338 réponses à ce sujet

[Tankenminnet]

I read it, aaanndddd I'm pretty disappointed. I liked the first chapters, but as the book went along I couldn't help but feel that all of the characters... really didn't have much character at all. (or acted like drama queens, which is a bit annoying). It's a bit hard to explain, but you really could feel that "Ah, there's one author for this book and he wrote all the dialogue for the characters"- maybe it was the way it jumped between them, or I don't know.

It probably was how random the humour was at times and how it didn't fit in at all, same goes for some of the dialogue and thoughts- it felt so very internet fad-ish to be joking about cookies, for example. It's a silly thing to get irritated about but that just kind of half-ruined it for me.

Not to mention the incredibly, easily swayed Grey Wardens, I never really got that either. I thought Bregan (can't remember his name properly lol) was a bit farfetched but I was OK with it since you needed some storyline to go on, but then the commander was all :

"Oh no more blights? Sounds great! So how will we do it?"

"I CANNOT EXPLAIN THAT AT THIS TIME"

"Jolly good, old chap! I'll guess I'll turn too!"

[...]

"Oh, you are going to do it by infecting everyone? Why didn't you tell me, you tricky rascals you?"

"You never asked kek"

"You are right, how very silly of me!"

___

And Utha, I mean damn! Most random thing ever in the book. All that training, cutting off her own tongue, kicking darkspawn ass and then (I imagined she did this by pointing at her own head and imitating a hammer while making her eyes cross, while sticking out her tongue) "Hurr durr, I'll also transform into a darkspawn now when I've heard of this promise to end all of the blights, altough I still haven't had any real explanation as to how it will be done, but the thirty second thought process I had in contrast with the decades of my life fighting as a grey warden seems sufficient enough".

All in all, it really felt like the book was written with the game in mind- and not the world, or just to be a good book on it's own. Especially the chapters that involved the fade, the dragon and the ogre comes to mind.

"AND NOW HE PICKED HIM UP- JUST LIKE IN THE VIDEOS! OH, OH, AND HERE'S THE SHOCKWAVE I'VE HEARD ABOUT! I SURE HOPE HE WON- OH NO, HERE COMES THE ROCK THAT HE PULLS OUT OF THE GRUND! I CAN RECOGNIZE THIS!".

I'm hoping the storyline and writing for the game will be a lot better!

Modifié par Tankenminnet, 31 octobre 2009 - 01:26 .

[Jonnybear84]

Tankenminnet wrote...

I read it, aaanndddd I'm pretty disappointed. I liked the first chapters, but as the book went along I couldn't help but feel that all of the characters... really didn't have much character at all. (or acted like drama queens, which is a bit annoying). It's a bit hard to explain, but you really could feel that "Ah, there's one author for this book and he wrote all the dialogue for the characters"- maybe it was the way it jumped between them, or I don't know.

It probably was how random the humour was at times and how it didn't fit in at all, same goes for some of the dialogue and thoughts- it felt so very internet fad-ish to be joking about cookies, for example. It's a silly thing to get irritated about but that just kind of half-ruined it for me.

Not to mention the incredibly, easily swayed Grey Wardens, I never really got that either. I thought Bregan (can't remember his name properly lol) was a bit farfetched but I was OK with it since you needed some storyline to go on, but then the commander was all :

"Oh no more blights? Sounds great! So how will we do it?"

"I CANNOT EXPLAIN THAT AT THIS TIME"

"Jolly good, old chap! I'll guess I'll turn too!"

[...]

"Oh, you are going to do it by infecting everyone? Why didn't you tell me, you tricky rascals you?"

"You never asked kek"

"You are right, how very silly of me!"

___

And Utha, I mean damn! Most random thing ever in the book. All that training, cutting off her own tongue, kicking darkspawn ass and then (I imagined she did this by pointing at her own head and imitating a hammer while making her eyes cross, while sticking out her tongue) "Hurr durr, I'll also transform into a darkspawn now when I've heard of this promise to end all of the blights, altough I still haven't had any real explanation as to how it will be done, but the thirty second thought process I had in contrast with the decades of my life fighting as a grey warden seems sufficient enough".

