Crossroads of Ravens

by Andrzej Sapkowski

Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher series is a global phenomenon with over thirty million copies sold and translated into over forty languages worldwide. Crossroads of Ravens is the instant New York Times bestselling standalone novel following fantasy's most beloved monster hunter, Geralt of Rivia, on his first steps towards becoming a legend. 

 ★ “A wonderful insight into the beginnings of one of fantasy's most beloved and iconic characters, Geralt of Rivia. Immersive, exciting, and emotional. Crossroads of Ravens is not to be missed.” – John Gwynne, New York Times bestselling author

Witchers are not born. They are made.

Before he was the White Wolf or the Butcher of Blaviken, Geralt of Rivia was simply a fresh graduate of Kaer Morhen, stepping into a world that neither understands nor welcomes his kind.

 And when an act of naïve heroism goes gravely wrong, Geralt is only saved from the noose by Preston Holt, a grizzled witcher with a buried past and an agenda of his own.

 Under Holt’s guiding hand, Geralt begins to learn what it truly means to walk the Path – to protect a world that fears him, and to survive in it on his own terms. But as the line between right and wrong begins to blur, Geralt must decide to become the monster everyone expects, or something else entirely.

 This is the story of how legends are made – and what they cost.

★ “Geralt is one of the great characters in all of fantasy. Whether you're coming from the games, TV show, or are simply new to the Witcher universe - these books are absolutely worth the read.” – James Islington, author of The Will of the Many

★ “Sapkowski is a true master of fantasy literature, and Crossroads of Ravens is his latest example of his writing prowess." – Popverse

Witcher Story Collections
The Last Wish
Sword of Destiny

The Witcher Saga
Blood of Elves
 The Time of Contempt
 Baptism of Fire 
 The Tower of Swallows
 Lady of the Lake

Standalone Witcher Novels
Season of Storms
 Crossroads of Ravens

The Hussite Trilogy
The Tower of Fools
 Warriors of God
 Light Perpetual

 Translated from original Polish by David French

Genres: Fantasy

400 pages, Paperback

Published September 29, 2026

About the author

Andrzej Sapkowski, born June 21, 1948 in Łódź, is a Polish fantasy and science fiction writer. Sapkowski studied economics, and before turning to writing, he had worked as a senior sales representative for a foreign trade company. His first short story, The Witcher (Wiedźmin), was published in Fantastyka, Poland's leading fantasy literary magazine, in 1986 and was enormously successful both with readers and critics. Sapkowski has created a cycle of tales based on the world of The Witcher, comprising three collections of short stories and five novels. This cycle and his many other works have made him one of the best-known fantasy authors in Poland in the 1990s.

The main character of The Witcher (alternative translation: The Hexer) is Geralt, a mutant assassin who has been trained since childhood to hunt down and destroy monsters. Geralt exists in an ambiguous moral universe, yet manages to maintain his own coherent code of ethics. At the same time cynical and noble, Geralt has been compared to Raymond Chandler's signature character Philip Marlowe. The world in which these adventures take place is heavily influenced by Slavic mythology.

Sapkowski has won five Zajdel Awards, including three for short stories "Mniejsze zło" (Lesser Evil) (1990), "Miecz przeznaczenia" (Sword of Destiny) (1992) and "W leju po bombie" (In a Bomb Crater) (1993), and two for the novels "Krew elfów" (Blood of Elves) (1994) and "Narrenturm" (2002). He also won the Spanish Ignotus Award, best anthology, for The Last Wish in 2003, and for "Muzykanci" (The Musicians), best foreign short story, same year.

In 1997, Sapkowski won the prestigious Polityka's Passport award, which is awarded annually to artists who have strong prospects for international success.

In 2001, a Television Series based on the Witcher cycle was released in Poland and internationally, entitled Wiedźmin (The Hexer). A film by the same title was compiled from excerpts of the television series but both have been critical and box office failures.

Sapkowski's books have been translated into Czech, Russian, Lithuanian, German, Spanish, French, Ukrainian, and Portuguese. An English translation of The Last Wish short story collection was published by Gollancz in 2007.

The Polish game publisher, CD Projekt, created a role-playing PC game based on this universe, called The Witcher, which was released in October 2007. There is also a mobile version of the game which has been created by Breakpoint Games and is being published by Hands-On Mobile in Western Europe,Latin America and Asia Pacific.

The English translation of Sapkowski's novel Blood of Elves won the David Gemmell Legends Award in 2009.

Reviews

[Rosie Bugz]

4.5⭐️🐦‍⬛

thank you to orbit books for sending me a review copy !!

this was a really great book. it was written fairly well, minor tweaks needed but it is an arc so i assume those will be fixed(?), and i really enjoyed the story. it was fast paced, easy to understand, and the magic system was familiarly comforting. i would recommend this to you if you’re not super familiar with the fantasy genre. it doesn’t have too much that you need to memorise and it doesn’t over complicate itself. i had a good time reading this.

[Debra Meyer]

A nice addition to the Witcher collection. I liked the use of letters in telling the story, the shifting of viewpoint and attitude they contained.