Oh, I love your stories! You're an amazing writer. FoDs has been written in such lengthy and realistic detail, and yet it never feels wordy or boring. Your writing style itself is enjoyable to read, and the characters are depicted brilliantly - true to the game, but with added depth and complexity.
I've re-read the first three volumes twice now, and I enjoyed them just as much on this last readthrough as on the first.
Now on to my first read of vol. 4 - eek, exciting!

IT COULD BE? JEALOUS ?¡ :D oh boy

Awww - thank you for the shout-out. It was a pleasure and an honour to bounce ideas over this: and the shared brain-cells thing is entirely mutual :)

Wynne's romantic griffon story and Sten's dour philosophy "One life. One duty." essentially say the same thing: that poor Meri and Alistair are unlikely to find the happy ending she yearns for. Even Maethor is told "You can't keep him. It's too dangerous"! Contrasted with the Wardens' need to sever ties, the bumbling first kiss between Alistair and Meri was utterlly touching. Really, nobody could have conveyed the stammering glory of first love as well as this. I could picture ev ry part of that scene: "He looked shyly at me, his face an endearing mix of hazy, smug glee and tentative anxiety" and it made me doubly sad when we got the inevitable reminder of the need to save Arl Eamon and Alistair's family ties. Yet it's on to the Dalish first - and I suspect Meri's own bloodties will cause at least as many difficulties...

Congratulations on finishing another great volume!

It's so very "Alistair" that he can't stand Morrigan yet forgoes his own healing for her sake. Once again, I adore your portrayals of the companions and the shifting tides of their relationships. You write my favourite versions of Morrigan and Zevran. I enjoyed the description of Morrigan: "Her eyes were flat and hard as two sovereigns, and yet I had the feeling that it was less a glare of reproach than a protective shield" and her trademark abrasive manner.

Too many lovely lines to highlight them all: "flakes of ash floated on the dusk-leavened air like flurries of grey snow". Gorgeously descriptive. Meri's conversation with Alistair struck exactly the right note. Her advice to him was sound - though I notice he doesn't quite want to acknowledge the parallel between what Sophia Dryden did and their own involvement in Ferelden politics.

Zevran is a delight: his razor-edged teasing of poor Meri is so entertaining! And I thought Meri's trace of smugness that she comes from a "better" family than he does was spot-on :) And what would Alistair think indeed...

Ooooh - still reeling from that ending! Beautifully gothic and as dark as one could hope for. I love how you play with the reader - and poor Meri - with Avernus' temptations and promises, only to reveal him for what he was at the end. Meri has had a lucky escape, because the lure of the prospect of curing the taint might have been too great. Still might be - I'll have to turn the page to see what they do with his research...

There are too many gorgeously gory descriptions for me to list them all, but my favourite has to be "Avernus smiled, and it was a strangely hypnotic thing to watch, like brittle, crumpled paper being rolled back". The image of Avernus scrabbling among the decay of centuries like a mage version of Miss Havisham was awesome. As was the line: "I couldn't help thinking of Uldred, and what he'd said about mages shedding their larval forms". I really like that you make Blood Mages as horrific as they should be, instead of romantic figures: definitely old-school Dracula as opposed to the glittering Edward Cullens of so many fanfics...

Morrigan is tainted, yes? I'm dying to know if she will become a Warden: that would certainly be a game-changer!

Great stuff :)

Wow: this chapter is both long and magnificent :) So much here! The descriptions of place and the sense of slowly increasing forboding were excellent as always, but for me the really stand out moments were details such as:

Your depiction of Morrigan: "her face was tight and mask-like, those golden eyes wide and alert, like a cat" and her bickering with Alistair.

The image of Wynne and Morrigan trying to outdo each other, and thus making a great team.

Your depiction of Zevran: the line about the dancing teacher made me laugh out loud for a good minute...not good since I'm writing this from work!