All in all, it really felt like the book was written with the game in mind- and not the world, or just to be a good book on it's own. Especially the chapters that involved the fade, the dragon and the ogre comes to mind.

"AND NOW HE PICKED HIM UP- JUST LIKE IN THE VIDEOS! OH, OH, AND HERE'S THE SHOCKWAVE I'VE HEARD ABOUT! I SURE HOPE HE WON- OH NO, HERE COMES THE ROCK THAT HE PULLS OUT OF THE GRUND! I CAN RECOGNIZE THIS!".

I'm hoping the storyline and writing for the game will be a lot better!

I pretty much disagree with everything in your post, but I'm not going to argue over it seeing as its all opinion based and you are entitled to yours as much as I am to mine. The reason I'm posting is because I just gotta say, the section I put into bold and underlined made me nearly fall of my chair laughing... totally just made my day lol.

On another note..... Alistair is Soooooooooooooooooo Maric's son...... just you all wait and see

[NewYears1978]

Jonnybear84 wrote...

Tankenminnet wrote...

I read it, aaanndddd I'm pretty disappointed. I liked the first chapters, but as the book went along I couldn't help but feel that all of the characters... really didn't have much character at all. (or acted like drama queens, which is a bit annoying). It's a bit hard to explain, but you really could feel that "Ah, there's one author for this book and he wrote all the dialogue for the characters"- maybe it was the way it jumped between them, or I don't know.

It probably was how random the humour was at times and how it didn't fit in at all, same goes for some of the dialogue and thoughts- it felt so very internet fad-ish to be joking about cookies, for example. It's a silly thing to get irritated about but that just kind of half-ruined it for me.

Not to mention the incredibly, easily swayed Grey Wardens, I never really got that either. I thought Bregan (can't remember his name properly lol) was a bit farfetched but I was OK with it since you needed some storyline to go on, but then the commander was all :

"Oh no more blights? Sounds great! So how will we do it?"

"I CANNOT EXPLAIN THAT AT THIS TIME"

"Jolly good, old chap! I'll guess I'll turn too!"

[...]

"Oh, you are going to do it by infecting everyone? Why didn't you tell me, you tricky rascals you?"

"You never asked kek"

"You are right, how very silly of me!"

___

And Utha, I mean damn! Most random thing ever in the book. All that training, cutting off her own tongue, kicking darkspawn ass and then (I imagined she did this by pointing at her own head and imitating a hammer while making her eyes cross, while sticking out her tongue) "Hurr durr, I'll also transform into a darkspawn now when I've heard of this promise to end all of the blights, altough I still haven't had any real explanation as to how it will be done, but the thirty second thought process I had in contrast with the decades of my life fighting as a grey warden seems sufficient enough".

All in all, it really felt like the book was written with the game in mind- and not the world, or just to be a good book on it's own. Especially the chapters that involved the fade, the dragon and the ogre comes to mind.

"AND NOW HE PICKED HIM UP- JUST LIKE IN THE VIDEOS! OH, OH, AND HERE'S THE SHOCKWAVE I'VE HEARD ABOUT! I SURE HOPE HE WON- OH NO, HERE COMES THE ROCK THAT HE PULLS OUT OF THE GRUND! I CAN RECOGNIZE THIS!".

I'm hoping the storyline and writing for the game will be a lot better!

I pretty much disagree with everything in your post, but I'm not going to argue over it seeing as its all opinion based and you are entitled to yours as much as I am to mine. The reason I'm posting is because I just gotta say, the section I put into bold and underlined made me nearly fall of my chair laughing... totally just made my day lol.

On another note..... Alistair is Soooooooooooooooooo Maric's son...... just you all wait and see

Agree with this post.   I didn't agree with her either..I loved the characters and their development...loved the book.

Interesting on your Alistair comment..and I think you might be right

[C. Patrick]

Jonnybear84 wrote...

