{Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke by Karen S. Wiesner

 

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke

by Karen S. Wiesner

 

 

Susanna Clarke is the author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an enormous, epic fantasy that was the author's debut novel. More of that world is explored in the author's short story collection, The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories. I reviewed both of these previously. You can read them here: 

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2023/09/book-review-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell.html 

The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2023/11/karen-s-wiesner-put-this-one-on-your_02046837301.html 

Clarke's first novel in this alternative history world felt incomplete to most who read it because it ended on what I consider a cliffhanger. The author intended a sequel set a few years after the first. Though readers had to expect the follow-up to take a long time to write (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell took ten years to complete), we later learned Clarke is plagued by chronic fatigue syndrome. She's reported that the fate of the sequel is still “a long way off” but may also never be finished because of her condition. I truly hope she someday has the strength to complete it. In the meantime, we've been given a new story set within that magical world, The Wood at Midwinter. I purchased the hardcover as soon as it was published in 2024 (it was read on BBC Radio 4 around the time of Christmas 2022). Illustrations were done by Victoria Sawdon (I couldn't find out much about her online, though she's seems to be active on several social media sites I'm not subscribed to). This tale is so brief, anything I said about it would be to practically tell the whole story, so it might be best to just include the back cover blurb as a summary: 

Nineteen-year-old Merowdis Scot is an unusual girl. She can talk to animals and trees--and she is only ever happy when she is walking in the woods.

One snowy afternoon, out with her dogs and Apple the pig, Merowdis encounters a blackbird and a fox. As darkness falls, a strange figure enters in their midst--and the path of her life is changed forever.

The illustrations are elegant, delicate, and pivotal to the story (which makes it a little sad that the illustrator's name wasn't on the cover!). Grounded in folktale, this charming fable sets the scene for winter's frozen beauty. Slightly sad and very sweet, it would make the perfect gift for Christmas. Also, I tried to view it as a simple children's story. In that way, it doesn't require any aspect to be fleshed out more than it is between the few words and breathtaking illustrations included. If you don't go into it expecting more than that, you won't be disappointed. 

If not for the author's afterword (nine pages out of a total of a mere 60), there's simply no way to link this to the world of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell beyond the very tenuous connection to "magic in the midst". As Susanna Clarke is also the author of one of my favorite stories of all time (Piranesi--read my review here: https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2023/10/karen-s-wiesner-put-this-one-on-your_0415966123.html), I'll gratefully take this and any story from her. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor 

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Karen S. Wiesner {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: "The Further Adventures of Ebenezer Scrooge" by Charlie Lovett

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Book Review: "The Further Adventures of Ebenezer Scrooge"

by Charlie Lovett

by Karen S. Wiesner

"Merry Christmas" ringing out in the sweltering heat of a June summer? What else would be on the lips of a transformed man after the events of "A Christmas Carol" (which was the focus of my December 22, 2023 column "The Practice of Benevolence {A Reflection on Dicken's A Christmas Carol}" https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-practice-of-benevolence-reflection.html). "The Further Adventures of Ebenezer Scrooge" by Charlie Lovett--author of such highly recommended literary mystery titles as The Bookman's Tale and First Impressions--was published in 2015, which came 172 years after Dickens' timeless tale.

In this, Scrooge's testimony of a transformed life, twenty years have passed since he was visited by the ghosts that changed everything in a single night. His radical shift, as the joy and benevolence of Christmas become an integral part of his daily life, have spilled over to those around him, altering them as well, but not always for the better. Scrooge gives of himself and his wealth sacrificially--leaving little or nothing for his own meager requirements--to all in need. Nothing discourages his cheer. However, the hard lessons he's learned haven't necessarily carried over to those he loves.

His nephew Fred (Freddie) has a wife and family, along with an uncompromising governmental position working for the assistant to the undersecretary. Unfortunately, he's grasped that, "with bills to pay…books to balance…a year older and not a farthing richer", he can afford no more than a few days of Christmas each year.

In Scrooge's own business, Bob Cratchit has been made a partner, only he's allowed his extreme work ethic to dominate his life to the exclusion of his once beloved family and their many grandchildren.

