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shrvyne's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder
catriona99674's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is definitely my least favourite of the Witcher books so far. It felt like mostly exposition. The random POVs made the pacing odd and it ended in a very strange place.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment
fiveredhens's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
favorite quotes:
CW: sexual harassment
'Right, then,' said that smile, 'what are we going to do now? You'll blush sweetly and that'll be the end of it, won't it?' It was clear the priest had never had to deal with one of Yennefer's pupils. 'Keep your hands to yourself, baldy!' yelled Ciri, white with rage. 'Grab your own arse, you … You whitewashed tomb!'
'What are we going to be doing, Yen?'
"Circulating around the hall, greeting people, paying them compliments, engaging in conversation ... Stop tugging your doublet and flattening your hair.'
'You wouldn't let me wear a headband.'
'Your headband's pretentious.'
'I'm dreaming of a painting in the Gallery of Glory. The two of us seated at a table and on a brass plaque the title: Vilgefortz of Roggeveen entering into a pact with Geralt of Rivia.'
'That would be an allegory,' said the Witcher, 'with the title: Knowledge Triumphing Over Ignorance. l'd prefer a more realistic painting, entitled: In Which Vilgefortz Explains To Geralt What This ls All About.'
'Enough,' said Geralt. 'Not another word. When I hear the word "game"I feel like killing someone. Oh, give me that razor. I want to have that shave at last.'
'Now? It's still dark.'
'It's never too dark for me. I'm a freak.'
'No!' she cries. 'Be gone! You are corpses!' The King of the Wild Hunt laughs, the rotten teeth snapping above his rusted gorget. The skull's eye sockets glitter lividly.
Yes, we are corpses. But you are death.
Yes, he answered in his thoughts, you're not mistaken. There is only she, Yennefer, at my side, here and now, and only she matters. Here and now. And what she was long ago, where she was long ago and who she was with long ago doesn't have any, doesn't have the slightest importance. Now she's with me, here, among you all. With me, with no one else. That's what I'm thinking right now, thinking only about her, thinking endlessly about her, smelling the scent of her perfume and the warmth of her body. And you can all choke on your envy.
Geralt knew that, in moments like this, the enchantress's telepathic abilities were sharpened and very powerful, so he thought about beautiful matters and beautiful things. About things which would give her joy. About the exploding brightness of the sunrise. About fog suspended over a mountain lake at dawn. About crystal waterfalls, with salmon leaping up them, gleaming as though made of solid silver. About warm drops of rain hitting burdock leaves, heavy with dew. He thought for her and Yennefer smiled, listening to his thoughts.
He was quiet. He was angry with himself. As he had been thinking for her, he had accidentally allowed her to read a thought about herself.
'A pretty dream,' said Yennefer, stroking him lightly on the shoulder. 'A home. A house built with your own hands, and you and I in that house. You would keep horses and sheep, and I would have a little garden, cook food and card wool which we would take to market. With the pennies earned from selling the wool and various crops we would buy what we needed; let's say some copper cauldrons and an iron rake. Every now and then, Ciri would visit us with her husband and three children, and Triss Merigold would occasionally look in, to stay for a few days. We'd grow old together, beautifully and with dignity. And should I ever get bored, you would play for me in the evening on your homemade bagpipes. Playing the bagpipes – as everyone knows – is the best remedy for depression.'
'Ciri was right,' whispered the Witcher. "Neutrality... Neutrality is always contemptible.'
'Geralt … Listen to me—'
'Listen to what?' shouted the Witcher, before his voice suddenly faltered. 'I can't leave—I can't just leave her to her fate. She's completely alone ... She cannot be left alone, Dandelion. You'll never understand that. No one will ever understand that, but I konw. If she remains alone, the same thing will happen to her as once happened to me... You'll never understand that ...'
it's all right
CW: sexual harassment
'Right, then,' said that smile, 'what are we going to do now? You'll blush sweetly and that'll be the end of it, won't it?' It was clear the priest had never had to deal with one of Yennefer's pupils. 'Keep your hands to yourself, baldy!' yelled Ciri, white with rage. 'Grab your own arse, you … You whitewashed tomb!'
'What are we going to be doing, Yen?'
"Circulating around the hall, greeting people, paying them compliments, engaging in conversation ... Stop tugging your doublet and flattening your hair.'
'You wouldn't let me wear a headband.'
'Your headband's pretentious.'
'I'm dreaming of a painting in the Gallery of Glory. The two of us seated at a table and on a brass plaque the title: Vilgefortz of Roggeveen entering into a pact with Geralt of Rivia.'
'That would be an allegory,' said the Witcher, 'with the title: Knowledge Triumphing Over Ignorance. l'd prefer a more realistic painting, entitled: In Which Vilgefortz Explains To Geralt What This ls All About.'
'Enough,' said Geralt. 'Not another word. When I hear the word "game"I feel like killing someone. Oh, give me that razor. I want to have that shave at last.'
'Now? It's still dark.'
'It's never too dark for me. I'm a freak.'
'No!' she cries. 'Be gone! You are corpses!' The King of the Wild Hunt laughs, the rotten teeth snapping above his rusted gorget. The skull's eye sockets glitter lividly.
