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hatterxerxes's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape and Xenophobia
marinaxanna's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Love to hate it, hate to love it—thank god its over, because this is where the honeymoon phase with the series finally ended for me. It’s like Sapkowski just gave up and I, too, stopped believing in this story.
Three books of build up, interesting characters, interesting cultures and worlds—only to have it end like this, with the lackluster that is the Tower of the Swallow and the Lady of the lake.
Reducing strong, intelligent women who had compelling narratives into mindless Geralt simps while throwing around misogynistic takes. Oh and not to mention more vile, completely unnecessary SA scenes/tropes for Ciri. Seriously what the fuck was up with that Gramps BS?
And all that for an anti climactic, cliché as fuck ending that leaves more questions than answers. It felt incredibly unsatisfactory.
Geralt and Yennefers characters were just butchered. Both of them felt 2D as hell by the end of the book and it seemed like the author just wanted to be done with the series.
Well, so did I—Almost dnf. Reading this was just not enjoyable for me at all. I forced myself to finish it since its the last part. Skipped the entirety of chapter 7 when it was clear it was another senseless subplot with Men Being Men TM with a bunch of characters i would never read about again. Seriously, who needs so many detours and timejumps to shape a plot????
Well, so did I—Almost dnf. Reading this was just not enjoyable for me at all. I forced myself to finish it since its the last part. Skipped the entirety of chapter 7 when it was clear it was another senseless subplot with Men Being Men TM with a bunch of characters i would never read about again. Seriously, who needs so many detours and timejumps to shape a plot????
Anyway. Goodbye to this series. This book has killed any love I had for these characters. I’m done.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Incest
starsfall's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Pedophilia
Okay wow this book was a lot. There were many plottwist that left me quite confused. I really loved how there were so mant different povs, so many characters. Although sometimes I was a bit lost with so many names and places.camoo3032's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Vomit, Abortion, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Homophobia, Infertility, Slavery, Excrement, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Colonisation
geordirr's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Incest and Antisemitism
karenbo's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
I have spent a long time reading the witcher novels and to say this last book was a disappointment is an understatement. However, my favorite passages and chapters of all the witcher books came from this book. In general, I liked the writing and how some things were wrapped up but the fate of, almost, all beloved characters was just lousy. I also disliked that they introduced new characters and plot in this book, some even in the last 50 pages. It wasn't so bad that I couldn't read it but it was largely unsatisfying.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Incest and Rape
efsimpkin's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Wow. What a finale to the Witcher series. This took a long time for me to read, mostly because the start of the book is very, very slow. I can’t really remember the significance of Geralt’s arc in Toussaint necessarily or the start of Ciri’s travels post-Tower and at the end of the day it didn’t really end up mattering that much.
I do need to say though that as a Merlin fan I really enjoyed all the Camelot references, lol.
In the middle of the book is where the plot starts to pick up and Sapkowski’s writing shines once more. There’s a chapter that uses multiple POVs to describe a battle scene and it’s masterful. Throughout, we get thrown between times and places with only scraps of information to tell us where we are but it is perfectly executed. The use of a recurring motif (I won’t spoil what it is) hit me like a tonne of bricks when I worked out what it was doing. The use of sometimes very simple dialogue or clever word games is brilliant and even more brilliant when you consider that it survived translation, so well done to French as well for his work there.
This is by far the darkest and saddest book in the series, I feel, and I think that’s what makes it beautiful in its own way. I spent the whole book wondering how it would align with the characters I know from TW3, and I only got that answer right at the end, which was excellent. I had been lightly spoiled for the ending previously which is a shame but I still deeply enjoyed the book.
I’m going to wait a good long while, until I’m feeling nostalgic, to read Season of Storms.
I do need to say though that as a Merlin fan I really enjoyed all the Camelot references, lol.
In the middle of the book is where the plot starts to pick up and Sapkowski’s writing shines once more. There’s a chapter that uses multiple POVs to describe a battle scene and it’s masterful. Throughout, we get thrown between times and places with only scraps of information to tell us where we are but it is perfectly executed. The use of a recurring motif (I won’t spoil what it is) hit me like a tonne of bricks when I worked out what it was doing. The use of sometimes very simple dialogue or clever word games is brilliant and even more brilliant when you consider that it survived translation, so well done to French as well for his work there.
This is by far the darkest and saddest book in the series, I feel, and I think that’s what makes it beautiful in its own way. I spent the whole book wondering how it would align with the characters I know from TW3, and I only got that answer right at the end, which was excellent. I had been lightly spoiled for the ending previously which is a shame but I still deeply enjoyed the book.
I’m going to wait a good long while, until I’m feeling nostalgic, to read Season of Storms.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, and War
Moderate: Incest
Minor: Pregnancy
sabrinabean's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
It took me 11 months to read this book. If that doesn't say how much a slog it was to get through, I don't know what does.
The Good:
Shifting Perspectives:
I did grow to like how some distant and close POVs gave the reader a broader sense of the world. There were clever moments of karmic justice or just plain sad moments built up off of these short segments. The reason I think these sections are great is because Sapkowski excels at writing short stories. Long overarching fantasy narratives? Not so much.
Time Jumping:
I may be in the minority here, but I did like the time jumping aspect of this novel. It gave some relief during tense moments, gave great "ah-a!" moments, and made me work to puzzle together events. While this technique isn't for every story, or every reader, I thought it made sense here.
The Medics:
Literally the only chapter I distinctly care about. Those medics are badasses, and what a cool way to show a battle.
The Parallels to Arthurian Legends:
The interpretation of Ciri as the Holy Grail (or, really, a False Grail), the ending, Avalon, etc all make really cool references which help soften the blow of the ending.