Meanwhile, the bankers (affectionately called Pleasant and Portly by Scrooge) have become more concerned with Scrooge's current balance of outstanding debt rather than "making some slight concession for the poor" not simply once a year at the holidays. Scrooge writes cheques his account can't cover in order to help the destitute running rampant in their city.

That evening, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former partner, Jacob Marley. His heavy chains of penance have been lessened by Scrooge's redemption--but only by five links. Marley holds no hope that he can ever decrease it more. Scrooge is determined to help his old friend eliminate the weighty burden and send him to a well-deserved rest. To do that, he calls upon the familiar spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future to teach valuable lessons about living Christmas charity all year round to Freddie, Bob, and the bankers.

Although I was originally put off by the idea of the characters I knew and loved in the original story taking on the less than appealing traits Scrooge once displayed (essentially becoming hypocrites, as the only time of year that seemed to bring out goodwill in all of them was at Christmas), I did find the evolving facets of their personality realistic:

·       In "A Christmas Carol", Scrooge's nephew was very young, newly married, without a family and position as the breadwinner and a member of society to weigh him down. With greater responsibility come greater burdens.

·       Cratchit was moved overnight from apprentice to partner, and he'd known Scrooge long enough not to be fully trusting that that situation couldn't change in a duplicitous heartbeat.

·       And bankers…well, bankers are known for loving wealth, not spreading it around as if it's easy to come by.

I was also won over by how Lovett took familiar quotes from the original "paraphrasing, parodying, and plagiarizing passages" (as he says). Because of the clever repurposing Lovett did with those beloved sections, I began to notice that this story was structured and laid out almost scene by scene just as the original story had been. In that way, "The Further Adventures of Ebenezer Scrooge" stayed true to its processor.

Additionally, Lovett incorporated Dickens--also a great social reformer in his time, as his debatably most famous character Scrooge became--into this story with references of Dickens as a famous author in Scrooge's time. Finally, allusions were made to Dickens' other works, where he described the less fortunate in Victorian London in such works as Bleak House, Little Dorrit, David Copperfield, and others.

If you love re-reading the enduring morals taught in "A Christmas Carol" during the holidays as I do, you'll adore "The Further Adventures of Ebenezer Scrooge" any time of year as an apt reminder that not only can we bless others less fortunate than ourselves with our kindness and benevolence, but that we inevitably receive the same in exchange by opening our hands and our hearts. In this way, we also further the game-changing principle of "paying it forward" one precious life at a time.

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

{Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights Edited by Chris Bain, Patrick Weekes, Matthew Goldman, and Christopher Morgan by Karen S. Wiesner

 

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Book Review: Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights

Edited by Chris Bain, Patrick Weekes, Matthew Goldman, and Christopher Morgan

by Karen S. Wiesner

  

Warning Spoilers! 

Prior to Dragon Age: The Veilguard's release (which I reviewed last week and you'll probably want to refer back to in reading the reviews of these strongly connected individual tales), a new anthology of short stories was released in March 2020 called Tevinter Nights. As the name implies, all the stories are set in Dragon Age's Thedas, many directly in the Tevinter Imperium, where magic-wielding magisters rule and blood magic isn't forbidden. I bought the book (complete with a gorgeous, foldout, color map) at the time of its publication and read it, but since The Veilguard was still in development at that time (and wasn't even named that until later), I felt like I didn't understand where all the stories were coming from. Following the release of The Veilguard, I got it out again and started rereading it. With a much better understanding of all the things going on around the events of the new game, I enjoyed the stories immensely. In fact, it may be the only anthology collection that I enjoyed every single one of the stories included. The tagline of this collection really says it all: "Ancient horrors. Marauding invaders. Powerful mages. And a world that refuses to stay fixed… Welcome to Thedas." Dragon Age is everything I look for in the fantasy genre and then some. 

In this collection, readers are getting a real treat with stories written by nine BioWare staff writers who really know the world contained in the Dragon Age franchise that includes but isn't limited to videogames, electronic games, books, comics, film and television, tabletop roleplaying games, and music. As I said last week, you might be interested in my previous review of all things Dragon Age, which is here: https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2022/11/karen-wiesner-fiction-series-so-big.html. 

Below you'll find reviews of every story in the collection. Be aware that a major plot angle in Dragon Age: The Veilguard videogame centers around ancient Tevinter artifacts being stolen or unearthed in order to aid the evil that wants to take over the world. So several of these short tales have that as a major theme. Below, I've listed each story in the order they appear in the original publication.

