Dragon Age: The Calling

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. While it's written by the same author as the previous, the style has improved and is much easier to read. While I struggled a bit with The Calling, this one I had trouble putting down.

The story contains a young Duncan, newly recruited from the Wardens. It's interesting to note the differences from his younger self to the older Duncan we meet in the game, though I honestly find some difficulty connecting the two. The Duncan in this book is more akin to Zevran than the stuffy and distant Warden recruiter we meet in the game. But, Warden life is hard. Perhaps it has worn on him.

I digress. In all honesty, I wouldn't consider Duncan to be the main character of this book as the narrative switches point of view. This is actually done very well, and I was never confused with who I was following. I actually looked forward to the character switches and getting to be everyone's head.

The content of this book spends a lot of time the Deep Roads. And we get more insight into the Architect, which I really enjoyed. The only part I didn't care for was the experience in the Fade. It's a lot like the experience in the game, and I honestly just skimmed that part to get the various character backgrounds and move on. Even without the rehashing of the game, that part of the book has nothing to do with the main plot, so it was rather off putting.

Again, digressing. I still really enjoyed this book. I read it in nearly one day. I couldn't put it down. This is a book I would consider giving to some who isn't familiar with Dragon Age. The style was smooth. The characters were pleasant. I just enjoyed it.