Dragon Age: Last Flight by Liane Merciel — Fantasy Book Review

Art by Tom Rhodes

Dragon Age: Last Flight by Liane Merciel was the first Dragon Age book I've read. The Grey Wardens have always been my favorite faction in the series, and griffons have forever been one of my favorite fantasy creatures. Therefore, going in, I was primed and ready to enjoy this book... and I really did.

First and foremost, the prose in Last Flight is far stronger than most intellectual property books out there. This was so refreshing to see, when so many IP books have unremarkable-to-terrible writing quality. It's stiff here and there, maybe a bit archaic, but nevertheless elegant. The prose really worked for me.

In terms of plot, there are two going on here: one in the "present" time period of the Dragon Age and the other in the past, the Exalted Age. Perhaps I'm a bit biased here, but I don't know what it is about so many IP books where there has to be parallel timelines—not the biggest fan. I liked both plotlines well enough, but in my opinion, the flip flopping kept me from diving in head long into either story.

The present plotline was certainly the weakest, but it also had less time devoted to it. The characters were fine—likable, but not particularly memorable. I actually really did like their dynamic in the opening scenes of the book, and the ending made this story framing device worth it in the end—griffons are back, baybay! I just wish Veilguard actually made it worthwhile. Boo.. But I definitely found myself wanting to *Samurai Jack voice* "get back to the past."

The Exalted Age story arc is where this story shines. It is epic, engaging and tragic. This book made the Blight feel devastating, and therefore, following a group of desperate heroes fighting a losing battle was incredibly memorable. The brother and sister duo, Garahel and Isseya were wonderful. Having Isseya as the POV was really interesting because Garahel is seen as this larger than life legend, and we see Isseya's less than glamorous strategies for saving the world. Their endings were both so satisfying, with Garahel's noble sacrifice and Isseya's slow descent to corruption from blood magic and the taint.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the griffons. They were awesome. With the premiss of this book being how they went extinct, there is this looming tragedy as the reader connects with these wonderful beasts. Also, Crookytail might be one of my favorite animal names of all time in the fantasy genre.

Earlier, I praised Merciel's prose because it's lovely. The downside to her writing style is that the story feels a bit dry for such intense stakes. There's such beauty in her prose, but it lacks emotion. The overarching events are so devastating, but the actual moments feel far too arbitrary because of the distant writing style. This issue was exacerbated by the parallel timelines. In my opinion, these moments would have hit harder if the framework wasn't another character reading a history book. Overall, I would have loved to see her flex some of that skillful writing to flesh out emotional character moments and events.

Dragon Age: Last Flight was a great entry into a beloved series (pretending Veilguard doesn't exist for the time being). While the parallel plotlines and archaic writing-style can sometimes detract from this quality book, it is well worth the read for any Dragon Age fan. Liane Merciel, with her lovely writing and grand scale stakes, made the the last flight of the griffons worthy of remembrance.

Self indulgent tangent: On a personal level, the way I read this book was worth mentioning. I am very ADHD (to put it mildly). I will read a book or series with intense passion, and then pause midway through to start another. For the last few years, this book had become my "in between" book. I'd pick it up, listen to a couple hours of the audiobook, and then get distracted—this is less a mark against the book, and more against my mind. Anyway. As I was finishing this book, I realized that I actually started it in 2019, and have been reading here and there since then. It's wild to think how much my life has change since I started listening to this book on audio in 2019 while landscaping. I went away to college, lived through a pandemic, gained family members, lost loved ones, and started my career in publishing.

It made me reflect quite a bit, and I realized something beautiful about reading: as readers we have the benefit of stories underlining the events of our lives. So, maybe parallel plotlines aren't so bad after all.

-H.