                                                                   

1.     "Three Trees to Midnight" by Patrick Weekes: At the time The Veilguard is set, there's a qunari invasion going on in Thedas that's changing the world. This first story focuses on their capture of a Dalish elf Veil Jumper named Strife (who's featured in the videogame along with Irelin, a team-mate also in this story) and a mage named Myrion. Qunari deeply distrust and put down mages, so Myrion has to hide his powers once he's captured. He's chained to the elf Strife. Tevinter magisters treat elves as nothing more than slaves. So there was a lot of "Enemy Mine" racial prejudice in this this story as the two are forced to work together in order to escape their relentless captors.

 

2.     "Down Among the Dead Men" by Sylvia Feketekuty: The Mourn Watch are the elite guardians of the Grand Necropolis, reverently caring for the dead. They're also a faction of a larger organization, the Mortalitasi. In Inquisition, I was led to believe the Moralitasi are all evil, but in The Veilguard, I learned that's not always the case. We met one of their order, Emmrich, in Veilguard, along with his beloved skeletal companion Manfred, and I was pleased to see them play a role in this particular story in which a guardsman investigates a death in the Necropolis. Very intriguing setting in both the game and this wonderful story with a twist ending.

 

3.     "The Horror of Hormak" by John Epler: My favorite part of Dragon Age has always been the Grey Wardens, those who give so sacrificially in order to maintain a constant vigilance over the return of darkspawn and potential Blights. This story has two Wardens investigating the disappearance of a scouting party. This story is horror in its purest, most intriguing form, and it was an instant favorite of mine.

 

4.     "Callback" by Lukas Kristjanson: Dragon Age: Inquisition had an unmarked quest about "Sutherland and Company" that was mainly followed through War Table operations. If you didn't screw these up and prematurely end the venture, they culminated in an actual crusade for the Inquisitor to save Sutherland and his band of misfits. In this story, the Inquisition has disbanded but their headquarters Skyhold is still maintained by caretakers that haven't been heard from in a while. Sutherland and Company are sent by the Inquisitor to investigate. I loved revisiting Skyhold and these uber-loyal, unlikely heroes.

 

5.     "Luck in the Gardens" by Sylvia Feketekuty: Another beloved Inquisition character, Dorian, makes an appearance in this fun story in which a member of the Lords of Fortune (from The Veilguard) investigates a series of monster killings in Minrathous.

 

6.     "Hunger" by Brianne Battye: In The Veilguard, we're introduced to two married Grey Wardens, Evka and Antoine. This story takes place while these new recruits are traveling to report for duty at Weisshaupt Fortress. They're sidetracked in a town cursed by mysterious and monstrous deaths. This was a neat background to the roles these two end up playing in the videogame, and a precursor to their romance.

 

7.     "Murder by Death Mages" by Caitlin Sullivan Kelly: Mortalitasi is the umbrella organization of "death mages" in the Grand Necropolis that advise Nevarran nobility. The Pentaghast family (re: Cassandra from Inquisition) were some of the founders. Though the group is well-respected in Nevarra, outside they're feared as a cult. The current ruler of Nevarra is aged and weak, his sanity uncertain, and most believe the Mortalitasi are ruling through him. Cassandra Pentaghast, one of the Inquisition's inner circle, assigns a volunteer in the Inquisition to investigate the death of a death mage. This Inquisition mage volunteer was raised by and eventually abandoned this particular death mage, vowing never to return to Nevarra. A Mortalitasi member is suspected of causing political unrest in order to assassinate Nevarra's ruler. Both Cassandra and this investigator have a lot at stake in seeing this situation resolved. While the point-of-view character wasn't exactly lovable, with baggage that's made her bitter and withdrawn, the story had an intriguing whodunit with a lot of complications to keep it suspenseful.

 

8.     "The Streets of Minrathous" by Brianne Battye: Neve Gallus is one of the main companions in The Veilguard, a member of the Shadow Dragons, and a supernatural detective. In the videogame, her loyalty quests all involve a Venatori agent, Aelia, who's trying to subjugate Minrathous (isn't it ironic how often a tyrant calls it "freeing" a population?). This story is the background to all of that--and it's also here we find out what happened to the Templar Brom, something only referenced in the videogame. I enjoyed this setup to a pivotal character in the game.