The way Meri still clings to her cherished traditions: insisting to herself that she is a cut above Zevran because *she* won't get her hands dirty when she loots. (Btw, I'm fascinated by her memories of Denerim's cathedral...did Meri go there as a child? Or was it while they visited Denerim? It's been so long I may have missed a few details).

The wonderful musings on the nature of magic: from Meri's Alienage-trained wariness (I agree Tabris is likely to be the most orthodox of the origins) to Sten's chilling belief that "as a fish stranded by the tide knows the air, or a drowning man knows the sea, so does a mage know magic" to that gorgeous description of how the Fade bleeds into reality: "The lines that blur the two things are shifting, ever leaching like the mixing of ink into water. Demons, spirits, dreamers… they all gather reality around them like dust". You, my friend, are a poet as well as a writer!

Awesome cliffhanger!

I am absolutely in love with FoD! You hit the nail right on the head with the awkward kiss...I could positively feel the awkward, yet exciting, moment right along with Meri and Alistair. I am looking forward to starting volume 4, and hope you can update regularly. You see, you've created a monster, in that providing such wonderful reading material, I'm going to be expecting my FoD fix weekly. But hey, no pressure. :)

BTW, I am halfway tempted to submit a hundred reviews for each volume. I am quite baffled that you don't have more reviews, considering the quality, depth, and talent that is displayed in your writing. But I don't want to overload your email box, so I'll meekly submit one review, though my fingers are itching to submit a few more.

Oh my gosh. I can't believe that you finished this volume already. And that Meri and Alistair got together at the very end of this volume. That was really sweet. Really cool how you made her really shocked with Alistair's confession and that she would remember what she told him about being dirty if she ever got together with a human. But when Meri had to talk him down after completing the quest, all I could think about was how everything they did in that mission reflects their actual quest and how it will really test their relationship. Once again I wish that she could have hardened him somehow, in her own way. Alistair has a tendency to view things in only his way, especially when it concerns the Grey Wardens.

Sten and Zevern were my favorite to read in this last chapter (then again I loved everything). Sten with his poetic responses and "you look like a woman." I was a tad bit disappointed when you didn't take a more creative direction with that conversation. Mostly just because he's responses could have been awesome to read. I can see him also challenge Meri when they reach Haven just because she wants to actually help people, though also gain political standing. It'd be interesting to see if she can actually use the Peak. Great story! I will wait impatiently for the next volume to begin.

I don't often take the time to type up a review, mostly because there's little I can say other than "great chapter, can't wait for the next". However I felt that since this marks the end of one of the FOD volumes, I'd just say;

"Awesome volume! Can't wait for the next!"

I very much enjoy reading about Merien and her adventures and have enjoyed it since Vol 1.

Not many people undertake such epic telling of any fanfic, but I'm very pleased that you do have the patience and ability to continually craft such a riveting read.

Thank You.

Loved the embarrassed awkwardness of it all. Hit just the right tone.

"The griffon, part eagle and part lion, combines the power to rise above the world of men with the strength and wisdom to protect them. It is fire and air, valour and insight, vigilance and vengeance." One of the most perfect sentences I've read in months, including in published novels.

Great ending, too - you certainly know how to leave a person hanging.

Awesome end to this volume. I really enjoyed the scene with the kiss. :) beautifully awkward.

I found myself similing troughout the whole time. This scene between your warden and Alistair was really so damn beautiful and adroable :-) Well done!

I've been enjoying this as much as Volumes 1 & 2 - one of the things that I like about your writing is that you make the group dynamic very rounded, showing a little of everybody: Zevran and Morrigan werw pitch-perfect here.

I really like your style and this story, it's never fluffy and always autehntic. Great job!

YAY! An update after so long! I'm just sad that I have to make this a short review. Again, details for everything concerning the environment and being practical to real life situations and needs (such as the bunk rooms and unofficial bars) is always great to read. I love the interplay with all the characters. You can see that they still may not like each other well, especially Alistair and Morrigan, but they can work well together. Sten is awesome. I love the dialogue for him. Maethor is so cute. And I have to say that Levi really is true to his character here. I found him just as annoying as I did in the game. Great job!