On another note..... Alistair is Soooooooooooooooooo Maric's son...... just you all wait and see

If this is true, then it looks like the Calenhad bloodline comes to an end.  It doesn't look like Cailan fares too well in his battle with the Ogre, and Alistair is the most recent Grey Warden recruit.

I can't remember ever being so prepared for any RPG, pnp or video game, as I am for DA:O.  I feel I'll be able to hit the ground running, when I fire up the game.  My thanks to David Gaider and the rest of the BioWare writters for providing so much material concerning Ferelden's recent history.

[Sanenomore]

I enjoyed both books.. I went in expecting a good book that would flush out my understanding of the games lore and was not dissapointed. While I wouldnt put them on my top 10 best for the genre and I was not very enthusiastic about the cryptic ending of the Calling I would without hesitation go out and buy the next one... there better be a next one David

Recommended for anyone who is serious about immersion or wanting to improve thier over-all game experience. I do hope the DLC and books are followed up on after release, I cant say that the post release content for Mass Effect came anywhere close to BioWare's promises so I'm hoping they do better with this game.

Modifié par Sanenomore, 01 novembre 2009 - 05:33 .

[Yenkaz]

Meh seems that only US citizens can actually BUY the book, even ebooks are blocked outside the USA.



Long live publishing rights(on the internet?)

[FeignOfMercy]

Alistair could be maric's son. I dont think that would be the end of the bloodline though. Didnt they reverse the taint with duncan's dagger? Maybe they can rid the world of the taint that way. I thought it would be cool if the human noble campaign ends up being Maric's son.

[FeignOfMercy]

Alistair could be maric's son. I dont think that would be the end of the bloodline though. Didnt they reverse the taint with duncan's dagger? Maybe they can rid the world of the taint that way. I thought it would be cool if the human noble campaign ends up being Maric's son.

[0LunarEclipse0]

Okay now to get this out of the way first. Loghain is a brother to Maric he totally cares about him and cares what Maric thinks of him. So to all the Loghain haters a big middle finger 

Okay not that my raving for Simon Templemon's character is complete onward to the books. As a general overveiw to anyone caring about my opinion, I found The Stolen Throne to be more emotionally engaging then The Calling. The Calling had strong emotional moments and some things that tugged on my heart strings but this was mostly in part due to TST. 

A few questions:
Is Maric's 2nd son in the game? (I will be hunting)

Will the mark of Maric and Rowan be left in the game?

Will Fiona still be around?

Finally, David why do you insist on making characters so deep and well written only to not have me be able to meet them in the game?

Okay, so obviously the last question is silly. I really enjoyed both books though I liked TST more for its emotional content, The Calling seemed to be overflowing with epicness (which was amazing). After reading both these books and reading some interveiws with Mr. Gaider about these books I am impressed. They were well written and deep, they engage the reader well. So I am in the process of spreading these two books to the fantasy lovers in my circle thank you.

Oh and David you could have a future writting novels but please don't give up your craft that is Game Writting. Thanks for all your hard work on these books for lore ****s/aspiring writers like myself. Perhaps when I am more confident in myself I may ask to join thy ranks in Alberta.

Again thank you for the inspiration, from one writer to another.

Lunar.

[Tankenminnet]

Yenkaz wrote...

Meh seems that only US citizens can actually BUY the book, even ebooks are blocked outside the USA.

Long live publishing rights(on the internet?)

Hello there old chap! I'm from Sweden and I bought my copy of The Calling from amazon.co.uk, so try that!

[RazorrX]

After reading this book 2 times and rereading the Stolen Throne again (during second read through to get everything fresh) I have to say that I quite enjoyed the book. There were not major "Where the hell did that reaction come from" from me in this one.



I like the fact that we got to see what it meant to be a grey warden. It adds to the storyline for the play through. The whole calling is awesome. I can see why the Grey Wardens do not usually put up with politics, etc. very well.



Took a long time to come to grips with Utha, but I *THINK* I have it: We saw that her whole family died because of the darkspawn/blight. Her taint was accelerated and she was one of the older Wardens, so the calling would have been driving her mad by the time she was asked to join. We have seen that the taint corrupts your perception of things, leaving only a memory twisted by rage and hate. That could be because of the taint, or a combination of the taint and the amulates (aided by The Architect).



