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The Witcher #0.5-5
Ведьмак
Одна из лучших фэнтези-саг за всю историю существования жанра.
Оригинальное, масштабное эпическое произведение, одновременно и свободное от влияния извне, и связанное с классической мифологической, легендарной и сказовой традицией.
Шедевр не только писательского мастерства Анджея Сапковского, но и переводческого искусства Евгения Павловича Вайсброта.
«Сага о Геральте» – в одном томе.
Бесценный подарок и для поклонника прекрасной фантастики, и для ценителя просто хорошей литературы.
Перед читателем буквально оживает необычный, прекрасный и жестокий мир литературной легенда, в котором обитают эльфы и гномы, оборотни, вампиры и «низушки»-хоббиты, драконы и монстры, – но прежде всего люди.
Очень близкие нам, понятные и человечные люди – такие как мастер меча ведьмак Геральт, его друг, беспутный менестрель Лютик, его возлюбленная, прекрасная чародейка Йеннифэр, и приемная дочь – безрассудно отважная юная Цири…
Оригинальное, масштабное эпическое произведение, одновременно и свободное от влияния извне, и связанное с классической мифологической, легендарной и сказовой традицией.
Шедевр не только писательского мастерства Анджея Сапковского, но и переводческого искусства Евгения Павловича Вайсброта.
«Сага о Геральте» – в одном томе.
Бесценный подарок и для поклонника прекрасной фантастики, и для ценителя просто хорошей литературы.
Перед читателем буквально оживает необычный, прекрасный и жестокий мир литературной легенда, в котором обитают эльфы и гномы, оборотни, вампиры и «низушки»-хоббиты, драконы и монстры, – но прежде всего люди.
Очень близкие нам, понятные и человечные люди – такие как мастер меча ведьмак Геральт, его друг, беспутный менестрель Лютик, его возлюбленная, прекрасная чародейка Йеннифэр, и приемная дочь – безрассудно отважная юная Цири…
ebook
First published January 1, 2006
182 people are currently reading
2155 people want to read
About the author
Andrzej Sapkowski
202 books19.3k followersAndrzej 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
April 20, 2013
Nie ma lepszej literatury fantasy niż cykl Wiedźmiński Sapkowskiego
December 28, 2020
Czasem myślę, że traktowanie cyklu wiedźmińskiego w kategorii arcydzieła zakodował mi sam autor jakieś 15 lat temu przy pierwszej lekturze opowiadania o Bazyliszku. Że to nie może być prawda, tylko sentyment.
I że może Wiedźmin jest "tylko" bardzo dobrym cyklem fantasy?
Tak jest aż do następnego czytania (co staram się powtarzać co kilka lat) gdy po raz kolejny okazuje się, że mój hiper-entuzjazm i niemalejące zafascynowanie cyklem, są zupełnie racjonalne i w stu procentach uzasadnione.
I że może Wiedźmin jest "tylko" bardzo dobrym cyklem fantasy?
Tak jest aż do następnego czytania (co staram się powtarzać co kilka lat) gdy po raz kolejny okazuje się, że mój hiper-entuzjazm i niemalejące zafascynowanie cyklem, są zupełnie racjonalne i w stu procentach uzasadnione.
August 12, 2014
There were two main reasons why I chose to read «The Witcher», the praise heard from a friend long ago being one and — unsurprisingly — the games being the other. Like many girls out there, I raved about a certain disfigured character, his features chiselled, his voice (in its Russian voicing) young and ringing like a blade; like many boys, I loved the fighting and the gruesomeness and the complexity of the decisions to be made; and perhaps like fewer — those who have been cursed with an especially vivid imagination made worse by the habit of solitude and social awkwardness, - I took whatever happened to heart: in shock did I enter Flotsam in flames, rushed about frantically saving non-humans; I wept — no kidding — to see Cedric die, spread on blood-stained grass, his voice trailing off.
So it is easy to see why I expected the book to be even better.
Which I should have not.
As a graphomaniac, I have always envied those who manage to write voluminously. And you should give the author that: the two tomes contain stories and spinoffs that must have taken a lot of brainwork and thus deserve praise. However, the style is rather uneven. The first part of the whole cycle reads as if the guy just decided to make fun of some well-known myths and utilize them for his personal gain. “Hey, how about I re-shape the story of the Beauty and the Beast? the Little Mermaid? Scandinavian myths?” (Surpised the three piggies were not there.) The narrative is rather light-hearted, purely entertaining, with little to be read between the lines. Then, it seems, as the books started winning over the masses, it dawned on the guy that he could make this into an epic – and in he threw some politics, lots of it borrowed from actual human history, and some heavyweight pseudo-deep reflections on life and human nature. Toward the end of the series, the effect of mercenaries marching over your prostrate body is dispersed through the shifting of the perspective, including flash backs and forestalling. I don't know if it was meant to create suspense or the feeling of the mayhem dominating the world as war sweeps through – the technique only distracts, misleads, and makes you question its adequacy.
The tone of the writer is such as makes you feel Sapkowski revels in being unnecessarily cruel (not the war and fight scenes, although I really don't see how I benefit from the description of a horse dragging its guts in the mud; but the scene with the flea-ridden cat dying – did I as a reader need that? what was the point of including it in the narrative? Submersion?); that doesn't stop him from being untouchingly sentimental (ah, the poor girl, a fresh scar disfeaturing her face, telling of the atrocities she's encountered to a lonely hermit who took her in, saved her, nourished her back to life and who she still talks to as if he owes her something, all that with poetic repetitions running paragraph to paragraph). A 14-year-old and a – God help me – WHITE UNICORN gallop through parallel universes with environmental disasters, and cannibals, and boobs, and rape, and obscenities, and inflated quotes... - and there we go, Tolstoy weeping pitifully in the corner.
Having borrowed from one type of source, Sapkowski decided not to stop there. There's Latin, and characters will utter quotes in it – but wait, aren't they in an imaginary universe? Most nations are linked to some European analogue, most noticeably the Vikings and the French. Most names are either straightforwardly European (all those mountain passes in Toussaint, say) or Latin. And yes, as a linguist I do appreciate the easy irony of calling the castle of sorcery Montecalvo, which echoes as the Bald Mountain, all those tales of witches' gatherings attached to it – but honestly, should I praise the author for this cartoon strip wordplay? At times, a long phrase in Elven speech is left untranslated for the reader – thanks, next time I talk to Iorveth in my dreams, I'll ask him what that meant. There are also words that are quite simply misspelled, and though it may be the problem of the publisher, not the author, still the German “Zauberey” and the French “chanse” hurt my eyes. There are other anachronistic elements (a cornet? in a Medieval environment?) and things generally out of place. The author may have thought it funny, but it just looks sloppy.
