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A review by belladonnashrike
Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
the translation for this book is honestly so much better than the translated short stories. I enjoyed the stories, but after reading blood of elves I can tell why people critique them so often. this was much more engaging and I was really flying through it.
I loved that ciri & yen’s relationship was one of the focuses - I love them so much and I am glad to see a better relationship between them than what’s depicted in the show. I also enjoyed the political aspect of this book and it cleared up a lot of the politics that I was not entirely understanding from the netflix series. I do wish there was a map, though. it should be illegal for fantasy novels and series to not include a map!! idk where these places are!
I am APPALLED that tissaia demanded that all magicians be STERILIZED… when I watched the show I honestly just thought the transformation was so brutal it completely obliterated everyone’s reproductive organs or their hormones… I had no idea it was by design. this was such a small part of the book but I am STILL thinking about it.
what bugs me about the writing though is the emphasis on dialogue and not what is happening to the characters in their environment. oftentimes during a mini-monologue something happens between the speaker and another character or something changes in the environment that is never alluded to outside of the quotes. it’s slightly jarring at times. I have to really think sometimes about what exactly just happened because so many physical aspects and actions are just completely ignored, for whatever reason. if that weren’t the case I probably would’ve rated this five stars. I love the story & characters so much that my bias is definitellyyyy affecting the rating. but who cares I enjoyed myself
I loved that ciri & yen’s relationship was one of the focuses - I love them so much and I am glad to see a better relationship between them than what’s depicted in the show. I also enjoyed the political aspect of this book and it cleared up a lot of the politics that I was not entirely understanding from the netflix series. I do wish there was a map, though. it should be illegal for fantasy novels and series to not include a map!! idk where these places are!
what bugs me about the writing though is the emphasis on dialogue and not what is happening to the characters in their environment. oftentimes during a mini-monologue something happens between the speaker and another character or something changes in the environment that is never alluded to outside of the quotes. it’s slightly jarring at times. I have to really think sometimes about what exactly just happened because so many physical aspects and actions are just completely ignored, for whatever reason. if that weren’t the case I probably would’ve rated this five stars. I love the story & characters so much that my bias is definitellyyyy affecting the rating. but who cares I enjoyed myself
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment