Books like Dragon Age — picked by fans

Forget the show, read the books.

This fantasy series reads like a medieval history lesson come to life. They live in a world where power is dispensed with decrees, armies, and combat. But the real battles are fought among the kingdoms with verbal confrontations.

Tyrion is the jewel of the series as the despised dwarf of one of the great noble houses who must use his wit and words as both weapons and armor to overcome his lack of stature. He doesn't compete where he is weak, but rather redefines the game where his opponent's strength is irrelevant.

"I have to be careful. Everything I say is a lie."

This is utterly unique in the way Norton Juster is able to build a fantasy world out of words, logic, and math.

As a young adult, I loved the idea of receiving a magic tollbooth and driving into a magic world. But, immediately, I found the book challenging because Milo ends up in the doldrums (a word I had never heard before). This is not just a fantasy adventure, but a cautionary tale, a character study, and a world full of puns and puzzles.

Returning to the book as an adult, I was amazed at how seamlessly Juster puts it all together.

This is the first book in a series that I don’t think is talked about enough. There are several characters from different points of view, but the ones that stand out most are Lukien and Baron Glass. I love a redeemed villain in any media, and Baron Glass fits that mold.

Originally depicted as the villain in a warring kingdoms opening story, I loved the way that the “villain” becomes portrayed as a kindly mentor that despite age and injury can still fight. Lukien and Glass serve as perfect foils for each other, and the author uses plenty of symbolism to support that. Put together with the whole cast; you have a perfect rag-tag cast of main and supporting characters that breathe on their own with flaws and relatable goals.

The cast of this book are all vastly different. I enjoyed going from a human, relatively normal perspective between Jaymes and Caithlin to the antagonistic orc Ghurak. Jaymes is not a superhero but a regular human on a warship, and with that comes relatability in his character.

The humor sown throughout this book between Jaymes and Karnon about understanding nautical terms also helped me to properly understand some of the words I had never heard of before while not beating me over the head with dry prose. I enjoyed Pirates of the Caribbean, but taking that general concept and adding salamanders, orcs (not to mention a sober protagonist), and more into the mix made it that much more fun!

What persuaded a priest to join El Salvador’s largest guerilla organization, the FPL (Popular Liberation Forces)?

This biography explains the metamorphosis of “Padre David,” as he was known. The book also places his experience within the larger context of the role progressive priests and nuns played in helping the poor to realize their worth, which inspired many to then demand change in society. Because the state crushed all peaceful opposition, especially through violence, many Salvadorans concluded that the only way to work for change – and to simultaneously protect themselves – was to join an armed movement. Padre David was no different. He felt an added sense of responsibility because he trained catechists to work for change who were later killed because the state saw them as threats to the status quo.

In a post-apocalyptic world run by an oppressive American empire, we find Little Bird hiding in a hole. Though her mother was a great leader of the rebellion, Little Bird has found herself very lost, in a very cruel world - and she just might be the last chance that the freethinking people of the Western world have. 

I love that this story takes familiar forces and fears of our modern life and cranks them up to eleven. With that in mind, the star of the show must be Ian Bertram’s artwork. All the huge ideas and themes created by Darcy are elevated to a startling degree by the way Ian is able to build this world visually. The iconography, the violence, the characterizations, it slaps you in the face page after page.

First, I need to explain that the title of this book is deceptive as Riverbend, an Iraqi tech expert, is a well-educated young woman, not a girl. The book is taken from her blog, written from August 2003 through September 2004, and details the changes that war between Saddam Hussein and American forces brings to Iraq.

I lived in the US during these years and followed the news closely as the US organized and launched its attack on Saddam Hussein’s regime with “shock and awe”. However, Riverbend’s account taught me far more than all the media accounts. Her formerly quiet life as a computer tech ends as a woman is no longer allowed to come into the office, or even be safely seen on the street. Almost every page contains contrasts of Iraqi everyday life as lived by her family with the changes the invasion brings—changes no U.S. reader was… show more.

I knew Saw Ralph and Naw Sheera when we were in Manerplaw, which used to be the headquarters of the Karen resistance, in Burma. As a little girl, I often followed my mother Nant Kyin Shwe to her workplace and remembered seeing Naw Sheera in the office of the Karen Women's Organisation. When I read her book, it reminds me of all the places and the people, and my beautiful childhood in, Kawthoolei, Burma. 

This book didn’t just fascinate me; it shattered my understanding of utopia. Cronin’s Prospera seemed idyllic, but as I read, a gnawing unease grew. Like the protagonist, Proctor, I found myself grappling with the realization that perfection might come at a devastating cost.

The unraveling of Prospera’s facade forced me to reflect on the illusions we cling to in our own society. Cronin’s exploration of memory, loss, and the price of paradise stuck with me, making me ponder the lies we tell ourselves.

Marwan Kraidy’s book is a deep dive into the cultural politics of the Arab Uprisings during 2011. Wonderfully written and cleverly organized this academic book looks at the ‘digital’ nature of these resistance movements and the use of art and media tools in the protests. The focus is on young Arabs who used the street to challenge authority and cutting-edge social media platforms to argue for social change. In the book political activism and a period of digital euphoria meet when places like Tahrir Square became the centre of the world. This is one of the most essential accounts of 2011 that offers a refreshing take on Facebook and Twitter as revolutionary agents that helped to bring down the military regime.