Dragon Age: The Calling Mass Market Paperback – October 1, 2013

I read the first in the series before this and fell in love with the characters and had to keep reading. I would recommend these to anyone who enjoys reading fantasy and especially to fans of the games. As of the time of reading I haven't played origins yet (came late to the series and started with inquisition) but I wanted to read the books prior to playing the game. Now I can start origins and the next book!

I really love Dragon Age, and must have played through Dragon Age Origins so many times I lost count it was just that good of a game. Dragon Age 2 on the other hand...well let us not go there but its OK for what it is.The Calling by David Gaider is a prequel to the game Dragon Age Origins, and details certain events that happened about 20-25 years before Origins began.I had a hard time rating this book, mainly because I felt it is worth about 3.5 stars. I put it at the higher end though mostly because Gaider does an excellent job in describing the world around him in excellent detail. Although we really don't get much of a sense or clear picture of the main characters, environments are laid out so well I could really see myself being there.The reason for the 3 stars I was leaning for is mostly due to the complete lack of character development. The story introduces the Grey Wardens, the characters that are played in the game Origins. The Wardens in Origins were heroes, and were described and told as such, and when you played through the game you really did feel like you were the one deciding Fereldans fate.In this book however, the Wardens are a bunch of one dimensional almost card board like individuals with little to no minds of their own. Half the time the characters are blindly following their leader on a fool's errand quest, that they don't even really state why they are deciding to go along with it.It seemed to me like the characters were drones, and this is surprising because even a young Duncan who was so well made in Origins (Although obviously older in the game), just seemed to be a stereotypical thief in this story. His character was so alien in this book I had a very hard time even believing it was the same Duncan from Origins. The Duncan in Origins was solemn yet strongly dedicated to the Warden cause. This younger Duncan seemed to question and even hated being in the Wardens, in fact...the entire cast of characters on the exception of their leader all hated being in the Wardens which made it hard to feel any form of sympathy for them when they were being overrun by darkspawn. In a sense, it made the Wardens look like a bunch of cruel heartless individuals who didn't care what it took to get things done.The book features King Maric, who is a main character from the previous Dragon Age book Stolen Throne. Maric seems to be a bumbling idiot, and I was amazed that this man was put on the throne at all. I was pleased to see Loghain in the book, but he really didn't get much screen time which was a shame, since I think this book could have been so much better with Loghain following the Wardens into the Deep Roads then Maric, who I really didn't like because he was just seemed a little spineless to me. Also he just up and leaves to follow the Wardens blindly, not even giving much regard he was leaving behind a kingdom and a young son. It just made him out to be selfish and cowardly, and couldn't help but agree with Loghain when he chastised Maric for wanting to along with the Wardens. This felt really strange considering Loghain was the hated enemy of the Wardens in Origins.A lot of the book has the companions trudging through the Deep Road looking for the brother of their leader Geneieve. I won't give away more beyond that due to spoilers, but the plot really didn't pick up until towards the end, and even then, it seemed the conclusion was rushed. I felt like if Gaider didn't focus so much on telling page after page about the companions moving through tunnels that all looked alike practically, and actually focused on plot developments, this could have been a real winner.Instead, this is just an adequate fantasy book and may or may not be well liked by Dragon Age fans.

As an avid gamer, I tend to want more once the game is done. There are many games that have tie-in books, however most are terrible, I plod my way through them and eventually give up. This one, however, pulled me in and kept me. I am NOT saying this book is without fault! It has some places throughout that are slow. It has some flaws. All things considered, I still feel like this is a book. It has a story of it's own, it has an end that feels good...etc. This is why I give it 5 stars, because it is a wonderful book, not just a "game tie-in" It explains much of the in universe lore for those who have never played the game! (My Mother even enjoyed this and that's a miracle and a half!!) For those who have played the game it gives some back story on in game characters. Overall a great read! I have the paperback copies as well as the audiobook. Since there were no reviews of the audio version and Amazon won't let me review them separately I will add the other here as well.**** I only give four stars for the Audio (MP3) CD version for the following reasons: The Audio CD as I discovered to my dismay Is 12 CDs so I bought the MP3 version. To start off, it is a DATA CD so it does NOT play in all CD players! Buyer Beware! It is also on 2 (two) CDs while I know (and own) Many longer books on a REAL MP3 CD (not the data variety) That are only 1 (one) disc and play in all CD players I could get my hands on! So this one is a terrible disappointment! Furthermore, the reader misses whole lines in some places and will sometime read "14 years" or "12 Years" when the book clearly says "8 years" jumping around when discussing the same event!!I realized I should add the Kindle version as well. It has some serious misspelling and poor grammar! I grew up in a country were they don't teach us how to spell and they were bad even to me! Also, the cost of the kindle version seems high compared to others. Hope this helps!!

I’m not very far into this book but I just got to page 60 and it is literally just missing the next 8 pages? It skips to page 69 and a whole section is missing? I can’t find the other pages?? I’ve never seen anything like this and it’s really frustrating.

Whilst the book had potential, I feel that it was published too soon.The characters were varied and interesting, and most of them got some decent development, such as Fiona. We alsae got tae explore just how similar the opposing forces areThe plot twists could definitely done wi' greater build up rather than just coming out of the blue, and Genevieve received little tae nae character development, starting off as a selfish character concerned only wi' her ain goals, and ending that way. I feel Bregan near the end sums her up rather nicely. The most glaring fault however were the numerous spelling and grammatical errors, which shows either a writer nae getting work proofread aforehand or a proofreader/editor nae noticing basic mistakes. I alsae felt some of the wording could have been trimmed.

"Calling" follows on well from "The Stolen Throne", exploring a bit of what happens after you have freed the kingdom and have to deal with the cost of your winning. It has the same well-written characters as the previous book but the writing of action scenes has improved quite a lot. Being set closer to the games more of the events were already known, but at the same time it was interesting to see some of the different characters from a different perspective and have those events fleshed out. Like "Stolen Throne" I would strongly recommend "Calling to fans of the Dragon Age games, probably even more strongly.

Really good. Recommended even if you're not a Dragon Age fan.

A great addition to the Dragon Age lore and a great follow up from The Stolen Throne. Takes place around 11 years (? - may have misremembered this, but around this time) after the events of The Stolen Throne (as in the final battle) and sees an Maric team up with a team of Grey Wardens, including Duncan and Fiona. An absolute must read for any Dragon Age fan - as fun, exciting and heartbreaking as any other story in the canon.