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sofijakryz 's review for:
The Tower of Fools
by Andrzej Sapkowski
Before I begin my review of Andrzej Sapkowski’s “Narrenturm”, I have to thank Gollancz.
I first read Sapkowski’s saga on the witcher Geralt way back in 2007. When I finished the series, I went to check with the local publisher if they had more Sapkowski. They didn’t. “But,” they reassured me, “There’s more that Sapkowski has written. Trilogija husycka. It’s more historical than fantasy, though. No, there’s no Lithuanian translation yet…”
Little did I know that “yet” was going to last. None of the publishing houses in Lithuania has chanced a risk of publishing the Hussite Trilogy. I ended up waiting. And waiting… And waiting… Thirteen. Years.
Thirteen bloody years! And they still haven’t even approached translating the Hussite Trilogy. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, though. Maybe. One day. If not me, maybe my descendants will live to see the Hussite Trilogy in Lithuanian one day. Maybe.
So I must thank Gollancz. And David French – him especially, for doing a great job with translating “Narrenturm”. These guys simply don’t realise what they did. Based on how frequently Google aligned my search for Latin idioms and aphorisms with queries for translation to Hungarian and other mid-/east European languages, I understand that they did a service to the whole region of mid-/east Europe.
Thank you, you crazy Brit publishers!
Let‘s get back to the review.
Before reading “Narrenturm“, I told myself to get rid of any presumptions, refuse any premature expectations, pretend that this is some other book written by somebody else. And I failed, for I still ended up expecting for Andrzej Sapkowski, for his Witcher. And yet, there are two things I have to tell: 1) this is not “The Witcher“ and you won‘t get any Geralt here; 2) if you haven‘t done so, read the main saga about the Witcher first.
So what‘s the story about? Well, imagine a young guy, one of those normal, lovely dudes that haven‘t yet been wrecked by life. A guy who would gladly enjoy it were it not that he‘s unlucky: he had the misfortune of having been born during the Medieval Ages. The times, when Inquisition is on rampage. When crussades against so called „heretics“ and pagans are common. When mass slaughtering as a means of making a point on whose interpretation of Christianity is the most righteous, virtuous and acceptable to the Almighty. When, if you‘re unlucky to make a hobby of magic, charms and herbs, your life can finish in smoke. When, if your knowledge of medicine exceeds that of prayers, bloodletting and leeches, someone can accuse you of witchcraft, and you end up losing your life in smoke. When it is dangerous to be a learned man, and more so, obtain your knowledge in a „wrong“ place. When, if you by accident end up in bed of a married woman, you may end up whipped, locked in a monastery or literally dismantled piece by piece. Just because. And if you‘re unlucky enough to be an open person and have an innate dislike for lies (adventures in bed don‘t count: for one thing, that‘s love, and who hasn‘t been in situation like that anyway?), and do not expect others to wring the hell out of you (maybe just because, maybe because they are afraid that it is them who will end up wrung out if they don‘t do that to others), and, against the warnings of friends and patrons, constantly blurt out something you shouldn‘t, you may end up running for your life.
This is exactly what happens to Reinmar of Bielawa, known as Reynevan by friends. Infatuation with a woman and desire to prove his truths to the world make him entangle in a chain of misadventures at a constant risk of losing his life. Head. Or other body parts. Though... would that those were mere misadventures.
On one hand, sharing so many character traits with Reynevan, I empathise with him strongly. Being gullible, too open, too trusting, expressing one‘s views, values and principles too loud, at a wrong place and wrong time, inability to foresee the circumstances, being stupidly stubborn... The list can go on and on. At the same time, when you consider the context (history), you facepalm and ask „Man, you‘ve just been hurt, and badly, will you learn?“
The story line itself oscillates. What I mean by that, is that when reading “Narrenturm“, you laugh at times. At times you creep the hell out. At times you cry out loud for fear of Reynevan and his companions. Yet, at times you wonder if there isn‘t a bit too much of running around from one horror to another. Also. Sapkowski has received some criticism from the fans of the Witcher saga for overusing destiny and its role. Here, the readers get even more lucky coincidences or jokes/traps of fate. However, once you near the end of the book and events big and small begin to fit the larger picture, you begin wondering what the hell (literally) Reynevan got himself into and how (or whether at all) will Sapkowski manage to get him out from all this.
