Blood of Elves

 

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 The Witcher is a series of books created by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. His short stories, originally published in the science fiction and fantasy magazine Fantastyka, were later collected into two books, Sword of Destiny and Last Wish, which were published in 1992 and 1993. These stories introduce readers to the Witcher world, including Geralt of Rivera, the main protagonist of the series. In 1994, Sapkowski released the novel length saga, starting with Blood of Elves, that continues Geralt's story. There are seven novels in this saga and one stand alone novel as well as the short stories. 

The Witcher has also been adapted into television shows, most recently by Netflix, and a successful series of video games. 

This series is a mature fantasy with magic, monsters, and bloody sword fights as well as political drama and ideologies in regards to war and conflict.

I was aware The Witcher was a series of video games before I saw the Netflix show though I'd never played the games. I watched a little of a summery video before starting the show just to try to understand the history of the characters but was surprised to realize the show seems to be a prequel to the show. Pleased that i didn't have to play through the games to know what was going on, I sat down and watched the show in a few days, greatly enjoying the struggles of the characters. And then I picked up Blood of Elves. 

While Blood of Elves is the first book in the saga, it is not the first book in the series. I was not aware of the need to read the short stories ahead of time in order to understand everything that was going on and the relationships between some of the characters, but after adjusting my understanding a little, I continued forward.

In this book, we follow Geralt as he brings Ciri to Kaer Morhen, the stronghold of the witchers. There she begins to train as a witcher while Geralt tries to figure out the best way to raise her. Triss Merigold is called upon to help raise Ciri and teach her how to control her strange powers. As the story progresses, Ciri is sent to study in a temple, though on the way she learns of the struggles of the non-human creatures against the ever expanding empires of the humans and of the disdain humans have for elves and dwarves. This plays into her own prejudices against the elves who were involved in the attack on Cintra. 

Readers also learn of someone's search for Ciri and their willingness to kill anyone who gets in their way, including Geralt. As this hunt for the Lion Cub progresses, rulers of the various kingdoms also plot her death in order to prevent any one kingdom from becoming too powerful. Meanwhile, Yennifer is attempting to get to the bottom of Ciri's powers even though Ciri and the Temple priestess both recognize that the power is dangerous and not something Ciri will be able to escape once she has it.

While I liked reading about all of these events and characters, I felt quite disjointed and confused the entire time. Again, the Netflix show seems to take place before all of this occurs, so I have some framework to go off of, but the way Sapkowski writes this book leaves so many gaps in between the events of the story. I don't feel connected and involved in the characters' lives. Instead, I'm an observer just watching from some place in the room.

I'd also like to point out that Blood of Elves is just shy of 400 pages but there are only seven chapters in this book. It is not something you can simply pick up and read through. This is a commitment, especially when you jump to a scene with another character and have to go through a slow climb of getting back into their smaller conflict for that scene. Some characters or scenes will take a long time to come to any kind of point and other characters seem almost pointless, acting as filler or as an excuse to give the readers information. Even the battles don't feel as intense as I was expecting. And there is no sense of a rising conflict; partly because everything feels disjointed and partly because you are not given much information about the threats to Ciri's life until the sixth chapter even though there's mention of the assassin near the beginning. He is still only searching for her, meaning she is not yet in any danger and only a select few know where she is. 

After reading Blood of Elves, which I realize is a translated work and is supposed to be read after the short stories, I have to say I was a bit disappointed. I like the world and the characters but I feel like the book is lacking a spark to keep me in the story. Scenes jump through time and between characters, including the villains, with no real sense of connection beyond "how are they after Geralt or Ciri?" I wanted to like this book and there are a few scenes and exchanges that are a lot of fun, but I have to say I preferred the Netflix show, which itself is disjointed. 

Maybe I'll listen to the audio books for the rest of this series just so I can keep up with it. As i said, I do like the world and the concept. I also like the fact that Geralt is not the Chosen One or the Hero of the story. As Daniel Green pointed out in his review of the book, Geralt takes the role of the mentor, which is not something I've seen very often in high fantasy and which I can appreciate.

If you liked the show or the video games and you want to continue in this world, I'd suggest starting with the short stories before picking up Blood of Elves. Perhaps that will give you a better footing in this book than what i had.

Until next time, travelers.