Dragon Age: Hard in Hightown

It's only 72 pages, which includes the 24 illustrations. It more or less expands the codex entries from the game. A friend shared a video of Brian Bloom reading an excerpt from the story; however, the book he's holding looks like it has triple the amount of pages. Rather deceiving.I loved how characters from Dragon Age 2 had "cameos" (one in particular had me laugh a little because no way that would happen knowing this character).It was an interesting read but I would have liked to have seen a larger story. There was so much potential that more could have been built on the plot or continued after the end.

I enjoyed this book but I do have a few critiques.Firstly, the price is a bit steep for a 72-page story. I was expecting a full-length novel for the cost of this book, but it is actually a short story. It's not broken up into chapters or anything.At least it's a good story. There are some typing errors (quotation marks where none should be, and missing quotation marks where they should exist in the dialogue) but nothing major.The book is fully illustrated and the art is beautiful. There's a picture almost on every other page. (Of course, that means the book is more like 30-some pages and not 72.) But the characters don't look the same every time so I don't understand what that's about. There's a noblewoman who is central to the story, and in two pictures she is seen with short-cropped black hair, one at the beginning of the book and one at the end. But there's another page in the middle of the story where she has long, flowing hair and it's not shaded in. It doesn't make sense...So there are some editing errors in both the text and the artwork. But I was also expecting the book to feature the cast of Dragon Age II. A few of the characters are there, with changed names. For example, Fenris has become "Ferris" and is a bartender at the Hanged Man. Isabela is pretty much unchanged, and is called "Belladonna." Merill is in the alienage and Aveline is the captain of the guard, each also using an alias. If any of the other characters are there, however, I can't tell it.I'm not sure who the main character is even supposed to be, but the plot is about a man about to retire from the guard but first he wants to solve one final murder. So the story is a whodunit murder mystery. I liked the story but it was a bit predictable.A nobleman with an impressive collection of weapons tries to buy the very sword that slayed Andraste. But before he either pays for the acquisition or has it in his hands, he is found murdered. The retiree becomes a detective, trying to figure out who killed the nobleman and why. His trail leads him to Isabela's ship, where she tells him she procured the sword but never got paid before the man was murdered. And he isn't the last to die.I love a good murder mystery, but like I said, it's made pretty obvious early on who the culprit is. And the book concludes rather abruptly with little climax. What I really enjoyed about the story was the setting. I thought I knew Kirkwall, but the book talks about corners you don't actually get to explore in the game. For example, although we visit the elven alienage in Dragon Age II, the book also discusses a dwarven enclave and a foreign quarter where Orlesians and Antivans live. I found those sorts of details fascinating.And the book was well-written and descriptive, just as you might imagine Varric would write. There's even one point where he's struggling to find a way to elegantly describe Belladonna's ship and just gives up:The Dragon's Jewels was a big boat. The largest boat in the harbor. A carved figurehead of a woman painted in vivid colors and making a remarkably lewd gesture drew the eye past the more sedate merchant vessels. The pointy bits towered majestically over the water. The roundish wooden part seemed like it could crush armadas beneath its...s**t, I don't know, wood. It was the greatest boat in the history of boats.If you loved Dragon Age II, I think you'll enjoy this book a lot. If you haven't played the game, it will make you want to. There are a few nitpicky things but as a whole I thought the story was fun and I would read this again, even knowing whodunit in the end.

Fun for fans of the games, and it had some interesting descriptions and witty turns of phrase. I was really hoping for a noir-type mystery set in the Dragon Age universe, and it had the framework for one, but it wasn't fleshed out. The protagonist solved the case with little trouble and less effort, which kind of removed the conflict and suspense. If I wasn't such a fan of the series, I'd have been disappointed. But I love the (original, in-game) characters enough that they carried the three-star rating for me. But man, it could've been a real masterpiece with fully realized characters, some plot twists, more detail, and the sense of danger one experiences during the games, not knowing what's coming next. It's too bad that was absent.I was, however, pretty stunned by the numerous and fairly egregious punctuation errors, particularly involving dialogue punctuation. It was dozens, and I couldn't help but be distracted by them, along with missing quotation marks, etc. Can't help thinking Varric would've done better.

I’ve been a devotee of Messere Tethras for quite some time, but to be honest, this is the first of his books I’ve ever had the opportunity to read. What a delight! Action packed, beautifully illustrated, and full of mystery and mayhem from cover to cover. It left me in such high spirits, I immediately began planning a return visit to Kirkwall so I could once again see the book’s settings for myself. I do hope that Ms. Kirby persuades the author to collaborate with her again so that we might enjoy more of his genius in the future.

This is a short novel in the style of Varric - not a long novel like 'Asunder' or 'The Masked Empire' - and most of the sparkle comes from 'his' writing voice and the 'cameos' of Hawke's family, crew and acquaintances. The story itself is fairly standard, although there were a few twists I didn't predict, but it is nonetheless quite entertaining. The illustrations are nice, too, although because a few artists contribute, the character designs are erratic.As of writing this, Amazon's description says that this is 96 pages long; both the physical and Kindle copies are 72 pages long. This is MUCH shorter than the video of Brian Bloom reading indicates, which is very misleading. Also, I was initially alarmed by the rough edges of the pages; I then discovered that this is called "deckling" and is an intentional aesthetic choice on the publisher/printer's part.

The product arrived really quickly, which was nice, and overall it's in good order. The only thing is that the paper doesn't seem particularly high quality. As the photo shows, it looks like something a kid could have cut, and just looks really low quality. It's not like it affects the book at all, it's just a bit disappointing.I haven't read it yet, so I can't comment on that, but I'm excited anyway cos I love all things Dragon Age! It's nice that it is dotted with illustrations, and I feel this adds to the charm of the book.Edit: I have now found out that the paper thing is actually an aesthetic choice rather than cheap materials! My bad!

The book arrived in good condition and, despite some other reviews, the uneven page edges were quite clearly an editorial choice. If you enjoyed your time playing through Dragon Age II and Dragon Age: Inquisition, then I would highly recommend this book.

A good, fun read, but very short, and not worth the price IMO. The pages have also been left intentionally jagged, but instead of adding anything to the reading experience, they just make the book seem even cheaper than it is. If you're a big DA fan like me, I would recommend it, but not at it's current price, as it will only take you an hour or two to read, and it probably won't be something you re-read over and over. Cool idea and a good story, would've just preferred it to either be longer or cheaper, with normal, non-jagged pages.

Hated gathering only parts of this book in-game, but now I dont have to, he he he. Lovely read and so worth the purchase for a fan of Varric Tethras.