Scan barcode
A review by timlucier
Last Flight by Liane Merciel
3.0
This is a great little fantasy book.
I initially didn't pick it up for a while because I had read a synopsis and, for some reason, assumed that part of the narrative would be told like a historic diary in the style of a codex entry. (Which just wasn't appealing to me.)
Luckily, it isn't.
The dual narratives both bring a slew of new characters, some deeply interesting, and some that i felt just didn't have the time to develop.
Each chapter, the story switches between the time of the post-DA2 mage rebellion, and the age of the exalted, covering the ten years of the fourth blight.
While both settings were very interesting to me, i found that the exalted age storyline was a lot more fleshed out. This story tells of one elven mage grey warden gryphon rider who begins experimenting with blood magic, which has dire consequences for the whole world. While she and her brother are very fleshed out and interesting characters, the other grey wardens, mages, and fighters surrounding them could really have used some more page-time.
The Dragon age parts of the book told the story of an elven mage staying under the protection of the grey wardens as the mage-templar war begins. She finds the diary that tells the other story, and questions the morals of the grey wardens. There are some other characters that sadly get even less attention than the side characters in the other narrative.
All in all- great story, great themes, but this book should have been twice as long as it was.
I really enjoyed the writing style (save for the overuse of the word "pious.") One thing i loved was how all the spellcasting actually resembled what you see in-game, whereas the other DA books just do the magic they want. This creates an elegant flow and connection to the games, and allows anyone who has played a mage character to see where the characters are coming from. The descriptions of using the fade in spells also helped to paint a fuller picture of how magic actually works in this universe. It all makes a lot more sense after reading this book.
I really hope to see more of these characters in future Dragon age installments. I'm sure we will, because what is discovered at the end of the book will HAVE to be brought into the next game.
I initially didn't pick it up for a while because I had read a synopsis and, for some reason, assumed that part of the narrative would be told like a historic diary in the style of a codex entry. (Which just wasn't appealing to me.)
Luckily, it isn't.
The dual narratives both bring a slew of new characters, some deeply interesting, and some that i felt just didn't have the time to develop.
Each chapter, the story switches between the time of the post-DA2 mage rebellion, and the age of the exalted, covering the ten years of the fourth blight.
While both settings were very interesting to me, i found that the exalted age storyline was a lot more fleshed out. This story tells of one elven mage grey warden gryphon rider who begins experimenting with blood magic, which has dire consequences for the whole world. While she and her brother are very fleshed out and interesting characters, the other grey wardens, mages, and fighters surrounding them could really have used some more page-time.
The Dragon age parts of the book told the story of an elven mage staying under the protection of the grey wardens as the mage-templar war begins. She finds the diary that tells the other story, and questions the morals of the grey wardens. There are some other characters that sadly get even less attention than the side characters in the other narrative.
All in all- great story, great themes, but this book should have been twice as long as it was.
I really enjoyed the writing style (save for the overuse of the word "pious.") One thing i loved was how all the spellcasting actually resembled what you see in-game, whereas the other DA books just do the magic they want. This creates an elegant flow and connection to the games, and allows anyone who has played a mage character to see where the characters are coming from. The descriptions of using the fade in spells also helped to paint a fuller picture of how magic actually works in this universe. It all makes a lot more sense after reading this book.
I really hope to see more of these characters in future Dragon age installments. I'm sure we will, because what is discovered at the end of the book will HAVE to be brought into the next game.