Reviews

Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski

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scroggin_cooper's review against another edition

4.0

A pretty solid collection of short stories, some better than others.
Liked:
1. Geralt and Dandelion. These two are still the best written camaraderie duo that I have ever read. They still get each other into problems and their banter is just lovely.
2. Ciri and Geralt. Ciri was a character I was surprised was absent book, considering her prominence in the television show and games. She comes off as a bit of a brat, but it’s very understandable.
3. Stories 1, 5, and 6. This book was still a mixed bag. The three stories that I’ve mentioned are about the Dragon, Ciri’s introduction and Geralt accepting his destiny. The one with the dragon was plain fun, the second was a great way to show Geralt having to trust people. And the last one of him accepting his fate was great character growth.
Disliked:
1. The descriptions of female characters. You knew this was coming, it’s something Sapkowski is really bad at. I don’t need to know that the Mermaid had perfect breasts every five seconds.
2. Yennefer. Yennefer is rather bland in my opinion, she’s strong and all, but she still needs some development. Luckily, there’s six more books.
3. The Mermaid. Oh my Glob, this story was just painful. Dandelion’s a whiny creep and Geralt is just bland.

isabellarobinson7's review against another edition

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3.0

Rating: 3.5 stars

I enjoyed Sword of Destiny more so than The Last Wish, which I see as a good sign for the rest of the series. Andrzej Sapkowski's writing style really shines through despite the translation into English.

miss_hva's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

znnys's review against another edition

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3.0

I didn't enjoy this book as much as I did The Last Wish. Most of the stories were kind of weak to me, except for the last two. The dated misogyny is kind of exhausting to trudge through. The whole "dopplers as marginalized people" metaphor was a bit clumsy and hamfisted but sort of a fun romp to read. Greatly underwhelmed vy the dragon story, as well as the mermaid story. Could not have given less of a shit about Geralt and Istredd's cat fight over Yennefer. Yennefer continues to be my favorite character but I really hate that trope that seems to think it's cute/funny when women hit men, and Sapkowski employs it in spades. The mermaid story almost endeared my to Dandelion but for the most part I find him insufferable.

I enjoyed the last two stories because they felt like a considerable amount of thought was put into actual story progression, character development, and world-building rather than yet another "Geralt goes to a podunk town and everyone there is shitty. He broods about yennefer and about being a witcher." It's sort of a tiring formula. Obviously not every story is going to hit the mark but for the most part this anthology felt like a step down from the previous one.

I will probably eventually read Blood of Elves but I'm not in a huge rush.