Yes, we are corpses. But you are death.
Yes, he answered in his thoughts, you're not mistaken. There is only she, Yennefer, at my side, here and now, and only she matters. Here and now. And what she was long ago, where she was long ago and who she was with long ago doesn't have any, doesn't have the slightest importance. Now she's with me, here, among you all. With me, with no one else. That's what I'm thinking right now, thinking only about her, thinking endlessly about her, smelling the scent of her perfume and the warmth of her body. And you can all choke on your envy.
Geralt knew that, in moments like this, the enchantress's telepathic abilities were sharpened and very powerful, so he thought about beautiful matters and beautiful things. About things which would give her joy. About the exploding brightness of the sunrise. About fog suspended over a mountain lake at dawn. About crystal waterfalls, with salmon leaping up them, gleaming as though made of solid silver. About warm drops of rain hitting burdock leaves, heavy with dew. He thought for her and Yennefer smiled, listening to his thoughts.
He was quiet. He was angry with himself. As he had been thinking for her, he had accidentally allowed her to read a thought about herself.
'A pretty dream,' said Yennefer, stroking him lightly on the shoulder. 'A home. A house built with your own hands, and you and I in that house. You would keep horses and sheep, and I would have a little garden, cook food and card wool which we would take to market. With the pennies earned from selling the wool and various crops we would buy what we needed; let's say some copper cauldrons and an iron rake. Every now and then, Ciri would visit us with her husband and three children, and Triss Merigold would occasionally look in, to stay for a few days. We'd grow old together, beautifully and with dignity. And should I ever get bored, you would play for me in the evening on your homemade bagpipes. Playing the bagpipes – as everyone knows – is the best remedy for depression.'
'Ciri was right,' whispered the Witcher. "Neutrality... Neutrality is always contemptible.'
'Geralt … Listen to me—'
'Listen to what?' shouted the Witcher, before his voice suddenly faltered. 'I can't leave—I can't just leave her to her fate. She's completely alone ... She cannot be left alone, Dandelion. You'll never understand that. No one will ever understand that, but I konw. If she remains alone, the same thing will happen to her as once happened to me... You'll never understand that ...'
it's all right
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Pedophilia and Abandonment
Minor: Chronic illness
goizi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Murder
Minor: Slavery and Trafficking
chronographia's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder
Minor: Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Xenophobia, and Vomit
iaraya's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Murder
Moderate: Sexual assault
sauvageloup's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
mixed feelings on this!
pros:
- it really picked up sort of 2/3rds of the way through. Like, it focused on Ciri (and Geralt a bit) and there was tension and an obvious goal and a coherent narrative and it was great! why was it not like that the whole way through??
- occasionally it was funny, but a lot of the "joke" went over my head
- even though i respect that there were powerful female characters, there still felt like there was misogyny here, which i've seen in his other books too. a lot of the female characters have backstories that involve rape or are threatened with rape. we get it, its a dark story! but quit with the troubled past = rape for women. there's also a lot of sexualising women. One aspect i did appreciate was when Ciri was assaulted, she couldn't protest and her attacker says 'she's not struggling is she?' to defend himself, but we're in her POV and *know* she doesn't want it. I appreciated the acknowledgement that whilst a person may not verbally speak it doesn't mean you have consent
cons:
- it was just really confusing. esp. the middle with all the politics going on. I had no damn clue who was who or why shit was going down or what was happening for a good 50 pages. it was clearly meant to be a bit unclear but i was just plain lost. it was also just not gripping at all for the first 2/3rds and i also DNF it. it just wandered about the place, with Geralt having long conversations that didn't seem to mean much. I can't even remember the first half.
- just too much random worldbuilding that added to nothing and was confusing
so i was prepared to give it 2/5 stars at best and to quit the series but the end got suddenly good and now I'm tempted to read the next one >.<
pros:
- it really picked up sort of 2/3rds of the way through. Like, it focused on Ciri (and Geralt a bit) and there was tension and an obvious goal and a coherent narrative and it was great! why was it not like that the whole way through??
- occasionally it was funny, but a lot of the "joke" went over my head
- even though i respect that there were powerful female characters, there still felt like there was misogyny here, which i've seen in his other books too.
cons:
- it was just really confusing. esp. the middle with all the politics going on. I had no damn clue who was who or why shit was going down or what was happening for a good 50 pages. it was clearly meant to be a bit unclear but i was just plain lost. it was also just not gripping at all for the first 2/3rds and i also DNF it. it just wandered about the place, with Geralt having long conversations that didn't seem to mean much. I can't even remember the first half.
- just too much random worldbuilding that added to nothing and was confusing
so i was prepared to give it 2/5 stars at best and to quit the series but the end got suddenly good and now I'm tempted to read the next one >.<
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Vomit
Minor: Genocide
kirstyreads's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Not as good as the previous Witcher novel but I feel acts more as a good set up for the next book. Still enjoyable at moments where it goes into a page turner to find out what will happen to Geralt, Ciri and the rest of the crew.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Rape, and Blood
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