A review by geekmom
The Lady of the Lake by Andrzej Sapkowski

3.5

This was a fine ending to the series, but looking back over the past few books I'm annoyed that there was so much... I don't know... dithering about? Lots and lots of pages - even entire books - where the storyline I was actually interested in didn't move forward and the characters just wandered around doing things that felt random. And the resolution to the big story arc of the series
with Geralt and Ciri was okay, but the way this volume was written wasn't satisfying for me. I can't ignore the rampant misogyny and the almost complete lack of agency Ciri ended up having at the end of this whole story. She's the chosen one! She is the one who is going to change the world! Because... she can be impregnated? Sigh. It's also disappointing that various central characters were simply killed off within a few pages... Not to mention that a large part of this book focused on the Big Battle to end the war that's been happening in the background of the series, but because none of the central characters participated, it was told through the POV of various minor side characters (many of whom were introduced just before the Big Battle) which made the whole thing feel detached and unimportant. I was hoping to see more of the interesting and fun ways of subverting fantasy tropes that I found in previous books, but I didn't really find them here. Oh well - I'm glad I finished the series, and I may even read the other, standalone novel, but I wish this one had been less disappointing.
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