On the other hand, Sapkowski seems to have done his homework on some things. His descriptions of swordfighting somersaults are detailed; he also boasts knowledge on everything, from plants to geological features, to armour, to image-making, sort of children's encyclopedia kind – for doesn't that feel a smidge artificial to read “The walls were adorned with watercolours, pastels, oils, copper plate engravings, lithographies...” (the list goes on to name at least 5 more things that I happen to be familiar with but that, piled up together, look like someone has been trying too hard).
The scope of the book considered, it's forgivable that at times, things were left unexplained and for the reader to figure out, as if the author was going to lift up the veil but, in the course of heavy action that followed, forgot. Most notably, where and when did Triss first hook up with Gerald? The story starts by her heading to the witchers' fort and longing to see him, and a previous history of theirs is alluded to... and left at that. Then, there's the question of Faoiltiarna's survival, the question being simply “HOW ON EARTH?”, and I'd be happy to see it answered because the guy is pretty much the only really likeable character in the character-teeming book: an elf commander, ruthless but noble, he stands above most other elves who, as rendered by Sapkowski, (despite being a supreme race and, you would expect, displaying supreme behaviour) drink, use drugs and talk billingsgate – in Elder Speech, of course, but since that is unbotheringly made of comprehensible European roots, it's easy to understand when someone says “Up your ass”. Ok, I get it, they are like the Native Americans, once superior, but now cornered and corrupted – and there is tragedy in that, but, as Ayn Rand put it, if you want to show someone as outstanding, you should show them acting outstanding. What Sapkowski's elves are is generaly no different from the drunken, barnyard rubbish met elsewhere in the book.
The three main characters are no better. Yennefer, the wonder-woman of the story (brave, resolute, devoted), plows through the book flying into tempers, smashing things, swearing like a trooper and altogether acting vulgar. Why Geralt loves her is a mystery, unless the author believes that the description of the shape of her tits in moonlight is explanation enough. Why she (and a swarm of others) loves Geralt is another mystery: he himself goes about being all gentlemanly, saving the defenceless, protecting women's honour and all that, which in itself is really great; only whenever he does so, he gives a pompous mini-speech on how the world is crap, and most people are crap, and then there's himself – a relic so old-fashioned and knightly. Ziri, who makes her first serious appearance as a child, goes all the way from being an annoying little thing, what with her manner of speaking (intended as cute?), through a teenage cutthroat with dubious morals, to this great tragic figure, a girl that has seen what no girl is meant to see, been through horrors, and intent on setting the world straight. Come on, we've seen her hallooing through villages, slaughtering whoever wasn't pleased to see her and her band of highway kids, abusing drugs and spirits and, to add a minor detail, brandishing a feisty tongue similar to her caregiver Yennefer's (I sort of have one myself, but I don't consider that a virtue). Then, when the others gang members are butchered by a sadistic paid killer, she goes “Ah! You murderer!” Yeah, babes, that's called retribution. I don't know if the reader is supposed to develop some attachment to her (orphan, wartime chaos, no guidance), but somehow, it didn't work.
Other folks that parade through the book are less difficult to come to terms with: Dandelion, a vain but, as it turns out, not shallow playboy; the amiable dwarves, with their bawdy manners, farts and burps; the sorceresses, a different personality each; Dijkstra, scheming and likely knowing it all better than all others; and a horde of minor characters, quite various, but leaving a general impression of a filthy, caddish world where even the better examples sink in the surrounding muck.
To create a larger picture and lend you a hand to help you through the overall bleakness, Sapkowski introduces the comic element, at times successful, at others less so. There were a few quite hilarious episodes (the execution of Dandelion, “Halflings Strike Back”, which was belly-tearing, and the first appearance of the knights of Toussaint, riding about in their polished armour, all “By word of honour!”), but some (the perpetuum mobile in particular, and many of the dialogues) are tedious and often irritatingly irrelevant.
Having read through 2307 pages of repulsive personalities trampling through a universe not entirely authentic, I would call “The Witcher” a book of effort, and effort repaid, but not one I would ever be re-reading.
So it is easy to see why I expected the book to be even better.
Which I should have not.
As a graphomaniac, I have always envied those who manage to write voluminously. And you should give the author that: the two tomes contain stories and spinoffs that must have taken a lot of brainwork and thus deserve praise. However, the style is rather uneven. The first part of the whole cycle reads as if the guy just decided to make fun of some well-known myths and utilize them for his personal gain. “Hey, how about I re-shape the story of the Beauty and the Beast? the Little Mermaid? Scandinavian myths?” (Surpised the three piggies were not there.) The narrative is rather light-hearted, purely entertaining, with little to be read between the lines. Then, it seems, as the books started winning over the masses, it dawned on the guy that he could make this into an epic – and in he threw some politics, lots of it borrowed from actual human history, and some heavyweight pseudo-deep reflections on life and human nature. Toward the end of the series, the effect of mercenaries marching over your prostrate body is dispersed through the shifting of the perspective, including flash backs and forestalling. I don't know if it was meant to create suspense or the feeling of the mayhem dominating the world as war sweeps through – the technique only distracts, misleads, and makes you question its adequacy.
The tone of the writer is such as makes you feel Sapkowski revels in being unnecessarily cruel (not the war and fight scenes, although I really don't see how I benefit from the description of a horse dragging its guts in the mud; but the scene with the flea-ridden cat dying – did I as a reader need that? what was the point of including it in the narrative? Submersion?); that doesn't stop him from being untouchingly sentimental (ah, the poor girl, a fresh scar disfeaturing her face, telling of the atrocities she's encountered to a lonely hermit who took her in, saved her, nourished her back to life and who she still talks to as if he owes her something, all that with poetic repetitions running paragraph to paragraph). A 14-year-old and a – God help me – WHITE UNICORN gallop through parallel universes with environmental disasters, and cannibals, and boobs, and rape, and obscenities, and inflated quotes... - and there we go, Tolstoy weeping pitifully in the corner.
