MY ⭐️ RATING: 3.5/5
Format: Kindle Whispersync
BOOK DESCRIPTION
Geralt is a Witcher, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless hunter. Yet he is no ordinary killer. His sole purpose: to destroy the monsters that plague the world.
But not everything monstrous-looking is evil and not everything fair is good . . . and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth.
MY REVIEW
Because of the show, I found myself very excited to finally get to read The Witcher and I would 100% say that if you plan to or have already read it, but haven’t experienced the audio, I would recommend doing so, because the narration by Peter Kenny is flawless. I don’t know if I could’ve done this any other way and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.
With that said, I didn’t realize going into this that it would be a collection of stories, so that was a bit of a shock to get used to. It did complicate the way I viewed it in a sense, as I wasn’t able to really connect with any characters outside of Geralt, who was also a bit tough to connect with at first because of his mysteriousness. The show may have helped me connect with a few of the characters since I recognized them. I found myself losing interest multiple times during this because the stories weren’t long enough to get my attention and keep it. I will say this though, the action was quite nice, but I feel like this would’ve been more enjoyable if I had read it after the series or at least after book 1 to fall in love with the characters.
“They say silence is golden. Maybe it is, although I’m not sure it’s worth that much. It has its price certainly; you have to pay for it.”
One of my biggest gripes is a part where Geralt speaks to Iola, a character that doesn’t speak. This is tricky to write and I felt that this was a major whiff for either the translator or Mr. Sapkowski himself. The entire part was Geralt speaking and reacting to Iola, who we never get any description of what kind of motions or facial expressions she is making. Instead, it was just Geralt reacting to them and that really hurt my experience.
As I stated in the beginning, I will no doubt be continuing this series, but I will be skipping Sword of Destiny, which is also a book of short stories, to start at book 1, Blood of Elves. Though, I may come back after I complete the series to read Sword of Destiny.
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