opinkb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Death, and War
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Torture, and Death of parent
elizabeth_lepore'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
3.75
Graphic: Blood, Death, War, and Violence
Moderate: Torture, Misogyny, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Death of parent, Rape, and Toxic relationship
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
plume_de_renarde's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Sexism, Racism, Misogyny, and Torture
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, War, and Cursing
de_mon_sang's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Moderate: Torture, Misogyny, and Blood
Minor: Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Death, and War
yunathealien's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Grief, Misogyny, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, War, Racism, Blood, Death of parent, and Genocide
Moderate: Animal death, Torture, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Ableism, Gore, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Rape
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
cemeterygay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Torture, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault
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
rachaelbunny's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Blood, Cursing, Death, Grief, Racism, Xenophobia, Violence, and Torture
Minor: Sexual content and Child abuse