Reviews

Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski

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scrocx's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

2.75

soartfullydone's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

And so the adventures and destiny of Ciri, Geralt, and Yennefer begin in earnest this time.

I've arrived at Blood of Elves after having read the two short story books in full and all the context they provide. I cannot imagine going into this book cold—but folks certainly have and enjoyed it besides. Such strong readers. I, for one, am glad to have watched the first two seasons of the Netflix show because it's given me a semblance of what's going on, even if I do have to look up who minor characters are when they're name-dropped. But this ain't about them. I also have to give some belated props to Netflix for creating such cohesion with their first two seasons using the short stories and Blood of Elves, as the secret sauce didn't exactly land in their lap, wrapped all nicely in a bow.

After all, Andrzej Sapkowski doesn't layout the Witcher series in a traditional manner. It's not straightforwardly linear, with each scene and chapter clearly leading you to the next event or character interaction. It doesn't hand-hold the reader through its politics and proceedings. In fact, you rarely get to see events unfold first-hand, but rather, you hear characters debate on what truly occurred and what might happen next. It feels quite similar to studying a historical period, but you have mostly second-hand accounts and tertiary sources from which to pull information. In this way, the plot of Blood of Elves and the character arcs of Ciri, Geralt, and Yennefer can seem confusingly muddled and frustratingly opaque.

Yet, I found it interesting to at last read a Witcher book that wasn't a short-story collection but which dealt with an underlying plot. I enjoyed, as I did in the short stories, how quick and witty the characters are to discuss matters of state, of political upheavals, and of rumors, so you could see how our destiny trio is, in fact, shaping events and the world around them even when they aren't present on the page. I loved the mystery behind Ciri as a Child Surprise and the prophecy she might defy or fulfill, without anyone truly understanding what she is or what it all could mean. I loved seeing the different ways Geralt and Yennefer protected and mentored Ciri, and I loved seeing Dandelion's continued loyalty towards Geralt, even though he didn't feature very much.

I still don't understand or enjoy Geralt and Yennefer's "romance" and I never will. The same could be said for Triss' romance with Geralt. It's not that I think Geralt is unfuckable. It's just that Sapkowski couldn't write a sensible, enjoyable romantic relationship if his life depended on it, and I've come to accept that fact. But hey, he wasn't totally weird about women here the way he is out of nowhere in the short stories. I have to clap.

I'm very excited to read The Time of Contempt. Let's see if I can finish this series in time to understand the allusions going on in The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, but if not, it's no loss. I'm clearly having fun with this fantasy series and its satirical examination of society.

storygirl1128's review against another edition

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adventurous funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

nclarke84's review against another edition

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2.0

A snail paced plot and incessant, unnecessary dialogue between characters major and minor really let this entry into the Witcher series down.

Technically the ‘first’ book in the series, I was surprised at the choices made to brush over the war between Nilfgaard and the Northern kingdoms and snub the reader from experiencing some epic high fantasy adventure battles, but then have characters talk about it throughout most of the book. The reader is ultimately not able to relate or empathise with the characters as deeply as if we had lived through the events too. It feels like I missed out an entire book in which depicted the war in all its glory (and I read the two short story entries).

I really hope the next book doesn’t disappoint as much but judging from the Goodreads reviews I have seen so far, I think at this stage it could be down to bad translations into English.