Reviews with content warning for Rape - Sword of Destiny

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski

10 reviews

crowcrow's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad

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

4.5

(Originally posted on Goodreads.)

I'd give it a 4.5 but I had enough fun that I'm willing to rate it higher.

Edit: The more I think about this book the angrier I get. Yennefer and Geralt are a dumbass couple and their romance was so rushed, you cannot convince me that they're good together. Just fucking marry Jaskier already, the guy would sacrifice a leg for you.

That aside, book's fun. I like Ciri and her hot grandma.

Content Warnings

khymihr's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

marissab's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional mysterious tense 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? No

4.0

Content Warnings

belladonnashrike's review

Go to review page

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.25

loved this. enjoyed it more than the first collection of short stories, but there’s clearly bias there because this book finally introduced ciri & yennefer was much more prevalent in these stories than in the other ones. also….mermaids!

there’s more weird fantasy misogyny in this one though. I just sigh and ignore it at this point, you really can’t escape it in this genre at all

Content Warnings

mattiedancer's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Writing: 4.25⭐️/5

Much of this novel is beautifully written. I think I saved maybe 10-20 quotes throughout the book and that was without looking too hard for gorgeous passages. I do, however, draw an issue with some of the more misogynistic passages. I understand this is a part of the worldbuilding and is often used to demonstrate the bleakness of the world in which the characters live. However, these passages are often used in lieu of more interesting worldbuilding. I don’t really see the point of passively mentioning how a maid is getting SA’d and Geralt is annoyed by it. It just felt kind of lazy, but a laziness that was pretending to be clever.

Characters: 4.5⭐️/5

As far as well-written, thought-out, and developed characters go, it doesn’t get a lot of complaints from me. I would argue that several of the female characters relied heavily on tropes/stereotypes, which was a bit tiring at times as a reader given the depth of other characters. That being said, all the main characters were extremely well-fleshed out, which I really enjoyed reading.

Plot: 4.5⭐️/5

The short story format fit the material well. I found most of the plots just stunningly engaging and honestly really enjoyable. It was intriguing the way Sapkowski played off fairy tales in an entirely dark way. I really enjoyed it. This is what made it so confusing when he seemed to go out of his way to include a misogynistic side plot.

Post-Reading Rating: 4.5⭐️/5

Thoroughly enjoyable.

Who Should Read This?

Fans of Game of Thrones
Fans of bleak fantasy worlds
Fans of the Witcher show/game

CW: Sexual abuse, mentions of rape, sexual assault, murder, death

Final Rating: 4.75⭐️/5

Content Warnings

puzzle_ad's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.5

I liked this less than the first one. Here are some random notes that were taken while listening to it:

• It's the casual sexual assault sprinkled in there for funsies for me.
• The story about Geralt and Istredd's dick measuring contest is absolutely ridiculous and I am so happy they cut that shit out in the show.
• The mermaid singing was fucking awful to listen to in the audiobook specifically my god.
• I don't buy Yennefer and Geralts epic love story I'm sorry. This goes for the show too tbh.
• When does Ciri come in on all of this?
•

Spoiler

It seems we said not today to the god of death

So those were overall my thoughts. Much the same as for the previous book, though this one feels much more disjointed and seems to have more random stories, which were cut from the show, understandably so. I just hate how often women are assaulted in fantasy and this series specifically I'm sorry. Did those people really need to stip Yennefer and grope at her, I really don't think so. Also seeing everything from only Geralt's POV is really hindering any character development on anyone and it definitely makes it harder to buy his epic love story with Yennefer. I am writing this review after having read Blood of Elves as well, and it definitely is much better.

I will continue on though. I am somewhat interested in how this story will play out.

Content Warnings

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

tilo's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Spannende Fantasy mit kreativen Geschichten und einer glaubwürdigen sowie etablierten Welt - das war nach dem ersten Buch zu erwarten. Besonders die letzten Geschichten im Buch waren auf schöne Weise emotional und ich freue mich sehr auf den ersten Teil der Hauptreihe.
Abzug in der Bewertung gibt es für die erste Geschichte, die ich absolut nicht ausstehen konnte und mehrmals überlegt hatte zu überspringen, bis ich nach einer längeren Lesepause mich mühevoll durch den Rest durchgekämpft habe. Anders als im ersten Buch und in den Geschichten dieses Buches wurden die weiblichen Charaktere in der erste Geschichte (Serrikanerinnen) unglaublich sexistisch durch den Erzähler beschrieben und nicht nur durch die Charaktere. Am schlimmsten war jedoch die durch den Erzähler nahezu verheerlichte Vergewaltigung von

Spoiler

Yennefer

, die an keiner stelle auch nur annähernd problematisiert wurde. Eine leichte Aufwertung des Abzug gab es für die überraschend klare Positionierung von

Spoiler

Geralt und Calanthe

zu dem "heiligen und unanfechtbaren" Recht einer Frau, entscheiden zu können, ob sie ein Neugeborenes weggeben möchte, was aus feministischer Sicht sehr gut thematisiert wurde, denn hier wurde auf den Frust des Kindes eingegangen, ohne das Verständnis auszulassen, das man einer Frau in einer solchen Situation gegenüberbringen sollte.

Content Warnings

lumie's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

Content Warnings

rosequarterdrifting's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

favorite quotes:

Spoiler

'I know,' the poet said at last. 'Now know everything.'

'You know fuck all, Dandelion.'

'Do you know what your problem is, Geralt? You think you're different. You flaunt your otherness, what you consider abnormal. You aggressively impose that abnormality on others, not understanding that for people who think clear-headedly you're the most normal man under the sun, and they all wish that everybody was so normal. What of it that you have quicker reflexes than most and vertical pupils in sunlight? That you can see in the dark like a cat? That you know a few spells? Big deal.'

Spoiler

'You witchers frighten people like a beekeeper frightens his bees with smoke and stench, with your stony faces, with all your talk and those rumours, which you probably spread about yourselves. And the bees run from the smoke, foolish things, instead of shoving their stings in the witcher's arse, which will swell up like any other. They say you can't feel like people can. That's lies. If one of you was properly stabbed, you'd feel it.'

'Have you finished?'

'Yes,' Cicada said, handing him back his sword. 'Know what interests me, Witcher?'

'Yes. Bees.'

Spoiler

'The annihilation, the killing, of any creatures that inhabit this world upsets that equilibrium. And a lack of equilibrium brings closer extinction; extinction and the end of the world as we know it.'

'A druidic theory,' Geralt pronounced. 'I know it. An old hierophant expounded it to me once, back in Rivia. Two days after our conversation he was torn apart by wererats.'

not too bad

Content Warnings

More...