I don't think it's possible to make a fully informed decision at Halamshiral as the Inquisitor until you've read The Masked Empire...
Yeah, that's true. I think forcing all three (Celene, Gaspard and Briala) into a truce is the best choice. They're trying to outdo each other during the party and the Inquisitor's like, "All of you are at fault and I outplayed you in this so called game. Oh, and you work for me now." I also think embarrassing Florianne in front of everyone is a bonus.
Well, if we're ranking them:
1. Asunder
2. Last Flight
3. The Calling
4. Stolen Throne
.
.
9999. Masked Empire
I think I have to go with The Stolen Throne. It gave me a completely new insight into Loghain that I was previously lacking, so if only for that alone, it gets top kudos. A close second is The Masked Empire, which surprises me as I was not expecting to enjoy that one when I started it. I think my least favorite was Last Flight.
1. The Last Flight
2. The Calling
3. Asunder
4. The Masked Empire
5. The Stolen Throne
I loved the Last Flight. I loved reading about the griffins in action for the first time, and the possibility of them now coming back to the world. It also gave me more insight into blood magic and its effects; previously I really didn't see much of a problem with blood magic and even thought it was kind of awesome (mainly from a gameplay perspective but I love "dark" magics in fiction in general), but after the Last Flight, I think it's pure evil. Reading about a full-fledged Blight in action was pretty cool too.
Ouch. Why? I mean, I have a few guesses -- I wouldn't want to turn my back on either Celene or Briala if there's a knife in the room -- but that's pretty categorical.9999. Masked Empire
And this is one of my gripes about that quest. :/I don't think it's possible to make a fully informed decision at Halamshiral as the Inquisitor until you've read The Masked Empire...
Ouch. Why? I mean, I have a few guesses -- I wouldn't want to turn my back on either Celene or Briala if there's a knife in the room -- but that's pretty categorical.
Simple reason: I hated all of the characters, except Felassan, but he died, so there's no one left to care about. A book can have a great concept, a great story, but if I can't sympathize or empathize with, never mind actually like, any of the characters, it's a bad book imo. This is also why WEWH is my least favorite main quest in the game. The only redeeming feature is the convo/dance with the LI at the end.
Oh, yeah...
Plus I have first hand experience with leading a horse. They're magnificent creatures. Beautiful and strong, and well, for some reason, I imagine Griffons similar to them, except with wings. That one real life experience, combined with my imagination at work makes that book especially good to me.
The Masked Empire and The Last Flight were my favorites. Followed by The Stolen Throne due to Loghain.
Simple reason: I hated all of the characters, except Felassan, but he died, so there's no one left to care about. A book can have a great concept, a great story, but if I can't sympathize or empathize with, never mind actually like, any of the characters, it's a bad book imo. This is also why WEWH is my least favorite main quest in the game. The only redeeming feature is the convo/dance with the LI at the end.
I had same problem with The Stolen Throne. After Katriel had been killed I had very little reason to care about the rest of the story since I hated Marric, Loghain and Rowan. Same with the comics (The Silent Grove, Those Who Speak and Until We Sleep) where my most hated Dragon Age character Alistair was the main character. I think the comics themselves were good - all negative things I have to say are about Alistair; Alistair killing Yavanna, Alistair defeating Sten in a duel, Alistair meeting his father in the fade... I hated all that and more. The comics would have been 100% more enjoyable without the angsty, whiny King of the Special Snowflakes.
Same thing goes for The Calling and Asunder. Obviously I already hated Marric and now he was even worse. He killed Katriel yet it was written like he was supposed to be the one pitied. Disgusting. I also didn't like Fiona (she was better in Asunder & Inquisition). Duncan was too similar to Marric & Alistair, which was really weird. In Asunder I didn't like Rhys, Evangeline or Wynne. I didn't feel any sympathy for any of them. Rhys seemed like a wimp who couldn't do anything and would have let Pharamond become tranquil again if not for Adrian. I liked her better than most of the other characters. Only character I loved was Cole, of course. But I like him more in Inquisition (he and Solas are my favorite companions). I think Asunder was better written than the first two books, but the fight scenes were still very clumsy, there were still many cliches and overused plot lines.
