Mount Readmore Book Review, 2017 28/100

Blood of Elves By Andrej Sapkowski

Audiobook Edition, Peter Kenny

Finished on 3/14/2017

Goodreads 

Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Witcher, Grimdark (Sorta), Political Fantasy

1 Little Girl is Being Hunted by 1 Witcher, 1 Burned Magician, and Countless Other Parties. Will this Princess be Caught and Killed, or Will She Be Saved out of 5

Spoiler-tastic Review

To be honest, this was a bit more slow paced than I was expecting. I’ve played the video game Witcher 2 and seen a good bit of Witcher 3, so I know a bit of second-hand information about this series. I was expecting more hacking and slashing and drowners. Lots and lots of drowners.

That said, I couldn’t be more pleased with what I discovered. ‘Blood of Elves’ is a slow burner of a book, like a pot roast or an endlessly simmering stew. It seems like everyone is searching for Princess Ciri, including but not limited to: the Witcher Geralt, King Foltest, the ever nefarious Philippa Eilhart, Yennifer of Vengerberg, and the wizard Rience. Ciri, Princess of Cintra, escaped Cintra just before its collapse into the Empire’s hands. Now she’s hunted because a)she’s a princess, and she still technically rules Cintra, b)because she’s unusually skilled with magic and c) Geralt is technically her guardian, so he’s forced to follow her.

This book managed to stuff in more character development than some whole books I’ve read. The author really makes the reader empathize with this poor girl who is being yanked around like a pawn on a chessboard. Even her ‘protectors’ the witchers have a scheme to turn her into another witcher. When she finally finds sanctuary at the temple I felt a good deal of relief on Ciri’s behalf.

But nothing is perfect. This book is slow paced, and there is very little action. If you want a sword and sorcery book, or something fast and fun, this ain’t it. I’ll even suggest that this book is probably only for people who are fond of the series/video games. I enjoyed it, but I am fond of the video games. Take from that what you will.