J'avais des astres dans les yeux

1. How do you rate books? Give a quick rundown of how you do your star ratings (or if you don’t use star ratings, how you evaluate books).
2. How do you approach reviewing books? What’s your review style? Are you analytical, emotional, casual, or structured?
3. What’s the book that made you a reader? Whether it was your first favorite or the one that got you hooked, what book started it all?
4. Do you have a genre niche? Are there certain genres you gravitate toward? Or do you read widely across genres?
5. Do you generally prefer character-driven or plot-driven stories?
6. What’s a book you love so much that you don’t care if others don’t like it? What’s that one book you love enough for everyone?
7. What’s a book you love so much that if someone doesn’t like it, you know your reading tastes don’t align? The book or books where a difference of opinion is a strong indicator of different reading preferences.
8. What’s in your “trash pocket”? What books, tropes, or themes that you know are bad but you love them anyway?
9. Do you have any dealbreakers in books? Something that, if present, immediately turns you off from a book.
10. What’s a strong opinion you have about a book released within the last year? Whether it’s overrated, underrated, or just a take you need to share.
11. What do you look for in writing? What makes a book stand out to you? Is it prose style, themes, voice, structure, or something else?
12. How do you decide what to read next? Do you plan ahead, mood read, or follow external factors (hype, recommendations, ARCs)?

Like Origins I've played tons of different PCs in Inquisition. Did I finish the game with all of them? No. Most of them? Also no. I got something like 5 distinct Inquisitors to the end, but I've played a certain guy multiple times.

Basically my main world state contains the characters that I feel like writing the most about. Which, well, I still have trouble with for the Inquisitor. I keep replaying the PC I'm most interested in to get more of a feel for him. This most recent playthrough has been more of a breakthrough. Yeah, it's taken me 10 years to connect with a PC in this game, and it's still a work in progress.

With that said, Fenian is a Dalish elf who has long struggled with what that means to him. This is mainly the fault of his father who always sought to use the power structure of the clan for personal reasons. In his father's eyes, with his sister manifesting magic and him being mundane, anything he could ever achieve would never be as worthy as her simply existing.

Still, he's a master archer with a love for history including military battles. Since most books are written by and about humans he grows a deep interest in them to the rest of his clan's dismay. They're fine when he's haggling out a deal with a passing merchant for them, but they hate that he's so pulled toward the shems.

Of course he's the one sent to the conclave. No matter how much his sister protested his going. Just as she feared, he left the clan and never returned.

He's the kind of guy that makes jokes so that people will like him. He's always thinking about how to get people to like him. He'll do things other people don't want to do, so that they'll like him. He'll do what he's asked, so that you'll like him.

It takes a while for him to grow into the leadership position. He's still always somewhat swayed by his favored companions. The more decisions he makes, the more he grows into it. He becomes less interested in the ideal outcome and more concerned with the pressing needs immediately in front of him.

Uh er ah. I wouldn't say I have a favorite. But there's aspects in some of them that I think are fantastic.

Josephine - The duel against her arranged marriage fiance. It's already romantic enough as a human male. But pick any other race or gender and it skyrockets.

Cassandra - I had such a wonderful time doing her romance quest. I went out by myself to collect all the things for the romantic picnic and it was no picnic. I got attacked by several  bears that I had to fight alone mind you. That added to my experience, but the actual scene is incredibly saccharine and wonderful. I enjoyed it to say the least.

Solas - He breaks up with you. A bajillion points right there for that. But I simply love the scene where he removes Lavellan's vallaslin if she wants. It's so ethereally beautiful.

Dorian - Points for also breaking up with me. While I don't have any great feelings for his romance arc I had a wonderful time with a little glitch I got that made us simultaneously broken up and together in Trespasser. Great fun, will probably never get to experience it again.

Ah, I don't have a favorite companion either. Definitely ones I like more than the others, but a favorite? Nope.

The Storm Coast. It reminds me of my beloved Wounded Coast. I just love staring out into that violent water from the shore. I've killed my Inquisitor a lot of times by just walking straight into it until he "drowns" and respawns.

I really like the two quests after settling the mage-templar war: Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts and Here Lies the Abyss.

WEWH is a little annoying when you have to run around finding all those halla keys, but otherwise it's an interesting type of quest with political implications and a few really fun scenes.