The Last Flight is the only one I haven't read yet (I'm on page 14). The beginning isn't very interesting, but I hope the rest of the book is better.
Admittedly, I came into the Dragon Age novels with some bias - started The Stolen Throne just after playing the Hero of Ferelden. Plus, I have a serious thing for Arthurian legend which translated into a serious thing for all things King Calenhad and his descendants. Maric is flawed as all get out, which I love about the character, as is Loghain, which I love about that character. Flawed heroes are my jam. Plus, I love the "deus ex machina" in fiction when there is actually possibility of a god in the machine - (the Maker, Flemythal/Witch of the Wilds, take your pick). With the confessed bias, The Stolen Throne is my favorite.
Okay, that's what I thought. It's true that with friends like them, who needs enemies? Still, even though all the protagonists end up making self-serving choices, I thought it was cool to see how ambition, deception and betrayal can ruin everything that's good between people.Simple reason: I hated all of the characters, except Felassan, but he died, so there's no one left to care about. A book can have a great concept, a great story, but if I can't sympathize or empathize with, never mind actually like, any of the characters, it's a bad book imo. This is also why WEWH is my least favorite main quest in the game. The only redeeming feature is the convo/dance with the LI at the end.
Asunder
The Calling
The Last Flight
Masked Empire
The Stolen Throne
Welp, I've only read the Masked Empire and I thoroughly enjoyed that. So, I can't really answer this question. 
I have hard time ranking them due to the fact that while The Stolen Throne was a hot mess it was incredibly enlightening about the Loghain backstory which was a HUGE revelation for me (I was super anti Loghain when I played Origins originally- now that I know him through the book I find it as impossible to condemn him as his followers in Ferelden did as the hero during the Origin's game- If I ever play Origins again which I do plan on I am not going to execute him again).
Anyway-
The Stolen Throne for all of the information but minus for the mess it was.
The Masked Empire gets a higher mark from me because not only did it provide a lot of info behind characters and Thedas machinations but I liked *some* of the characters. (I loved Felassan) other characters not so much.
Asunder was fairly good but thought Rhys could be far better (I agree he was way too whimpy) but I loved seeing Wynne even if I didn't like her in the book lol, I was fond of her in the game for what she was but damn haha, such a circle lover.
The Calling was super forgettable but I don't regret reading it.
I have to pick up Last Flight and the comics.
Would you guys know if there will be any new DA novels? I know Gaider was suppose to write one with Fenris, but it was most likely cancelled ever since he left Bioware.
The only thing DG ever said about writing Fenris was,
@davidgaider
Writing Fenris again. Like slipping on an old pair of comfortable yet bitchy shoes.
And,
@davidgaider
@novicealtair Not really. It's for a book.
(I was thinking that perhaps this was for World of Thedas Vol. 2, but that was published May 12, 2015, and the tweet was April 29, 2015, which doesn't seem like the correct time frame.)
His tweets since leaving BW were,
@davidgaider
@GrimSister21 I'm not writing a DA book, sorry. I've no idea if someone else is.
@davidgaider
@CroweComics There is no Fenris book, sorry.
As of now, there hasn't been any news of any upcoming DA novels by any writer, either a BioWare writer or non. The only ancillary material we have at the moment is the Magekiller comic, currently ongoing.
[edit]
@GladsBad It was scrapped before I left.
He also confirmed to Lady Insanity that the project is dead. "Because David Gaider’s book is no longer happening (I asked him about this last year way before he announced his leave and he said it just never clicked so he bunked the project)..."
Modifié par nightscrawl, 18 avril 2016 - 08:44 .
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