Having borrowed from one type of source, Sapkowski decided not to stop there. There's Latin, and characters will utter quotes in it – but wait, aren't they in an imaginary universe? Most nations are linked to some European analogue, most noticeably the Vikings and the French. Most names are either straightforwardly European (all those mountain passes in Toussaint, say) or Latin. And yes, as a linguist I do appreciate the easy irony of calling the castle of sorcery Montecalvo, which echoes as the Bald Mountain, all those tales of witches' gatherings attached to it – but honestly, should I praise the author for this cartoon strip wordplay? At times, a long phrase in Elven speech is left untranslated for the reader – thanks, next time I talk to Iorveth in my dreams, I'll ask him what that meant. There are also words that are quite simply misspelled, and though it may be the problem of the publisher, not the author, still the German “Zauberey” and the French “chanse” hurt my eyes. There are other anachronistic elements (a cornet? in a Medieval environment?) and things generally out of place. The author may have thought it funny, but it just looks sloppy.
On the other hand, Sapkowski seems to have done his homework on some things. His descriptions of swordfighting somersaults are detailed; he also boasts knowledge on everything, from plants to geological features, to armour, to image-making, sort of children's encyclopedia kind – for doesn't that feel a smidge artificial to read “The walls were adorned with watercolours, pastels, oils, copper plate engravings, lithographies...” (the list goes on to name at least 5 more things that I happen to be familiar with but that, piled up together, look like someone has been trying too hard).
The scope of the book considered, it's forgivable that at times, things were left unexplained and for the reader to figure out, as if the author was going to lift up the veil but, in the course of heavy action that followed, forgot. Most notably, where and when did Triss first hook up with Gerald? The story starts by her heading to the witchers' fort and longing to see him, and a previous history of theirs is alluded to... and left at that. Then, there's the question of Faoiltiarna's survival, the question being simply “HOW ON EARTH?”, and I'd be happy to see it answered because the guy is pretty much the only really likeable character in the character-teeming book: an elf commander, ruthless but noble, he stands above most other elves who, as rendered by Sapkowski, (despite being a supreme race and, you would expect, displaying supreme behaviour) drink, use drugs and talk billingsgate – in Elder Speech, of course, but since that is unbotheringly made of comprehensible European roots, it's easy to understand when someone says “Up your ass”. Ok, I get it, they are like the Native Americans, once superior, but now cornered and corrupted – and there is tragedy in that, but, as Ayn Rand put it, if you want to show someone as outstanding, you should show them acting outstanding. What Sapkowski's elves are is generaly no different from the drunken, barnyard rubbish met elsewhere in the book.
The three main characters are no better. Yennefer, the wonder-woman of the story (brave, resolute, devoted), plows through the book flying into tempers, smashing things, swearing like a trooper and altogether acting vulgar. Why Geralt loves her is a mystery, unless the author believes that the description of the shape of her tits in moonlight is explanation enough. Why she (and a swarm of others) loves Geralt is another mystery: he himself goes about being all gentlemanly, saving the defenceless, protecting women's honour and all that, which in itself is really great; only whenever he does so, he gives a pompous mini-speech on how the world is crap, and most people are crap, and then there's himself – a relic so old-fashioned and knightly. Ziri, who makes her first serious appearance as a child, goes all the way from being an annoying little thing, what with her manner of speaking (intended as cute?), through a teenage cutthroat with dubious morals, to this great tragic figure, a girl that has seen what no girl is meant to see, been through horrors, and intent on setting the world straight. Come on, we've seen her hallooing through villages, slaughtering whoever wasn't pleased to see her and her band of highway kids, abusing drugs and spirits and, to add a minor detail, brandishing a feisty tongue similar to her caregiver Yennefer's (I sort of have one myself, but I don't consider that a virtue). Then, when the others gang members are butchered by a sadistic paid killer, she goes “Ah! You murderer!” Yeah, babes, that's called retribution. I don't know if the reader is supposed to develop some attachment to her (orphan, wartime chaos, no guidance), but somehow, it didn't work.
Other folks that parade through the book are less difficult to come to terms with: Dandelion, a vain but, as it turns out, not shallow playboy; the amiable dwarves, with their bawdy manners, farts and burps; the sorceresses, a different personality each; Dijkstra, scheming and likely knowing it all better than all others; and a horde of minor characters, quite various, but leaving a general impression of a filthy, caddish world where even the better examples sink in the surrounding muck.
To create a larger picture and lend you a hand to help you through the overall bleakness, Sapkowski introduces the comic element, at times successful, at others less so. There were a few quite hilarious episodes (the execution of Dandelion, “Halflings Strike Back”, which was belly-tearing, and the first appearance of the knights of Toussaint, riding about in their polished armour, all “By word of honour!”), but some (the perpetuum mobile in particular, and many of the dialogues) are tedious and often irritatingly irrelevant.
Having read through 2307 pages of repulsive personalities trampling through a universe not entirely authentic, I would call “The Witcher” a book of effort, and effort repaid, but not one I would ever be re-reading.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 25, 2022
Nie mam siły recenzować każdego tomu z osobna, więc napiszę zbiórczą ocenę całej sagi. Ze strony pisarskiego kunsztu książki są świetne. Kocham sposób w jaki zostały zbudowane główne postacie. Ale też z drugiej strony przez cały czas dość ostro mnie kłuło to, jak bardzo Sapkowski nie potrafił stworzyć realistycznych drugo- i trzecioplanowych postaci kobiecych. O ile Ciri, Yennefer czy Milva mają rozbudowane charaktery, o tyle jednak prawie wszystkie pozostałe kobiety pozostają jedynie tym, czym kobieta może być w oczach mężczyzny - albo głupiutką karczmareczką popiskującą (wtf) gdy wieśniacy klepią ją po tyłku, albo zgorzkniałą starą zielarką, albo czyjąś żoną. Postacie te zdają się istnieć wyłącznie na potrzeby mężczyzn i nie mieć żadnych motywacji tych mężczyzn niedotyczących. Przykro było mi to zauważyć czytając tę sagę ponownie po latach, mając nieco szerszą perspektywę. Zapamiętałam (i też później w dyskusjach z innymi mi to potwierdzano) obraz bardzo postępowej lektury, a na Sapkowskiego patrzyłam z zachwytem jak na wspaniałego, lewackiego rodzynka wśród słynnych dziadów polskiej fantastyki. Bo książki faktycznie podnoszą ważne tematy rasizmu, feminizmu, aborcji, demokracji i kapitalizmu. I jak na swoje czasy były naprawdę postępowe. Ale nie do końca zdają próbę czasu, gdy okazuje się że Sapkowski, jak większość pisarzy fantasy budowanego na wzór europejskiego średniowiecza, nie mógł do swojego świata oprócz smoków i czarodziejów przemycić też innych zmian, takich jak brak wszechobecnego traktowania kobiet jak podludzi, wiecznych gwałtów i seksistowskich uwag. Tak jakby z fantastyką nierozłącznie wiązało się molestowanie bab po wsiach. I ponad tym wszystkim jeszcze dochodzi seryjne spermiarstswo kipiące dziesiątkami opisów kobiecych piersi, wzgórków łonowych i tyłków. Sceny seksu i takowe opisy, gdy pojawiały się w takiej ilości, czytało się zwyczajnie niekomfortowo. Mimo tych wszystkich wad oceniam serię na 4/5, bo wciąż jest to wzruszająca, bogata, świetnie skonstruowana lektura, obfitująca w piękne przesłania.
