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n_ck's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
1.5
I'm not sure why I finished this series. The world-building is good. A lot of the factions are compelling. I like the main cast of characters. The battles and fights are fun, if repetitively described. But it honestly reads like an amateur took a stab at writing a fantasy series and somehow became outrageously successful. Only so much of the poor writing can be blamed on the translation, like when he reuses the same word in a single sentence or finds one 10 dollar word to use repeatedly across the book.
The plotting is clumsy. Geralt finds a crucial piece of information in a random cave with no logical connection to the rest of the plot. There are dozens of indistinguishable characters meant to populate the world but fail to make any connection with the reader (but still manage to take up 60 per cent of the book to the exclusion of the main cast who you actually do like reading about). This is particularly the case with the Lodge of sorceresses, who each have the lone character trait of being a hot woman. His attempts at dealing with real world themes are so cloying and mundane that you must roll your eyes. Humans are the real monsters, guys. Amazing stuff, really spell-binding and otherworldly. Add in some hack fantasy versions of an Economist editorial to describe this world's somehow modern finance system for trading swords and crops and you've got a worldwide bestseller.
I think I get why the fans hate the show, which to be clear, is also poorly done. It does not want to develop the source material directly, so it became kind of a generic sword and sorcery fantasy series and didn't actually correct the issues with the original books — the plotting and pacing, the millions of generic fantasy name-generator characters that pop up for a sentence and that you're supposed to remember 3 books later.
I've gone through almost all the witcher media out there, and I have to say the third game, Witcher 3, is the only thing worth anyone's time.
The plotting is clumsy. Geralt finds a crucial piece of information in a random cave with no logical connection to the rest of the plot. There are dozens of indistinguishable characters meant to populate the world but fail to make any connection with the reader (but still manage to take up 60 per cent of the book to the exclusion of the main cast who you actually do like reading about). This is particularly the case with the Lodge of sorceresses, who each have the lone character trait of being a hot woman. His attempts at dealing with real world themes are so cloying and mundane that you must roll your eyes. Humans are the real monsters, guys. Amazing stuff, really spell-binding and otherworldly. Add in some hack fantasy versions of an Economist editorial to describe this world's somehow modern finance system for trading swords and crops and you've got a worldwide bestseller.
I think I get why the fans hate the show, which to be clear, is also poorly done. It does not want to develop the source material directly, so it became kind of a generic sword and sorcery fantasy series and didn't actually correct the issues with the original books — the plotting and pacing, the millions of generic fantasy name-generator characters that pop up for a sentence and that you're supposed to remember 3 books later.
I've gone through almost all the witcher media out there, and I have to say the third game, Witcher 3, is the only thing worth anyone's time.
thedashdude's review against another edition
4.0
The Last Wish: 4/5
As a stitch-up of short stories, the framing narrative was really fun and the stories were great. Geralt is an icon.
Sword of Destiny: 4/5
Missing the framing of The Last Wish, but still highly entertaining.
Blood of Elves: 4/5
The Time of Contempt: 4/5
Baptism of Fire: 4/5
The Tower of Swallows: 4/5
The Lady of the Lake: 4/5
The novels themselves are hard to review because none of them feel distinct. They feel like one large story chopped up at convenient points to make reasonable sized books. Nothing wrong with this. Call it cohesion. It worked. Might irk people who don't read series all at once. The characters are lots of fun and the world is really fun to learn about. You couldn't call is whimsical, but the whimsy was one of my favorite parts regardless.
As a stitch-up of short stories, the framing narrative was really fun and the stories were great. Geralt is an icon.
Sword of Destiny: 4/5
Missing the framing of The Last Wish, but still highly entertaining.
Blood of Elves: 4/5
The Time of Contempt: 4/5
Baptism of Fire: 4/5
The Tower of Swallows: 4/5
The Lady of the Lake: 4/5
The novels themselves are hard to review because none of them feel distinct. They feel like one large story chopped up at convenient points to make reasonable sized books. Nothing wrong with this. Call it cohesion. It worked. Might irk people who don't read series all at once. The characters are lots of fun and the world is really fun to learn about. You couldn't call is whimsical, but the whimsy was one of my favorite parts regardless.
emiledawalibi's review against another edition
5.0
As a massive Witcher fan from Witcher 3, going back and reading the books only helped cement how much I love this world, its characters, the philosophy, the brutality and the beauty that comes out of it. To be honest, the writing of the series was hit and miss, and I found myself skimming over a lot of bits. But on the whole, it’s a masterpiece of storytelling that had me hooked, which hasn’t happened in the longest time.
contagion5's review against another edition
4.0
Good, not great. Overall, it was not my favorite series, although I appreciate it a lot more after having finished it.
fictionarylottie's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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
4.75
"But darkness will always, always exist. And there will always be Evil in the darkness, always be fangs and claws, death and blood in the darkness. And witchers will always be needed."
It has taken me four, almost five years to finally finish reading this series. Blood of Elves(urgh) nearly defeated me but on I powered and, I have to say, it was worth it. It was very full circle ending, as is prophesised in the series by the frequent mentions of ouroboros (a word I will never be able to spell).