However, what really impressed me most and what made me to carry on reading probably more than the story itself, was the historical and cultural background.
There are plenty of movies and books on the Medieval Ages, Inquisition, heretics or witches. However, compared to the general amount of those, literature on history of mid-/east Europe or crussades against movements requiring reformation of the Catholic Church (bear in mind this was at least a century before Marthin Luther‘s list nailed to the door of a church in Wittenberg), movements inspired by John Wycliffe‘s works or Jan Hus(s), are scarce. Maybe that‘s a regional/cultural thing (few things exist more political than history) but I remember only having read a few sentences on this during history classes. Yet here Sapkowski exploits extensive references to religious/cultural conflicts of the time and the events that led to them; texts of medieval intelectuals aiming to reform the Church; theological and philosophical debates on what is expected of a virtuous Christian or Catholic (including the medieval doublethink on biblical ideals and implementing those in practice); prophecies on who, when and under which circumstances will become the Pope of Rome, including the weird and twisted logic (so similar to that actually used in those days) on why one candidate or another fits the very obscure and symbolic metaphors mentioned in the prophecies (so reminiscent on „Gargantua and Pantagruel“ chapter on the ways to learn one‘s future by magic).
Cultural-geographical background was a killer. Events depicted in „Narrenturm“ occur in Silesia, the lands once ruled by the Polish Piast dukes, a family with royal blood. Over the last millenium, those lands exchanged hands mutiple time, existing as parts of nearby duchies or kingdoms of Bohemia, Poland and later – Prussia. Yet, at some point they enhoyed existence as independent duchies. The history of these lands is interesting to say the least. And that is reflected in the book, especially the cultural mixture in that region. Names of the characters (and their family/location names) are various combinations of German and Polish and the permutations of names they choose to present to other characters can often vary depending on situation. When reading “Narrenturm“, I had to improve my knowledge on Polish and German heraldry despite the characters (assumingly) communicating mostly in German and Latin. Or French or Italian (turns out that Sapkowski and his characters like Dante). Because inserts in these languages are often untranslated, I was made to improve my non-existent knowledge of Latin and other languages :)
Regarding languages and untranslated excerpts, I would so much love to learn what the original exchange between Reynevan and the Water Pole on the Odra river was :) Poor David French, put into a... situation by Sapkowski, creatively exploited English tongue twisters maintaining the joke. I understand why he chose to do so and compliment him on a clever way he found to get around it, although it had a cost – the readers are momentarily torn out from their immersion in medieval Silesia. There were a few other minor things, though. I wonder about justaucorps - was it that Sapkowski did not have a medieval description for that type of clothing, or was it something else? I also wonder why a Lithuanian name for Jogaila was used instead of Polish Jagiełło? Was it Sapkowski emphasising that our poor Jogaila never found his place in Polish history, or is it an artefact of translation? And the final thing: why was “Narrenturm“ and why will “Lux perpetua“ be anglicised? If it's counting orens had versus orens not yet had rather than patronising the reader, it‘s fine. Sapkowski must have approved it, after all...
Minor curiosities aside, I have to say David French did a wonderful job of translating “Narrenturm“ and I really enjoyed reading it in English.
Back to the review.
I so enjoyed the details. When reading the Witcher saga, I counted some 15-20 types of weapons, including all sorts of varieties of swords, war axes, maces, pikes and pike-like thingies that have to be googled out just to know what they are. They are also present in „Narrenturm“ and are supplemented with, it turns out, already existing firearms. There is bunchloads of information on all sorts of shields and armour and their pieces. Information on the orders of knights. In general, on (sub)culture of knights. I have always imagined that was sort of western European thing, only familiar in our region through the orders of militant monks or the crussaders. Turns out that the Poles also had their knight culture, including knights that became legendary heroes! And so little is known about that! Or about such phenomena as Raubritters…
There is plenty of information on the clothing and fashions of the time as well. Detalised to the level of who wore underwear of which fabric… Diet… From ducal dinner table the advent fasting of the commoners…
In other words, this book is not for a lazy reader. You will have to google a lot. I do recommend to keep your smartphones charged or keep power banks at hand. Of course, you can laze out and choose not to google. However, in that case, you are going to lose a lot.
