Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: Warriors Anthology Edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: Warriors Anthology

Edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois

by Karen S. Wiesner 

 

This post contains my 154 review on the Alien Romances Blog! 

Warriors, published in 2010, is another cross-genre anthology George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois edited and assembled together. As before, this collection with 20 shorts (two of them novellas) was originally published in one large volume. Later, the stories were separated into three paperbacks, and all include Martin's introductory article titled "Stories from the Spinner Rack", which I very much enjoyed reading for its shared nostalgia (though I did wonder if the author actually tried to read a few romances or nurses novels before deciding he'd "never did get into" them). All the authors are big names, award-winning and undeniably gifted, and Warriors won the 2011 Locus Award for Best Anthology. 

While I love cross-genre fiction, there were far too many war stories in this one, which probably makes you laugh as much as it does me at this point. For the most part, I picked up this anthology for one story--the George R. R. Martin Dunk and Egg installment (the third in his A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms series). 

I guess the word "warrior" has a positive, noble context in my mind. Most of the "warriors" in this anthology, however, weren't necessarily good people in my estimation. I'd call them "rogues" (or something similar) instead. I prefer to believe the best of warriors, and, in my way of thinking, warriors tend to be ordinary joes or janes who step up and become heroes in a crisis, even if they never wanted to be that in the first or last place. 

Truthfully I was hoping there would be more fantasy, paranormal, and science fiction selections, or that those types of stories would have something more compelling than run-of-the-mill soldiers who follow orders without actually thinking for themselves, or who fight for a good cause and not simply for whatever the agenda on tap is. A few of the stories stood out in this collection--the ones I'll review here--but, with the exception of The Mystery Knight and The Scroll, even those weren't really what I was looking for. I also feel compelled to inject that one story in particular (that I'm choosing not to name here) was so disturbing, I felt dirty after I read it and I'd give anything to just blot it from my mind for the rest of time. Make of that what you will. Another was written in a way that frustrated me and put me off the story instantly. I don't know if I would have liked it if it'd been written differently or by someone else altogether. Again, since it's a subjective opinion, I won't name that particular story either. I was also sad that I didn't like one of the stories by a popular author I've been reading much more of lately and was looking forward to. 

Though similar to other Martin/Dozois anthologies, in that each story in this collection was preceded by a fairly in-depth author biography, the introductory blurbs included for each were so slim, they were all but worthless. It's difficult for me to enjoy something that I don't get an adequate summary for in advance of reading. Probably another "me" thing on that count. I was initially pretty unhappy about the lack of illuminating blurbs until after I read the stories. Then I wondered how to describe them myself. So many defied summary! 

Below you'll find the stories I'm covering in this review listed in the order they appear in the original publication in one volume. Technically, they came in 1st, 9th, 12th, 13th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th. For those of you following my anthology reviews, if I'd edited and assembled this collection, I would have started with "The Scroll", ended with The Mystery Knight, and placed the rest of them in this order: Story #4, 7, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18 instead, with the rest of the stories around them.                                                 

1)              "The King of Norway" by Cecelia Holland: Bloodthirsty Vikings, complete with violence and vows, about sums up this story. While I'm sorry to say I found it predictable, especially as the make-or-break-it first included in the collection, I did like the line "All dreams are true somehow". I spent a lot of time considering that line apart from the story, if nothing else.

 

2)              "Seven Years From Home" by Naomi Novik: This was an interesting sci-fi tale about a researcher's role in a manufactured war. I was drawn in by the theme of time not healing some wounds and about how war, "politics and the great concerns of the universe" leave one content to withdraw into a place where peace and simplicity are the rule, not the exception, as it is in reality's ever-present state of violence.

 

3)              "Out of the Dark" by David Weber: Compelling. Literally (and I mean that), humanity's only hope for survival when the Earth is invaded by canine-like aliens is the very last being one would think of in terms of providing help to mankind. All in all, kind of an insane story that makes me laugh in shock each time I think of it now.

 

4)              "The Girls From Avengers" by Carrie Vaughn: Set in 1943, a woman in WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) investigates the death of her friend. While I might have liked this if the subject matter and themes were more interesting to me, I will say that this story did fit the brief of fascinating, worthwhile warriors, the way most of these tales didn't (in my opinion anyway).

 

5)              "My Name is Legion" by David Morell: Set in 1941, members of the French Foreign Legion do their duty, even if it means fighting each other. While the story was generally enjoyable, I felt like I was missing something all the time I was reading. I just didn't get it, which may be more of a commentary on my dislike of war and stories containing that theme than anything actually wrong with the piece.