HLA is the quest with Hawke in it and I love my Hawke sooooo much I killed him. It was such a shocking option much like Virmire in Mass Effect (but even more so for me because I don't like Kaiden and I sacrifice him every time). It has so much emotional weight packed into it with the fear demon talking shit and everyone finding the graves where they're buried under their greatest fears and then you have to sacrifice someone and go back to dealing with the wardens. There are tons of cool scenes packed into this one and there's a dragon.

It's Gaspard. Don't talk to me.

I loved him in The Masked Empire. He quickly became my problematic fave. And even though it's more fun to dance with his sister and she's quite the challenging fight otherwise. I always have to make him Emperor. Alone.

And I love the little chat you get to have with him in the Arbor Wilds during What Pride Had Wrought. He's out there fighting for his country and his continent and I'm like hell yeah me too my guy, we're front line.

When you're invited to Vivienne's party and meet some courtiers who let you know that they've heard about you to which you can say, "Everything you've heard? Completely true." I don't know why, it's probably the really fun delivery all the VAs have put into it, but I love this line a lot and I always pick it even if my Inquisitor is denying being the Herald.

I also really like the speech you can have the Inqy give after leaving Hawke in the Fade: "He gave his life. Not because he'd sworn an oath, or been marked as special, but because someone had to do it."

The fact that there are just ancient elves living in the forest in a hidden temple. The history of the Elvhen empire rather reminds me of the Aztecs and Mayans than anything else. "Discovering" a hidden temple in a dense wilderness really hit for me.

There are a lot of new codex entries in Inquisition (2 recycled way more). Here's a new one I liked:

I've had a few HoFs, which over the years I narrowed down into three world states, that over the years narrowed even further into my favorite single world state.

So, my main HoF is Lachlan Surana.

He's a silver-tongued devil who uses his charm and competence to manipulate people. It's ironic that his magical talents are best served as a healer and through other forms of Creation magic. He realizes this is where his power lies and learns the ways of the Spirit Healer. Being needed is more secure than being liked, after all.

Even though he's drawn to power he is adamant against the use of blood magic—to him it's a sign of weakness. And it's not as if he wasn't indoctrinated against in by the Chantry in the Circle he grew up in. However, he has a penchant for interacting with strange vials, first with the Arcane Warrior's phylactery then later gaining the Power of Blood (though he only uses this on Darkspawn and... other Wardens).

His perniciousness began to lessen only after 70% of the story. He was unconcerned with the plights of others and flippant about making choices that would affect them, until they snowballed into his biggest fuck up. There was no other choice besides the worst one because his own choices made the world a worse place. It was a moment of realization that he should consider his actions more seriously. But did it really make him a better person? Or did it just add to his arsenal of manipulation by making him realize that he can also make use of pieces he dislikes in his games of 4D chess?

When he learns that a Warden must die to defeat the Archdemon he realized that he would not let Alistair die for him nor did he desire to die. Morrigan presented him with the way out and he selfishly took it.

After the events of the Fifth Blight and Awakening he is ordered to make a statement at Weisshaupt. Though the Wardens there do not particularly care one way or another about him after settling the record they let him retain his status as the Warden-Commander of Ferelden. Of course the Ferelden born recruited into his command embrace him as their hero, but those transferred from Orlais are more wary of this newcomer.

Shortly after this he very nearly abandons his post anyway to pursue Morrigan and her child and later to retrieve his phylactery.

While Alistair is my Warden's cannon romance, I actually prefer Morrigan's romance in DA:O.

Alistair is sweet and all, and he has a super cute romance arc. But it's so much more fun to get someone prickly to like you. Seeing Morrigan let down her guard somewhat is exhilarating. I also love that she gives you a ring as a memento.

In Awakening when you're captured by the Architect and stripped of your belongings they took Morrigan's ring and my Warden was extremely pissed about this. It was the one thing I cared about retrieving (and worried IRL that it would be a victim the equipment bug! Luckily I only lost Sigrun's shoes forever.)

Morrigan also has the Witch Hunt DLC which makes a perfect book end to her romance!

Honestly, gonna throw somewhat of a curveball in here. Alistair or Morrigan is the obvious choice for me, but I also really really love Shale.

I played plenty of time without Shale and boy I was missing out. The first time I got her I absolutely loved everything about her and she immediately became a staple in my party. I sometimes even suffer through that abysmal puzzle to get her for my more good-hearted characters too.

