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A review by thefussyreader
Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski
3.0
The Fussy Reader
Although I enjoyed this book, I'm struggling to write a review as I don't feel enough happened to warrant a full review. I'll try my best, but I feel it will be brief.
Characters
Returning to these characters almost feels like coming home. After reading the two short story books, I already feel like I've experienced so much with them all, which is a great feeling.
I love Geralt, as always. Love how grumpy he is, but he really seems to be taking his duty as Ciri's guardian seriously. It was quite lovely to see this slightly softer side to him. Same goes for Yennifer. Her maternal side begins to shine. But although this character development was very welcome, I really wanted more to happen in this book than just character development.
Jaskier, or rather, Dandillion as he's called in this book, is still a delight as always. He wasn't in it enough for my liking. I wish there was more Jaskier.
Plot
Even though this was enjoyable, I can't help but feel it was something of a filler book, which is a bit weird considering this is technically the first book in the series. It seemed to me like there was a lot of Ciri training, a lot of travelling, and not too much else. But the second half of the book did pick up a lot more, it just didn't pick up enough to feel like the story ever truly got going. It definitely gained speed as it sailed towards the end of the book but then fizzled out again. It almost seems like this is just a part 1, and the next book should be part 2. Even the end of the book felt a little abrupt like it's back cut off and lacking a second part.
Regardless, I enjoyed it and I'll certainly be reading the next book next month.
Setting
Tbh, I have little to say about the world. It's noticeably under-utilised in this book. Whereas in the first two, the world felt so rich and vast and full of marvels, here the world stagnated. The characters spent too long in single places and it seemed to take forever to branch out and see more of the world. I know it's there, I've seen it before. I've explored the depths of this world before and I really wanted to go back. Unfortunately, that didn't really happen.
Writing Style
With this being the first in the series proper, I was expecting a little more structure. It lacks cohesion and doesn't seem to follow a traditional story arc. It's a bit muddled and gets lost going rounding circles to the point of redundancy.
That being said the writing is solid. This is an English translation so it's difficult to fully judge the writing of the author based on something someone else has written, based on the original work. But assuming it follows the Polish version more or less to the letter, then the writing is certainly solid.
Even though the writing has a naturally fast pace to the way it's written, it was terribly slow and lacked all the excitement of the previous books. I was fully expecting things to really kick off here, what with the incoming threat of war, but the plot just seemed to drag its feet. I just wanted so much more from this.
Final Impression
I've already bought the next book and plan to get to it next month. I want to have it read before the next series of The Witcher drops, and I hope we get a bit more action.
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Although I enjoyed this book, I'm struggling to write a review as I don't feel enough happened to warrant a full review. I'll try my best, but I feel it will be brief.
Characters
Returning to these characters almost feels like coming home. After reading the two short story books, I already feel like I've experienced so much with them all, which is a great feeling.
I love Geralt, as always. Love how grumpy he is, but he really seems to be taking his duty as Ciri's guardian seriously. It was quite lovely to see this slightly softer side to him. Same goes for Yennifer. Her maternal side begins to shine. But although this character development was very welcome, I really wanted more to happen in this book than just character development.
Jaskier, or rather, Dandillion as he's called in this book, is still a delight as always. He wasn't in it enough for my liking. I wish there was more Jaskier.
Plot
Even though this was enjoyable, I can't help but feel it was something of a filler book, which is a bit weird considering this is technically the first book in the series. It seemed to me like there was a lot of Ciri training, a lot of travelling, and not too much else. But the second half of the book did pick up a lot more, it just didn't pick up enough to feel like the story ever truly got going. It definitely gained speed as it sailed towards the end of the book but then fizzled out again. It almost seems like this is just a part 1, and the next book should be part 2. Even the end of the book felt a little abrupt like it's back cut off and lacking a second part.
Regardless, I enjoyed it and I'll certainly be reading the next book next month.
Setting
Tbh, I have little to say about the world. It's noticeably under-utilised in this book. Whereas in the first two, the world felt so rich and vast and full of marvels, here the world stagnated. The characters spent too long in single places and it seemed to take forever to branch out and see more of the world. I know it's there, I've seen it before. I've explored the depths of this world before and I really wanted to go back. Unfortunately, that didn't really happen.
Writing Style
With this being the first in the series proper, I was expecting a little more structure. It lacks cohesion and doesn't seem to follow a traditional story arc. It's a bit muddled and gets lost going rounding circles to the point of redundancy.
That being said the writing is solid. This is an English translation so it's difficult to fully judge the writing of the author based on something someone else has written, based on the original work. But assuming it follows the Polish version more or less to the letter, then the writing is certainly solid.
Even though the writing has a naturally fast pace to the way it's written, it was terribly slow and lacked all the excitement of the previous books. I was fully expecting things to really kick off here, what with the incoming threat of war, but the plot just seemed to drag its feet. I just wanted so much more from this.
Final Impression
I've already bought the next book and plan to get to it next month. I want to have it read before the next series of The Witcher drops, and I hope we get a bit more action.