If she was still sane, she would have fought against The Architect, but she is no longer sane. The calling/corruption has been working on her non stop, accelerating the degenerative process of her mind to the point that she is no longer the woman she was.



Her mind has been twisted to the point that she also views the goal of the Wardens to be to end the blight no matter what the cost. Her vow to her family was to avenge them, With the twisting that has been done, she may very well view the sacrifice by the dwarves/humans/elves as fitting for allowing her family to die. As both Breggan and Genevieve had thier perceptions twisted to the point that they only saw the bad side of everything, saw a twisted reality in which they were never happy, hated what they did and everyone who was associated with it, Utha has finally gotten to that point when she is asked by her commander (the one person who has stood with her for so long) and asked to follow her one more time. So while I could not at first get why she jumped so quickly and whole heartedly into the plot, I now think that is the logic behind it.

[Dawnhorn]

RazorrX, that's precisely how I saw it. I think the confusion behind her act is mostly just a slight rush of that scene. David's a fantastic writer and I loved both books, but there are some points which seem to need a bit of refining.



Now, this could be more of Bioware/EA: "deadline approaching for the game and this book needs to go out! David, did you finish?" David: *in a dark wooden room with burning candles and strapped to an oak desk* "Uh-almost..." Bioware/EA: "No food until you finish. Do you want electricity again? FINISH!" David: "Yes, RIGHT AWAY!" *scribble scribble, 'and Utha jumped at the opportunity to stop the plight'*



Sorry, got silly there for a moment! Anyway, I think that the intent was always there for Utha to join with the Architect and the execution just didn't go as swimmingly as the rest of the novel. The book's still fantastic though!

[IndyBart]

I kept waiting for Utha to turn on the darkspawn. Like, she told the others, "Hey, I'm going to go along with this and find out what's going on. Then when I discover it is a trap for us to just unleash all the Old gods into a massive blight, I'm going to kick the snot out of the architect." That never happened and I never was really able to grasp why she went to the defense of the architect after her killed her commander. I'm hoping there is more explination in a future book on in the game itself.



Books were enjoyable overall to read before the game came out, and for me they really drove home that this world is a dark gritty fantasy world where there is no right choice, there is only the choice that sucks less.



I'm also in the camp that thinks that Morrigan and Alistair are Maric's children. I'm also a fan of Loghain and don't see how he could betray his friend unless he felt it was necessary to preserve his country. It will be fun to see how it plays out in the game.



As for Alistair being a gray warden, I could see Maric asking Duncan at some point to recruit his son into the order so that he can't be used to start a civil war or cause trouble for Cailan. I could also see Maric wanting to make sure that his kingdom was committed to fighting the Blight and wanted his son to be in the order before becoming the king if Cailan were to fall.



I really feel like there is a third book that should be between The Calling and the start of the game. Hopefully the game will fill in the gaps, but there is plenty of room for more character growth in prequel books...

[Tekbear]

i'm not so sure whether alistair is maric's son. would you have your son drink darkspawn blood after you knew what it does to you? i don't have a kid but i would not think any dad would do that - especially not maric

[Promethean 47]

Alright Gaider, I got a point to discuss. (Big Spoiler, Do Not Read Ahead)





Okay, so I've reached the point where they run into the dwarven lich skeleton demon guy in the dwarven ruins and Maric wakes up in the Fade. Aside from its similarities to the Nexus in Star Trek Generations (thankfully no Whoopi Goldberg), I think the plot idea is an interesting twist, but I think this is a very interesting case of a plot that probably works much better for a game than a novel.



Immediately upon reading it I thought of the tower in Baldur's Gate II with the different rooms the hero must make his way from, solving one insanity issue after another before escaping. That sequence was great in BGII. I think the sequence in the Calling would also play great in a game, because it would allow you to see a glimpse of the backstories of your party characters.



