Hey guys, it's been a while since I've done a book review here on the blog so I decided I'd do this one. Dragon Age Stolen Throne is a Prequel Novel to the upcoming game from Bioware. I believe the novel begins 50 years before the game, which basically guarantees that you won't recognize much of anything from the game to the novel.
Which means that unless your REALLY interested in getting acquainted with the world; you really have no reason to read this novel. The story centers around the son of the recently killed Rebel Queen who is the RIGHTFUL heir to the Throne of Feledren. Who's name is Maric. The game centers around him trying to regain that throne and it is a rather prolonged and convoluted journey. The story does fall apart near the end and is probably one of the most anticlimactic books I've read in a while.
There is some touching on the different races that are in the game but it does ignore a couple as well. There seems to be some magic in the world but it is very hard to tell how much there REALLY will be in the game outside of the mage class. It seems like there is magic here and there. But it really isn't explained beyond the Chantry which all mages are REQUIRED to belong to, to control them.
That is also not part of the book, really. It is touched on, but is definitely not the subject. You tirelessly follow Maric, Rowan, and Loghain on their very Dungeons and Dragons adventures. Only without Dragons and with limited monsters except near the last third of the book. So as much as I wanted to like this book, I just couldn't bare it when it ended so suddenly.
The actual writing is pretty compelling and the aforementioned poorly drawn ending is completely unexpected. It all most seems like the author was rushed to finish the book to hit a release date. But as the game isn't coming out for probably about a year, it's hard to believe that is the case. It would certainly explain the abrupt summarizing and rushing of events near the end. Unless of course he had a limited number of words then it is completely understandable. For instance, if he said the book would be around 350+ pages and the publisher or EA PR said, hey that book is getting a little long for the target audience; your going to need to wrap it up soon. So he wrapped it up. I'm not saying this is what DID happen only that it seems like SOMETHING must have happened to make the novel draw to such a sudden conclusion.
I won't ruin it for you, but unless you are desperately burning to know about the world of Dragon Age Origins, you should probably just play the game and leave the history to the historians.
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