Genre: Fantasy
Series: 2-of-2 short story collections that happen before the main Witcher series.
Page Count: 374
Publication Year: Originally published 1992. The version I read came out in 2015.
Publisher: Orbit
Special Notes: Translated from Polish by David French.
Summary:
My name is Geralt and I hardly fight any monsters in these short stories. My code is preventing me from killing or otherwise dealing with threats, despite my constant need for money. I face mythical dragons, rivals, shapeshifters, mermaids, tree people and my destiny. I don’t believe in destiny, but it keeps getting in my face. It’s time I dealt with it.
This wasn’t very good. I think the problems stemmed from the different translator. I don’t know how much control the translator had and what they could omit or rearrange, but this needed some changes. A lot of the sentences were choppily put together, had questionable punctuation, or reused words. I can’t tell you how many times someone blushed, blanched, flushed, or Ciri’s hair was described as “mousy.”
As for what was written. . .yeah, I don’t know.
The fight scenes had so much going on I zoned out halfway through. And I have to point out that unless you have a special sheath, unsheathing a longsword from your back is impossible.
Sometimes actions never took place. One time Yennefer was tied-up and then moved away without any mention of being untied. I’m used to books narrating every move and Sapkowski’s way of telling you where people are or what they’re doing is taking me a while to get accustomed to.
Geralt’s still a cool character but I’m sick of his code constantly being brought up. He’s supposed to be a monster killer and not only were there not many monsters in this book, he only had roughly three fights that ended in deaths. The rest of the time he said how his code prevented him from killing this or that. I just want him to go hunt something and kill it. Maybe now that the main story is starting in the next book I’ll see more fights.
Another issue I had was how a person’s appearances were constantly brought up. I didn’t need to be reminded of Ciri’s mousy hair and green eyes, women’s figures, Geralt’s studded armor, or Yennefer’s lilacs and gooseberries. Dandelion’s hat gets a bit of attention too, but generally as a clever way to introduce him to the scene. I think the referrals to appearances are a crutch and shows that the author maybe doesn’t know how else to portray people.
The best parts of these stories involved Dandelion and his interactions with Geralt. They’re such a fun duo and bounce off each other well. I wish I could see how they met. Although, how is it they manage to keep running into each other in what is a pretty big world? I guess monsters and ballads stick together.
Aside from all the great things Dandelion contributed, one of the stand-out moments was the ending of A Little Sacrifice. Without spoiling it, something happened to someone and it was unexpectedly sad for me because of how real it was.
I assume the last two stories will have the most impact going forward. They were also my least favorite of the collection. I don’t know how I feel about Ciri, so I’ll reserve my complete judgment until later.
Overall I’m not impressed with this new translator. The previous translator is doing the next book so I’ll be able to compare things more. But after that it’s only French. I hope he doesn’t botch it up.
Which was your favorite story? Am I the only one who likes the other translator better? Comment your thoughts below.
Check out my rating here.
My reviews for the first, third, fourth and fifth and bonus book.
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