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opinkb's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and War
Moderate: Cursing, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Slavery, Vomit, Colonisation, and Deportation
marinaxanna's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Love to hate it, hate to love it—thank god its over, because this is where the honeymoon phase with the series finally ended for me. It’s like Sapkowski just gave up and I, too, stopped believing in this story.
Three books of build up, interesting characters, interesting cultures and worlds—only to have it end like this, with the lackluster that is the Tower of the Swallow and the Lady of the lake.
Reducing strong, intelligent women who had compelling narratives into mindless Geralt simps while throwing around misogynistic takes. Oh and not to mention more vile, completely unnecessary SA scenes/tropes for Ciri. Seriously what the fuck was up with that Gramps BS?
And all that for an anti climactic, cliché as fuck ending that leaves more questions than answers. It felt incredibly unsatisfactory.
Geralt and Yennefers characters were just butchered. Both of them felt 2D as hell by the end of the book and it seemed like the author just wanted to be done with the series.
Well, so did I—Almost dnf. Reading this was just not enjoyable for me at all. I forced myself to finish it since its the last part. Skipped the entirety of chapter 7 when it was clear it was another senseless subplot with Men Being Men TM with a bunch of characters i would never read about again. Seriously, who needs so many detours and timejumps to shape a plot????
Well, so did I—Almost dnf. Reading this was just not enjoyable for me at all. I forced myself to finish it since its the last part. Skipped the entirety of chapter 7 when it was clear it was another senseless subplot with Men Being Men TM with a bunch of characters i would never read about again. Seriously, who needs so many detours and timejumps to shape a plot????
Anyway. Goodbye to this series. This book has killed any love I had for these characters. I’m done.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Incest
green_amaryllis's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-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? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and War
Moderate: Drug use, Incest, Sexism, Xenophobia, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic
starsfall's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Pedophilia
Okay wow this book was a lot. There were many plottwist that left me quite confused. I really loved how there were so mant different povs, so many characters. Although sometimes I was a bit lost with so many names and places.camoo3032's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Vomit, Abortion, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Homophobia, Infertility, Slavery, Excrement, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Colonisation
geordirr's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Incest and Antisemitism
karenbo's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
I have spent a long time reading the witcher novels and to say this last book was a disappointment is an understatement. However, my favorite passages and chapters of all the witcher books came from this book. In general, I liked the writing and how some things were wrapped up but the fate of, almost, all beloved characters was just lousy. I also disliked that they introduced new characters and plot in this book, some even in the last 50 pages. It wasn't so bad that I couldn't read it but it was largely unsatisfying.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Incest and Rape
efsimpkin's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Wow. What a finale to the Witcher series. This took a long time for me to read, mostly because the start of the book is very, very slow. I can’t really remember the significance of Geralt’s arc in Toussaint necessarily or the start of Ciri’s travels post-Tower and at the end of the day it didn’t really end up mattering that much.
I do need to say though that as a Merlin fan I really enjoyed all the Camelot references, lol.
In the middle of the book is where the plot starts to pick up and Sapkowski’s writing shines once more. There’s a chapter that uses multiple POVs to describe a battle scene and it’s masterful. Throughout, we get thrown between times and places with only scraps of information to tell us where we are but it is perfectly executed. The use of a recurring motif (I won’t spoil what it is) hit me like a tonne of bricks when I worked out what it was doing. The use of sometimes very simple dialogue or clever word games is brilliant and even more brilliant when you consider that it survived translation, so well done to French as well for his work there.
This is by far the darkest and saddest book in the series, I feel, and I think that’s what makes it beautiful in its own way. I spent the whole book wondering how it would align with the characters I know from TW3, and I only got that answer right at the end, which was excellent. I had been lightly spoiled for the ending previously which is a shame but I still deeply enjoyed the book.
I’m going to wait a good long while, until I’m feeling nostalgic, to read Season of Storms.
I do need to say though that as a Merlin fan I really enjoyed all the Camelot references, lol.
In the middle of the book is where the plot starts to pick up and Sapkowski’s writing shines once more. There’s a chapter that uses multiple POVs to describe a battle scene and it’s masterful. Throughout, we get thrown between times and places with only scraps of information to tell us where we are but it is perfectly executed. The use of a recurring motif (I won’t spoil what it is) hit me like a tonne of bricks when I worked out what it was doing. The use of sometimes very simple dialogue or clever word games is brilliant and even more brilliant when you consider that it survived translation, so well done to French as well for his work there.
