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A review by sarahdm
Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Misogynistic at its worst and boring at its best, Blood of Elves fit in with the other books of this mediocre series just fine.
The first half of the book is just "Four Witchers and a Baby" which I feel like could be really fun if we weren't constantly bombarded with reminders of how weak woman are because of their periods and the none stop sexualization of a 13 year old child. Not to mention the other 2 women in the book being jealous of said 13 year old. Both Triss and Yen are just being horrible caricatures of a bitchy, overly sexualized woman. They don't have any character trait passed "Down bad for Geralt and will scratch out the eyes of anyone who gets in my way." Sapkowski is completely incapable of writing a good female character or creating an environment where a potentially interesting female character could thrive. But I think I have complained enough about this in my review for Sword of Destiny.
The other half is fantasy racism and politics. It was so incredible boring. I could not get invested at all. At least in The Last Wish, the action and story was interesting enough to at least pay attention.
Also what the hell happened to the writing? Sapkowski is relying very heavily on dialog in this one, its a miracle when we get a description of anything (besides breasts of course, we get PLENTY of descriptions for that). We are also constantly jumping around from different characters and different time line. Like this is so obviously Ciri's book but we kept being all over the place. And the ending being "but little did they know of the dark times ahead. Anyway, the end!" Lazy. I know Sapkowski can do better than this.
Lambert and Dandelion's bits were great. These are characters I actually really enjoyed. Ciri was also great, I just wish she wasn't put though Sapkowski's writing.
2-2.5 stars.
The first half of the book is just "Four Witchers and a Baby" which I feel like could be really fun if we weren't constantly bombarded with reminders of how weak woman are because of their periods and the none stop sexualization of a 13 year old child. Not to mention the other 2 women in the book being jealous of said 13 year old. Both Triss and Yen are just being horrible caricatures of a bitchy, overly sexualized woman. They don't have any character trait passed "Down bad for Geralt and will scratch out the eyes of anyone who gets in my way." Sapkowski is completely incapable of writing a good female character or creating an environment where a potentially interesting female character could thrive. But I think I have complained enough about this in my review for Sword of Destiny.
The other half is fantasy racism and politics. It was so incredible boring. I could not get invested at all. At least in The Last Wish, the action and story was interesting enough to at least pay attention.
Also what the hell happened to the writing? Sapkowski is relying very heavily on dialog in this one, its a miracle when we get a description of anything (besides breasts of course, we get PLENTY of descriptions for that). We are also constantly jumping around from different characters and different time line. Like this is so obviously Ciri's book but we kept being all over the place. And the ending being "but little did they know of the dark times ahead. Anyway, the end!" Lazy. I know Sapkowski can do better than this.
Lambert and Dandelion's bits were great. These are characters I actually really enjoyed. Ciri was also great, I just wish she wasn't put though Sapkowski's writing.
2-2.5 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism and Misogyny