Reviews

The chronology of this book series is a little confusing especially since there is no number mentioned online or on the books. I bought and started reading ‘Blood of Elves’ and thought it is the beginning. Thanks to goodreads I saw it is book three. So I ordered book 1 & 2. The confusion is based on the fact that it is by a polish author, therefore the publishing in German and English was not parallel. Then the books where re/published after the success of The Witcher video games, which are based on these books. Well thanks to goodreads and wikipedia I could sort it all out.

This was a weird story collection. It was not really a collection, more a complete story without a main plot. It felt chronological but a golden threat was missing. Also the short stories are kind of retelling of fairy tales. So it wasn't over all exiting. Through the lack of character development and character depth it was more of a light read.
I started playing the first (of two, at the moment, the third will be released in May 2015) video game and was kind of lost. There is not really a story and Geralt has lost his memories so he is always like “Sorry, I don’t know a thing. I lost my memories.” This is not helpful either, since there is no exploring of the memories he has lost.
But during chapter 3 of the game I started reading the book and there was the missing back story of the game. So the book is actually a great companion to the game.
Surprisingly, the short stories had gaming potential. It was like reading a Role Playing Game. Geralt visits a town and ask for killing-monsters-jobs and then the adventure starts and of course problems are not always solved with a sword.

This collection was the reason why there is the witcher saga in the first place. The real story starts with book three ‘Blood of the Elves’. So gamer or not, getting through the short story collections is in any case a good choice.

redbeard92's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

Good short stories to read. This was my first read in the series, and I wish I read a few other books first to understand the characters better. The short stories make things move quickly.

lauracigelniece's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

4.75

stanstanstan's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-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? No

5.0

johnamulhall's review against another edition

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3.0

Whilst this book is essentially well written for the most part, I’m giving it three stars for the following reasons. The chapters are all essentially, short stories. Although some of the longer ones are good there are some chapters that look like extracts from a screen play. Also, there is striking references to mythical characters with slight adjustments to names. Whilst not an issue in principle, this is a the real world and I found suspension of disbelief was impacted by it. Was worth the read but it’s not a novella and prepare to rethread your self into the story in every chapter.

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