The Fussy Reader

Not gonna lie, I'm disappointed. I was so excited initially to start the series proper after finishing the short story novels. I really thought it would be more of the same, but even more. But this series is a shadow of its former self.

This is a really small book, but in my mind it felt enormous. That's not a good thing.

Characters
The problem is, for a book series titled The Witcher, where the hell is our Witcher, and why isn't he Witching? So much of this book surrounds Ciri and Yennifer, and though I enjoyed them in the beginning, I'm starting to get very bored with their nonexistent storyline.
Why, for the love of god, can't we just see Geralt kill some beasties? It's spoken of, that he's out and about and Witching, but we never get to see him be a badass anymore.

And once again, still not enough Jaskier/Dandelion. The dynamic between the two is what I found so wholesome and endearing about the short stories

Couldn't help but feel Geralt and Yennifer were both bloody useless in this book. Considering they both want to keep Ciri safe, they're not doing a very good job of it. They keep bloody losing her.

Plot
I can't help but get the feeling that nothing is ever really going to happen in this series. I enjoyed the first two short story novels, but these last two books of the series proper have been shockingly underwhelming. Nothing overly important has actually happened in the last two books and it has me unsure whether to even bother continuing. I probably will, but it certainly won't be for a while. I mean sure, Nilfgard started to invade a little more aggressively in the latter half of this book, but a lot of the information we get about the invasion is told rather than shown. It's recounted as stories being told to Geralt cause he passed out for a time and conveniently missed a lot of the fight.

So much of the book is conversations and very little action. I enjoy politics in fantasy a lot, but the vast majority of politics discussed in this book didn't feel all that important? I don't know. It's hard to tell whether it's important or not because the ramifications of the political meddling is never explored. All the talk of Nilfgard invading and slaughtering feels very distant. Very little is shown through the eyes of our main characters, so it doesn't feel like a threat. If Nilfgard is invading and war is on the horizon, why the fuck is Yennifer so bothered about putting Ciri into witch school? Is that seriously a priority, or is the Nilfgard invasion just not as big a deal as everyone thinks? It's weird. I almost feel lost in the narrative.
Half the time I feel like I don't know what's going on, and the other half, I feel like I'm waiting for something to happen.

The problem is, the first half of the book is so slow and dull that I definitely zoned out a little while reading, so by the time all the interesting conflict and battle stuff started happening in the second half, I struggling to follow what was happening and why.

Setting
Honestly, the world isn't explored enough, despite the fact that it is well travelled. We see a lot of the world in this book, but very rarely do I feel grounded in this world. I struggle to see it. Descriptions a few and far between and I never know where any one country is in relation to others. So Nilfgard is invading, but where the fuck is Nilfgard? Where are the armies currently, and how far away are they from where the main characters are? I just can't picture any of it in my head.

Writing Style
Okay, so the pacing in this series lately has been a mess. I'm all for slow burn, but I also want stuff to actually happen. This book is just one big conversation after another. It drags. It drags so slowly. And then when the action does start happening, it just feels messy.

Women are pretty poorly written but I guess that's just standard in fantasy books written by men. I'm not even mad, it happens so often, it's just a shrug-and-get-on-with-it thing at this point. In reality, I have a list of only about ten male authors (that I've read so far) who actually write women as human beings and not as vacuous, bitchy, two-faced, or jealous. Or just to really add variety, a combination of all four.

And there are certain details that feel so unnecessary, but make this so obviously a man book, written by a man for the enjoyment of other men. When Ciri channelled magic in the desert, was it entirely necessary for her to feel pain in her crotch and nipples? Like, what? Excuse me? Cause, yeah, I'm pretty sure Geralt has never felt pain in his crotch or nipples when he channels magic. *eye roll* Could you imagine him having a comedy Drax moment when he's throwing a spell and then suddenly he's like, Ah, my nipples! But of course, that would never happen. Must just be a woman thing, I guess, because nipples are so fucking important, aren't they? *double eye roll*

The writing can be a little too on the nose to the point of tedium. It's like the author went, Okay the book's called Time of Contempt, let's see how many times I can use the word contempt.
I think it's cool when the book's title is casually used in the narrative, but the word contempt is used so often I felt like the author was beating me over the head with it while shouting get it? Get it?? See what I did there?!

However, I do quite enjoy Spakowski's play on words (at least I assume these charming little writing quirks are the author's doing and not the translator's.)
For instance, that scene when it's announced that someone is pleased to meet Geralt from the bottom of their heart, and Geralt thinks in retaliation that he's pleased from the heart of his bottom.
It's juvenile, I know, but the silliness made me smile.

Final Impression
I'm going to make a bold statement. The kind I never make ever. But I think perhaps this is one of those rare instances where the game and TV show is better than the book.
There, I said it. The TV show is better.

Although I didn't love this, it was definitely better than the last book, so maybe there's hope for this series after all.

Instagram
Twitter