You know when sometimes it feels like an author is killing characters off for the sake of it? I had none of that with this book. Geralt's death was so mundane yet perfect because, for one last time, he's helping people knowing full well he won't get any thanks for it. Angouleme's death hit the hardest because she was just a child, looking for a better life... ow
It was a perfect ending to a brilliant series that very nearly made me tear up - and I very rarely cry at books.
It has taken me four, almost five years to finally finish reading this series. Blood of Elves
It was a perfect ending to a brilliant series that very nearly made me tear up - and I very rarely cry at books.
tatitab's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
No se que pensar. No es el libro que más me gustó, solo disfrute mucho algunos capítulos. Es un final muy melancólico.
Me gusto mucho toda la saga. Aunque hay muchos altibajos en la trama, me parecio que los altos son muy buenos y los bajos no son terribles. Y aunque la narración está muy cargada de mil cosas distintas, creo que tiene su encanto.
Me gusto mucho toda la saga. Aunque hay muchos altibajos en la trama, me parecio que los altos son muy buenos y los bajos no son terribles. Y aunque la narración está muy cargada de mil cosas distintas, creo que tiene su encanto.
thistleandhare's review against another edition
1.0
(I need to preface this review by expressing my eternal love and respect for Peter Kenny. I have never before and never will again experience a narrator’s performance that’s as visceral and enthralling as his was throughout the Witcher series. I can confidently say the 95% of my enjoyment of this series came as a direct result of Peter Kenny’s voice acting. Now, on to a complete dumpster fire of a review).
What the fuuuuuuuuck. I don’t think I can fully put into words just how much I hated this but I am certainly going to try. I finished this solely out of spite, and had to do so on 1.5x speed because of how absolutely miserable it was. To put it into perceptive, I find the finale to the series more insulting, upsetting, and disappointing than the final season of Game of Thrones. That’s how bad this was.
Firstly, Sapkowski falls into the same trap that GRRM fell into with writing “A Feast for Crows”—the trap being total discontentment and boredom with their own POV characters. Now, Sapkowski has always had a habit of jumping POVs with reckless abandon and splintering his story into the thinnest and most loosely associated threads, but it is egregious in this installment (if you ask me, the last book in an arc is the wrong time to start following irrelevant tertiary characters for over half of the book). I don’t even know if Sapkowski knows what’s going on where in his own world half the time. Oh, and even when he does remember that Geralt & Co. exist, they’re just stagnating horribly. The only thing they do for the first half of the book, when they’re mentioned at all, is hole up in some backwater town for months at a time so Geralt can keep fucking yet another sorceress. Instead of, you know, having some urgency about saving Ciri and his girlfriend from certain death. (:
Furthermore, Sapkowski’s publisher should have banned him from ever trying to develop a plot, as the result is an absolute hack job. I have never cared less about a war or the political machinations of a world before. And after reading this I wish I’d never cared about the character arcs either. For a finale, the amount of plot armor and contrived coincidence that allows anything to happen in this is crazy. The deaths of several beloved secondary characters happen in a backhanded, careless way (don’t get me wrong, I love when my characters die—but only when it’s done well. This was on par with the deaths of Cersei and Jamie Lannister). I don’t even want to talk about Ciri’s Elder blood powers that allow her to travel the space-time continuum, including to our real-life world, where she picks up the Bubonic plague and accidentally brings it to Nilfgaard, apparently??? But Spakowski would just explain all of this away with “””destiny”””. And the worst part of this—that I REALLY don’t want to even have to talk about because I can’t believe it was a real thing that was published—was the eugenics and forced impregnation subplot???
It’s no secret throughout the series that Sapkowski hates women. They exist in the story as sex objects, as pets, and as sexual conquests for Geralt. The language he uses to write about women is offputting at best and blatantly misogynistic at worst. Even when he attempts to write “powerful” female characters, such as Ciri (who is, by the end of the series, 16 at MOST), they are still subject to unnecessary, gratuitous sexual violence. If they find themselves in vaguely “consensual” relations, they are odious and awkward, and reek of exploitation and male fantasy. There are at least four situations in this book alone where Ciri is nearly sexually assaulted (and Sapkowski tries to paint her as complaisant in her own assault—OFTEN). And half of those instances involve someone trying to /forcefully impregnate/ her—one of which is her own father! Yep, you heard me right! Ciri’s own father plans to abduct, marry, and forcibly impregnate his own daughter, because of a prophecy. Because “destiny”!!! (I’d love to see how Netflix plans on adapting this!) And really, try to convince me that Geralt and Yen would go have sex and then willingly slit their wrists in a bathtub to avoid execution by Emhyr (yes this actually almost happens!) after he makes it perfectly clear that he intends to imprison and rape Ciri.
