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onthesamepage's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Reading this was a mixed bag. The parts that focused on Ciri, Geralt, and Yennefer, I really enjoyed. Even the politics of the world and the commentary on racism was interesting. The problem is that it's impossible to read this without constantly getting slapped in the face with casual misogyny.
You have Dandelion who puts all women into categories related to whether or not he would have sex with them, mentions of kings considering marrying Ciri, because her mother and grandmother were both eager for sex so surely she will be too, women having long hair being considered a symbol of them being either free or a whore, Shani who mentions she's "afraid for her maidenhood" when walking certain streets, but not for her life, because surely their maidenhood is women's primary concern. Honestly, I could keep going, because there was plenty of it. It's a classic example of white mantasy in my opinion, and if I didn't already have an attachment to Geralt and Ciri because of the game, I think I would have DNF'd this.
I'm still deciding what to do about the rest of the series, but I might just read a summary and call it a day.
You have Dandelion who puts all women into categories related to whether or not he would have sex with them, mentions of kings considering marrying Ciri, because her mother and grandmother were both eager for sex so surely she will be too, women having long hair being considered a symbol of them being either free or a whore, Shani who mentions she's "afraid for her maidenhood" when walking certain streets, but not for her life, because surely their maidenhood is women's primary concern. Honestly, I could keep going, because there was plenty of it. It's a classic example of white mantasy in my opinion, and if I didn't already have an attachment to Geralt and Ciri because of the game, I think I would have DNF'd this.
I'm still deciding what to do about the rest of the series, but I might just read a summary and call it a day.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Misogyny
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Homophobia
sheiksleopardthong's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Misogyny, Blood, Violence, and War
Moderate: Bullying, Death of parent, and Genocide
payton29's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism and Misogyny
thewillowwood's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Overall I enjoyed this book, enough so that I will be reading the next instalment of the series. Some of the scenes were quite dull, but the more enjoyable ones made up for it. It also suffers a bit from the “men writing women” problem that made me a tad uncomfortable, but it didn’t completely ruin the experience. It’s a decent fantasy read, if you enjoy that then this book will likely be enjoyable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Death of parent, Gore, War, Blood, Sexism, Xenophobia, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Rape, Grief, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
sarahdm's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Misogynistic at its worst and boring at its best, Blood of Elves fit in with the other books of this mediocre series just fine.
The first half of the book is just "Four Witchers and a Baby" which I feel like could be really fun if we weren't constantly bombarded with reminders of how weak woman are because of their periods and the none stop sexualization of a 13 year old child. Not to mention the other 2 women in the book being jealous of said 13 year old. Both Triss and Yen are just being horrible caricatures of a bitchy, overly sexualized woman. They don't have any character trait passed "Down bad for Geralt and will scratch out the eyes of anyone who gets in my way." Sapkowski is completely incapable of writing a good female character or creating an environment where a potentially interesting female character could thrive. But I think I have complained enough about this in my review for Sword of Destiny.
The other half is fantasy racism and politics. It was so incredible boring. I could not get invested at all. At least in The Last Wish, the action and story was interesting enough to at least pay attention.
Also what the hell happened to the writing? Sapkowski is relying very heavily on dialog in this one, its a miracle when we get a description of anything (besides breasts of course, we get PLENTY of descriptions for that). We are also constantly jumping around from different characters and different time line. Like this is so obviously Ciri's book but we kept being all over the place. And the ending being "but little did they know of the dark times ahead. Anyway, the end!" Lazy. I know Sapkowski can do better than this.
Lambert and Dandelion's bits were great. These are characters I actually really enjoyed. Ciri was also great, I just wish she wasn't put though Sapkowski's writing.
2-2.5 stars.
The first half of the book is just "Four Witchers and a Baby" which I feel like could be really fun if we weren't constantly bombarded with reminders of how weak woman are because of their periods and the none stop sexualization of a 13 year old child. Not to mention the other 2 women in the book being jealous of said 13 year old. Both Triss and Yen are just being horrible caricatures of a bitchy, overly sexualized woman. They don't have any character trait passed "Down bad for Geralt and will scratch out the eyes of anyone who gets in my way." Sapkowski is completely incapable of writing a good female character or creating an environment where a potentially interesting female character could thrive. But I think I have complained enough about this in my review for Sword of Destiny.
The other half is fantasy racism and politics. It was so incredible boring. I could not get invested at all. At least in The Last Wish, the action and story was interesting enough to at least pay attention.
Also what the hell happened to the writing? Sapkowski is relying very heavily on dialog in this one, its a miracle when we get a description of anything (besides breasts of course, we get PLENTY of descriptions for that). We are also constantly jumping around from different characters and different time line. Like this is so obviously Ciri's book but we kept being all over the place. And the ending being "but little did they know of the dark times ahead. Anyway, the end!" Lazy. I know Sapkowski can do better than this.
Lambert and Dandelion's bits were great. These are characters I actually really enjoyed. Ciri was also great, I just wish she wasn't put though Sapkowski's writing.
2-2.5 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism and Misogyny
shadowcay's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Death
Moderate: Misogyny and War
Minor: Body shaming and Colonisation
elizabeth_lepore's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, War, and Violence
Moderate: Torture, Misogyny, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Death of parent, Rape, and Toxic relationship
lynnloveshobi's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I'm not gonna lie, there's bits where it's hard to follow, especially when they deep dive into the world's politics, but besides it, i liked it a lot.. i wish the dialogues had some more description of what was actually happening, the writer used the conversation itself to explain some movements, especially during training, and it made it harder to read.. anyways I'm off to reading the next one:)
Content Warnings
Minor: Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Genocide, Rape, War, and Death of parent
readbyella_'s review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Misogyny and Sexism
Minor: Sexual content
plume_de_renarde's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Racism, Misogyny, and Torture
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, War, and Cursing