Dragon Age: The Silent Grove – Issues 1-3 Review

Dragon Age: The Silent Grove is the latest Bioware property brought to comic book form by Dark Horse Comics. Readers are introduced, or reintroduced, to characters who have made their mark in Thedas in Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2. Alistair, here the king of Fereldan, takes front and center, the plot revolving around his search for a missing, and presumed dead, individual of some importance to Fereldan.

Varric, and Isabela are the party members along for the ride assist the former Grey Warden with infiltrating a library maintained by the Antivan Crows, a prison break, and a run in with an established series nemesis, a dragon.  The rogues steal the show with their exchanges, their banter highlighting their established friendship from Dragon Age 2. Alistair is depicted here as a slightly grimmer man compared to the naive Grey Warden players may have encountered in Dragon Age: Origins.

Established fans will have no trouble jumping into the series and will likely enjoy a peek at the previously unseen Antiva. Newcomers come in at a slight disadvantage, but are introduced to what they need to know about the relevant characters and setting quickly. A majority of the panels are focused on action to move the story along and the salient plot point is slow to reveal itself. That said, the mysteries posed are intriguing enough to keep readers wanting to return and see the conclusion.

Natalie currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area where she tries to balance full-time work and various nerdy hobbies. While being a huge Bioware fangirl, she also enjoys other video games (i.e. Arkam City, the Fable series) as well as comic books set in the DC universe