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[Deadly dwarf]

Too bad there isn't a sticky thread for this...   What books are out there for the Dragon Age gamer to read to fill in the holes/gaps in knowledge regarding the world of Thedas?  This week, I'm going to be spending some quality time in airports and I might as well spend some quality time reading!

[Gilli]

Too bad there isn't a sticky thread for this...   What books are out there for the Dragon Age gamer to read to fill in the holes/gaps in knowledge regarding the world of Thedas?  This week, I'm going to be spending some quality time in airports and I might as well spend some quality time reading!

 

The Stolen Throne

The Calling

Asunder

The Masked Empire

Last Flight

 

The Stolen Throne and The Calling are placed before DAO

Asunder and The Masked Empire during/after DA2, but before DAI

Last Flight is placed during DAI

[Iakus]

In addition there are the comics 

"The Silent Grove" "Those Who Speak" "Until We Sleep" Set shortly after DA2.   Yeah, it doesn't follow everyone's canon world-state, but it's still a good read.  

 

Also, one detail about Last Flight:  It's set in two time periods.  During the events of DAI and during the Fourth Blight

[Heimdall]

Plus the ongoing MageKiller comic that starts shortly before and promises to go beyond the plot of DAI (Still in the middle of the post-Skyhold portion as of issue 4)

[vertigomez]

Too bad there isn't a sticky thread for this... What books are out there for the Dragon Age gamer to read to fill in the holes/gaps in knowledge regarding the world of Thedas? This week, I'm going to be spending some quality time in airports and I might as well spend some quality time reading!

Yeeeess! All of the novels mentioned above are good if you're just looking to soak up DA lore and not necessarily wanting high literature, but The Masked Empire, Asunder, and Last Flight are the best (in my opinion, of course).

Probably too big for airport reading, but if you love lore then absolutely get your hands on The World of Thedas and The World of Thedas Vol. 2 if you get a chance. The Art of Dragon Age: Inquisition is fun if you like checking out the logic behind the design choices of various characters, cultures, and factions.

[Gilli]

Yeeeess! All of the novels mentioned above are good if you're just looking to soak up DA lore and not necessarily wanting high literature, but The Masked Empire, Asunder, and Last Flight are the best (in my opinion, of course).

Probably too big for airport reading, but if you love lore then absolutely get your hands on The World of Thedas and The World of Thedas Vol. 2 if you get a chance. The Art of Dragon Age: Inquisition is fun if you like checking out the logic behind the design choices of various characters, cultures, and factions.

 

Totally agree. I loved Asunder, TME and Last Flight. TME starts a bit slow IMO (but only because I despise the Game  ) but it was a great read. Made me even respect Gaspard and makes me sad I can't reconsile Celene & Briala AND let him live. 

[vertigomez]

Totally agree. I loved Asunder, TME and Last Flight. TME starts a bit slow IMO (but only because I despise the Game  ) but it was a great read.

It really was! I was surprised by how much I liked it, considering I was never interested in Orlais before then...

Made me even respect Gaspard and makes me sad I can't reconsile Celene & Briala AND let him live. 

Ha! It's funny because I had the exact opposite reaction. By the end of it I didn't know who to root for and mostly wanted to strangle them all.

[Gilli]

It really was! I was surprised by how much I liked it, considering I was never interested in Orlais before then...


Ha! It's funny because I had the exact opposite reaction. By the end of it I didn't know who to root for and mostly wanted to strangle them all.

 

Yeah, same for me.

 

Well, 90% of the book I just want to hit him  all of them with the Jade Ham, but there's one scene, nearly at the end of the book, where he...

Spoiler

kills his own man (forgot his name) because he attacked Celene during their Truce, that made me think.

Okay, you're an ass, but you have honor and stand by your word. I respect that.

[Deadly dwarf]

Thanks for the recommendations!  Just purchased "The Calling" and "Stolen Throne" since those are pre-Origins.  That should keep me busy for awhile.  (And ultimately spur me to go back to Origins one more time...)

[nightscrawl]

I have made a handy guide here. I've been meaning to post it to the forums, but it is rather lengthy and I've been procrastinating. There are some spoilers, but you scan scroll past the reasoning and avoid most of it.

 

This is primarily a guide for those already familiar with the DA series because I go into detail about why a particular things should be read/watched in a particular order -- this is a chronological guide.

 

I should probably post a simple, spoiler-free list at some point.

[Chiramu]

The Stolen Throne and The Calling are full of errors and editing flaws. The Calling especially has an edited version where there are chunks missing from the actual text that you have to guess what the word is.

 

The books past these two are better. The Last Flight was so boring that I never finished it though.

[nightscrawl]

Probably too big for airport reading, but if you love lore then absolutely get your hands on The World of Thedas and The World of Thedas Vol. 2 if you get a chance. The Art of Dragon Age: Inquisition is fun if you like checking out the logic behind the design choices of various characters, cultures, and factions.

These are certainly worth a get if you want to have the physical library editions to hold and look at the full, glossy images, but they are too big for airport reading, I agree.

However, if you want to absorb the information without worrying about banging up expensive books, you can always go with the digital editions.

[Inkvisiittori]

Totally agree. I loved Asunder, TME and Last Flight. TME starts a bit slow IMO (but only because I despise the Game  ) but it was a great read. Made me even respect Gaspard and makes me sad I can't reconsile Celene & Briala AND let him live. 