December 30, 2020
(Slight Spoilers) I'm normally a more positive reviewer, but maybe the disappointment of how Lightbringer ended (my last read) has put me in a bad reading "mood". I was recommended the Witcher series as a surefire cure-all for my Lightbringer let-down, but the 7 book Witcher series left me feeling pretty underwhelmed.
THE GOOD
Writing Style: I will give the author this: he experiments quite a bit with telling a story from multiple viewpoints, often jumping around in time while doing so, and I acknowledge that there is some real storytelling brilliance taking place here. However, I'm not sure the author successfully balanced his experimentation with good storytelling. Too much was sacrificed for the narrative shenanigans in my opinion. I feel the author cared more about trying to make it the most epic fantasy story ever written than he did about the story itself. Frankly, it's BORING, and I'm not easily bored.
Strong Female Characters: there are some headstrong and empowered female characters in this series, primarily Ciri and Yenneffer. However, Ciri definitely has a strong Mary Sue thing going on, and honestly her character never matures throughout the series. Yenneffer is a badass, but is barely in the series, which feels like the misuse of a great character.
Respect for the Genre: This entire series is a love letter to the Fantasy genre as a whole, and there were many callbacks and homages to classic Fantasy series like LOTR and Wheel of Time. There were likely others that went over my head, and I appreciate the respect shown to the genre. The series itself is straight out of a classic Dungeons and Dragons players guide, with the author cramming in every Fantasy trope under the sun, and often giving them an interesting and original new spin. Kudos for creative new uses for genre cliches.
THE BAD
Character Development: The lack of character focus is brought home most sharply when comparing the two prequel novels with the main 5 book sequence. The prequels are laser focused on Geralt and Yenneffer which is good because otherwise those two characters are poorly developed in the main 5 book series. Ciri to me remains the only truly well developed character in the main series, despite her lack of actual growth throughout the series.
Too many characters: The author seems to have adopted a "the more the better" approach to characters, so we end up following dozens upon dozens of characters for short periods so as to offer a slightly different viewpoint of the story. The only problem is you don't care about these characters at all, and 20 to 30 of them could have been cut in favor of telling the story through the viewpoint of the characters we DO care about.
The Bloat: due to the authors focus on epic storytelling structure over well developed characters, there is probably 2 books worth of bloat in the 7 book series. Percentage wise, I'd say it's about on par with Wheel of Time (not dissing WoT, it's my fave, but it could have been 3 books shorter). This series really needed some tough love from an editor, and there were long stretches, mostly books 5 & 6, that were painful to get through.
Grimdark Tone aka rape, rape, and more rape: Many people seem to enjoy the grimdark turn that Fantasy has taken. While this series isn't quite as grim as some grimdark series, the threat of hideous death and torture is ever-present, and all of the women in the series have to deal with constant rape threats. Yes, that's supposedly how it was back then, blah blah blah, grimdark is realistic, blah blah blah, but can we please find some other means of threatening our female protagonists?
Lack of Exciting Scenes: There is just a literal lack of exciting scenes in this series. You know how in Wheel of Time it's a slow build at the end of every book, until it's like a giant fireworks explosion in your brain? There's none of that here. There are occasional exciting scenes, but most of the series is on cruise control.
THE UGLY
The Ending: I have several issues with the ending.
1) The final book tries to awkwardly wedge the Arthurian legends into the plot, with no real reason other than I assume it was the only major fantasy trope not used by the author, so he felt he'd go for bonus points? I doesn't work at all, and just felt tacked on.
2) The author did the most frustrating thing that authors love to do: give you a vague and unsatisfying ending because that's supposed to be more "artsy". We are left wondering exactly who is alive and who is dead, where the characters are, and of course they can't all be together and happy for some reason that isn't explained.
Overall, this seems to now be an important Fantasy series, and I'm glad I read it, but I can state confidently that I'll never reread it. Despite it's not insubstantial charms, it's just too much of a slog, and the ending is unsatisfying.
THE GOOD
Writing Style: I will give the author this: he experiments quite a bit with telling a story from multiple viewpoints, often jumping around in time while doing so, and I acknowledge that there is some real storytelling brilliance taking place here. However, I'm not sure the author successfully balanced his experimentation with good storytelling. Too much was sacrificed for the narrative shenanigans in my opinion. I feel the author cared more about trying to make it the most epic fantasy story ever written than he did about the story itself. Frankly, it's BORING, and I'm not easily bored.
Strong Female Characters: there are some headstrong and empowered female characters in this series, primarily Ciri and Yenneffer. However, Ciri definitely has a strong Mary Sue thing going on, and honestly her character never matures throughout the series. Yenneffer is a badass, but is barely in the series, which feels like the misuse of a great character.
Respect for the Genre: This entire series is a love letter to the Fantasy genre as a whole, and there were many callbacks and homages to classic Fantasy series like LOTR and Wheel of Time. There were likely others that went over my head, and I appreciate the respect shown to the genre. The series itself is straight out of a classic Dungeons and Dragons players guide, with the author cramming in every Fantasy trope under the sun, and often giving them an interesting and original new spin. Kudos for creative new uses for genre cliches.
