Blood Of Elves - Witcher Saga

[RazorOutlaw]

After performing a few, quick searches in Fantasy, I saw that no one has commented on this book. "The Last Wish", the collection of short stories about Geralt of Rivia and the only other Witcher book released in English, had a whole one thread about it.

Because I really liked "The Last Wish", I got "Blood of Elves" at some point. After reading it I felt a little underwhelmed with some parts. I thought the the kings and queens discussing political matters was a little forced from a storytelling point of view, although I think I got that the point of the scene was just a set-up for later happenings. As for the characters, one reviewer on Amazon whinged that Geralt hardly featured in the book, but it was pretty clear to me that Ciri's character was being explored a bit more in this story because she was the "Child Surprise" and all that. For what it's worth, I like the fact that Geralt was doing his damndest to watch after her. And even then, his reasons for doing so were kind of gray.

But, what did other people think? Good story? Bad story? If anybody read the saga in another language does it get any better after the first book?

Oh and is there any chance of the rest of the series being released in U.K./U.S.?

[fgalkin]

I read Sapkowski when I was 15 or so, and I thought was generally crap even then. Once you get past the short stories and into the novels proper, the plots get sillier and sillier (well, it's generally one plot "Everyone is looking for Ciri"), and the worldbuilding is thoroughly meh.

I was so unimpressed with the Witcher world, I've never even bothered playing the CRPGs set there.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Guardsman Bass]

So the novels don't get better? I was inclined to give Sapkowski some slack on Blood of Elves, since it's the first full-length novel in the Witcherverse. Perhaps that's undeserved.

Sapkowski's writing definitely seemed better in the short stories that make up The Last Wish, as opposed to Blood of Elves. The settings seemed more vivid, Geralt was a much more interesting character than Ciri, and the writing was more concise. I thought "The Edge of the World" was particularly good, probably because it genuinely felt tragic.

I was so unimpressed with the Witcher world, I've never even bothered playing the CRPGs set there.

Same here. Even in The Last Wish, it felt like a series of disconnected places, rather than a decently constructed secondary world. This still worked well in the best stories, but in the worst stories it felt more like back-drop than a well-developed setting. As for Blood of Elves, I couldn't really get a decent feel for the world, even in spite of all the politicking and geographical discussion. Maybe it's because Sapkowski doesn't have a map you can reference.

[fgalkin]

So the novels don't get better? I was inclined to give Sapkowski some slack on Blood of Elves, since it's the first full-length novel in the Witcherverse. Perhaps that's undeserved.

I may be misremembering, as it's been years since I've read the series, but it was my impression that Blood of Elves was the best novel in the series and they all go downhill from there.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[RazorOutlaw]

I really didn't want to compare "Blood of Elves" to "A Song of Ice and Fire", but I can count the number of fantasy books I've read in the past ten years on one hand. I've no choice. There is no comparison between "A Game of Thrones" and "Blood of Elves" and I was disappointed in how artificial the action/reaction of characters felt at times. And some sections of the book were pure dialogue, which isn't necessarily bad, but didn't do much besides giving some weak character exposition.

@Guardsman Bass:

I think "The Last Wish" felt more vivid because Sapokowski had more time to sink into the story he was writing. I can't recall the name of the story, but the one with the man-turned-hairy-monster and the bruxa spent a fair amount of time detailing the mansion and background story of the character in a way that I didn't think "Blood of Elves" did with any of its stories about Ain Seidhe or Battle of Sodden (And that makes twice that people thought Geralt had died if we count the CRPGs?)

[Guardsman Bass]

I really didn't want to compare "Blood of Elves" to "A Song of Ice and Fire", but I can count the number of fantasy books I've read in the past ten years on one hand. I've no choice. There is no comparison between "A Game of Thrones" and "Blood of Elves" and I was disappointed in how artificial the action/reaction of characters felt at times. And some sections of the book were pure dialogue, which isn't necessarily bad, but didn't do much besides giving some weak character exposition.

Some of the better short stories in The Last Wish are pretty good, but mostly I agree that there's no comparison. Blood of Elves is about on the level of R.A. Salvatore's earlier Forgotten Realms books, inferior not only to George R.R. Martin but also writers like Brandon Sanderson.

[U-95]

It has been a long time since I've readen Sapkowski's books. I think the one I got first was the Blood of Elves -the one of short stories- and loved it, since is far more realistic -and for adults- than a lot of other fantasy stories; that of racism against non-humans, for example; I don't even remember the name of the one that followed it, nor anything of the plot.

[The Nomad]

I've read The Last Wish, Blood of Elves, Times of Contempt, Baptism of Fire and The Swallow's Tower (still waiting on The Lady of the Lake). I think that Blood of Elves was the weakest one, but the rest isn't exaclty top notch - decent at most. The parts which center on Geralt himself are most of the time the weakest.

[RazorOutlaw]

I guess this is one of those scenarios where I'd probably have to buy them and read them myself even if it was just out of curiosity. It's unlikely they'll ever be released in the U.S. though. And it's a bit upsetting to hear that the critical reaction around here is one of "Meh" (well, mostly).

The bright side is the computer games had enough to experience as Geralt and enough, I guess you could call it flavor more than history, of the Witcher universe to satisfy me. I was expecting, based on how well the games were done, that the books would just simply be better.

[Stofsk]

The game is incredible (I've only ever played the first one though I have the second one). I've never played a better cRPG, ever.