 

6)              "Defenders of the Frontier" by Robert Silverberg: For two decades, the troops manning a fort that was once teaming with soldiers have done their duty to their realm so completely, they've wiped out every last enemy. There are only 11 defenders left, and they've had no contact with the Empire in long enough for them to wonder if they've been forgotten. I read this in a state of horror from start to finish. These men struck me as the worst kind of monsters--the kind that doesn't even realize what they've become by blindly following orders. After submitting without question for so long, someone and something snaps. It has to. Is all shred of humanity lost at that point? The story tries to answer that question after a fashion by the way the survivors react, but I suspect that my answer to the same question would be on the opposite extreme.   

 

7)              "The Scroll" by David Ball: A French engineer and his fellow slaves under a new regime are mere pawns in a diabolical game in which the madman in charge of building a new city from the rubble follows the whims of an ancient scroll said to prophesize (and predict) what the engineer will do next. Wow, was this yet another horrifying refrain! The engineer trapped in this sad, sordid drama would do anything to stop playing the role he's been cast into. But it seems like everything he says and does, everything he doesn't say and doesn't do leads to one thing and one thing alone: Death. There's no escape. It reminded me a lot of the videogame Fable II, in which the hero is forced to go to the Spire, where the cold, calculating, nutso Commandant tries to teach submission to all the slaves. Devoid of choice or freedom, blindly following some random edict, leaves nothing but no-win situations. This was my second favorite tale in the collection, mostly because it held me so spellbound while I read it.

 

8)              The Mystery Knight (Book 3: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms) by George R. R. Martin: This was hands-down my favorite included in the anthology. I reviewed it back on March 14, 2025 with the two previous stories in its series. 

Warriors had a theme that wasn't really geared toward someone like me, who dislikes war in nearly every context. Those who are fans of war stories and not-necessarily noble warriors will probably enjoy this anthology much more than I did.

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: If It Bleeds Collection by Stephen King by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: If It Bleeds Collection

by Stephen King

by Karen S. Wiesner

 

I grew up reading a Stephen King book every few days, sometimes within a single day if I got the enviable time to actually read that much. He was unquestionably my favorite writer when I was a teenager. He was without peer in my mind at conjuring supernatural creatures that I loved to be terrorized by, in large part because they weren't real. He also introduced me to a lot of things I was young and hungry to know, naughty, nasty things, and things that, in truth, I almost wish I'd never found out. As I got older, I got less and less able to handle realistic horror stories--the ones King wasn't intending to tell me. He wrote almost casually about horrible things like secret child molestation, deviations (sometimes sexual) that harmed a person as well as others, and the true crimes of this world, namely, the real ones where people are ritualistically cruel and judgmental, prejudice, and life was so routinely unfair to the underdogs. There's so much suffering that goes on inside battered souls that want nothing more than to hide and escape the attention of the world. He detailed vividly the kind of torment that no one else sees until it comes out and manifests itself almost like a demon out of control. 

I guess the books I was reading as I moved into adulthood made me want to escape, not to have bad situations finitely dissected and served up as a kind of punishment. I found it easier to throw the baby out with the bathwater. More aptly, I threw out the author that forced me to live such painful scenarios. That's undoubtedly a good testimony of King's skill as a writer, but I still find it hard to watch what can only be described sometimes as gruesome train wrecks. 

When I've ventured back into King territory here and there in the long years since then at the urging of a lifelong fan, I found his writing decidedly more mature, at least slightly more sensitive to realistic injustices, and less about supernatural horrors running amok. I miss the dark fantasy aspects, but I appreciate that I'm less traumatized reading his work these days. 

 If It Bleeds is a collection of four previously unpublished novellas by Stephen King published in 2020. I actually watched a wonderful adaptation of "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" on Netflix without having a clue it was based on the Stephen King story of the same name. I looked it up mid-watch and learned of the fact. Not more than a week later, I was at a book sale and saw a hardcover copy of the collection. I bought it and started reading. 

In "Mr. Harrigan's Phone", Craig is initially a refreshingly sweet nine-year-old boy who gets a job reading books to a retired, rich gentleman who lives in a choice spot in a town that's not so nice as to invite flurries of visitors at any given time. Rumor has it that in his younger years Harrigan was "tenacious" in exacting fitting judgment on those who wronged him or those close to him. But that's a side young Craig never actually saw in his kindly mentor of sorts--well, he never saw that side of Harrigan in life, at least. In death, now that's a whole different matter. 

With the movie version of this story, I was pretty surprised to find it dubbed a horror. From start to finish, it didn't frighten me one bit. I imagine it wouldn't have scared even a skittish four-year-old. It's just not what I consider horror. I wondered if they just called it that because of King's crown--he's known as the King of Horror after all. Later, as I thought about the story it told, I realized that the underlying horror of this piece was in adult Craig letting himself believe for even one second that justice can be rectified or gained through injustice and revenge. I loved this story and enjoyed watching Craig grow up. I was moved as he discovered for himself the limits of wrong and right. (The actors in the movie version were fantastic.) "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" was far and away my favorite in this collection. I heartily recommend both the story and the movie version of it. 