THE BAD
Character Development: The lack of character focus is brought home most sharply when comparing the two prequel novels with the main 5 book sequence. The prequels are laser focused on Geralt and Yenneffer which is good because otherwise those two characters are poorly developed in the main 5 book series. Ciri to me remains the only truly well developed character in the main series, despite her lack of actual growth throughout the series.
Too many characters: The author seems to have adopted a "the more the better" approach to characters, so we end up following dozens upon dozens of characters for short periods so as to offer a slightly different viewpoint of the story. The only problem is you don't care about these characters at all, and 20 to 30 of them could have been cut in favor of telling the story through the viewpoint of the characters we DO care about.
The Bloat: due to the authors focus on epic storytelling structure over well developed characters, there is probably 2 books worth of bloat in the 7 book series. Percentage wise, I'd say it's about on par with Wheel of Time (not dissing WoT, it's my fave, but it could have been 3 books shorter). This series really needed some tough love from an editor, and there were long stretches, mostly books 5 & 6, that were painful to get through.
Grimdark Tone aka rape, rape, and more rape: Many people seem to enjoy the grimdark turn that Fantasy has taken. While this series isn't quite as grim as some grimdark series, the threat of hideous death and torture is ever-present, and all of the women in the series have to deal with constant rape threats. Yes, that's supposedly how it was back then, blah blah blah, grimdark is realistic, blah blah blah, but can we please find some other means of threatening our female protagonists?
Lack of Exciting Scenes: There is just a literal lack of exciting scenes in this series. You know how in Wheel of Time it's a slow build at the end of every book, until it's like a giant fireworks explosion in your brain? There's none of that here. There are occasional exciting scenes, but most of the series is on cruise control.
THE UGLY
The Ending: I have several issues with the ending.
1) The final book tries to awkwardly wedge the Arthurian legends into the plot, with no real reason other than I assume it was the only major fantasy trope not used by the author, so he felt he'd go for bonus points? I doesn't work at all, and just felt tacked on.
2) The author did the most frustrating thing that authors love to do: give you a vague and unsatisfying ending because that's supposed to be more "artsy". We are left wondering exactly who is alive and who is dead, where the characters are, and of course they can't all be together and happy for some reason that isn't explained.
Overall, this seems to now be an important Fantasy series, and I'm glad I read it, but I can state confidently that I'll never reread it. Despite it's not insubstantial charms, it's just too much of a slog, and the ending is unsatisfying.
July 3, 2016
এই রিভিউ হলো দি উইচার সাগা নিয়ে। লেখক Andrzej Sapkowski (আন্দ্রে সাপকোওস্কি)। পোলিশ লেখক, ইউরোপে মারাত্মক জনপ্রিয় এই সিরিজটা। সিরিজের শুরু হইসিলো এক পত্রিকার ছোটগল্প লেখা প্রতিযোগিতার জন্যে,আজ সেইখানে ৭টা বই, একটা মুভি, ৩টা গেম, বেশ কয়েকটা কমিক সিরিজ। পোল্যান্ডের স্টার ওয়ার্স বলা হয় এটাকে। ইভেন পোল্যান্ডের প্রধানমন্ত্রী যখন বারাক ওবামার সাথে দেখা করতে গেসিলেন, উনি উইচার সিরিজের একটা গেমের বক্স নিয়ে গেসিলেন গিফট হিসেবে!
উইচাররা হইলো মনস্টার হান্টার। কঠিন ট্রেনিং আর কিছু মিউটেশনের কারনে এরা নরমাল মানুষ থেকে বেশ আলাদা। বডির কালার বেশ ফ্যাকাসে তাদের, মিউটেশনের জন্যে চুল সাদা হয়ে যায়, আর চোখ হয়ে যায় বিড়ালের চোখের মত, স্লিট চোখ আর কালার হলো হলুদ। বেশ কিছু স্পেল ইউজ করতে পারে তারা, কিন্তু মেজদের মত পাওয়ারফুল স্পেল পারে না। কাজ চালানোর মত আরকি। তাদের কাজ হলো গ্রামে গ্রামে ঘুরে বেড়ানো, যেখানে মনস্টার মারার কন্ট্রাক্ট পাওয়া যায় সেখানে কাজে লেগে যাওয়া। জীবনের ঝুকি নিয়ে একটা মনস্টার মেরে আসার পরে অনেক সময়ই গ্রামবাসী বেইমানী করে, টাকা পয়সা দেয় না। মোট কথা, উইচারের লাইফ হলো সবার ঘৃণার, যদিও সে মনস্টার মেরে সবার উপকারই করতেসে।
উইচার সাগার নায়ক হল গেরাল্ট অফ রিভিয়া। উইচারদের মাঝে সে বেশ জনপ্রিয়, তার প্রায় লেজেন্ডারি লেভেলের স্কিলের জন্যেই। উইচারদের অস্বাভাবিক তরোয়ালের স্কিলের জন্যে অনেকেই মন্সটারের বদলে মানুষ মারতেই তাদের হায়ার করতে চায়, কিন্তু নরমালি উইচাররা এইসব পলিটিক্স থেকে দূরে থাকে। গেরাল্ট হলো উইচারদের মাঝে অভাগার দলে, বারবার পলিটিকাল গোলমালে আটকায় যায়।
গেরাল্টের স্কিল নরমাল উইচারদের মাঝে লেজেন্ডারী লেভেলের, মাত্রই বললাম। কিন্তু সে ইয়েন্নেফার নামের এক মেয়ের সামনে গেলেই পুরা লাভসিক হয়ে যায়, সেই মেয়ে আবার পাওয়ারফুল Sorceress। বারবার সে গেরাল্টরে বিভিন্ন ভাবে ঘুরায়, বেচারা গেরাল্ট ও তার কাছে ঘুরে ঘুরে যায়। এমন পাওয়ারফুল ওয়ারিওরের একটা মেয়ের সামনে এমন নেতানো ভাব দেখলে হাসিও পায়, দুঃখও লাগে :p আরেকজন আছে Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, সংক্ষেপে সিরি। এই মেয়ে হইলো গেরাল্টের পালক মেয়ের মত, তার গায়ে আবার আছে এলফ রয়্যাল ব্লাড। অনেক পাওয়ারফুল ম্যাজিকাল ক্ষমতার অধিকারী সে, এলভেন ম্যাজিশিয়ানরা পর্যন্ত তাকে ডাকে দি লেডি অফ স্পেস এন্ড টাইম।
গেরাল্টের কাহিনীকে ইজিলি কম্পেয়ার করা যায় সং অফ আইস এন্ড ফায়ারের সাথে। সেই একই রকম কমপ্লেক্স ওয়ার্ল্ড, ম্যাজিক, এলফ, ডোয়ার্ফ, আলাদা যেকোন কিছুর প্রতি সাধারন মানুষের ঘৃণা, সবই আছে। খালি মার্টিন আংকেলের মত ধুমধাম করে মানুষ মারেন না আন্দ্রে আংকেল, এইদিক দিয়ে উনি লোক ভালো :p আমাদের যত ফেইরী টেল আছে, সব
গুলাই উইচার উইনিভার্সে সত্যি ঘটনা। সেখানে উনি ঘটনারে অনেক সময় পুরা উল্টায় দিসেন, কিছু ক্ষেত্রে এডাল্ট টুইস্ট ও চলে আসছে।
বইগুলার ইংলিশ ট্রান্সলেশন এখনো হয় নাই সবগুলার। শেষ দুইটা বইয়ের ফ্যান ট্রান্সলেশন আছে, বেশ ভালো কুয়ালিটির। আমি পুরা সিরিজটাই পড়েছি, গেমও খেলেছি সবগুলা, কমিকও পড়েছি। একটা আরেকটার থেকে বেশি ভালো। রেটিং দেয়ার কোন মানে নাই, ফেভারিট জিনিসের রেটিং দিলে সেইটা বায়াসড হয়ে যায়।
হ্যাপি রিডিং!
