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mcmeiss's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Gore, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and War
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Kidnapping, and Alcohol
Minor: Slavery, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, and Toxic friendship
jaedia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Sexism, Abandonment, and War
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Genocide, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism
opinkb's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
stephen_welch93's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Death, Gore, Suicide, Blood, Murder, and War
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Rape, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Trafficking, and Alcohol
Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
billyjepma's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Not all of the development lands, and Sapkowski would benefit from a slightly more ruthless editor. And, again, the way he writes his women characters is a big ol' mixed bag. Sometimes, it's really good, and I genuinely appreciate how complex his cast's morality and motivations are, men and women alike. He doesn't suffer from cliches in that way. What he does suffer from are many of the other problems that plague most fantasy penned by male writers. He relies far too heavily on the sexuality and violence the women are defined by or threatened with. These issues aren't as pronounced as in the last book, but they're still here, and I don't see them miraculously disappearing moving forward.
Still, I enjoyed this immensely, and my fascination and investment in the Witcher series are here to stay.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Genocide and Vomit
alliswyattonthewesternfront's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Genocide and Gore
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Sexual assault
andromeda_1998's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
These books are filled with toxic masculinity and sexism. I decided to tap all toxic sentences that I could find. I ended up with 23 taps. It would have been more if I had included repeated remarks. Here are some of the sentences:
- “On the chair sat a MIDGET with a huge head, set directly on disproportionately narrow shoulders”
- “Not really” said the CRIPPLE, smiling.
- “And if you rape any woman, do it on the quiet. Out of sight.”
The writer always finds a way to talk about breasts, nipples, whores, rape and it doesn’t even matter if the individual he describes is a child. He romanticized rape, makes a lot of fatphobic comments and he is insensitive towards handicapped people. These books are problematic and if you didn’t already make the mistake to buy them please refrain from doing so. The story isn’t good enough to make up for it.
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation
sauvageloup's review against another edition
- 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
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 >.<
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Vomit
Minor: Genocide
rachaelbunny's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, and Trafficking