Reviews

Time of Contempt by Andrzej Sapkowski

nuttlebuttle's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Not as good as the first book in the series…took this book as more of a world-building backdrop read, not much character development or plot development until the last 60 pages or so. 

juliabristow's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

my heart wants to give this 5 stars, but realistically i know it doesn't compare to my other 5 stars. very politically dense, and I'm not convinced i understood everything so i will be googling things after this lol

catsushi's review against another edition

4.0

This is probably my favorite book of the series so far! Geralt and Yennefer are my favorite OTP!!

jessicaswhirled's review against another edition

medium-paced

1.0

jennreadslots's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring tense medium-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

5.0

pot_licious's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

3mk4y's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

sapphosirens's review against another edition

2.0

the amount of times i considered dnfing this series for the second time…

getbeaned's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

A marked improvement over Blood of Elves, in part, perhaps, because the reins of translation are handed back to David French. Not speaking Polish myself it's hard to determine precisely how much of Blood of Elves' issues are because of translation, though I can say for certain that the writing within Time of Contempt is noticeably more fluent and striking. Everything from common speech to metaphors flow much better here.

Outside of that, despite falling into the same teething issues BoE has with regards to the novel structure (as opposed the the short story format of the first two books), ToC is simply more interesting. It lacks the frequent action of the short stories, but where BoE supplants that with trite political discourse, ToC is... less trite political discourse. In short, stuff actually happens in this book, both on a grander plot level and more personal character basis. Geralt's inaction with regards to the details of said political discourse is a major, direct theme, while Ciri's development - both in terms of how she develops as a Witcher/Sorcerer-hybrid and also a person affected by war - runs through the entire book.

ToC lost me a bit in the middle, but has a strong start and finish. To begin with (literally), we get to see Geralt's combat prowess described in a truly awesome fashion as he tracks and slaughters assassins following Yennefer and Ciri, while shortly after we get to see Ciri's training put to good use through a moment of chaos. The banquet in Thanedd however is where the books starts to slip into more drawling political exposition. Here, Sapkowski needs to establish the Chapter and Counsel of mages, and bombards us like a high level firestorm spell with flowery names of enchantresses and sorcerers which quickly disoriented me.

However, after the rebellion ensues and Ciri ends up in a desert, we're treated to an incredibly dark chapter which tonally feels much more at home in one of the short stories, but works well here to establish not only Ciri's change in situation and disposition, but also just how ruinous the world of the Witcher is becoming.

With the rest of the series also translated by French, I'm actually looking forward to hopefully seeing a continuation and expansion of the themes explored in this book done in a fashion that excites more than bores.

collleeen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

3.5