I love that she's so pissed about birds, it's hilarious. However she also has her deep side to her like the other party members. They didn't skimp on her characterization just because she came in a DLC package.

Her personal quest is one of my favorite environments in the Deep Roads and I love the little revelation she has when we meet Caridin.

I love to take story relevant characters with me on quests. So one time I went into the Deep Roads with my Warden (mage), Shale (warrior), Oghren (warrior), and my LI Alistair (warrior). LMAO. It was really fun combat too actually. And I never had to go back up to Orzammar because I couldn't open many of the chests, lol.

I already mentioned that I love the look of the Deep Roads section where some of Shale's personal quest takes place, it's pretty.

I also really like the area right outside of Orzammar where part of Sten's quest takes place. It's just so bleak, lol.

Ooh, I also really like Kinloch Hold's repository. That Tevinter statue and the other artifacts down there are so cool. I don't even use that staff for long, but I whenever I play as Lachlan I make sure his coercion is already high so I can get away with stealing it, lol.

Soldier's Peak is really neat too. The snow, bleakness, spookiness, the magical barriers, and the purpleness of it all.

And speaking of spooky, the haunted house. Omg love it.

I could keep going! I don't have one specific favorite.

Honestly, it's the origins. They're the most unique and fun part of Origins. They were so good and we'll never have them back, but we can replay them over and over.

I'd say that the most boring origin is the Mage one. It's mostly running around the tower and of course, I still get lost in there to this day.... It's fine, but compared to the others it has the least tension and action.

Yet, this is the one I've played the most, as I've replayed Lachlan's story plenty of times. I'd say the most compelling thing about it (besides being the only way to play as a mage) is that it gives you an RP reason to not understand anything about the world, lol. I think it could have done a better job focusing on more characters in the tower and even your PCs relationship with Jowan.

The best origin. Oof, that I can't decide. I enjoy the way Dalish Elf opens up with that tense confrontation in the forest. And City Elf, do I even need to extoll its air of tension? And both of the Dwarven origins are incredibly fucked up. It immediately shows us the terrible class tensions in Orzammar. And the Human Noble origin takes a bit to pick up, but my the time Howe is raiding your castle you are fully invested in your family and the stakes.

They are all really well crafted and it's such a treat to be able to start RPing your character before the main story begins. Even though the origins don't change the character you make has plenty of ways to interact with the world and start cementing their unique personality.

This encompasses so many characters. I'll have to say Anora though.

She gets a lot of hate, I too once despised her. But after playing the game a few more times I realized that she's exactly the kind of character I like. Competent, clever, makes power plays. Her really pissing me off in my first playthrough began to actually make me smile the more I reflected on her character.

She fucking got me. It wasn't even the thing where she tells Ser Cauthrien (whomst is another NPC I really like) that you're kidnapping her. That didn't happen to me on my first playthrough (I straight up just fought Ser Cauthrian). It was the conversation you have with her in Eamon's Estate. She didn't like what I said, lol.

I foolishly did not think anything would come of this. I vividly remember standing in the middle of the Landsmeet and being fucking shook. (And then I got her back, by making my warden queen, because I'm petty.) The Landsmeet is such a good quest.

I wish we got more of her in Origins. There's that one cutscene where she asks her father if he murdered Cailan, and even though she's shrugged off you can see it in her. The wheels are turning. Then she's able to orchestrate her escape from Howe and show up to the Landsmeet flush with regal power and sway.

Only a real idiot would entertain the notion of divorcing this woman. I actually have yet to play the male Cousland route where you can marry her, but c'mon why wouldn't you. I always have her stay queen, whether or not I have Alistair marry her. She deserves that throne.

For cutscenes you just gotta love the opening with Duncan. It's visually interesting, the voice acting is great and the story it presents is interesting. Mages tried to usurp heaven and ended up bringing a horrible disease back to earth with them? Wow!

I also love the scene where the horde of Darkspawn descends on Ostagar. It still looks good after all these years!

My favorite dialogue is a lot simpler. It's when you find Howe's spy in the tavern outside Redcliffe and he claims that he has nothing to do with the reanimated corpses attacking the town. I love choosing "I do believe you (Kill him)". I think about it all the time. Sorry Berwick.

I suppose it's actually from a DLC, but I have to say it's The History if the Drydens. I love everything going on with Sophia Dryden. I love that King Arland was so scared by her presence. And I love that the Drydens who returned to Ferelden are proud of her. It's just, great. She was a real one.