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A review by mcfoster
Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski
3.0
Welcome to a familiar setting, especially if you've got a passing familiarity with the Forgotten Realms/D&D franchise. Humans, elves, half-elves, dwarves, gnomes and halflings. Druids, priests, warriors, bards and enchantresses/wizards. Along with that, we've got an orphaned princess with a prophesy hanging over her, whom everyone needs to protect - and she's being trained as a skilled fighter and a powerful mage against the backdrop of an invasion by an Evil Empire.
All the same, despite the setting and the backbone of the plot being familiar to the point of being a cliche, there's plenty to enjoy and several aspects that make this work memorable.
* Ciri doesn't come across as a Mary Sue - you see her struggles to master witcher fighting skills and to learn magic. Her combination of naivety, curiosity and recklessness makes this a good depiction of a thirteen-year-old girl, and makes her sympathetic.
* There are plenty of amusing and sometimes thought-provoking one- and two-liners. The best would have to be Geralt's comparison to global politics to a catfight as he explains his neutrality, and the descriptions of the activities in and around the magical academy (it's thirsty work...)
* The fight scene on the boat, enlivened by Linus Pitt's attempts to determine the taxonomy of the water monster, and the annoying Everett - pure gold for a blend of comedy and action.
* Sapkowski manages to give plenty of necessary background information without excessive info-dumping, such as during the interracial debate about whether Dandilion's ballad is true or not, and when Ciri consults Jarre.
* The translator has done a great job with names so they have a familiar quasi-Celtic ring to English readers - although I wonder what the original had instead of "Oxenfurt" for the university town.
However, I'm only giving this three stars because it was a bit rambling, and although it's fun seeing Ciri develop and the political situation grow complex, there's no clear goal (apart from "keep Ciri safe") and the book has something of a cliffhanger ending and leaves some questions unanswered. There's also quite a lot of Ciri's training told in a set of flashbacks that make it difficult to work out what's happening in the past and what's in the present. Will I read the next one in the series? Maybe, but it won't be on the top of my TBR list.
All the same, despite the setting and the backbone of the plot being familiar to the point of being a cliche, there's plenty to enjoy and several aspects that make this work memorable.
* Ciri doesn't come across as a Mary Sue - you see her struggles to master witcher fighting skills and to learn magic. Her combination of naivety, curiosity and recklessness makes this a good depiction of a thirteen-year-old girl, and makes her sympathetic.
* There are plenty of amusing and sometimes thought-provoking one- and two-liners. The best would have to be Geralt's comparison to global politics to a catfight as he explains his neutrality, and the descriptions of the activities in and around the magical academy (it's thirsty work...)
* The fight scene on the boat, enlivened by Linus Pitt's attempts to determine the taxonomy of the water monster, and the annoying Everett - pure gold for a blend of comedy and action.
* Sapkowski manages to give plenty of necessary background information without excessive info-dumping, such as during the interracial debate about whether Dandilion's ballad is true or not, and when Ciri consults Jarre.
* The translator has done a great job with names so they have a familiar quasi-Celtic ring to English readers - although I wonder what the original had instead of "Oxenfurt" for the university town.
However, I'm only giving this three stars because it was a bit rambling, and although it's fun seeing Ciri develop and the political situation grow complex, there's no clear goal (apart from "keep Ciri safe") and the book has something of a cliffhanger ending and leaves some questions unanswered. There's also quite a lot of Ciri's training told in a set of flashbacks that make it difficult to work out what's happening in the past and what's in the present. Will I read the next one in the series? Maybe, but it won't be on the top of my TBR list.