July 18, 2015
The Witcher Saga is classic fantasy I keep coming back to. I'm not even entirely sure why; something about the characters and the mythos and the decidedly grey morality always draws me back in. With the release of The Witcher 3 (...which I might get to play in about 4 years, when the required hardware is cheap and commonplace) and the return of Ciri and Avallac'h, I feel as though it's time for another re-read.
November 8, 2022
The best fantasy book of my teenage era.
July 4, 2017
Хотел прочитать книгу много лет, но почему-то всё боялся начать. И наконец, уже даже больше на волне известной игры про ведьмака Геральта, я решился.
Откровенно говоря, ожидал намного большего. Начинается сага как набор рассказов о различных контрактах ведьмака, борца с чудовищами. А затем автор решает превратить всё повествование действительно в эпическую сагу. И вот тут как-то накал начал давать слабину. Ведьмак постепенно перестаёт быть ведьмаком, по сути теряет всё то, что его ведьмаком делало (как минимум, ничуть не использует), интрига накручивается и накручивается, часто перемежаясь откровенно нудными и мало нужными для основной линии лирическими отступлениями. Книга за книгой, но сага очень неровная. То несёшься по страницам и не можешь оторваться, то хочется перевернуть и пропускать целые главы. И наконец... оканчивается в общем-то пшиком. Ничем. Нет чёткого понимания, к чему всё это было, рояль в кустах кажется роялем в кустах, в который не шибко верится с точки зрения логичности поступков. И даже после этого ещё несколько глав, не создающих впечатления оконченности материала.
При всём при этом я просто не могу не упомянуть русский перевод Евгения Вайсброта. Он просто великолепен. Он играет словами, тонкими нюансами языка различных рас и героев. Без такого перевода книга бы многое потеряла на русском языке.
Однако в целом, как мне кажется, сам образ Ведьмака Геральта значительно затмевает качество самой книги.
Откровенно говоря, ожидал намного большего. Начинается сага как набор рассказов о различных контрактах ведьмака, борца с чудовищами. А затем автор решает превратить всё повествование действительно в эпическую сагу. И вот тут как-то накал начал давать слабину. Ведьмак постепенно перестаёт быть ведьмаком, по сути теряет всё то, что его ведьмаком делало (как минимум, ничуть не использует), интрига накручивается и накручивается, часто перемежаясь откровенно нудными и мало нужными для основной линии лирическими отступлениями. Книга за книгой, но сага очень неровная. То несёшься по страницам и не можешь оторваться, то хочется перевернуть и пропускать целые главы. И наконец... оканчивается в общем-то пшиком. Ничем. Нет чёткого понимания, к чему всё это было, рояль в кустах кажется роялем в кустах, в который не шибко верится с точки зрения логичности поступков. И даже после этого ещё несколько глав, не создающих впечатления оконченности материала.
При всём при этом я просто не могу не упомянуть русский перевод Евгения Вайсброта. Он просто великолепен. Он играет словами, тонкими нюансами языка различных рас и героев. Без такого перевода книга бы многое потеряла на русском языке.
Однако в целом, как мне кажется, сам образ Ведьмака Геральта значительно затмевает качество самой книги.
November 22, 2012
If you're a fan of fantasy sagas, this is one that, from all places, came from Poland. It's very interesting to see familiar fantasy archetypes filtered through the writer's very Polish sensibilities.
The first two volumes are a series of short stories that serve to set up the world and main characters, as well as the background for the story to take place in the following volumes, in novel form. The middle of the series lags a bit in my opinion, but the final volume was all kinds of awesome. This series, however, is not all about the fighting and action. There's a good dose of plot and politics, though not a Game-of-Thrones-ish amount of it. It does have an interesting tone, which is a mix of humor and grittiness I found very compelling.
You can only get some of the novels in English, since most are yet to be translated and one of the short story collections isn't even going to be translated at all, according to the word on the street since short story collections supposedly don't sell well. If you know Polish or Spanish, you can get the whole series or make peace with the fact that you can read them in English but you will not get one of the first books and you have to wait for each of them to come out. Very recommended.
The first two volumes are a series of short stories that serve to set up the world and main characters, as well as the background for the story to take place in the following volumes, in novel form. The middle of the series lags a bit in my opinion, but the final volume was all kinds of awesome. This series, however, is not all about the fighting and action. There's a good dose of plot and politics, though not a Game-of-Thrones-ish amount of it. It does have an interesting tone, which is a mix of humor and grittiness I found very compelling.
