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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
I love The Witcher series, and thanks to the narration / performance by Peter Kenny, the audiobooks are my favourite. So much so that I prefer his voices especially for Geralt, and Dandelion, than in the recent 'Witcher 3: Wild Hunt' video game.
'The Tower Of The Swallow' starts with Ciri being nursed back to health by a hermit who finds her in the swamps near his home close to death. After regaining her strength she recounts to him how she ended up where he found her, before she leaves for the Tower of the Swallow.
The story is mostly told in flashbacks, which was a bit confusing at times, with all the jumping around the different threads of the story. Although once Ciri finishes her tale to the hermit, things start to move forward, and quickly towards the conclusion of the book.
As much as I enjoyed the book, and I really did, I felt that this installment was the weakest so far. Still an enjoyable experience, especially with the brilliant narration from Peter Kenny, and now look forward to how it all ends with the next and final book in series, 'The Lady Of The Lake' when it's published in 2017.
'The Tower Of The Swallow' starts with Ciri being nursed back to health by a hermit who finds her in the swamps near his home close to death. After regaining her strength she recounts to him how she ended up where he found her, before she leaves for the Tower of the Swallow.
The story is mostly told in flashbacks, which was a bit confusing at times, with all the jumping around the different threads of the story. Although once Ciri finishes her tale to the hermit, things start to move forward, and quickly towards the conclusion of the book.
As much as I enjoyed the book, and I really did, I felt that this installment was the weakest so far. Still an enjoyable experience, especially with the brilliant narration from Peter Kenny, and now look forward to how it all ends with the next and final book in series, 'The Lady Of The Lake' when it's published in 2017.
More of the last book. Everyone runs around doing nothing useful. The details don't match up and all the linguistic dancing around makes it a tedious, clunky read.
This is the most confusing one so far. Still fun stories but the 300 timelines and 6000 characters can be a bit confusing, specially when you’re listening to the book
Nonetheless this is the story of Ciri after she joins the rats.
I cannot recommend Peter Kenny enough you guys.
Nonetheless this is the story of Ciri after she joins the rats.
I cannot recommend Peter Kenny enough you guys.
Unusual phenomena usher in an early autumn as Ciri is orphaned from the Rats and sets off on a quest to meet her destiny. The chronology here is all over the place, alternating between the autumn equinox and Saovine as it backtracks to explain the sequence of events. It's also the longest book so far, with a politics-heavy middle section and a huge cast--often confusing as a result, but it's still rewarding to watch the pieces come together. Structure aside, this has a strong atmosphere (a perfect autumn book, haunted and eerie) and gives Ciri generous page time and development. She's as phenomenal as always--here, traumatized, impetuous, but brilliant in her adolescence, foiled by the aged hermit that takes her in. Yennefer's ruthless pursuit of her daughter is equally compelling. (These fantastic female characters doesn't excuse the sexism seeded in the larger worldbuilding.) This isn't the most effective of the Witcher novels, but it's one of the most engaging by virtue its mythic leanings and core cast.
The story is getting better and the different narrative styles really make the book an interesting read.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a hard book to rate. I ended up going with four stars, but I wish I could give it more of a three and a half stars rating. The story itself was entertaining and interesting, however I did find myself wishing to have more Geralt. As this story was much more about Ciri and the Hermit, Bonhart, Skelly Owl, Vilgefortz and Rience, Yennefer, and Triss.
Overall, a couple of disjointed thoughts/gripes:
-The narrative was very much all over the place, jumping back and forth in time with new characters. This was pretty difficult to follow at times, but I found it much easier once I found a detailed Witcher world map online. To be able to keep track in my head of where all these different characters were located throughout the story.
-Leo Bonhart was a very good villain and addition to the story, there were quite some gruesome scenes described with him and he's a true psychopath which makes it easy to root for Ciri against him.
-I still find myself struggling with the translation at times, it seems to be a lot clunkier than it needs to be in several parts. It makes sense after re-reading a few times, but I've noticed it more and more throughout the past few books. I'm interested to start a different fantasy series once I've finished and see if it's noticeably less difficult to take in.
-Cahir is an extremely interesting character to me, and I find myself quite interested in his involvement in Geralt's group and what his true motivations are and have been. They seemed to have been revealed when he was discussing one on one with Geralt after their tussele, but I'm interested to see if this gets resolved and how it does in the last book.
Overall, a couple of disjointed thoughts/gripes:
-The narrative was very much all over the place, jumping back and forth in time with new characters. This was pretty difficult to follow at times, but I found it much easier once I found a detailed Witcher world map online. To be able to keep track in my head of where all these different characters were located throughout the story.
-Leo Bonhart was a very good villain and addition to the story, there were quite some gruesome scenes described with him and he's a true psychopath which makes it easy to root for Ciri against him.
-I still find myself struggling with the translation at times, it seems to be a lot clunkier than it needs to be in several parts. It makes sense after re-reading a few times, but I've noticed it more and more throughout the past few books. I'm interested to start a different fantasy series once I've finished and see if it's noticeably less difficult to take in.
-Cahir is an extremely interesting character to me, and I find myself quite interested in his involvement in Geralt's group and what his true motivations are and have been. They seemed to have been revealed when he was discussing one on one with Geralt after their tussele, but I'm interested to see if this gets resolved and how it does in the last book.
Out of all the books. This is by far the best. So much is happening and each chapter is great
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The final scene on the frozen lake was fantastic!
The narrative was a bit confusing at first, but didn't take long to get used to. Very reminiscent of how the plot unfolds in many films and TV shows, with the main character recalling events at a point later in the story.
The narrative was a bit confusing at first, but didn't take long to get used to. Very reminiscent of how the plot unfolds in many films and TV shows, with the main character recalling events at a point later in the story.