The Dragon Age: The Silent Grove cast of characters: Alistair Theirin (king and main character, bulging biceps), Isabela (pirate and standard skimpily dressed eye candy), Varric Tethras (dwarf, barkeep, merchant, the standard clown), etc....

For a culture that does not care for snakes, we sure love the dragon. I mean, come on, what is a dragon but a big hulking dinosaur with a snake head and maybe some bat wings, who smokes way too much? Still, the beast has some subconscious cool factor going on. Some are gold hoarders, or keepers of eternal knowledge and are as fascinating to us as celebrities and billionaires. We see them as some sort of otherness creatures; they can’t be human to have all that power to earn so many riches, right? They must have some kind of demon connection, or some other mystical touch. It is just not possible to have so much power from sheer hard work. Anyone who ever had some kind of power political, part of the one percent, kings, warlocks, witches, what not: of these enigmas who tease our imagination the most, the dragon reigns supreme.

The world sees the snake as the harbinger of knowledge that also brought either evil, or civilization. In Dragon Age: The Silent Grove we have all the classic trio characters. The reluctant but determined heroic hero, the wise cracking misfit who is more than he seems aka the brain, the exotic super personality and fire, both of whom fight each other leaving the hero to maintain the balance. Here the standard quest is to find the ancient truth as told to the hero by the hero’s father and King whom he now replaces, and to bring back a scroll for his Kingdom to prove his right to rule. Old enemies to defeat. Two common criminals who stick with him in spite of themselves. (They say it is for gold but it is really because it is the golden goodness of their loyal hearts, which in the classic way, they are in denial of.)

The bad guys are dispatched in different ways, and then there are the dragons. They are there, oh yes, very much so, but for now, they are background. Really this is so classic standard I could recite what will happen page by page box by box. Yet, I don’t. Why? Classic quest! The dialog keeps it fresh and amusing. I will be returning for Vol.2.

Reviewed By: Nancy Louise
© June 10, 2012