This is by far the darkest and saddest book in the series, I feel, and I think that’s what makes it beautiful in its own way. I spent the whole book wondering how it would align with the characters I know from TW3, and I only got that answer right at the end, which was excellent. I had been lightly spoiled for the ending previously which is a shame but I still deeply enjoyed the book.
I’m going to wait a good long while, until I’m feeling nostalgic, to read Season of Storms.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, and War
Moderate: Incest
Minor: Pregnancy
saltylane's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Like all the other books in the Witcher series, this one jumps back and forth between perspectives, and gives a lot of information that isn’t completely necessary or interesting. The writing style is descriptive but not necessarily excessively so. The story itself has a lot of twists and turns and mysteries. I’d say the ending was rather bittersweet. Also, there were a lot of things that didn’t really make too much sense for the characters that have developed over the past handful of books. There were also just a handful of times whenever an action was starting to peak, and then it just dropped down because there was some kind of intervention that just happened to happen at that moment.
I didn’t necessarily expect a happy ending for everyone… But at least an ending that actually had conclusions that really mattered or that made sense would’ve been nice.
Overall, I rather enjoyed the series, despite its many flaws. With the switching perspectives, it did get confusing as to what was going on and what character was doing what. It often went to characters that I wasn’t really sure why they were even included… Unless they were just trying to close up plot lines? I don’t know; they didn’t really matter. It didn’t really seem very important that So-and-So died in such a way or succeeded in XYZ. Sure, sometimes it was nice to see what older characters that we hadn’t seen in a while were doing… But overall it wasn’t really important to the plot what was going on in their lives.
The reader for this audiobook is very talented! He really knows how to manipulate his voice to the different characters and stick with it consistently. The voice acting was also very good with emphasized emotions relevant to the scenes.
I’m really interested in seeing how the series on Netflix adapts all of the storylines. Hopefully it’s a little bit less convoluted…
I didn’t necessarily expect a happy ending for everyone… But at least an ending that actually had conclusions that really mattered or that made sense would’ve been nice.
Overall, I rather enjoyed the series, despite its many flaws. With the switching perspectives, it did get confusing as to what was going on and what character was doing what. It often went to characters that I wasn’t really sure why they were even included… Unless they were just trying to close up plot lines? I don’t know; they didn’t really matter. It didn’t really seem very important that So-and-So died in such a way or succeeded in XYZ. Sure, sometimes it was nice to see what older characters that we hadn’t seen in a while were doing… But overall it wasn’t really important to the plot what was going on in their lives.
The reader for this audiobook is very talented! He really knows how to manipulate his voice to the different characters and stick with it consistently. The voice acting was also very good with emphasized emotions relevant to the scenes.
I’m really interested in seeing how the series on Netflix adapts all of the storylines. Hopefully it’s a little bit less convoluted…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Xenophobia, Grief, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexism, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Classism
knkoch's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
5.0
This was a fitting end to the main series and the linear part of Geralt and Ciri’s story. It’s by far the longest, but it felt well-organized and thematically clear. I felt less confused or out on a limb than I have throughout some of the other books.
The changing storyteller aspect (telling parts of the story from later points in time, looking back, and/or from a distant storyteller) was occasionally irritating, as it felt like a way to slow down the most compelling parts of the narrative. But overall, it finally felt more appropriate to have so many narratives to jump between, as the many characters were better established by this point. By the final half, this reminded me strongly of The Lord of the Rings trilogy in the way several disparate groups or characters are working in different parts of the world during an enormous war. A nice fellowship developed here, too.
I’ve still got Season of Storms left, and then I’ll be all through with Witcher books! For awhile, at least. But I’ve thoroughly enjoyed them and will be sad to turn that final page.
The changing storyteller aspect (telling parts of the story from later points in time, looking back, and/or from a distant storyteller) was occasionally irritating, as it felt like a way to slow down the most compelling parts of the narrative. But overall, it finally felt more appropriate to have so many narratives to jump between, as the many characters were better established by this point. By the final half, this reminded me strongly of The Lord of the Rings trilogy in the way several disparate groups or characters are working in different parts of the world during an enormous war. A nice fellowship developed here, too.
I’ve still got Season of Storms left, and then I’ll be all through with Witcher books! For awhile, at least. But I’ve thoroughly enjoyed them and will be sad to turn that final page.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War
Moderate: Sexual assault and Xenophobia