for those readers who don't play story-based video games, yes video games have characters, and plots, and stuff. And they have around 60 hours of screentime to play with to do it); and b) rumour was it had important background info to bridge the gap between Dragon Age 2 and 3.
Both were valid enough. The characters are solid, intriguing and rounded. I could tell that because I started really hoping that the characters would prominently appear as NPCs in the next game (they;d be great companions). The book certainly does describe events that give you a pretty good idea where the next game will pick up. I didn't really hate it.
But it felt a bit like describing a video game in places - lots of detail about the fighting, for example. And why did people keep setting off in expeditions in small groups, to explore defined areas and have a few fights along the way? It felt at times like the novel was bound by the conventions of the RPG game genre, almost complete with levelling up moments.
Both were valid enough. The characters are solid, intriguing and rounded. I could tell that because I started really hoping that the characters would prominently appear as NPCs in the next game (they;d be great companions). The book certainly does describe events that give you a pretty good idea where the next game will pick up. I didn't really hate it.
But it felt a bit like describing a video game in places - lots of detail about the fighting, for example. And why did people keep setting off in expeditions in small groups, to explore defined areas and have a few fights along the way? It felt at times like the novel was bound by the conventions of the RPG game genre, almost complete with levelling up moments.