 

9.     "The Wigmaker Job" by Courtney Woods: Another inner circle Veilguard member, Lucanis Dellamorte, is an Antivan Crow assassin. We learn much more of his background in this story detailing a heist with his cousin Illario (also featured in the videogame), which doesn't get into how Lucanis came to have a demon inhabiting his body, which is a focus of the game.

 

10.  "Genitivi Dies in the End" by Lukas Kristjanson: The Veilguard Lords of Fortune are included in this crazy, off-beat story that I really don't even know how to describe beyond that a weird group containing a bard, a brother in the Chantry, a qunari mage, and a writer take on qunari Antaam (military) in order to steal some ancient elven artifacts. It seems they did this for the sole purpose of their art--in other words, so they'd have something exciting to write about for their ravenous fans to devour. Writers will appreciate this literary escapade, highlighting the extreme lengths authors will go to get a great story.

11.  "Herold Had the Plan" by Ryan Cormier: Two Lords of Fortune (one who recently lost his adventuring partner Herold of four decades) stealthily steal an ancient Tevinter relic that heals even the deadliest of wounds during a Grand Tourney. Unfathomably, every knight in the arena is instantly on their tails. Before long, they realize that their third partner-in-crime has stolen the tourney's grand prize right off the grandstand--the legendary Celebrant greatsword. This was a fun, thrilling story that had unexpected depth and heart at its core.

 

12.  "An Old Crow's Old Tricks" by Arone Le Bray: Lessef of the Antivan Crows fulfills the contract to exact vengeance on those who murdered the Dalish elf clan Oranava. This was a clever story that took a bit to coalesce and make sense, as it's told mainly from the points-of-view of those about to be assassinated who foolishly think they're invincible.

 

13.  "Eight Little Talons" by Courtney Woods: This was probably my favorite in the collection. Here, the author has done an Agatha Christie, following the style of And Then There Were None. The eight major players that head the Antivan Crows are called "Talons" and the hierarchy is from Talon 8 being the lowest of them, to Talon 1 being the highest ranking. Along with their fellow Talons, #5 Talon Viago and #7 Teia (who are featured in The Veilguard) are called to a summit at the First Talon's island home to discuss the qunari and the security of their nation, Treviso. One by one, the Talons are picked off at this secluded meeting, each death re-enacting infamous Crow assassins of the past. This is an obvious statement that no other Crows are safe. In this location, the killer is either hiding somewhere on the island or it's one of their own. (Intriguing--Crows hunting Crows.) Viago and Teia investigate. I loved both of these well-drawn characters, and their obvious attraction to each other sets the stage for their compelling banter in the videogame.

 

14.  "Half Up Front" by John Epler: Another Tevinter artifact--Dumat's Folly (a puzzle that needed to be solved in the Dragon Age II DLC Legacy)--has been stolen. A thief is hired to find out who stole it from the Chantry and why--and to steal it back. The events in this tale directly play into the videogame, which really adds more dimension to that story, since this artifact is one that's integral to Solas/Fen-Harel's ultimate plan. I will also note that the story reminded me a lot of the events in the manga TV miniseries, Dragon Age: Absolution, which aired on Netflix in December 2022 and takes place around the time of The Veilguard. In Absolution, the Inquisition employs two members of the Absolution team, one of them its agent Fairbanks, who was a freedom fighter that asked the Inquisition to reclaim his home, the Emerald Graves. None of the other characters in the miniseries are recognizable, to me anyway. (The voices are very familiar for those who play videogames though.) While I really can't stand anime and manga and therefore I had a lot of trouble getting through even three of the six episodes available in the first season, there were some fun moments in the early episodes and the overall story had a really good twist I didn't see coming (I read a summary of the final episodes rather than forcing myself to watch them). Fans of the series that enjoy anime or manga would probably get much more out of Absolution than I did. Suffice it to say that the story in Absolution paralleled a lot of what was in "Half Up Front", almost too closely. At first, I even though they were the same characters from one to the other, though they weren't. In the end, I felt like one of these was redundant, as they're so similar as to be the same story. I believe "Half Up Front" is probably the most valuable, as it points directly to events in The Veilguard.

 

15.  "The Dread Wolf Take You" by Patrick Weekes: "May the Dread Wolf take you" is an old Dalish curse that gives this story even more meaning. The main character, Charter, was one of Leliana's top spies from Dragon Age: Inquisition. In this story, she's called together a clandestine meeting of Thedas's top spies in order to share information about Solas and his plans to restore the ancient elven empire by tearing down the Veil. In this secret place are a Carta assassin, a Moralitasi, an "Executor" from across the sea, and an Orlesian bard. Each tells a piece of the tale, and it becomes clear that the target for each of their encounters with Solas was the red lyrium idol that was the cause of destruction in Kirkwall in DA II. Little does Charter realize that the cloak-and-dagger meeting has an unexpected guest! I read this story all but holding my breath. I couldn't identify any of the characters other than Charter, but it was very clear that this was the setup for events (and even some of the pivotal settings) about to unfold in The Veilguard.

For anyone following my reviews of short story collections and my philosophy about how short story collections should be arranged, I think the editors did a fantastic job of exactly placing every story in Tevinter Nights in the order needed for optimal reading. The slightly weaker stories are wonderfully anchored and buoyed by the stronger ones with the strongest ones as the first, last, and middle. 

In one sense, Tevinter Nights may not be a good introduction into the world explored in the Dragon Age series, since a lot of the material requires a bit of understanding in how the world of Thedas is run, the crucial events, etc. But, in another, these are just well-written, slice of life stories, a lot of which include magic, mages, mysteries, monsters, and intricate political machinations. Even if you're not familiar with DA lore, there's still lot to love here and, if you're ultimately lured in by these compelling tales, there's so much more to explore in this expansive realm. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog 

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor 

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

{Put This One on Your TBR List} Videogame Review: Dragon Age: The Veilguard by Karen S. Wiesner

 

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Videogame Review: Dragon Age: The Veilguard

by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Warning Spoilers! 

Dragon Age: The Veilguard videogame was released at long last on October 31, 2024 and is the fourth major game in the franchise, a direct sequel to 2014's Inquisition, set ten years after those events. All new locations in the fictional world of Thedas are revealed, including Tevinter Imperium, which fans like me have been champing at the bit to explore since it was first mentioned in the previous games and books. You can find my review of the wide world of Dragon Age here: https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2022/11/karen-wiesner-fiction-series-so-big.html. 

At the end of Inquisition, Thedas was saved yet again, but Solas, the elven mage on the Inquisitor's main team, inexplicably went missing following the final battle. Readers then watched a very strange, final scene in which Solas secretly meets with Mythal--the elven protector, all-mother, and goddess of love that we've known throughout the series as Flemeth, Witch of the Wilds, and who's come in many forms, including as a High Dragon in DA II and Inquisition. The consequences of that meeting between Solas and Mythal proved shocking to the extreme! 

The very last chapter of Inquisition you could play was the DLC Trespasser, set two years after the Inquisitor's victory against the villain Corypheous. The Inquisition goes to the Winter Palace in Halamshiral for diplomatic talks concerning the future of their organization. A secret qunari invasion is uncovered as the Inquisitor's inner circle utilizes the Eluvian network, which is a series of elven-made, enchanted mirrors that connect and allow for fast transportation and communication. All of this is interwoven with their pursuit of former comrade Solas and finding out what he's up to. At the end of Trespasser (if all the clues were found during the game), Solas reveals that he's in fact Fen-Harel, an elven god of old that many called the Dread Wolf. He created the Veil--the metaphysical boundary between the physical world and the Fade (a dimension of dreams and magic where a lot of demons and trapped spirits hang out). He did it to imprison two other ancient, evil elven gods. Solas's intention is to collapse the Veil and restore the world of the ancient elves, something that will almost certainly destroy the rest of the world. 

The Veilguard's protagonist "Rook" (the player gets to choose a first name) is recruited by Varric Tethras, who's been in the series from the beginning. Varric is intent on finding Solas to stop him from destroying the Veil. When Rook disrupts Solas's ritual, two ancient evil gods are released while Solas becomes imprisoned in the Fade and bound to Rook through blood. Gods' of old siblings Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain plan to harness the blight--darkspawn corruption--in order to rule the world. 