 

The beginning of TME is actually my favorite part of the book. I love political intrigue and how well everything was described. (SPOILERS) I didn't like the adventure part of the book - before and after Felassan, Briala, Celene and Michel De Chevin find the Dalish. It felt out of placed and little bit forced maybe. Overall the plot wasn't quite as consistent as I would have liked - there was like little bit too much of everything in one small book. I like slower storytelling and well developed plots that are given time and love to develope - like GRRM does with ASOIAF. I wish TME had focused more on the political intrigue of Orlais since it seemed really interesting. Or had kept it's characters at different places - Celene should have stayed at her palace and not join the others at the adventure. That felt really forced to me. That way it could have told both the elven story and the Orlais politics separately and more naturally. Despite those little flaws it is still my favorite Dragon Age book so far - I loved Felassan, Briala and even Gaspard - and absolutely hated Celene and Michel. 

[Gilli]

The beginning of TME is actually my favorite part of the book. I love political intrigue and how well everything was described. (SPOILERS) I didn't like the adventure part of the book - before and after Felassan, Briala, Celene and Michel De Chevin find the Dalish. It felt out of placed and little bit forced maybe. Overall the plot wasn't quite as consistent as I would have liked - there was like little bit too much of everything in one small book. I like slower storytelling and well developed plots that are given time and love to develope - like GRRM does with ASOIAF. I wish TME had focused more on the political intrigue of Orlais since it seemed really interesting. Or had kept it's characters at different places - Celene should have stayed at her palace and not join the others at the adventure. That felt really forced to me. That way it could have told both the elven story and the Orlais politics separately and more naturally. Despite those little flaws it is still my favorite Dragon Age book so far - I loved Felassan, Briala and even Gaspard - and absolutely hated Celene and Michel. 

 

Sadly, political intrigue is exactly what I hate (generally speaking, not just in DA) Why intrigue, why not just be honest? That is exactly why I hate the Game so much. 

And why I forced those three into a Political Truce. You want to rule Orlais? Okay. Do it. Together! 

 

My favorite book is Asunder. Mostly because Cole  and because it's about mages in general. 

[Inkvisiittori]

Sadly, political intrigue is exactly what I hate (generally speaking, not just in DA) Why intrigue, why not just be honest? That is exactly why I hate the Game so much. 

And why I forced those three into a Political Truce. You want to rule Orlais? Okay. Do it. Together! 

 

My favorite book is Asunder. Mostly because Cole  and because it's about mages in general. 

 

I gave all the power to Briala. She's my favorite character and only one who deserves it. Poor Gaspard though... 

 

I liked Asunder too. Much better than the first two books. Though the characters weren't perhaps quite as memorable as in the other books (I loved Katriel in The Stolen Throne and will never forgive Maric & Loghain for what they did to her). Last Flight is the only one I haven't read yet... 

[Gilli]

I gave all the power to Briala. She's my favorite character and only one who deserves it. Poor Gaspard though... 

 

I liked Asunder too. Much better than the first two books. Though the characters weren't perhaps quite as memorable as in the other books (I loved Katriel in The Stolen Throne and will never forgive Maric & Loghain for what they did to her). Last Flight is the only one I haven't read yet... 

 

Well, out of the four times I did WEWH till know, I reconciled Celene and Briala three times, then I read TME and wanted all three of them alive. Only way that works is the Truce. 

 

I agree, The Stolen Throne and The Calling are good, but yeah. I liked Katriel too, she was cool. 

Last Flight is a great book, it plays in the present (9:41 - 9:42 Dragon) and in the past (5:12 - 5:24 Exalted). Normally I'm not a fan of stories that play in two different timelines (I find it a bit confusing most of the time) but here it's really good and thought-out.

[Deadly dwarf]

Many thanks to all who replied!  I'm half way through "Stolen Throne" and so far I am favorably impressed!  I think it's clear Gaider was influenced by both Tolkien and the classic English tales that inspired Tolkien.

 

I have made a handy guide here. I've been meaning to post it to the forums, but it is rather lengthy and I've been procrastinating. There are some spoilers, but you scan scroll past the reasoning and avoid most of it.

 

Extraordinary piece of work, nightscrawl!  Very thorough!  I know Stolen Throne takes place chronologically before the game of Origins but was surprised to find out it was actually published before the game as well.  That makes abrupt way "Stolen Throne" starts somewhat inexplicable.  There is no general description of the world of Thedas given and I think someone reading the book before playing any of the games would be confused.  For myself, though, not a problem and it provides me with some useful backstory for the characters we meet in Origins.

 

Regarding your comment about Anders and DA2, remember that after Hawke first arrives in Kirkwall, he/she goes into indentured servitude to a smuggler or a mercenary for about a year before he/she is free to adventure.    It is only after this year is up that Hawke finally meets  Varric and then Anders.  This of course means that both the events that occurred in Origins and in Awakening had to occur in a one-year span.  It's a tight but doable time-frame.  (It also means that Anders time as a Warden was pretty brief....hippie desserter!)

[nightscrawl]

Regarding your comment about Anders and DA2, remember that after Hawke first arrives in Kirkwall, he/she goes into indentured servitude to a smuggler or a mercenary for about a year before he/she is free to adventure.    It is only after this year is up that Hawke finally meets  Varric and then Anders.  This of course means that both the events that occurred in Origins and in Awakening had to occur in a one-year span.  It's a tight but doable time-frame.  (It also means that Anders time as a Warden was pretty brief....hippie desserter!)

 

Thanks!

 

Most of that one year span is while DAO is taking place. DA2 starts immediately after the destruction of Lothering. While Hawke is on a boat to Kirkwall, your Warden is off doing one of the remaining DAO plot areas. Assuming that Lothering is destroyed a couple of months into DAO, you could say that there was some padding. But we also don't know the time span during which DAA takes place -- surely at least a couple of months. After DAA, the Warden has to leave their friends at Vigil's Keep to go off wherever, leaving someone else in charge while Anders has his issues in the short story and eventually goes AWOL. This is yet more unaccounted for time.