Status Updates From Tevinter Nights (Dragon Age...

Luck in the Gardens

• Feketuky writes weird really well— the oddities of the Necropolis, the eldritch Cekorax.

• The Lovecraft influence is strong, with first person narration and a thing from beyond the world breaching in.

• Also, thematically loved the idea of Hollix, a master of disguise, going against a creature that absorbs others’ physiognomy.

It’s not just mages who can earn their freedom. It’s anyone with at sufficient talent, seems like.

“…a Lord of Fortune’s got to have some standards that sets them apart from common glory-seekers, and that’s one for me.”

I do love the idea that the Lords have a morality, but it’s a personal code of ethics rather than a faction-wide one. Fits the rag-tag pirate idea.

Been tinkering through this a story at a time. Largely good fun!

Callback

• Personally, I found it hard to keep track of the action with so many perspective shifts between each paragraph

• Harritt, Dagna, and Cabot’s cameos were great. I feel Elan and Morris’ simply didn’t have as strong a personality in DAI, so their return doesn’t have the same effect.

• Possibly a prelude to the regret prison? At least thematically?

• The last lines 💯

“I’m a bartender. I drown regret.”

CABOT MY MAN

“I wonder if you know the dread that’s coming?”

Then it didn’t.

The Horror of Hormak

• Pros: the attention to detail about art and architecture, and using subtle changes in such to build suspense.

• However, I wasn’t fond of the ending. Not that it didn’t work for the story, but it fell short of the promised “Horror” moniker. Shocking, yes. Horrifying, no.

As an art kid, the discussion of different cultures’ artistic signatures made me very happy.

Is acolyte a Warden rank? I thought it went recruit, then ensign?

Luck in the Gardens. Dorian Pavus is such a great Reluctant Hero (although he’s not central in this story.) He’s made for that luxurious fab altus magister Tevinter life but he just can’t close his eyes when they’ve already opened.

Callback! The minor Inquisition characters d’aww and lmao that Regret demon really cosplaying Solas huh

Down Among the Dead Men

• Like I noted earlier, some quandaries with what we knew about Nevarra before TN, but —

• Feketuky does such a good job of layering in the world-building for Nevarra and the Mourn Watch that the Grand Necropolis (forgive the pun) seems to come alive

• It’s also very consistent with how DATV presented Nevarra and the Watch

• Plus she excels at foreshadowing, as with Audric

“Every mage in the kingdom of Nevarra was part of the Mortalitasi” makes little sense to me, if Nevarra is also host to the College and Grand Enchanter out of Cumberland.

I guess you could rationalize it as being that way AFTER the Circles fell, but that doesn’t explain older guard such as Emmrich or Johanna making no mention in DATV of the Circles.

Three Trees to Midnight Thoughts:

• In some ways it hews close to established lore (the forest guardian, Myrion being elevated for his magic)

• There are a few hiccups — namely Andruil guiding the dead.

• Irelin had more of an edge; Strife was more rogue than the warrior in DATV, and was obviously hinted to have a brogue (“lass”)

• I did like that Strife is an older character, yet still learning.