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A review by ycsmne
Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski
5.0
So this is where the actual story begins? This book takes off a while after the events of the last anthology of short stories. While the short stories focused on a selection of random adventures and endeavours of Geralt throughout the continent which served as an introduction to the world, this one had a direction and a plot.
You have the usual premise of classic fantasy: the looming threat of war over the continent, a prophecy of imminent doom, the lost princess who is destined to be the saviour, lots of talk about destiny, the racial conflict between humans and non-humans (which mostly stemmed from the humans being total assholes)....etc. You know, The Usual. // BUT ITS THE EXECUTION THAT MATTERS //
New locations in the map were explored but I wouldn't know if I already passed these locations in the prequels since I didn't go looking for a map up until now (it's a really bigass map). I found myself nose deep in talk of politics and wars and courts which served as a great tool of world-building as lots of information about the history and geography of the setting were revealed in *very long* conversations between some characters.
The world is brilliant, rich, complex and very well developed. And I surprisingly found myself enjoying learning all the little details about it. I felt I didn't struggle with any of that frustration and confusion that usually accompany reading high fantasy.
I loved how well written the female characters were,--- it's a pleasant surprise what with the book being written back then and the timeline set even earlier.
We got to see a handful of new characters that I would love to read more about and we followed some aside from Geralt for a change.
Reading about Ciri was a delight, especially the interactions between her and Geralt and her and Yennefer. Each has such a special bond with her, posing as parental figures guiding her and looking after her
You have the usual premise of classic fantasy: the looming threat of war over the continent, a prophecy of imminent doom, the lost princess who is destined to be the saviour, lots of talk about destiny, the racial conflict between humans and non-humans (which mostly stemmed from the humans being total assholes)....etc. You know, The Usual. // BUT ITS THE EXECUTION THAT MATTERS //
New locations in the map were explored but I wouldn't know if I already passed these locations in the prequels since I didn't go looking for a map up until now (it's a really bigass map). I found myself nose deep in talk of politics and wars and courts which served as a great tool of world-building as lots of information about the history and geography of the setting were revealed in *very long* conversations between some characters.
The world is brilliant, rich, complex and very well developed. And I surprisingly found myself enjoying learning all the little details about it. I felt I didn't struggle with any of that frustration and confusion that usually accompany reading high fantasy.
I loved how well written the female characters were,--- it's a pleasant surprise what with the book being written back then and the timeline set even earlier.
We got to see a handful of new characters that I would love to read more about and we followed some aside from Geralt for a change.
Reading about Ciri was a delight, especially the interactions between her and Geralt and her and Yennefer. Each has such a special bond with her, posing as parental figures guiding her and looking after her