I have to conclude: when doing research for ”Narrenturm”, Sapkowski must have been reading like a blasting animal.
To be fair, I have a feeling that, in a way, Sapkowski wrote this book for himself. Or for his most dedicated readers. He constantly plays around with his readers, trolling them mildly. Not only through “Do you know this? But then you won’t know this! Or that! And that was anachronistic, gotcha! By the way, how’s your Latin?”
Check the excerpt from the caption on Chapter Two: „Meanhile, Reynevan himself is wandering around the woods near Oleśnica. The author is sparing in his descriptions of that trek, hence the reader – nolens volens – will have to imagine it.“ And what do you think? I ended up having to.
Or Chapter Fourteen: „Which describes events happening the same evening as those in the preceding chapter, but in a different place: in a city about eight miles away in a north-easterly direction as the crow flies. A glance at a map of Silesia, which the author warmly encourages the reader to take, will reveal which city is being discussed.“
Because he just could not name the city, could he? |-(
Oh Sapkowski, you old devil. This is exactly why we love you.
He plays around with the genre, too. Or experiments, more like. ”Narrenturm” is a very serious historical book. Its prologue is superb. Detalisation, too. And I love Sapkowski undertaking the role of a historian, of a thinker seriously. However, we should not forget that he is a very serious fantasy writer, too. He actually goes an extra mile doing the seemingly impossible: he pulls off the high literature with its deep, emotionally heavy ideas off a high horse and combines it with lowly fantasy. So it is possible after all. It’s just that other fantasy writers rarely take upon eclecticism and punk-like rebelling.
So don’t expect the Witcher. Though there are some potential overlaps. Unconventional, interesting characters. Exorcisms :) And… I'm curious what was the original name of Hans Mein Igel. I really wonder if he is a reference to the Witcher, or not.
Apart from that, some fantasy elements at first looked weird. I wondered, why. Was it because the historical background set a very un-magical atmosphere? But… when you come to think on all sorts of bullsh*t real, physical people would conjure up for the Inquisition, say, something about their neighbour flying out the chimney astride a pestle to bewitch your cow so it stops giving milk (random, unrelated example), those elements come up in completely different light. Coincidentally, by accident, when reading “Narrenturm”, I came across a book on witch trials in Lithuania. Check the equivalents in your countries and you will be surprised by these elements used by Sapkowski.
Magic used by the characters of The Hussite Trilogy is absolutely different from that used by the characters in the Witcher saga. Mostly because they are either real, recorded practices or creation based on those (try the bookstore on Store Street in London – they have immense literature collection on magic, witchcraft, charms and arcanum - and you will see). Because magic in real life is a bit… limited at best, so is magic in ”Narrenturm”. Except for when Sapkowski decides to enhance its potential (see Reynevan’s “Wirfe Saltze…” or Circulos’s diagrams).
I am awed at how many years of careful research had to be spent to collect all this information and then read and think it through to turn it all into this book.
Not to mention the themes it covers. Betrayal; love; blind, foamy revenge; false righteousness; misdirected sanctification; fanaticism; culture of reporting on someone to save your arse; gap between ideals and reality… Plenty of parallels for everyday life, all effectively portrayed.
So how could I not enjoy it?
And yet, this book was something utterly different from what I expected. It is totally, absolutely different from the Witcher saga. Yet so complex, multi-layered, rich. I will definitely return to examine it. And it managed something ”Season of Storms” was unable to do: when reading ”Narrenturm”, I feel that after so many long years, the emptiness I’ve been feeling since closing the last page of “The Lady of the Lake”, is finally beginning to heal over.
My advice - give this book a chance. Read it slowly and carefully. Read around. And when reading, treat yourself to the soundtrack for the Polish version of “Narrenturm” audiobook, music created by talented composers Adam Skorupa and Krzysztof Wierzynkiewicz.
