A review by miclikesbooks
The Time of Contempt by Andrzej Sapkowski

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The 2nd full  novel in The Witcher Saga is a definite improvement over the first.  While Blood of Elves lost me midway with its lore dumps and lack of overarching plot, this book seems to have a little more of a push forward.  I feel like Sapkowski is able to bring this world out of its short story format and really starts setting up our plot for the novels.  The character interactions are much stronger, the plot takes off hard here with an explosive mid-book climax that's a whirlwind of action, betrayals, and ends with

Spoiler

the hero losing

  The latter half of the book describes the fallout of this battle, where our leads have ended up, as well as little lore dumps as to what is happening in the world overall.  This is done through these little, ADHD-Driven asides that were distracting in the last book, but here really flowed and lent itself to the more personal narrative of Geralt.  I'd compare this book and its predecessor to Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself: It mostly just serves to set up and name all of the major players in the world so the next book(s) can get the plot rolling.

All the pieces are in place, and I'm excited to see where things go.

What works for me:  The characters are deep, thoughtful, quick-witted, and very enjoyable to be around.  The way the lore is told to the reader is also really cool (thorough snippets of news and little vignettes, told to the major characters by their supporting cast).  I like all of the side characters (even the absolute bastards).  The narrative is finally taking off!
What didn't work for me:  There was a whole bit with

Spoiler

Ciri in the desert that goes on WAY too goddamn long.  There's also some traumatic events that CONTINUE to happen to her character to a point where it's a bit like "we get it, she's broken from all this".  There's some rapey stuff at the end, which serves to show the fucked-up relationships that she has formed with The Rats, but does get a little icky. It serves its purpose, but I didn't really like reading about it.

  There are scenes that are a bit confusing, but from what I understand, are ironed out in the next book.  I guess the point is that A. None of those details really matter and B. They're confusing to the protagonist as well.
Final Verdict: A great improvement on the last book.  Now we're finally gettin' somewere.