Genre: Fantasy
Series: Book three of the main story, book five of the series.
Page Count: 343 (about 12 hours)
Publication Year: Originally published 1996, the audiobook came out in 2015.
Publisher: Orbit
Special Notes: Translated from Polish by David French. I found the audiobook, narrated by Peter Kenny, on Youtube.
Summary: My name is Geralt and I need to find Ciri. ROAD TRIP!
*sighs for a thousand years* I really had high hopes for this series. Ostensibly it had everything I like in fantasy: male protagonist, fighting, a sprinkling of politics and romance, adventure, defeating the bad guys…and now I don’t have any of that. There were moments in this book I enjoyed, mostly due to the audiobook’s narrator’s talent, but at the end I’m left wondering “Why? Why did this book need to happen?”
Ciri’s missing and Geralt’s determined to find her and sets out on the road, acquiring a following as he goes. Okay, great. I like traveling and most of the people Geralt traveled with were interesting. But what did it have to do with the overarching plot? He doesn’t even know where Ciri is and yet I’m supposed to jump on board with his aimless days in the saddle?
Let me go over the short list of things I liked.
Dandelion (or as the narrator said dan-DIL-ion, which is adorable) continues to sit at the top of my favorite characters. He’s been everything I’d hoped he be. He’s still a bit of a coward but he has insights into situations no one else does and he’s a fun person to watch bumble around the war-torn countryside.
Regis and Cahir. They didn’t earn Geralt’s trust easily and with good reason. They were the two I was most curious to learn more about. I see why Cahir was chosen for a companion given his past, but I got the impression Regis was put in for how he’d interact with Geralt and not because the story needed him. He had things to do but if he weren’t there the story could’ve moved along just fine.
I don’t know if it’s sad or a sign of good writing that my favorite scene was the group making some soup. Dandelion telling people to gut fish, start a fire, bring water, and throw in seasonings was wholesome to listen to.
The narrator did an excellent job of differentiating all the voices. Dandelion and Geralt sounded great. Regis, Cahir, Zoltan, they were all great. The fifty million women at the conclave were distinguishable too. This was a much better way for me to experience the story.
Now let me move on to the rest of the book.
I admire Geralt wanting to rescue Ciri but it’s not something he excelled at. In fact, he did an excellent job at not rescuing her and being moody. He was peevish, sulky, snippy, and annoyed for most of the book. He got called out a few times and it made for a few laughs but it didn’t match the personality I’d grown to expect. He’s all but set aside his witchering and he’s not an exciting POV like before. And is he going after Ciri out of love or duty?
Ciri resumed her brainwashed idiocy as her association with the Rats, a group with their moral compass set to the South Pole, remained exactly the same. If she died I wouldn’t shed a tear. The way she’s written makes me think you’re not supposed to like her. And nothing happened to even slightly alter my opinion. I know this isn’t how it goes, but it’d make more sense at this point for her to become the villain and Geralt to find her to end her diabolical plans. I wouldn’t want her to rule over a ghetto, much less a kingdom. Her laughable sense of judgment and common sense would result in wars and ruination in no time. I can’t stand her.
I listened to this over a couple weeks and at one point I completely forgot what happened to Zoltan. Aside from giving Geralt a new weapon, his character went nowhere and added nothing of real value.
Milva, the female archer, failed to impress me too. She ticked every personality trait you’ve already imagined her to have and failed to stick those last-minute sympathy points. Aside from the slight twist at the end, she’s nothing I haven’t seen in many other women.
At this point Yennefer may as well not be in the series. She contributed diddly-squat and she’s kinda boring.
The sorceress’ conclave thingy made my eyes—or rather, ears—glaze over. Did they accomplish anything or just bicker the whole time? I must’ve missed whatever decisions they made. Then they talked about the lineage of some lady and I missed the majority of that too. One of the sorceresses even said she was confused, and that prompted an analogy which didn’t serve its purpose. If these women hope to instigate positive change in the world, I’d say the world’s doomed. I’d also forgotten the previously mentioned who, what, where, when, why of all the sorceresses. Again, maybe it’s just me and the whole meeting was vastly important and clearly explained and all the women were distinguishable and I’m an idiot for not following.
I’ve been harping on this series from the beginning for not having a map. I’ve looked online and found a few but they never seem to have all the locations mentioned. I think every fantasy series I’ve read that needed a map had a map. If they redo the translations now that there’s a tv series coming, hopefully they’ll include a map.
All those things are secondary complaints compared to the plot. There isn’t one. I can see why the series was turned into computer games. The whole book resembled me playing an open-world game: 85% side quests, 10% getting to the side quests and/or having random conversations with my companions, and 5% main quest. None of the battles or encounters Geralt and his group had served the main storyline. Sure, they instigated important conversations or showed how bad things were now that Nilfgard had invaded, but there are shorter ways of accomplishing both. If Geralt had made real progress toward finding Ciri I’d think differently.
Some other POVs crowded the narrative and then that storyteller guy popped up. This series isn’t best served with splitting narratives, especially when most of the side characters meld into each other.
When I read the first book I could see definite quirks in the writing style. Now, maybe it’s the different translator or structure of the story, but I saw that spark of uniqueness diminish with each novel. I’m not sure how to describe his style. He viewed things from a different angle and added details most authors gloss over or don’t acknowledge. All I got this time was a hodgepodge of people, places, ideas, pacing, and ambiguous motives.
I can see why it’s a fairly popular series. But I’d prefer that a plot make clear advances in each book. Whatever Sapkowski wanted to do, he could have—should have—done in three books, plus the two short story collections. What this road trip showed me is that he didn’t have enough material to drag into a series.
I’ve heard there are some great parts in the next book from the perspective of Dandelion. I’m tempted to find them. If I can’t, this is the end of the road for me and the Witcher series.
If you know where the Dandelion parts are in the book or audiobook, please tell me.
Update: I found his part; it's chapter three of The Tower of Swallows.
Check out my rating here.
Reread my journey:
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