I first read Sapkowski’s saga on the witcher Geralt way back in 2007. When I finished the series, I went to check with the local publisher if they had more Sapkowski. They didn’t. “But,” they reassured me, “There’s more that Sapkowski has written. Trilogija husycka. It’s more historical than fantasy, though. No, there’s no Lithuanian translation yet…”
Little did I know that “yet” was going to last. None of the publishing houses in Lithuania has chanced a risk of publishing the Hussite Trilogy. I ended up waiting. And waiting… And waiting… Thirteen. Years.
Thirteen bloody years! And they still haven’t even approached translating the Hussite Trilogy. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, though. Maybe. One day. If not me, maybe my descendants will live to see the Hussite Trilogy in Lithuanian one day. Maybe.
So I must thank Gollancz. And David French – him especially, for doing a great job with translating “Narrenturm”. These guys simply don’t realise what they did. Based on how frequently Google aligned my search for Latin idioms and aphorisms with queries for translation to Hungarian and other mid-/east European languages, I understand that they did a service to the whole region of mid-/east Europe.
Thank you, you crazy Brit publishers!
Let‘s get back to the review.
Before reading “Narrenturm“, I told myself to get rid of any presumptions, refuse any premature expectations, pretend that this is some other book written by somebody else. And I failed, for I still ended up expecting for Andrzej Sapkowski, for his Witcher. And yet, there are two things I have to tell: 1) this is not “The Witcher“ and you won‘t get any Geralt here; 2) if you haven‘t done so, read the main saga about the Witcher first.
So what‘s the story about? Well, imagine a young guy, one of those normal, lovely dudes that haven‘t yet been wrecked by life. A guy who would gladly enjoy it were it not that he‘s unlucky: he had the misfortune of having been born during the Medieval Ages. The times, when Inquisition is on rampage. When crussades against so called „heretics“ and pagans are common. When mass slaughtering as a means of making a point on whose interpretation of Christianity is the most righteous, virtuous and acceptable to the Almighty. When, if you‘re unlucky to make a hobby of magic, charms and herbs, your life can finish in smoke. When, if your knowledge of medicine exceeds that of prayers, bloodletting and leeches, someone can accuse you of witchcraft, and you end up losing your life in smoke. When it is dangerous to be a learned man, and more so, obtain your knowledge in a „wrong“ place. When, if you by accident end up in bed of a married woman, you may end up whipped, locked in a monastery or literally dismantled piece by piece. Just because. And if you‘re unlucky enough to be an open person and have an innate dislike for lies (adventures in bed don‘t count: for one thing, that‘s love, and who hasn‘t been in situation like that anyway?), and do not expect others to wring the hell out of you (maybe just because, maybe because they are afraid that it is them who will end up wrung out if they don‘t do that to others), and, against the warnings of friends and patrons, constantly blurt out something you shouldn‘t, you may end up running for your life.
This is exactly what happens to Reinmar of Bielawa, known as Reynevan by friends. Infatuation with a woman and desire to prove his truths to the world make him entangle in a chain of misadventures at a constant risk of losing his life. Head. Or other body parts. Though... would that those were mere misadventures.
On one hand, sharing so many character traits with Reynevan, I empathise with him strongly. Being gullible, too open, too trusting, expressing one‘s views, values and principles too loud, at a wrong place and wrong time, inability to foresee the circumstances, being stupidly stubborn... The list can go on and on. At the same time, when you consider the context (history), you facepalm and ask „Man, you‘ve just been hurt, and badly, will you learn?“
The story line itself oscillates. What I mean by that, is that when reading “Narrenturm“, you laugh at times. At times you creep the hell out. At times you cry out loud for fear of Reynevan and his companions. Yet, at times you wonder if there isn‘t a bit too much of running around from one horror to another. Also. Sapkowski has received some criticism from the fans of the Witcher saga for overusing destiny and its role. Here, the readers get even more lucky coincidences or jokes/traps of fate. However, once you near the end of the book and events big and small begin to fit the larger picture, you begin wondering what the hell (literally) Reynevan got himself into and how (or whether at all) will Sapkowski manage to get him out from all this.
However, what really impressed me most and what made me to carry on reading probably more than the story itself, was the historical and cultural background.
There are plenty of movies and books on the Medieval Ages, Inquisition, heretics or witches. However, compared to the general amount of those, literature on history of mid-/east Europe or crussades against movements requiring reformation of the Catholic Church (bear in mind this was at least a century before Marthin Luther‘s list nailed to the door of a church in Wittenberg), movements inspired by John Wycliffe‘s works or Jan Hus(s), are scarce. Maybe that‘s a regional/cultural thing (few things exist more political than history) but I remember only having read a few sentences on this during history classes. Yet here Sapkowski exploits extensive references to religious/cultural conflicts of the time and the events that led to them; texts of medieval intelectuals aiming to reform the Church; theological and philosophical debates on what is expected of a virtuous Christian or Catholic (including the medieval doublethink on biblical ideals and implementing those in practice); prophecies on who, when and under which circumstances will become the Pope of Rome, including the weird and twisted logic (so similar to that actually used in those days) on why one candidate or another fits the very obscure and symbolic metaphors mentioned in the prophecies (so reminiscent on „Gargantua and Pantagruel“ chapter on the ways to learn one‘s future by magic).
Cultural-geographical background was a killer. Events depicted in „Narrenturm“ occur in Silesia, the lands once ruled by the Polish Piast dukes, a family with royal blood. Over the last millenium, those lands exchanged hands mutiple time, existing as parts of nearby duchies or kingdoms of Bohemia, Poland and later – Prussia. Yet, at some point they enhoyed existence as independent duchies. The history of these lands is interesting to say the least. And that is reflected in the book, especially the cultural mixture in that region. Names of the characters (and their family/location names) are various combinations of German and Polish and the permutations of names they choose to present to other characters can often vary depending on situation. When reading “Narrenturm“, I had to improve my knowledge on Polish and German heraldry despite the characters (assumingly) communicating mostly in German and Latin. Or French or Italian (turns out that Sapkowski and his characters like Dante). Because inserts in these languages are often untranslated, I was made to improve my non-existent knowledge of Latin and other languages :)
Regarding languages and untranslated excerpts, I would so much love to learn what the original exchange between Reynevan and the Water Pole on the Odra river was :) Poor David French, put into a... situation by Sapkowski, creatively exploited English tongue twisters maintaining the joke. I understand why he chose to do so and compliment him on a clever way he found to get around it, although it had a cost – the readers are momentarily torn out from their immersion in medieval Silesia. There were a few other minor things, though. I wonder about justaucorps - was it that Sapkowski did not have a medieval description for that type of clothing, or was it something else? I also wonder why a Lithuanian name for Jogaila was used instead of Polish Jagiełło? Was it Sapkowski emphasising that our poor Jogaila never found his place in Polish history, or is it an artefact of translation? And the final thing: why was “Narrenturm“ and why will “Lux perpetua“ be anglicised? If it's counting orens had versus orens not yet had rather than patronising the reader, it‘s fine. Sapkowski must have approved it, after all...
Minor curiosities aside, I have to say David French did a wonderful job of translating “Narrenturm“ and I really enjoyed reading it in English.
Back to the review.
I so enjoyed the details. When reading the Witcher saga, I counted some 15-20 types of weapons, including all sorts of varieties of swords, war axes, maces, pikes and pike-like thingies that have to be googled out just to know what they are. They are also present in „Narrenturm“ and are supplemented with, it turns out, already existing firearms. There is bunchloads of information on all sorts of shields and armour and their pieces. Information on the orders of knights. In general, on (sub)culture of knights. I have always imagined that was sort of western European thing, only familiar in our region through the orders of militant monks or the crussaders. Turns out that the Poles also had their knight culture, including knights that became legendary heroes! And so little is known about that! Or about such phenomena as Raubritters…
There is plenty of information on the clothing and fashions of the time as well. Detalised to the level of who wore underwear of which fabric… Diet… From ducal dinner table the advent fasting of the commoners…
In other words, this book is not for a lazy reader. You will have to google a lot. I do recommend to keep your smartphones charged or keep power banks at hand. Of course, you can laze out and choose not to google. However, in that case, you are going to lose a lot.
