A review by znnys
Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski
3.0
I didn't enjoy this book as much as I did The Last Wish. Most of the stories were kind of weak to me, except for the last two. The dated misogyny is kind of exhausting to trudge through. The whole "dopplers as marginalized people" metaphor was a bit clumsy and hamfisted but sort of a fun romp to read. Greatly underwhelmed vy the dragon story, as well as the mermaid story. Could not have given less of a shit about Geralt and Istredd's cat fight over Yennefer. Yennefer continues to be my favorite character but I really hate that trope that seems to think it's cute/funny when women hit men, and Sapkowski employs it in spades. The mermaid story almost endeared my to Dandelion but for the most part I find him insufferable.
I enjoyed the last two stories because they felt like a considerable amount of thought was put into actual story progression, character development, and world-building rather than yet another "Geralt goes to a podunk town and everyone there is shitty. He broods about yennefer and about being a witcher." It's sort of a tiring formula. Obviously not every story is going to hit the mark but for the most part this anthology felt like a step down from the previous one.
I will probably eventually read Blood of Elves but I'm not in a huge rush.
I enjoyed the last two stories because they felt like a considerable amount of thought was put into actual story progression, character development, and world-building rather than yet another "Geralt goes to a podunk town and everyone there is shitty. He broods about yennefer and about being a witcher." It's sort of a tiring formula. Obviously not every story is going to hit the mark but for the most part this anthology felt like a step down from the previous one.
I will probably eventually read Blood of Elves but I'm not in a huge rush.