You can only get some of the novels in English, since most are yet to be translated and one of the short story collections isn't even going to be translated at all, according to the word on the street since short story collections supposedly don't sell well. If you know Polish or Spanish, you can get the whole series or make peace with the fact that you can read them in English but you will not get one of the first books and you have to wait for each of them to come out. Very recommended.
January 31, 2019
Способность автора растекаться мыслью по древу поражает воображение. 1000 и 1 ненужная деталь в повествовании убивают всякое желание следить за сюжетом. События то останавливаются и половину книги не происходит ничего, кроме бесконечных описаний того и сего, то за пару предложений вводят пару новых героев (особенно взбесило описание подготовки и бунта магиков. что? кто? зачем? - нихера не понятно).
Отдельный респект парням из CD Project RED за отличную адаптацию этого посредственного романа.
Отдельный респект парням из CD Project RED за отличную адаптацию этого посредственного романа.
February 10, 2018
Восточноевропейская "Игра престолов" была бы куда лучшим циклом, если пан Анджей хотя бы периодически попускался и резал свои тексты и неуместные мужицкие шутейки (в случае с "Кровью эльфов" можно было бы и весь роман в помойку выкинуть). Но временами, конечно, весьма ничего, особенно если вы разделяете достаточно людоедский взгляд автора на мировую историю.
January 28, 2019
Фэнтезийная польская сага про про жизнь Ведьмака: 7 книг в одном флаконе.
Все-таки определенные книги нужно читать в определенном порядке и соответствующем возрасте:) И точно не Ведьмака в 33 после Сильмариллиона в 16-ть))
Книги очень неровные, с хронологическими и стилистическими нестыковками, мне не хватило "выписанности" хотя бы главных героев. Чувствовалось, что первые книги писались долго и трепетно, а потом все понеслось с места в карьер)
Зато читается на одном дыхании, для затяжного гриппа и холодных вьюг за окном, - самое то.
Все-таки определенные книги нужно читать в определенном порядке и соответствующем возрасте:) И точно не Ведьмака в 33 после Сильмариллиона в 16-ть))
Книги очень неровные, с хронологическими и стилистическими нестыковками, мне не хватило "выписанности" хотя бы главных героев. Чувствовалось, что первые книги писались долго и трепетно, а потом все понеслось с места в карьер)
Зато читается на одном дыхании, для затяжного гриппа и холодных вьюг за окном, - самое то.
November 11, 2025
Putting the full Witcher series in one bucket here. Was very pleasantly surprised at how thought provoking and interesting these books were.
Slightly less world building than in the video games (especially after the short stories there’s not as many monsters and side quests) but the relationships and politics come through much stronger. Had a few sections and choices that I found a bit lacking but the overall series was very strong!
Slightly less world building than in the video games (especially after the short stories there’s not as many monsters and side quests) but the relationships and politics come through much stronger. Had a few sections and choices that I found a bit lacking but the overall series was very strong!
May 27, 2025
Fantastic fantasy✨🤤💭. I believe that the best saga i have ever read. WORTH IT 🔥🔥🔥
September 7, 2020
I've read the first two books, collections of short stories that set the stage for the series of novels. They are entertaining fantasy with some fairy tale elements woven into them, a protagonist in the form of Geralt, a witcher, who went through some genetic modification trials as a child and became an assassin of monsters, hired by anyone who needs him. His buddy, Dandelion, is a bard, who comes and goes, flirts with all the women, and adds comedy to Geralt's bleak lifestyle and his brooding, strong, silent type of personality. I'll keep adding to this review as I finish each book in the series.
The first novel of the series, Blood of Elves, was just okay - lots of politics and names that I zipped through because I just didn't care enough but knew I had to keep reading to get to when Geralt, Yennefer, Ciri meet up again. Plus I really want to know what the prophecy is regarding Ciri. So I'll keep going with these books until I get my answers. The next one is called Time of Contempt. Stay tuned.
The Time of Contempt was more interesting because it involved more political intrigue between the kings, the wizards, and the elves, but Ciri's destiny is still confusing and who is trustworthy is still up in the air. Geralt was in the background for much of this story. I actually might jump right into the next one so I can find out what happens to Ciri, now that she's "on her own". It's called Baptism of Fire.
In Baptism of Fire, it is all about Geralt assembling a company of friends who are going to help him find Ciri, to let her know she is not alone. It also follows up what happened after the wizards' conflict, where Yennefer ended up, and how the enchantresses are planning to bring magic back into supremacy, regardless of what the kingdoms do in war. Finally it shows how Ciri is faring in the woods with a band of renegades. Overall I did not enjoy this one as much, but I really liked the introduction of Regis and Dandelion's continued presence in Geralt's life. Hopefully I can get my hands on the next two books from my library during the pandemic.
In The Tower of the Swallows, some parts were hard to follow because I forgot who some of the minor characters were since the last reading, and the writer jumped around in time with the memories of the main characters retelling the events of the quest. Overall though, I am still engaged in the journey Ciri is taking to meet her destiny and I still want to know if Geralt and Yennefer survive as they try to find Ciri and help her. The fact that Ciri has many mysterious powers and can fight so well and trick everyone who is trying to capture, enslave, or kill her, makes me a fan. The violence would be too much to watch visually, so I like the distance from violence that the writing gives me. Next stop - Lady of the Lake.
The Lady of the Lake was the conclusion of the series and the end of Ciri, Geralt and Yennefer. The political intrigue actually didn't interest me in this series, even though I usually love it. I skimmed quickly though the battle scenes, had trouble keeping track of secondary characters, and still am not sure what the goals of the circle of sorceresses are, but I still liked reading about how Ciri was reunited with Geralt and Yennefer. They all saved each other, in the end. Not sure the story was resolved and I definitely missed a lot in the world of The Witcher, but Dandelion always delights!
The first novel of the series, Blood of Elves, was just okay - lots of politics and names that I zipped through because I just didn't care enough but knew I had to keep reading to get to when Geralt, Yennefer, Ciri meet up again. Plus I really want to know what the prophecy is regarding Ciri. So I'll keep going with these books until I get my answers. The next one is called Time of Contempt. Stay tuned.
