Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by mspilesofpaper
Dragon Age: The Calling by David Gaider
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
The Calling plays roughly 20 years before the video game Dragon Age: Origins starts. If you have played all Dragon Age video games, you will meet several characters that you already know such as Duncan, Fiona, King Maric, and Loghain (for a new chapters).
As the secret locations of the Old Gods (who would become Archdemons if exposed to the taint/blight) is at risk of being discovered by the Darkspawn when Warden Commander Bregan (of Orlais) is following his Calling and being captured by the Darkspawn. To stop it from happening, his sister Genevieve - the new Commander of the Grey in Orlais - sets out with a few companions to retrieve help in Ferelden (ideally: Loghain) to stop it from happening. Instead of Loghain, Maric goes with them into the Deep Roads as he still remembers the Witch of the Wilds' words of an upcoming Blight in Ferelden, which he wants to stop.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
Maker help me.
Gaider cannot write novels.
He is good at writing quests or writing plot lines in video games but the man cannot write a novel to save his own life. While The Calling is not as atrocious as The Stolen Throne it is still far away from being an enjoyable experience.
I think the entire novel could have worked well as a larger plot for a video game: you would start as a newly recruited Grey Warden in Orlais, you have to do some side quests there (pre- and after recruitment, maybe), before you travel with your companions to Ferelden to gain support from King Maric. Then the main quest would start and the player would venture into the Deep Roads with the other characters to discover what happened to Bregan. It would be the most hated quest of the entire game because 99 % of us hate the Deep Roads as they are creepy as fuck. Unfortunately, they are not creepy in the book. Of course, the reader knows how much the Dwarven architecture crumbled because of neglect and decay, how utterly dark it is, of hearing (and being chased) by the Darkspawn, ... but it is so sterile in description that I felt nothing.
In general, the writing/the prose is simple and often redundant. Yes, the character is injure but I do not need to read five times afterwards how much everything hurts/how much pain they feel. It becomes redundant after the third time and feels like a filler to get to word limit. In combination with the awful pacing, it just makes for a boring book that I had to force myself to read. Aside from Duncan, the characters are not very compelling either. Of course, Duncan is a young, hot-headed man here and not the Duncan that we meet in Dragon Age: Origins. Maric is still Maric (and I cannot stand the man; of course, he fucks an elven woman again). The Fiona in the novel is very different from the Fiona in Dragon Age: Inquisition. And the others have no depth, have no true motivation why they do something (especially Bregan, Genevive and Utha) and the decisions at the end by certain characters is baffling and feels out of character for them. Tbh: the most sympathetic character (aside from Duncan) was Kjell and his Mabari.
The book still gets three stars because of lore implications (although I think you should have played at least Dragon Age: Origins and its DLC Awakening to understand most of it). If it wouldn't be for the lore, it would get two stars (if I would be generous).
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
TWs & CWs: general violence, blood, injuries, death (off page and on page), grief, trauma, monsters being monsters
Genre: Fantasy, Video Games
As the secret locations of the Old Gods (who would become Archdemons if exposed to the taint/blight) is at risk of being discovered by the Darkspawn when Warden Commander Bregan (of Orlais) is following his Calling and being captured by the Darkspawn. To stop it from happening, his sister Genevieve - the new Commander of the Grey in Orlais - sets out with a few companions to retrieve help in Ferelden (ideally: Loghain) to stop it from happening. Instead of Loghain, Maric goes with them into the Deep Roads as he still remembers the Witch of the Wilds' words of an upcoming Blight in Ferelden, which he wants to stop.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
Maker help me.
Gaider cannot write novels.
He is good at writing quests or writing plot lines in video games but the man cannot write a novel to save his own life. While The Calling is not as atrocious as The Stolen Throne it is still far away from being an enjoyable experience.
I think the entire novel could have worked well as a larger plot for a video game: you would start as a newly recruited Grey Warden in Orlais, you have to do some side quests there (pre- and after recruitment, maybe), before you travel with your companions to Ferelden to gain support from King Maric. Then the main quest would start and the player would venture into the Deep Roads with the other characters to discover what happened to Bregan. It would be the most hated quest of the entire game because 99 % of us hate the Deep Roads as they are creepy as fuck. Unfortunately, they are not creepy in the book. Of course, the reader knows how much the Dwarven architecture crumbled because of neglect and decay, how utterly dark it is, of hearing (and being chased) by the Darkspawn, ... but it is so sterile in description that I felt nothing.
In general, the writing/the prose is simple and often redundant. Yes, the character is injure but I do not need to read five times afterwards how much everything hurts/how much pain they feel. It becomes redundant after the third time and feels like a filler to get to word limit. In combination with the awful pacing, it just makes for a boring book that I had to force myself to read. Aside from Duncan, the characters are not very compelling either. Of course, Duncan is a young, hot-headed man here and not the Duncan that we meet in Dragon Age: Origins. Maric is still Maric (and I cannot stand the man; of course, he fucks an elven woman again). The Fiona in the novel is very different from the Fiona in Dragon Age: Inquisition. And the others have no depth, have no true motivation why they do something (especially Bregan, Genevive and Utha) and the decisions at the end by certain characters is baffling and feels out of character for them. Tbh: the most sympathetic character (aside from Duncan) was Kjell and his Mabari.
The book still gets three stars because of lore implications (although I think you should have played at least Dragon Age: Origins and its DLC Awakening to understand most of it). If it wouldn't be for the lore, it would get two stars (if I would be generous).
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
TWs & CWs: general violence, blood, injuries, death (off page and on page), grief, trauma, monsters being monsters
Genre: Fantasy, Video Games