The Bad:
The Rape & Sexual Harassment:
Ciri cannot catch a break. Everyone (minus Geralt and party) she encounters in this book wants to beat her, rape her, inseminate her, and force a baby on her. The gratuitous amounts of rape, attempted rape, threats of rape, and rape as a plot point are too much.
Out of Character Moments:
It often felt like all (or what little character development there was) just flew out the window. I did not understand some character's decisions at all.
You're telling me Geralt and Yen finally find Ciri then just agree to commit suicide?? What the actual hell.
And then Emphyr just... sees Ciri cry and decides NOT to steal, rape, and impregnate his own daughter???
I just... what??
The Lodge of Sorceresses:
I was so hoping for some badass ladies to show men how to run the world properly. But they did nothing. And the few things they did do were worse than how other characters acted?? Seriously, they just want Ciri to get pregnant too!
Women Hating Women:
Are there any decent women in this series? More specifically, are there any women who don't fall in love with Geralt and have sex with him? And are there any women with genuine connections other than mother/daughter or aunt/cousin?? Asking because I'm sick of this.
Would I recommend this series? Ehhhhhh. For high fantasy lovers, sure. I personally struggled with it through.
I would recommend the short stories, but the actual series was a bust for me. Somehow the Netflix show is turning out worse though, so there's that. I guess the games are where its at.
The Good:
Shifting Perspectives:
I did grow to like how some distant and close POVs gave the reader a broader sense of the world. There were clever moments of karmic justice or just plain sad moments built up off of these short segments. The reason I think these sections are great is because Sapkowski excels at writing short stories. Long overarching fantasy narratives? Not so much.
Time Jumping:
I may be in the minority here, but I did like the time jumping aspect of this novel. It gave some relief during tense moments, gave great "ah-a!" moments, and made me work to puzzle together events. While this technique isn't for every story, or every reader, I thought it made sense here.
The Medics:
Literally the only chapter I distinctly care about. Those medics are badasses, and what a cool way to show a battle.
The Parallels to Arthurian Legends:
The interpretation of Ciri as the Holy Grail (or, really, a False Grail), the ending, Avalon, etc all make really cool references which help soften the blow of the ending.
The Bad:
The Rape & Sexual Harassment:
Ciri cannot catch a break. Everyone (minus Geralt and party) she encounters in this book wants to beat her, rape her, inseminate her, and force a baby on her. The gratuitous amounts of rape, attempted rape, threats of rape, and rape as a plot point are too much.
Out of Character Moments:
It often felt like all (or what little character development there was) just flew out the window. I did not understand some character's decisions at all.
You're telling me Geralt and Yen finally find Ciri then just agree to commit suicide?? What the actual hell.
And then Emphyr just... sees Ciri cry and decides NOT to steal, rape, and impregnate his own daughter???
I just... what??
The Lodge of Sorceresses:
I was so hoping for some badass ladies to show men how to run the world properly. But they did nothing. And the few things they did do were worse than how other characters acted??
Women Hating Women:
Are there any decent women in this series? More specifically, are there any women who don't fall in love with Geralt and have sex with him? And are there any women with genuine connections other than mother/daughter or aunt/cousin?? Asking because I'm sick of this.
Would I recommend this series? Ehhhhhh. For high fantasy lovers, sure. I personally struggled with it through.
I would recommend the short stories, but the actual series was a bust for me. Somehow the Netflix show is turning out worse though, so there's that. I guess the games are where its at.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Rape
saltylane's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Like all the other books in the Witcher series, this one jumps back and forth between perspectives, and gives a lot of information that isn’t completely necessary or interesting. The writing style is descriptive but not necessarily excessively so. The story itself has a lot of twists and turns and mysteries. I’d say the ending was rather bittersweet. Also, there were a lot of things that didn’t really make too much sense for the characters that have developed over the past handful of books. There were also just a handful of times whenever an action was starting to peak, and then it just dropped down because there was some kind of intervention that just happened to happen at that moment.
I didn’t necessarily expect a happy ending for everyone… But at least an ending that actually had conclusions that really mattered or that made sense would’ve been nice.
Overall, I rather enjoyed the series, despite its many flaws. With the switching perspectives, it did get confusing as to what was going on and what character was doing what. It often went to characters that I wasn’t really sure why they were even included… Unless they were just trying to close up plot lines? I don’t know; they didn’t really matter. It didn’t really seem very important that So-and-So died in such a way or succeeded in XYZ. Sure, sometimes it was nice to see what older characters that we hadn’t seen in a while were doing… But overall it wasn’t really important to the plot what was going on in their lives.
The reader for this audiobook is very talented! He really knows how to manipulate his voice to the different characters and stick with it consistently. The voice acting was also very good with emphasized emotions relevant to the scenes.
I’m really interested in seeing how the series on Netflix adapts all of the storylines. Hopefully it’s a little bit less convoluted…
I didn’t necessarily expect a happy ending for everyone… But at least an ending that actually had conclusions that really mattered or that made sense would’ve been nice.
Overall, I rather enjoyed the series, despite its many flaws. With the switching perspectives, it did get confusing as to what was going on and what character was doing what. It often went to characters that I wasn’t really sure why they were even included… Unless they were just trying to close up plot lines? I don’t know; they didn’t really matter. It didn’t really seem very important that So-and-So died in such a way or succeeded in XYZ. Sure, sometimes it was nice to see what older characters that we hadn’t seen in a while were doing… But overall it wasn’t really important to the plot what was going on in their lives.
The reader for this audiobook is very talented! He really knows how to manipulate his voice to the different characters and stick with it consistently. The voice acting was also very good with emphasized emotions relevant to the scenes.
I’m really interested in seeing how the series on Netflix adapts all of the storylines. Hopefully it’s a little bit less convoluted…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Xenophobia, Grief, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexism, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Classism
hellbender's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and War