Mia’s Reviews > Sword of Destiny > Status Update

Geralt's conversations with Ciri are so adorable.

Sword of Destiny - This story SLAPS. We get the introduction of Ciri (which might make more sense if you reread A Question of Price first to refresh your memory) as well as an examination of dryad culture in the face of modernity, which reminded me of the elves in The Valley of Flowers. Geralt gets some incredible lines as well.

“‘It is easy to kill with a bow, girl. How easy it is to release the bowstring and think, it is not I, not I, it is the arrow. The blood of that boy is not on my hands. The arrow killed him, not I. But the arrow does not dream anything in the night. May you dream nothing in the night either, blue-eyed dryad. Farewell, Braenn.’”

A Little Sacrifice - I really enjoyed this seaside tale. Goes to show just how fruitful “Geralt and Dandelion have no money” can be as a jumping-off point (I swear this is like the third story to begin that way). The final chapter is gorgeous, and I love the last line; makes me appreciate Dandelion as more than comic relief.

Eternal Flame - An absolute delight of a story. It starts as a chase, morphs into a mystery, and ends as a lovely testament to what it means to belong somewhere. I’m finding that I really enjoy any story with prominent halfling characters.

A Shard of Ice - Not a huge fan of this one. Some of Yennefer and Geralt’s conversations are exceptionally cringeworthy, and for all the bluster about black kestrels I still don’t actually understand what Sapkowski was trying to convey.

Not gonna lie, that first story was pretty dumb.