thewillowwood's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Violence, Xenophobia, Classism, Sexism, Death, Death of parent, Gore, and War
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Grief, Rape, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
Spoiler
there are brief mentions of Geralt being mistaken as being in a sexual relationship with Ciri (who is 13), but it does not true nor is it endorsedshiveryteacup's review against another edition
- 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? No
4.0
Graphic: War, Death of parent, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Animal death, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury
khymihr'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
4.0
Graphic: War and Violence
Minor: Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
belladonnashrike's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
I loved that ciri & yen’s relationship was one of the focuses - I love them so much and I am glad to see a better relationship between them than what’s depicted in the show. I also enjoyed the political aspect of this book and it cleared up a lot of the politics that I was not entirely understanding from the netflix series. I do wish there was a map, though. it should be illegal for fantasy novels and series to not include a map!! idk where these places are!
Spoiler
I am APPALLED that tissaia demanded that all magicians be STERILIZED… when I watched the show I honestly just thought the transformation was so brutal it completely obliterated everyone’s reproductive organs or their hormones… I had no idea it was by design. this was such a small part of the book but I am STILL thinking about it.what bugs me about the writing though is the emphasis on dialogue and not what is happening to the characters in their environment. oftentimes during a mini-monologue something happens between the speaker and another character or something changes in the environment that is never alluded to outside of the quotes. it’s slightly jarring at times. I have to really think sometimes about what exactly just happened because so many physical aspects and actions are just completely ignored, for whatever reason. if that weren’t the case I probably would’ve rated this five stars. I love the story & characters so much that my bias is definitellyyyy affecting the rating. but who cares I enjoyed myself
Graphic: War, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Death
Minor: Alcohol, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
marissab's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Moderate: Torture, War, Death, Violence, Colonisation, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug use, Genocide, Sexual content, Cursing, and Grief
tilo's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Randnotiz: Positiv aber sehr überraschend fand ich die Art und Weise wie mit
Spoiler
CirisGraphic: Gore, Violence, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Sexual content, War, Infertility, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Cursing, Murder, Racism, Drug use, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit
jaedia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
Graphic: Colonisation, Death of parent, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
Minor: Abandonment, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Rape, Self harm, and Torture
billyjepma's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Very little actually happens in these pages, which is a problem only exasperated by Sapkowski's inability to write believable women. The interactions that develop Yennefer and Ciri's relationship should be fun and meaningful, considering they make up 2/3s of the series core protagonists at this point. Instead, they often come off as grating, shallow, and full of painfully glaring signs that they're written by a man who doesn't know anything about women. These problems were around in the last two books, too, but now they're actively hurting the story's trajectory and foundation, which sucks. It's cool seeing Ciri go through a series of training montages, but when that's the backbone of your entire story, and you don't know how to write women, you're going to have problems, which is precisely what happens here.
I'm still going to keep going with the series because I am enjoying the worldbuilding, and the many plot threads and tensions teased here have effectively piqued my interest. But I really, really, really need Sapkowski to improve his writing in some pretty crucial areas.
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Xenophobia, and Sexism
Minor: Abandonment, War, Torture, and Sexual harassment