I have to conclude: when doing research for ”Narrenturm”, Sapkowski must have been reading like a blasting animal.
To be fair, I have a feeling that, in a way, Sapkowski wrote this book for himself. Or for his most dedicated readers. He constantly plays around with his readers, trolling them mildly. Not only through “Do you know this? But then you won’t know this! Or that! And that was anachronistic, gotcha! By the way, how’s your Latin?”
Check the excerpt from the caption on Chapter Two: „Meanhile, Reynevan himself is wandering around the woods near Oleśnica. The author is sparing in his descriptions of that trek, hence the reader – nolens volens – will have to imagine it.“ And what do you think? I ended up having to.
Or Chapter Fourteen: „Which describes events happening the same evening as those in the preceding chapter, but in a different place: in a city about eight miles away in a north-easterly direction as the crow flies. A glance at a map of Silesia, which the author warmly encourages the reader to take, will reveal which city is being discussed.“
Because he just could not name the city, could he? |-(
Oh Sapkowski, you old devil. This is exactly why we love you.
He plays around with the genre, too. Or experiments, more like. ”Narrenturm” is a very serious historical book. Its prologue is superb. Detalisation, too. And I love Sapkowski undertaking the role of a historian, of a thinker seriously. However, we should not forget that he is a very serious fantasy writer, too. He actually goes an extra mile doing the seemingly impossible: he pulls off the high literature with its deep, emotionally heavy ideas off a high horse and combines it with lowly fantasy. So it is possible after all. It’s just that other fantasy writers rarely take upon eclecticism and punk-like rebelling.
So don’t expect the Witcher. Though there are some potential overlaps. Unconventional, interesting characters. Exorcisms :) And… I'm curious what was the original name of Hans Mein Igel. I really wonder if he is a reference to the Witcher, or not.
Apart from that, some fantasy elements at first looked weird. I wondered, why. Was it because the historical background set a very un-magical atmosphere? But… when you come to think on all sorts of bullsh*t real, physical people would conjure up for the Inquisition, say, something about their neighbour flying out the chimney astride a pestle to bewitch your cow so it stops giving milk (random, unrelated example), those elements come up in completely different light. Coincidentally, by accident, when reading “Narrenturm”, I came across a book on witch trials in Lithuania. Check the equivalents in your countries and you will be surprised by these elements used by Sapkowski.
Magic used by the characters of The Hussite Trilogy is absolutely different from that used by the characters in the Witcher saga. Mostly because they are either real, recorded practices or creation based on those (try the bookstore on Store Street in London – they have immense literature collection on magic, witchcraft, charms and arcanum - and you will see). Because magic in real life is a bit… limited at best, so is magic in ”Narrenturm”. Except for when Sapkowski decides to enhance its potential (see Reynevan’s “Wirfe Saltze…” or Circulos’s diagrams).
I am awed at how many years of careful research had to be spent to collect all this information and then read and think it through to turn it all into this book.
Not to mention the themes it covers. Betrayal; love; blind, foamy revenge; false righteousness; misdirected sanctification; fanaticism; culture of reporting on someone to save your arse; gap between ideals and reality… Plenty of parallels for everyday life, all effectively portrayed.
So how could I not enjoy it?
And yet, this book was something utterly different from what I expected. It is totally, absolutely different from the Witcher saga. Yet so complex, multi-layered, rich. I will definitely return to examine it. And it managed something ”Season of Storms” was unable to do: when reading ”Narrenturm”, I feel that after so many long years, the emptiness I’ve been feeling since closing the last page of “The Lady of the Lake”, is finally beginning to heal over.
My advice - give this book a chance. Read it slowly and carefully. Read around. And when reading, treat yourself to the soundtrack for the Polish version of “Narrenturm” audiobook, music created by talented composers Adam Skorupa and Krzysztof Wierzynkiewicz.