Reddit reviews Dragon Age: The World of Thedas Volume 1

The wiki would be the best place to start. It's constantly updated whenever new material is released, so it's often up to date even on things like the novels or comics.

If you don't mind spending some money, I would suggest World of Thedas as being an excellent compendium and overview on the world of Dragon Age. It covers the lore up to Asunder. I do want to stress that it is just an overview; the wiki is a lot more in-depth but WoT is useful if you're particularly new on the lore side of things.

But if you've played DA2 and its DLCs, you're pretty much up to date on the known lore. The novels Asunder and The Masked Empire would be the only things I would suggest you look into, as both novels serve to set up several different potential plots in DA:I. But you can read the basics on both of those novels on the wiki lol.

I now have a copy of "The World of Thedas." It contains a very interesting chapter about magic, including blood magic. Here are several excerpts about blood magic from the book. The last example in particular gives a chilling perspective to (Redcliffe Spoilers)letting Isolde sacrifice herself to save Connor.

The Cost of Blood Magic

"The more violent the pain or death used in blood magic, the more powerful a spell becomes."

"Mages who experiment with blood magic are more susceptible to demonic spirits, such as pride demons, and risk becoming abominations by way of possession."

The Chantry's Stance

"Using pain or death to cast or strengthen spells is forbidden throughout Thedas."

"Chantry faithful believe those who practice blood magic are criminals, as common wisdom holds there is no way to use blood magic with good intentions.

They say all blood mages who use their own blood will eventually find themselves tempted by the additional power to be gained from spilling the blood of others."

Blood Magic in the Imperium

"While blood magic is discouraged even in the pro-mage Imperium, it is still widely, if quietly practiced there...even the most devout mage in the Imperial Chantry knows at least a little blood magic."

"The Ancient Tevinter magisters were the first to experiment with blood magic. They saw it as a means to achieve greater power in all schools. Over time, they discovered spells that could only be worked by spilling blood. Rituals involving violence became a significant part of the Old God worship, and blood mages rose to incredible heights of power and influence."

(Excerpts from) Letter from Magister Easthia to her apprentice, 7:71 Storm

"While it is true that blood magic is woven through the history of Tevinter, there are good reasons, quite aside from the Chantry's sermons, that such arts are now frowned upon...

When their spells exhausted their lyrium supply, the magisters spilled the blood of countless slaves. To what end? The shifting nature of the Fade made the effort futiele, and so much death left the magisters open to posession by demons. Wasteful!...

And what of Magister Calanthus, that fool who believed he could make himself the "Ascended Man" with blood magic? Thirty-three slaves died in that rite, and Calanthus became an abomination so horrific that his apprentices tore out their eyes at the sight of him.

You quote the examples of of the lovers Crescens and Seraphinian. yes, Seraphinian offered his own blood to cure Crescens of her wasting disease, and Crescens lived a long life. But if the noblest of blood magic still calls for the death of a good man, is that not enough reason to reconsider?

Definitely The World of Thedas Volume 1

There's also a volume 2 due out next May.

If you want to read up on lore, consider checking out The World of Thedas.

When we got our first nintendo (an N64), I was 12 or 13, and the first game we played was MarioKart. There were 4 controllers, one for each of us kids, while my parents watched. We played for hours, my older brother always winning and laughing at us. Finally, sick of her oldest son's gloating, my mom took my younger brother's controller and played. She wiped the floor with all of us, looked straight at my older brother and said "HA HA", then walked away. My little siblings were shocked, they had never seen Mom play a game. Little did they know, she was the Queen of Out Run on the Sega Master System.

I don't know why it was so funny, but it's something I always think about when I play that game. :) Probably because I'm still a kid at heart! :D this video game related book is not $31, but shipping costs a bit more up here :)

I've read all the books but if your interested in learning more about the lore and the setting I would recommend The World of Thedas book.