The Time of Contempt was more interesting because it involved more political intrigue between the kings, the wizards, and the elves, but Ciri's destiny is still confusing and who is trustworthy is still up in the air. Geralt was in the background for much of this story. I actually might jump right into the next one so I can find out what happens to Ciri, now that she's "on her own". It's called Baptism of Fire.
In Baptism of Fire, it is all about Geralt assembling a company of friends who are going to help him find Ciri, to let her know she is not alone. It also follows up what happened after the wizards' conflict, where Yennefer ended up, and how the enchantresses are planning to bring magic back into supremacy, regardless of what the kingdoms do in war. Finally it shows how Ciri is faring in the woods with a band of renegades. Overall I did not enjoy this one as much, but I really liked the introduction of Regis and Dandelion's continued presence in Geralt's life. Hopefully I can get my hands on the next two books from my library during the pandemic.
In The Tower of the Swallows, some parts were hard to follow because I forgot who some of the minor characters were since the last reading, and the writer jumped around in time with the memories of the main characters retelling the events of the quest. Overall though, I am still engaged in the journey Ciri is taking to meet her destiny and I still want to know if Geralt and Yennefer survive as they try to find Ciri and help her. The fact that Ciri has many mysterious powers and can fight so well and trick everyone who is trying to capture, enslave, or kill her, makes me a fan. The violence would be too much to watch visually, so I like the distance from violence that the writing gives me. Next stop - Lady of the Lake.
The Lady of the Lake was the conclusion of the series and the end of Ciri, Geralt and Yennefer. The political intrigue actually didn't interest me in this series, even though I usually love it. I skimmed quickly though the battle scenes, had trouble keeping track of secondary characters, and still am not sure what the goals of the circle of sorceresses are, but I still liked reading about how Ciri was reunited with Geralt and Yennefer. They all saved each other, in the end. Not sure the story was resolved and I definitely missed a lot in the world of The Witcher, but Dandelion always delights!
November 6, 2016
First two books are a collection of short stories that give background to the events in the next five books.
The stories are pretty diverse in their style, there are a lot of references to common fairy tales. Reading them was quite interesting for me, because it introduced me to the world of Witcher, the stories were short, so, if I didn't like one, I was sure that I may enjoy the next one.
Then started the next five books that tell a pretty complex story with a lot of local smaller stories along the way. I've read them all in a row, so I can't really discern one book from another.
My general impression is this: first three books were quite interesting. I liked the idea of characters being unable to really change the world's events, I liked the grittiness and brutality, as that seems quite fitting for that world.
The last two books introduced unicorns, magic girls cutting up people and travelling through time and space, and deep conversations. I felt like I was watching a mediocre anime. I didn't have to force myself to finish, because, even though the general storyline became so weird, Sapkowski had a lot of good local substories with sometimes very relatable dialogues.
Also the things I didn't like: Geralt - Yennefer relationship, very extensive descriptions of women's dresses and jewelry.
I haven't read the Season of Storms yet, gonna start today. But at this point I don't expect a lot.
The stories are pretty diverse in their style, there are a lot of references to common fairy tales. Reading them was quite interesting for me, because it introduced me to the world of Witcher, the stories were short, so, if I didn't like one, I was sure that I may enjoy the next one.
Then started the next five books that tell a pretty complex story with a lot of local smaller stories along the way. I've read them all in a row, so I can't really discern one book from another.
My general impression is this: first three books were quite interesting. I liked the idea of characters being unable to really change the world's events, I liked the grittiness and brutality, as that seems quite fitting for that world.
The last two books introduced unicorns, magic girls cutting up people and travelling through time and space, and deep conversations. I felt like I was watching a mediocre anime. I didn't have to force myself to finish, because, even though the general storyline became so weird, Sapkowski had a lot of good local substories with sometimes very relatable dialogues.
Also the things I didn't like: Geralt - Yennefer relationship, very extensive descriptions of women's dresses and jewelry.
I haven't read the Season of Storms yet, gonna start today. But at this point I don't expect a lot.
August 19, 2018
"Taková je čistá pravda a históryja světa, kterému vládne ten, kdo šikovněji rozbije druhému lebku a rychjeli zbúchne robu. A vám ljuďom je těžko konkurovat - v zabíjání aj v jebání."
"Co víme o lásce? Láska je jako hruška. Hruška je sladká a má určitý tvar. Zkuste přesně definovat tvar hrušky."
"Král bezmezně miloval svou choť, královna z celého srdce milovala jeho. Něco takového muselo zákonitě skončit nešťastně."
"Co víme o lásce? Láska je jako hruška. Hruška je sladká a má určitý tvar. Zkuste přesně definovat tvar hrušky."
"Král bezmezně miloval svou choť, královna z celého srdce milovala jeho. Něco takového muselo zákonitě skončit nešťastně."
March 16, 2014
Imposible escapar a esta historia una vez se conocen las primeras peripecias de Gerald de Rivia y su amigo Jaskier. Excelente saga de principio a fin
August 9, 2014
The Witcher is a great read! Totally enjoyed it.
November 10, 2015
Сага о Ведьмаке (все 7 книг) - это захватывающие романы о приключениях и настоящих человеческих качествах.
October 26, 2015
Książki które zdefiniowały moje podejście do literatury, fantastyki, oraz (pośrednio) do świata. MUST READ!
June 11, 2019
Great read
March 17, 2016
It was glorious.
July 17, 2016
Интересный сюжет, но банальный язык. Последние книги уже пролистала по диагонали. Наскучило. Смазанная концовка. Интриги так и не удалось создать до конца.
July 18, 2016
One of the best Polish fantasy book series. Very well constructed world, dynamic, multi threaded action.
January 10, 2017
Clever. Interesting.
October 16, 2019
One of my favorite books. Adventures mixed with the search of who we are and what are our emotions.
May 20, 2018
Гениально, просто гениально... книга снова возвращает в детство, снова хочется закрывать глаза и представлять себя где-то в этом мире Ведьмака, каки-ньть чародеем или еще кем... снова хочется магии))
June 7, 2018
Un universo de fantasía oscura ESPLÉNDIDO:
Intriga, novela policíaca, erotismo, aventuras, alta fantasía, ciencia ficción, suspenso... ¡De tutto un piu, chicos!
Intriga, novela policíaca, erotismo, aventuras, alta fantasía, ciencia ficción, suspenso... ¡De tutto un piu, chicos!
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