Genre: Fantasy
Series: Book two of the main story, book four of the series.
Page Count: 331
Publication Year: Originally published 1995, my version came out in 2013.
Publisher: Orbit
Special Notes: Translated from Polish by David French.
Summary: My name is Geralt and my story has faded into the background. Ciri takes control of the narrative as war sweeps the land and the wizards struggle for power.
A grand total of Nothing happened in this book. And the stuff that did happen was confusing, kinda boring and lacking Geralt.
Alright, stuff did happen but it didn’t need to be relayed in such depth or for so long.
Since the description on the book gives you all the key plot points, this review will contain SPOILERS pertaining to those plot points.
Geralt is looking for information about Ciri’s past and his informants give a longwinded explanation of things and such. Basically, Ciri’s important and it’d be bad if she went missing.
Ciri and Yennefer go to the patron city for sorcerers and where the Council/sorcerer’s party will take place.
Ciri explores the city and gets into trouble with a local animal wrangler. Her whole experience adds nothing to the story and only serves to conveniently introduce some sorcerers. It’s twenty pages showing Ciri as a know-it-all who can’t not make a scene. Anything good about her in the previous books has been thrown out the window in favor of making her annoying, stupid, and a connoisseur in the short-term memory department. I guess her witcher training forgot to include lessons on common sense. At the end of the book she’s separated from Geralt and Yen. MAJOR-ISH SPOILERS UNTIL END OF PARAGRAPH She has a tough time, gets kidnapped and then “rescued” by a guy she “sensed instinctively…she ought to fear more” than her captors. Does she say sayonara and beat a hasty retreat? No. She thinks Geralt and Yen have abandoned her and now she’s all alone and she’s helpless and directionally challenged and may as well not have any legs because how could she possibly leave. So this guy and his deranged bunch of friends give her some trinkets and say a cliché initiation and she suddenly thinks it’s a wonderful idea to stay. Why does she stay with these murdering freaks? WHY? And in light of what she went through soon after the initiation, double WHY. One other question: does Ciri not have magic after the desert rain thing? Or is the Child of Destiny too important to lose it but lost it temporarily for drama’s sake? Honestly, whatever bad stuff happens to her next she completely deserves for being so stupid.
Anyway, back to Geralt. He and Yen go to this magic-y party and meet a coven of sorcerers whose names and affiliations I forgot soon after meeting them. It’s not that the dialogue made no sense, it’s that there were too many people involved who all had varying agendas. Since Geralt is still neutral I don’t really know who’s side I should be on. Then a big fight breaks out and the people I just met either die or turn out to be the villain? I’m completely unsure of what happened and where everyone stands now. I need a flowchart of whose side everyone’s on and what was the outcome of the altercation. Did it all spawn from the fact that the kings don’t trust sorcerers anymore and have resorted to the Pony Express to communicate with other kings? Or was this coup coming from the beginning?
Seeing Geralt bumble around the sorcerers was fun, but I think telling instead of showing would have been more effective at relaying the pertinent information. Or including a glossary.
After Geralt gets injured, Dandelion finds him and they talk about what’s going on with the war. The POVs then jump across many random people on both sides and sorta tell me what’s shakin’ with the bacon. When I got done with that section I desperately wished Dandelion had said what happened in his own words. I don’t care what these complete strangers think about their current marching orders or how they can rape, but only if it’s quietly. Like, dude, give me Dandelion any day of the week rather than a bunch of head hopping and confusion. I don’t want my reading to be akin to tug-of-war.
Some reviews I read said how the women are all the same. I agree. All the women are incredibly shapely, fawn over Geralt, flirtatious and jealous, and utterly interchangeable. There are about ten sorceresses introduced in a short time and for the life of me, I could not tell you whose side they’re on or what they look like. I was told both of those things, but it didn’t stick.
Yennefer is okay. But if she’d grow a spine and say what she wants to say to Geralt when she should say it, things would go smoother for everyone. She doesn’t seem to care that going off on her own is a hindrance and a bit childish. I get it, she’s her own woman and don’t need no man. WHATEVER. I’ve heard it all before and now I’m just bored.
Geralt isn’t the pinnacle of communication either, but he at least tries to wave his sword around and get things done. When he’s in the book, that is. After a quick calculation, I’d say he’s in roughly a third of the book. I thought this series was about him. I let it slide in the last book, but now I want the story to actually follow him for a change.
Dandelion is still great. Sure, he’s a coward, but he doesn’t want to be seen as a coward and it forces him to do brave things. Of all the characters in the book, he’s the one who stands out as having a distinct personality.
All the other characters I “met” use the same voice, have the same thoughts and blur together constantly. Yeah, Dijkstra is sorta cool, but what’s his game? Everyone drops hints and slyly pushes Geralt toward a conclusion but no one outright says their motive. I want people who spit it out and don’t waste my time. I had to google several people (and spoiled myself, oops) and a map to try and keep track of things. That’s not fun for me.
The fight scenes were either poorly written or made me zone out (because they’re poorly written?). Either way, I didn’t like reading the fight scenes. Ciri and Geralt may as well be tornados for all the pirouetting and half turns they do. I bet there is not a single fight that happens without someone busting out the ballet.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard a book reference its title so much. I get it! There’s a lot of contempt going around.
You know, maybe it’s just me. Maybe everything is painfully clear, each character is unique, the sides are clearly drawn and a map would be superfluous. That’s not at all how I see it.
I do have some good things to say. The world is crafted well and feels used. Sapkowski’s clearly put a lot of effort into it and I appreciate it. He may not show it to me in the clearest way, but that doesn’t stop me from becoming immersed.
Aside from some wonky bits, the translation worked better than French’s first one.
At its core this is a story I want to read. The dangers of being conquered, the perils of choosing a side, the aftermath of failure and the struggle to prevail regardless, are things I don’t tire of hearing. I like the story, it just doesn’t work all the time.
I know the plot for the next book and I’ve decided to give it one more chance. But I will listen to the audiobook.
Check out my rating here.
My reviews for book one, two, three and five and the bonus book.
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