Because of their connection, Rook ends up at the Lighthouse, Solas's "home" in the Fade. This becomes the main hub and base of operations for Rook and companions between quests. Rook recruits a team that needs to be strengthened through faction cooperation and personal loyalty in order to defeat the villains. The following are recruited early in the game:

·       Harding of the Inquisition, who was the lead scout for all locations in the previous game, though not a member of that inner circle, as she is here. (The Inquisitor does actually play a role in Veilguard.)

·       Neve, representing the Shadow Dragons, a Tevinter resistance group that opposes corruption and slavery--and Venatori, a supremist cult of mainly mages who worship the ancient elven pantheon of gods, the Evanuris. First, the Venatori supported Corypheus in Inquisition and in Veilguard they're now backing Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain. (Note that Dorian from Inquisition is associated with the Shadow Dragons.)

·       Lucanis, an Antivan Crow, an organization of elite thieves, spies, and assassins that have been part of the world since the beginning.

·       Bellara, a Veil Jumper, the group uncovering the secrets of Arlathan forest's ancient elven empire, once their capital. (Note that Morrigan, who's been a feature in DA since Origins, makes a comeback in this game, first appearing alongside the Veil Jumpers.)

·       Davrin, a Grey Warden, an age-old order committed to fighting darkspawn and the Blight, along with Assan, an adorable griffon. Up until this point in the series, it's been believed griffons were extinct. What a thrill to have my longing for them to be brought back fulfilled!

·       Emmrich of the Mourn Watch, guardians of Nevarra's Grand Necropolis.

·       Taash of the Lords of Fortune, a guild of Rivaini treasure hunters. (Isabela, the pirate, from DA Origins and II is associated with this faction and plays a role in this game.)

Even if the Veilguard--with the backing of hopefully all the factions--manages to stop Elgar-nan and Ghilan'nain, they still have to convince Solas not to collapse the Veil and destroy the world as they know it. 

I preordered the deluxe edition for both PS5 and Xbox 10 and uploaded it just as soon as I could get the wrapping off the games. I began playing and invested 125 hours in it over the next little-more-than-a-week, achieving 100% of the accomplishments. Stylistically gorgeous and immersive, I was drawn in immediately. I absolutely loved the character creation. As usual, you can "design" your Rook from top to bottom, choosing to be male, female, or even non-binary. You can be a human, a dwarf, an elf, or a qunari. You decide whether to play as a rogue, a mage, or a warrior and choose a specialization in each class. Additionally, you have to select a faction to be affiliated with (Shadow Dragon, Antivan Crow, Veil Jumper, Grey Warden, Mourn Watch, or Lords of Fortune). You even get to design the previous Inquisitor from Inquisition, as that character gets an important role in Veilguard as well, considering their background with Solas. Because there are so many choices to make, you could replay this game dozens of times and never have the same experience. 

Two new things you can choose from in the settings are: 1) whether to have your Rook full-on naked or wearing "smallclothes" when undressed, and 2) whether Rook can die in the many, many battles. I found both to be major improvements. However, I didn't care for the sparse-enough-to-be-useless, in-game maps. There were beacons in each of the locations that provided location markers and fast travel options. However, none were named so I could never remember which ones were near merchant locations or other important areas, etc. Some of the treasure was marked on the maps, but not all of it, and not all locations were open through various points in the game, so I always had to go back later and find more since I wanted the 100% achievement. There was also only one option for setting markers on the map to follow--via the visible treasure chests. Since each location had multiple floors, it quickly became a nightmare. Puzzles were a huge part of this game, which I mainly loved, though some were hard enough to make me want to cry. I wasted countless hours being lost and frustrated by finding and completing these--the things I spent the majority of my time on in this game were locating everything and solving all the puzzles in every location. At least those were mainly enjoyable. 

The first several "chapters" of the game were more like a movie the developers wanted players to watch rather than actively participate in. All the dialogue, combat, and treasure-finding struck me as distractions while the theme was being established. Then Rook made it to the Lighthouse, and suddenly the entire world opened up. I knew that this game was going to be much more linear than previous ones, which are open-world and can be explored without any need to hurry or follow a set list of quests. I'm not a huge fan of linear games, preferring to set my own pace and decide what to do in the order I choose. That said, I found I didn't mind the linear construction as much as I initially feared I would because there was a lot of freedom despite it. 