The second story in the collection, "The Life of Chuck" details the end of the world and what that looks like for various people but mainly for someone named Chuck. This tale is told backwards, with the end revealed first, working backwards. The three acts didn't make any sense in the order they were presented. Would they have been clearer if they'd been placed in linear order? I'll never know. I enjoyed the first (which was actually the last) of the three disjointed parts. From that point on, I was lost and never found my way back. Afterward, I read about the story online, trying to figure out the point. Not much explained it either. That they made a movie of this story is utterly unfathomable to me. King actually cited a billboard that he'd seen that read, "39 Great Years! Thanks, Chuck" as his inspiration and decided to try to figure out what that meant by writing about it. My opinion is that the outcome feels unfinished and fragmented the way it's presented.

"If It Bleeds" is a Holly Gibney story. Originally she appeared as an important secondary character in King's Bill Hodges trilogy (including Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, and End of Watch published from 2014-2016), which I've never read. Suffering from OCD and a form of autism, Holly took the role of main character in the novel The Outsider, released in 2018, as a private investigator. I read this book long ago, also watched the 10-part miniseries version in 2020, intrigued by the idea of a man supposedly committing a murder when he was nowhere near the scene of the crime at the time, though the DNA found there and eyewitness accounts on both sides claim he was in each area simultaneously. His alibi is absolutely solid, as is his guilt in murdering and raping a young boy. So which is right? Or has something much more sinister taken place? 

I have to confess, I remember little of Holly Gibney in the book or the miniseries. What I recall most is that both the novel and the serial were long, so very, very long. Way too long and boring to hold my attention. Hundreds of pages and many hours filmed could easily have been cut to get to the gist of the story--the beginning and the ends were the two parts worth saving. The middle stuff was far too much to carry my interest, though I tried with both the book and the movie. By the time I got to the end of each, where it was actually exciting again, I didn't care. I just wanted it to be over. 

 

I had a similar experience with "If It Bleeds", which continues with a similar theme as The Outsider. I'm sorry to admit I found Holly excruciatingly dull, and I had a lot of trouble making it to the finish line with this story, though the overall idea was of interest to me, as was The Outsider. If anyone else is interested, Holly is also in a 2023 released, self-titled novel. 

The final story in If It Bleeds is "Rat". A writer with only short story success has never been able to finish a full-length novel. Inspired with an idea that has him excited, he rushes to his isolated cabin to write it. Bad weather and sickness set in while he's there. Unsure he'll finish his novel and feverish, he makes a shocking bargain with a sinister rat, but the author is just so desperate to make his career aspirations come true. Gee, what could go wrong? How could this man have not seen the end coming from the off? I can't say I loved this story, though it started out well enough. I couldn't get past the "what kind of a creep would agree to this pact?" aspect. Sigh. Incidentally, Ben Stiller optioned "Rat", intending to produce, star in, and direct the film adaptation at one point, but it's unclear whether that'll ever happen. 

While it's true I only found one offering in this collection really worth reading, I do think that single story is strong enough to warrant putting time and money into procuring it. Whether or not you're a fan of Stephen King, "Mr. Harrigan's Phone"--the novella and the movie--are the very best of the author. I expect you may see more reviews of Stephen King's work here in my Friday column in the future, as I ease back into the works of a favorite writer from my youth. 

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: Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: Odd and the Frost Giants

by Neil Gaiman

by Karen S. Wiesner 

 

The day I picked up the young adult novel Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman, read and wrote this review, the snow was coming down heavily outside just one day away from Christmas eve. This magical story was perfect for such a day spent indoors looking out at the world of chilly beauty. 

Written specifically for World Book Day in 2008, this nod to Norse mythology and the Vikings tells the story of Odd, a young Norse boy whose woodcutter father was drowned during a Viking raid. In the time since, his mother (herself a "prize" captured from just such a raid) has remarried a man with a large brood of his own children. He has no use for a crippled stepson. 

The village where Odd was born doesn't understand him. Instead of seeing him as the good luck his name is intended to be--"the tip of a blade"--they see him as, well, odd. Crippled after trying to use his father's axe, Odd decides to go away from this town where he's looked upon with disfavor and where winter is lingering overlong and the men "fight and fart and sing and sleep and wake and fight again". 

Outside his father's old woodcutting cabin, Odd follows a fox and an eagle overhead only to find a great big bear with his paw stuck in the honey-lined hollow of a tree. Odd can either leave the creature be or free it and risk being eaten after its sweet appetizer. Odd has compassion, and soon the animals reveal that they can not only talk but they aren't what they appear to be. They're gods from Asgard, transformed by a frost Giant that tricked them. Without help, they'll remain in their animal forms forever, powerless. 

I have a soft spot for Norse mythology and tales set around the characters that inhabit Asgard, so for me this was the perfect read for a snowy, pre-holiday afternoon. Odd is such a gentle, kind, inventive, and brave soul. This wonderful, light-hearted story should delight kids and adults alike. 

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

 

{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

  

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/