Thoroughly enjoyed this and I'm a big fan of the DA games/ universe. The main character is written differently to your atypical “hero” and I found that refreshing, particularly where the usual tropes around romance are concerned. For DA fans, it provides an interesting history and backdrop to the “current” characters and universe. Without wanting to give too much away, the story includes a creature which now exists only as legend in the DA universe. It has a somewhat more serious and grim tone than other novels in the DA Universe (particularly the ones featuring Maric). Although we already know the outcome of the featured conflict , you can almost smell the ashes, bloodshed and gritty frontline desperation. I found the ending to be a real thrill which sets up huge potential/ possibilities for the game if the developers decide to run with it.

Unfortunately I found this book very hard to get through and almost gave up on it multiple times. I am a huge DA fan and have read all the other novels (by Gaider and Weeks) and they are infinitely better. The characters in this book are very boring, lacking personality and any meaningful or interesting backstory, it makes it really hard to love and care about them. The story is also lackluster and doesn't really go anywhere/have any real main goal. There is a lack of details for the majority of the book, and in general they way that things are described, magic/the fade, the taint, the world etc, is very different; you can tell this was written by a different author. Try any other DA book (Asunder being my personal favorite) if you are wanting to expand on the universe.