Reviews

Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski

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hirvimaki's review against another edition

3.0

I liked it. But only because I watched the Netflix series before reading it. Already knowing the characters (from the TV series) was helpful in keeping things straight. I was informed that starting with #1 is not the way to read the series and I may try picking up the books in the order suggested. (Thank you, Sara L.)

bananapancakes211's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

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

3.75

malu's review against another edition

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funny reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

3.5

trinitybuchanan11's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

mpruett's review against another edition

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5.0

Summary: A pretty fantastic if somewhat, typical fantasy story; though I will say this is finally a really good start to what is a longer story.

I’m working my way through the Witcher novels, and overall, they’re good. I don’t really know that they’re amazing, but I have enjoyed reading them and I love the characters.

I will say that this feels like the start of a series, whereas the last two books felt a little bit more independent of the series as a whole. It’s very clear that this book is the set up for everything coming after it and I’ve really enjoyed that. It isn’t just some standalone adventure.

Like all things Witcher, you sort of have to like this genre of fiction or it really won’t be for you. It’s sort of a little bit of a gritty, political, monster killer story without a ton of monsters; though it might be fair to say that one of the large principles the book series teaches is that the real monsters are often humans.

I had a good time reading this, but I am a huge fan of the Witcher universe so that makes sense. I don’t know that I would recommend these to just anybody. You’d really need to be a fan of the whole sword and sorcery fantasy genre. If you’re not, this book’s not gonna do anything for you.