Here, however, in novel format, it came across as a big 'what the hell' moment. It derailed the main narrative, and just didn't sit right with me. This guy who speaks in all caps just happens to be sitting there at the top of a dwarven ruin? What the hell? This was in no way foreshadowed in the series, making it seem like some grubby dungeon master from a nwn2 pw got a hold of your plot and said "ITS TIME FOR SOME CAPS LOCK MIND CONTROL."



Oh Gaider, I so like your writing style and little side stories you insert to help give depth to your characters, but my initial reaction to this was very negative. Hopefully the story will recover and the book will right itself. Maybe with more time my opinion will change. Upon first reading however, it felt like a game writer writing a novel, and not a writer writing a story.

[Darth_Trethon]

The book was really good, much better than the first one.



I was utterly shocked to see Utha be the only on to stick by the Architect through to the end. I would have never guessed that Braghen would snap and turn given that he was the only one who knew and accepted the Architect's plan completely and Genevieve turning on the darkspawn was too obvious from the moment they didn't want to tell her more than the first part of their plan although I did expect her to do more damage or at least kill one of them before going down. The whole ending was completely unpredictable and twisted but that's a good thing.



We've all seen the cutscene of Cailan dying which is a good thing because he's an idiot but now there's a elf-blooded heir to Ferelden's throne which will be interesting to see. I keep thinking that the Human Noble PC will end up being this heir but it doesn't seem too good of a thought because the Human Noble can be a female or not blond so maybe not.

[Keswyn]

Finished it!  Good read, I've got comments and criticisms though (just like everyone else!)

**SPOILERS**

Comments
- Duncan!  He was a very pleasant character to follow; interesting, human and very well-rounded.  It was neat to see how he developed from start to finish, and I particularly liked his dream from the Fade and how it reflected on his personality
- As a bunch of other people have said already, I thought that learning about the Grey Wardens was a clever way to ease us into the game; and the hint that the taint that forces GW's to turn may be reversible has intriguing implications for the game's epilogue
- The dragon battle was very engaging.  I was disappointed with the choice of GW to get killed there; it seemed very much like a pointless kill off...Duncan could have just somersaulted out of the way; regardless of how injured/stunned he was, it would have been a reflexive move.  Anyway, otherwise, it was great!
- Julien/Nicholas, this relationship was a great inclusion I think, although it was way too superficial (see criticisms)

Criticisms
- The last few chapters before the epilogue.  Very anti-climactic.  The fight at the mage tower was far too easy; this would have been a great way to kill Maric (which I think should have happened...although I'm sure we'll find out what happens to him in the game; it would have been great for him to die heroically, say, just before Loghain gets in...)
- Julien/Nicholas, this could have been used to much better effect, instead of just being a way to kill Nicholas off without actually killing him.  That just didn't make any sense; wouldn't Julien have wanted Nicholas to continue the mission and not let his death be in vain?  How could Nicholas have done that to Julien's memory?  Their relationship was definitely a good inclusion though, I just wish it would have been explored a little more too.
- The black dagger that Duncan steals.  My first thought when Duncan found it was "Please, please Gaider don't let this dagger be a deus ex machina"...and guess what?  It's an all-purpose taint ward; protects against darkspawn magic, keeps Duncan from prematurely having his Calling, like the other GW with the brooches, and conveniently only gets used at the end to pull the heroes out of an otherwise hopeless fight.  That's pretty much the definition of a deus ex machina, which is only really needed when an otherwise talented author runs out of time or ideas to make a really spectacular ending.

Good book though, overall!  I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the Dragon Age world.

[Jeantjuh]

I think the main reason for Utha to team up with the Architect, aside from the corruption getting to her, is to prevent other people to feel the pain she had to endure when her family got killed. By preventing another Blight, people will be safe and they will not have to feel the pain she had to go through. She didn't know however that a lot of people will die because of them becoming tainted.

Eventually, she does find out in the end of the book. I wouldn't know why she saved the Architect. Possibly because she still saw hope? Or to persuade him into finding another way on ending the Blights?

