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A review by libraty
Last Flight by Liane Merciel
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)
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)