Cherry on top, at the end of this everyone is dead, I’m pissed off, and Ciri fucks off to Arthurian England apparently??? And then rides into the sunset with some random knight she meets there that gives her tingles in her tummy. The end! (:
I’m tearing my hair out. I can’t believe this actually happened. I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried. Everything written after The Last Wish has only gotten progressively worse and slowly more insane. This series should have stayed a short story collection like it started out. I never should have read past Baptism of Fire. I don’t know how anyone has rated this any higher than a single star. All I DO know is that it is on sight with Sapkowski and he better pray that I never get my hands on him. I need to go play the Wild Hunt. Fuck this.
What the fuuuuuuuuck. I don’t think I can fully put into words just how much I hated this but I am certainly going to try. I finished this solely out of spite, and had to do so on 1.5x speed because of how absolutely miserable it was. To put it into perceptive, I find the finale to the series more insulting, upsetting, and disappointing than the final season of Game of Thrones. That’s how bad this was.
Firstly, Sapkowski falls into the same trap that GRRM fell into with writing “A Feast for Crows”—the trap being total discontentment and boredom with their own POV characters. Now, Sapkowski has always had a habit of jumping POVs with reckless abandon and splintering his story into the thinnest and most loosely associated threads, but it is egregious in this installment (if you ask me, the last book in an arc is the wrong time to start following irrelevant tertiary characters for over half of the book). I don’t even know if Sapkowski knows what’s going on where in his own world half the time. Oh, and even when he does remember that Geralt & Co. exist, they’re just stagnating horribly. The only thing they do for the first half of the book, when they’re mentioned at all, is hole up in some backwater town for months at a time so Geralt can keep fucking yet another sorceress. Instead of, you know, having some urgency about saving Ciri and his girlfriend from certain death. (:
Furthermore, Sapkowski’s publisher should have banned him from ever trying to develop a plot, as the result is an absolute hack job. I have never cared less about a war or the political machinations of a world before. And after reading this I wish I’d never cared about the character arcs either. For a finale, the amount of plot armor and contrived coincidence that allows anything to happen in this is crazy. The deaths of several beloved secondary characters happen in a backhanded, careless way (don’t get me wrong, I love when my characters die—but only when it’s done well. This was on par with the deaths of Cersei and Jamie Lannister). I don’t even want to talk about Ciri’s Elder blood powers that allow her to travel the space-time continuum, including to our real-life world, where she picks up the Bubonic plague and accidentally brings it to Nilfgaard, apparently??? But Spakowski would just explain all of this away with “””destiny”””. And the worst part of this—that I REALLY don’t want to even have to talk about because I can’t believe it was a real thing that was published—was the eugenics and forced impregnation subplot???
It’s no secret throughout the series that Sapkowski hates women. They exist in the story as sex objects, as pets, and as sexual conquests for Geralt. The language he uses to write about women is offputting at best and blatantly misogynistic at worst. Even when he attempts to write “powerful” female characters, such as Ciri (who is, by the end of the series, 16 at MOST), they are still subject to unnecessary, gratuitous sexual violence. If they find themselves in vaguely “consensual” relations, they are odious and awkward, and reek of exploitation and male fantasy. There are at least four situations in this book alone where Ciri is nearly sexually assaulted (and Sapkowski tries to paint her as complaisant in her own assault—OFTEN). And half of those instances involve someone trying to /forcefully impregnate/ her—one of which is her own father! Yep, you heard me right! Ciri’s own father plans to abduct, marry, and forcibly impregnate his own daughter, because of a prophecy. Because “destiny”!!! (I’d love to see how Netflix plans on adapting this!) And really, try to convince me that Geralt and Yen would go have sex and then willingly slit their wrists in a bathtub to avoid execution by Emhyr (yes this actually almost happens!) after he makes it perfectly clear that he intends to imprison and rape Ciri.
Cherry on top, at the end of this everyone is dead, I’m pissed off, and Ciri fucks off to Arthurian England apparently??? And then rides into the sunset with some random knight she meets there that gives her tingles in her tummy. The end! (:
I’m tearing my hair out. I can’t believe this actually happened. I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried. Everything written after The Last Wish has only gotten progressively worse and slowly more insane. This series should have stayed a short story collection like it started out. I never should have read past Baptism of Fire. I don’t know how anyone has rated this any higher than a single star. All I DO know is that it is on sight with Sapkowski and he better pray that I never get my hands on him. I need to go play the Wild Hunt. Fuck this.
jungihong's review against another edition
There are decent parts worth reading if you want to follow the end of the main characters - but yeah, the focus falls apart for some flabbergasting decisions to follow a thousand perspectives. Maybe we aren't meant to care for all these new people, and instead engage with the author's commentary on war, history, politics, intolerance, and the ultimate recognition that good beating evil doesn't mean systematic change . . . but I want to know what happens to the heroes. And understandably it ends sadly and in a bittersweet tone. At least in the English translation, I'm sure I am missing out a lot not being able to read Polish.
also holy crud, what season 1 of the netflix show did to Cahir's portrayal!
That's end the end of my read, but I will probably get into the games next . . . yes I haven't played them yet.
also holy crud, what season 1 of the netflix show did to Cahir's portrayal!
That's end the end of my read, but I will probably get into the games next . . . yes I haven't played them yet.
pot_licious's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75