This is one of the few games I've played where everything felt so real, I could have actually been there alongside the characters, living every moment of it. Even when I left to, you know, actually live my own life, I felt that a huge part of me was still there. All the mystery, suspense, thrills, horror, sadness, devastation, laughter and relief--it's built in and abundant in The Veilguard. The character relationships were incredible. Few games are so attentive to constant interactions between all the characters. If I left the Lighthouse for a mere two seconds, there was always new dialogue with all the team members when I returned. Also, in previous games, team members engaged in dialogue that was lost whenever a situation started or we left an area. Here, the characters kept returning to that same dialogue until it was completed, so I didn't miss anything. 

Additionally, romance options were made "pansexual" with all the companions as options. I admit that in my first playthrough, I wasn't absolutely thrilled with the romance my Grey Warden human rogue Rook had with Davrin because it was so slow-moving as to be virtually nonexistent. There was a single quest near the end of his companion missions that solidified the romance, and there was some mild kissing in that. Even there, dialogue wasn't sexy or particularly romantic, nor did it continue when they returned to the Lighthouse. Then, when all hell broke loose and the world was shattering beyond recognition, there was a very weird scene in which Davrin says he'll meet Rook in her room at the Lighthouse. What took place there was so painfully inappropriate, I could barely stand it--mainly because of the timing. The very last thing I would have felt like doing at that juncture was getting it on with someone I'd exchanged only mostly friendship banter with up to that point. The relationship should have had many more romantic interactions and then taken that intimate turn much sooner, so it would have felt more natural and not so "What the heck? It's the end of the world and you wanna do what?" It was excruciating. I was glad it wasn't graphic and that the consummation was over quickly. Hopefully romances with other characters in subsequent playthroughs will be more realistic, better developed, and fit the events around them in a much more organic way. 

The locations were diverse and some of the best I've ever encountered in a game. I enjoyed getting to know each of them and learning so much more about the world and lore of Dragon Age. 

The end-of-game sequence was epic, so life-like, I alternated between tears, terror, and complete exhaustion. Inquisition was a bust when it came to the final battle. It wasn't difficult, and, after 130 hours of game play, felt like it was over in the blink of an eye. Not so in The Veilguard! My team was in jeopardy often--in part because of the (fortunately, good and wise) choices I made throughout the game--during escalating tiers of events all leading toward the final showdown. In this game, there's an ideal ending, a good ending, and a bad ending. I got the ideal my first time through, mainly because my priority never wavered from building my team's loyalty and the helping the factions in whatever way I could. 

I worried because I bought and started playing the game immediately after it came out (not something I ever do) that it'd have a lot of glitches and I'd miss something through the first playthrough that would adversely affect me until I could rectify the situation with a second playing. When a game is first released, gamers can no longer buy the huge, deluxe printed walkthrough books that Prima used to offer in advance, for those who like to know what they're going into prior to playing the game. Now we rely on other online gamers if we get to the point where we're stuck while playing for the first time. There's not a lot of material available when a game is initially released, so I spent an inordinate amount of time figuring things out on my own without help. When I'm playing a game, I want the experience of the story, not necessarily any of the frustration. So my endeavor wasn't as rewarding as you might assume. 

In the end, I did get everything that mattered. Incidentally, one of the achievements--the 52nd out of a total of 53--was basically something like "falling at the Lighthouse". I couldn't figure out what that meant and tried different things in the course of gameplay without success, so Achievement 52 and the one for getting all other achievements went unfinished when I completed the game. At that time, I decided to go back in and try something else. I had a save I'd called "PointofNoReturn" and retained which allowed me to attempt one last thing to get those final two achievements. This time what I did worked, and I got a hundred percent of the achievements. Lucky I had that save! While I'm not sure which Dragon Age game installment is my favorite (2 and 3 are definitely contenders), The Veilguard is now firmly near the top as well. 

For those interested, I've uploaded a comprehensive quest list (that includes major spoilers) for The Veilguard on my website. You can find it here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/5/5/23554234/dragonagetheveilguardchecklist.pdf. 

