With a most exciting early review of Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights! I want to thank Titan Books, a UK-based independent book genre publisher for reaching out and distributing an early press copy of Tevinter Nights to me. Specifically Julia Bradley, the Press Assistant at Titan Books. It's been my YouTube dream to receive any Dragon Age material early, and now I can consider that dream fulfilled. So thank you again.
With the tightest lips I can muster, let's get straight into this, because I am dying to talk about this book! It is so so good. I won't be delving into any heavy spoilers in this video, so you don't need to worry about that, but you can bet I've already got videos lined up breakdown down these stories because there's so much going on, and it's really hard not to talk about it.
So, for those who don't know, Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights brings you fifteen brand-new tales of adventure, featuring faces both old and new throughout Thedas! The book is a total of 507 pages, and just like Cullen's rabid addiction to lyrium, I was hooked to each page.
I was so hesitant to finish this book that it took me an entire week to reach the last page, and yes even though I got it two weeks early - I didn't want my time in Thedas to end just yet. But alas, here I am gathering my thoughts to you.
To any Dragon Age fan remotely interested in the future of Dragon Age's narrative - Tevinter Nights is a necessity, a worthy read, and an incredibly joyous experience of Dragon Age ecstasy. The book is a springboard for many future plot threads with so many different stories ranging from Wardens to Treasure Hunters, from Werewolves to The Dread Wolf, to even the Executors, and so much more.
Touching upon something I noticed that this book does that I found really significant, is that each story felt like a return to true dark fantasy storytelling. There are plenty of frightening stories, horrifying creatures, dark magic rituals and sheer moral ambiguity in complex situations. This book is dark, and I love it for that, because that's what Dragon Age is to me. It's gritty and complex, all while being somewhat charming. Tevinter Nights truly capitalises that feeling.
In these tales, we delve into many significant, and otherwise deeply interesting perspectives across Thedas, adding and expanding on so many aspects, whether it be world-building throughout the Tevinter Imperium, or it be fleshing out a major faction, there is so much to explore in this novel. And because of that, It is very hard to pinpoint just one important element of this book because there's so much it brings to the already expanding universe of Dragon Age.
We have new characters, factions, enemies, mysteries, and plenty of future plot potential for each of them. However, If I have to say what I thought was the biggest element of this book, it's how it evolves and builds up our new adversary in a most terrifying and extremely intriguing way.
We learn plenty going forward, and that's something that I'll let you discover for yourself. I will be talking all about this in my next video, but this book deserves to be read, so for Andraste's sake, go and read it!
With the novel encasing 15 self-contained stories, you can be read them in any order to your liking, and that's one of the best things about this book being anthological. You can take a change, flick through the pages, choosing a title at random, and be completely enraptured by the following pages. There is no right or wrong way to read this book.
However, if you're unsure about what appeals to you most, or if you'd rather follow the order the stories are already in - I'm going to give a quick summary of each story, so you can have a taste of what they're like, and which ones you'd like to read first:
(MINOR SPOILER WARNING) If you would rather not hear any plot descriptions on the stories within this novel, then skip to the following timestamp for my final thoughts.
Three Trees To Midnight: (Patrick Weekes)
Two slaves from Ventus are captured by the Qunari since the destruction of the city plan their escape.
Down Among The Dead Men: (Sylvia Feketekuty)
A Guardsman and Mortalitasi Mage embark on a grand journey exploring the Grand Necropolis crypts to investigate a Pride Demon's possession.
The Horror Of Hormak: (John Epler)
Two Grey Wardens are awaiting the arrival of Senior Wardens as they expedition into the Deep Roads goes awry.
Callback: (Lukas Kristjanson)
A small group of Inquisition Agents revisit a prominent location after hearing strange reports.
Luck In The Gardens: (Sylvia Feketekuty)
A Rivani Treasure Hunter looking for jobs in Minrathous, takes on a quest by Magisters to find and hunt a legendary monster lurking in the gardens.
Hunger: (Brianne Battye)
Southern Grey Wardens heading to Fortress Weisshaupt stop at a nearby haunted village where a curse has plagued the villagers.
Murder By Death Mages: (Caitlin Sullivan Kelly)
On behalf of the Inquisition, a Mortalitasi mage is sent to Nevarra's Grand Necropolis in search of a murderer.
The Streets Of Minrathous: (Brianne Battye)
A private investigator in the city of Minrathous is uncovering murders linked to the Venatori.
The Wigmaker Job: (Courtney Woods)
Two related Crows take a contract from their Grandmother to kill an ominous target in Tevinter.
Genitivi Dies In The End: (Lukas Kristjanson)
Many of Thedas' best scholars band together to find ancient knowledge on the elven empire.
Herold Had The Plan: (Ryan Cormier)
Riviani Treasure Hunters embark on a heist at Starkhaven's Grand Tourney, as they attempt to take a daring escape through the Free Marches with their riches.
An Old Crow's Old Tricks: (Arone Le Bray)
An Antivan Crow is hired by a group to hunt and kill suspected targets in the outskirts of Tevinter.
Eight Little Talons: (Courtney Woods)
The leaders of the Antivan Crows come together to discuss the Qunari invasion across their homeland when chaos erupts within the group.
Half Up Front: (John Epler)
A wayward Altus thief is hired to steal a religious artefact from Minrathous's Archon's Palace in the hopes of a better future for herself and her beloved.
The Dread Wolf Take You: (Patrick Weekes)
Key factions of Thedas gather together to discuss and share knowledge of a most distinguished rival who threatens to destroy all of Thedas for their own prideful purposes.
Disregarding 'The Dread Wolf Take You from the list, my personal favourites surprisingly were: Luck In The Garden, Half Up Front, The Streets Of Minrathous & Murder By Death Mages.
As much as I love Patrick Weekes and John Epler's writing styles, I have to give credit to Sylvia Feketekuty's incredible characterisation and environmental storytelling, I found her stories both to be very enchanting and phenomenal reading sessions! However, that's a feeling very much mutually shared with every writer and story within this novel, I just wanted to give Sylvia especially a shout out.
To summarise, Tevinter Nights is a perfectly delightful slice of Thedas in this very dry season of waiting and wanting the next Dragon Age instalment. Reading this novel only made me even more excited for the future, with so much in the air going forward.
The novel has been made with the intention of shaping you up, and pointing you in the right direction for Dragon Age 4. So, If you're invested in that future, you should immediately go and consume everything this book contains, you will not regret it!
But for all your things Dragon Age, you're already in the right place, I've already got my next video ready to go breaking down key aspects of Tevinter Nights. Once you've read the book for yourself, be sure to check that one out. Until the next one, I've been Jackdaw and I should go!