Hope we will find out soon.

Modifié par Jeantjuh, 03 novembre 2009 - 09:16 .

[IceyFireBlade]

Thanks for the good read, David. I really enjoyed the story. I finished just in time to enjoy the game It means I won't have to speculate on who is who and what the novels mean about the game.

[Talvrae]

Yenkaz wrote...

Meh seems that only US citizens can actually BUY the book, even ebooks are blocked outside the USA.

Long live publishing rights(on the internet?)

That's wrong i buy them in Canada at amazon.ca

[Talvrae]

The books can be buy outside of the US i buyed them at amason.ca

[thelonghop]

Finished The Calling yesterday. I think the endings for both books felt rushed. Just 'how many loose strings can we take care of because we're at the word limit.' I mean, I enjoyed them, but everything was just a bit convenient or not given the depth the situation called for in the last chapter or so.



I think it does show that the PC in the game doesn't have to go thru the Calling.

[Promethean 47]

Overall I'm still reading and enjoying the book.  *Spoilers* I must ask if anyone else was put off by the entire Fade sqeuence? I think it's a great example of a concept that would work great in a game (the sequence brought the tower from BGII where you had to get through the insanity of each subsequent room to progress) but just felt like a giant distraction in the narrative.
I found the entire demon plot pointless really.  There was no foreshadowing of it, it doesn't seem to have (not done yet though, but still) any lasting importance on the story either. It just feels like Gaider letting his dungeon master side kidnap his story for a few chapters.  I think the only thing it does is bring Katriel back in to allow Maric to forgive himself and further established the tie between Maric and the elf mage (blanking on her name right now for some reason).  Both of those could have been accomplished without the random appearance of a Dwarf Lich (yes, I know he's a demon, but c'mon Gaider, keep your dming to your D&D games and out of your novels!).
Outside of the Fade sequence, I've enjoyed the book overall.  I would like to have had Loghain have more than a cameo at the beginning, but we'll see if he shows before the end again.

[Promethean 47]

Overall I'm still reading and enjoying the book.  *Spoilers* I must ask if anyone else was put off by the entire Fade sqeuence? I think it's a great example of a concept that would work great in a game (the sequence brought the tower from BGII where you had to get through the insanity of each subsequent room to progress) but just felt like a giant distraction in the narrative.
I found the entire demon plot pointless really.  There was no foreshadowing of it, it doesn't seem to have (not done yet though, but still) any lasting importance on the story either. It just feels like Gaider letting his dungeon master side kidnap his story for a few chapters.  I think the only thing it does is bring Katriel back in to allow Maric to forgive himself and further established the tie between Maric and the elf mage (blanking on her name right now for some reason).  Both of those could have been accomplished without the random appearance of a Dwarf Lich (yes, I know he's a demon, but c'mon Gaider, keep your dming to your D&D games and out of your novels!).
Outside of the Fade sequence, I've enjoyed the book overall.  I would like to have had Loghain have more than a cameo at the beginning, but we'll see if he shows before the end again.

[Promethean 47]

Overall I'm still reading and enjoying the book.  *Spoilers* I must ask if anyone else was put off by the entire Fade sqeuence? I think it's a great example of a concept that would work great in a game (the sequence brought the tower from BGII where you had to get through the insanity of each subsequent room to progress) but just felt like a giant distraction in the narrative.
I found the entire demon plot pointless really.  There was no foreshadowing of it, it doesn't seem to have (not done yet though, but still) any lasting importance on the story either. It just feels like Gaider letting his dungeon master side kidnap his story for a few chapters.  I think the only thing it does is bring Katriel back in to allow Maric to forgive himself and further established the tie between Maric and the elf mage (blanking on her name right now for some reason).  Both of those could have been accomplished without the random appearance of a Dwarf Lich (yes, I know he's a demon, but c'mon Gaider, keep your dming to your D&D games and out of your novels!).
Outside of the Fade sequence, I've enjoyed the book overall.  I would like to have had Loghain have more than a cameo at the beginning, but we'll see if he shows before the end again.