Next week, I'll review the corresponding collection of short stories, Tevinter Nights, that came out in advance of DA: The Veilguard. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor 

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton by Karen S. Wiesner

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton

by Karen S. Wiesner  

 

Be aware that there may be spoilers in this review. 

Dragon Teeth was published in 2017, nine years after the author's death, although it was a book Michael Crichton actually wrote in 1974. It's touted as a historical fiction forerunner to his mega-successful Jurassic Park. Right upfront, I'll state as I did about my review for State of Fear by Crichton a few weeks ago that Dragon Teeth really doesn't have anything to do with aliens in any form, despite that the author is known for including elements of that type in his work and despite the title and really cool cover for this. However, in the vein that sometimes books about the future of humanity as well as historical accounts of it, albeit fictionalized, sometimes do seem very outlandish to modern readers can Dragon Teeth be considered alien. 

Set in 1876's Bone Wars (otherwise known as the Great Dinosaur Rush), when fossil hunting was at the height of competition, this story follows two fictional students of paleontology engaged in a heated rivalry that strains the boundaries of everything legal and moral--similar to real-life paleontologists during that time period, Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope. William Johnson is a Yale student, his rival Marlin. During a fossil hunting expedition in the Badlands, things go from bad to worse, just as one can expect in the Wild West (and yes, Wyatt Earp and Wild Bill Hickok do make appearances). 

There were rumors of National Geographic adapting the novel into a TV series that follows the notoriety of Cope and Marsh's intense rivalry during a time of fossil discovery and speculation. I'm not sure if anything ever happened with it, but it would be interesting for those who want to find out more about how fossil hunting first began in America. 

While this story is good and has all the elements of suspense, fantastic characters, and a historical-event studded setting and plot, I'm not a huge fan of Westerns and this book is, at its heart, the best kind of Western. I read and mildly enjoyed it for what it was. Those with an interest in that genre or who want to know more about early paleontology won't be disappointed. 

I can't help wondering why the author wrote this whole book during the time he was probably also working on other early action/adventure novels like The Terminal Man and The Great Train Robbery. Why did he never go back to Dragon Teeth, never try to get it published, as he surely could have during the height of his popularity? Did he find it lacking as several reviewers did following its posthumous release? Any answer I can come up leads me to also question what the author would have thought about this work he abandoned being published at all. But I guess that doesn't matter now, even if it should. 

Next week, I'll review another Oldie But Goodie you might find worth another read, too. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: Micro by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: Micro by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston

by Karen S. Wiesner

 This is the 100th book I've reviewed for Alien Romances Blog!!!

 

Be aware that there may be spoilers in this review. 

Micro was published in 2011, three years after Michael Crichton's death. The technothriller manuscript was found on the author's computer untitled and unfinished with notes and research for completing it. The publisher chose author Richard Preston (a writer for The New Yorker who was also a bestselling science author) to finish it. In interviews before his death, Crichton spoke of working on a project that was an adventure story like Jurassic Park and would be "informative" but fun and would include information "about how our environment really is structured". 

The story opens with three men found dead in a locked office building in Hawaii. There are no signs of a struggle beyond razor-sharp cuts that cover their bodies and a tiny, bladed robot that's all but invisible to the naked eye. The action moves to Oahu, where new drug applications are being founded with a groundbreaking "biological prospecting" technology. From there, the most brilliant microbiology graduate students are being recruited by Nanigen MicroTechnologies and herded off to a mysterious lab in the Aloha State. They're promised they'll be helping usher in a whole new scientific frontier. Instead, they're dropped into a hostile environment that requires their knowledge to not only navigate but to survive. 

I was wary about reading this book, as I couldn't imagine it'd be as good as something the author had produced every year or so for more than four decades, and there were shades of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids hilarity…only on a much {cough} bigger scale. But I was definitely surprised by how much I enjoyed the book. It was every bit as fun and illuminating as the original author intended. Everything that should be in it is there. I heard there was talk of Dreamworks making a movie version of it, but I'm not sure if that ever happened. 

Whether or not you've read this story before, you might want to consider it if you're looking for a fast-paced, deep and well developed tale from a master of the fantastic and, you know, someone else who took what Crichton started and was able to seamlessly complete it. 

Next week, I'll review another Oldie But Goodie you might find worth another read, too. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/