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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
belladonnashrike's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
the translation for this book is honestly so much better than the translated short stories. I enjoyed the stories, but after reading blood of elves I can tell why people critique them so often. this was much more engaging and I was really flying through it.
I loved that ciri & yen’s relationship was one of the focuses - I love them so much and I am glad to see a better relationship between them than what’s depicted in the show. I also enjoyed the political aspect of this book and it cleared up a lot of the politics that I was not entirely understanding from the netflix series. I do wish there was a map, though. it should be illegal for fantasy novels and series to not include a map!! idk where these places are!
I am APPALLED that tissaia demanded that all magicians be STERILIZED… when I watched the show I honestly just thought the transformation was so brutal it completely obliterated everyone’s reproductive organs or their hormones… I had no idea it was by design. this was such a small part of the book but I am STILL thinking about it.
what bugs me about the writing though is the emphasis on dialogue and not what is happening to the characters in their environment. oftentimes during a mini-monologue something happens between the speaker and another character or something changes in the environment that is never alluded to outside of the quotes. it’s slightly jarring at times. I have to really think sometimes about what exactly just happened because so many physical aspects and actions are just completely ignored, for whatever reason. if that weren’t the case I probably would’ve rated this five stars. I love the story & characters so much that my bias is definitellyyyy affecting the rating. but who cares I enjoyed myself
I loved that ciri & yen’s relationship was one of the focuses - I love them so much and I am glad to see a better relationship between them than what’s depicted in the show. I also enjoyed the political aspect of this book and it cleared up a lot of the politics that I was not entirely understanding from the netflix series. I do wish there was a map, though. it should be illegal for fantasy novels and series to not include a map!! idk where these places are!
what bugs me about the writing though is the emphasis on dialogue and not what is happening to the characters in their environment. oftentimes during a mini-monologue something happens between the speaker and another character or something changes in the environment that is never alluded to outside of the quotes. it’s slightly jarring at times. I have to really think sometimes about what exactly just happened because so many physical aspects and actions are just completely ignored, for whatever reason. if that weren’t the case I probably would’ve rated this five stars. I love the story & characters so much that my bias is definitellyyyy affecting the rating. but who cares I enjoyed myself
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Death
Minor: Alcohol, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
puzzle_ad's review against another edition
3.5
Some random notes, taken while listening:
• So far it's so much better than the short story collection.
• Love that there are more POVs than just Geralt.
• Jaskier is Taylor Swift confirmed, come on. And I quote:
“Master Dandilion, what is this? Are you going to leave us in suspense? That can’t be the end of your ballad? Sing to us of what happened next!”
“Songs and ballads” – the musician bowed – “never end, dear lady, because poetry is eternal and immortal, it knows no beginning, it knows no end—”
“But what happened next?” The tradeswoman didn’t give up, generously rattling coins into the bucket Dandilion’s apprentice held out to her. “At least tell us about it, even if you have no wish to sing of it. Your songs mention no names, but we know the witcher you sing of is no other than the famous Geralt of Rivia, and the enchantress for whom he burns with love is the equally famous Yennefer. And the Child Surprise, destined for the witcher and sworn to him from birth, is Cirilla, the unfortunate Princess of Cintra, the town destroyed by the Invaders. Am I right?”
Dandilion smiled, remaining enigmatic and aloof. “I sing of universal matters, my dear, generous lady,” he stated. “Of emotions which anyone can experience. Not about specific people.”
“Oh, come on!” yelled a voice from the crowd. “Everyone knows those songs are about Geralt the Witcher!”
And here I thought the jokes about Burn Butcher Burn(10 Minute Version)(Jaskier's Version) can be reserved only for the show. But that whole segment felt like peak Taylor Swift energy.
• Yennefer and Jaskier are a delight in the show and book when they are together.
• I find it so funny that the entirety of The Witcher books is the size of two Stormlight Archive books.
• I cannot stress this enough I love Jaskier/Dandelion.
• Yennefer is the queen of sarcasm my god. That letter almost had me in tears laughing, especially the way the narrator read it.
• Triss on makeup being something women do for themselves was surprising. I mean that is a very low bar but in this series, I didn't expect this much tbh. The old Polish guy gets some points.
• I can appreciate the elves as metaphors for racism and xenophobia and shit. And it's still relevant close to 30 years after this book was published.
• Jarring changes between scenes that make you feel you missed something both in ebook and audio. Three books in and I still hate it and can't get used to it.
• Sickness and people knowing to wash their hands to prevent it in the fucking middle ages imagine that.
• Jaskier being described like this: I know you’re almost forty, look almost thirty, think you’re just over twenty and act as though you’re barely ten. What I'm getting is the casting was perfect.
• This quote from a henchman and the bad guy's scene from the henchmen's POV really made me laugh a lot:
He was afraid he would be forced to listen to a long monologue. The marshal knew that the man standing at the window considered his monologues a conversation, and viewed conversation as a privilege and proof of trust. He knew this but still didn’t like listening to the monologues.
this is what having a"conversation" with my boss feels like tbh.
• Only women are in pain using magic, only women have to be sterilised to be mages, only women have to choose between being a mother and being a magician, this is fucked up.
So I did enjoy this quite a bit more than the previous instalments. The added different POV and actual overarching plot really helped with that I feel like. I was quite excited about it when I started but by the end of the book I feel like my excitement fizzled out and that the ending was quite anticlimactic. Ultimately I feel like nothing actually did happen in this book, it's a set-up for the story overall. Quite a lot of training montages in a way. I now see why people say the second season of the show is quite the fanfiction. And at this point, I agree that some things in the show that they made up are weird and unnecessary. I do want to finish this story but by the end of this book, I feel like a hit some kind of burnout on this world and characters and need some time away from it. I will be back to finish it though at some point. I am sort of sad that the end of season 2 spoiled something from the books that gets revealed in the last one, but oh well. That is what I get for watching before reading the books.
• So far it's so much better than the short story collection.
• Love that there are more POVs than just Geralt.
• Jaskier is Taylor Swift confirmed, come on. And I quote:
“Master Dandilion, what is this? Are you going to leave us in suspense? That can’t be the end of your ballad? Sing to us of what happened next!”
“Songs and ballads” – the musician bowed – “never end, dear lady, because poetry is eternal and immortal, it knows no beginning, it knows no end—”
“But what happened next?” The tradeswoman didn’t give up, generously rattling coins into the bucket Dandilion’s apprentice held out to her. “At least tell us about it, even if you have no wish to sing of it. Your songs mention no names, but we know the witcher you sing of is no other than the famous Geralt of Rivia, and the enchantress for whom he burns with love is the equally famous Yennefer. And the Child Surprise, destined for the witcher and sworn to him from birth, is Cirilla, the unfortunate Princess of Cintra, the town destroyed by the Invaders. Am I right?”
Dandilion smiled, remaining enigmatic and aloof. “I sing of universal matters, my dear, generous lady,” he stated. “Of emotions which anyone can experience. Not about specific people.”
“Oh, come on!” yelled a voice from the crowd. “Everyone knows those songs are about Geralt the Witcher!”
And here I thought the jokes about Burn Butcher Burn(10 Minute Version)(Jaskier's Version) can be reserved only for the show. But that whole segment felt like peak Taylor Swift energy.
• Yennefer and Jaskier are a delight in the show and book when they are together.
• I find it so funny that the entirety of The Witcher books is the size of two Stormlight Archive books.
• I cannot stress this enough I love Jaskier/Dandelion.
• Yennefer is the queen of sarcasm my god. That letter almost had me in tears laughing, especially the way the narrator read it.
• Triss on makeup being something women do for themselves was surprising. I mean that is a very low bar but in this series, I didn't expect this much tbh. The old Polish guy gets some points.
• I can appreciate the elves as metaphors for racism and xenophobia and shit. And it's still relevant close to 30 years after this book was published.
• Jarring changes between scenes that make you feel you missed something both in ebook and audio. Three books in and I still hate it and can't get used to it.
• Sickness and people knowing to wash their hands to prevent it in the fucking middle ages imagine that.
• Jaskier being described like this: I know you’re almost forty, look almost thirty, think you’re just over twenty and act as though you’re barely ten. What I'm getting is the casting was perfect.
• This quote from a henchman and the bad guy's scene from the henchmen's POV really made me laugh a lot:
He was afraid he would be forced to listen to a long monologue. The marshal knew that the man standing at the window considered his monologues a conversation, and viewed conversation as a privilege and proof of trust. He knew this but still didn’t like listening to the monologues.
this is what having a"conversation" with my boss feels like tbh.
• Only women are in pain using magic, only women have to be sterilised to be mages, only women have to choose between being a mother and being a magician, this is fucked up.
So I did enjoy this quite a bit more than the previous instalments. The added different POV and actual overarching plot really helped with that I feel like. I was quite excited about it when I started but by the end of the book I feel like my excitement fizzled out and that the ending was quite anticlimactic. Ultimately I feel like nothing actually did happen in this book, it's a set-up for the story overall. Quite a lot of training montages in a way. I now see why people say the second season of the show is quite the fanfiction. And at this point, I agree that some things in the show that they made up are weird and unnecessary. I do want to finish this story but by the end of this book, I feel like a hit some kind of burnout on this world and characters and need some time away from it. I will be back to finish it though at some point. I am sort of sad that the end of season 2 spoiled something from the books that gets revealed in the last one, but oh well. That is what I get for watching before reading the books.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infertility, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Rape
yunathealien's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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
3.5
This book could be perfect, if it wasn't so obvious, that the author has absolutely no clue about woman. But if you can look at all the misogyny and laugh at its stupidity and not get too infuriated by it, its a good book. Behind the misogyny hides a good story 😂
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Grief, Misogyny, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, War, Racism, Blood, Death of parent, and Genocide
Moderate: Animal death, Torture, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Ableism, Gore, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Rape
streetmuseums's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
i loved this book but it is so lacking in description. both of characters and scenes, it mostly dialogue. and i understand it's a choice but it's a very jarring one lol
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Minor: Sexual assault and Misogyny
cemeterygay's review
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Somehow even more misogyny than the other witcher book I read. The world is neat and so are some of the characters. Pretty standard white man fantasy book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Torture, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault
veganecurrywurst's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.0
Ich muss sagen, dass ich die Geschichte zwar sehr interessant fand, aber der Schreibstil hat mir persönlich einfach nicht gefallen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
Minor: Alcohol and War
laesterlurch's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-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? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism and Violence
Moderate: Genocide, War, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Sexual assault
eafiu's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Violence, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Rape, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Genocide, Gore, and Cursing
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