Blood of Elves

Sadly, not as good as the first.

I'm not great in finding fantasy that I like just yet. Still a bit intimidating genre for me, bit I was pleasantly surprised by this. I enjoyed it and liked the way it was written, but I think I should have read the beginning short stories more recently to fully enjoy this one but I still had a good time.

This is the first book in the “Witcher Saga” proper. The books leading up to this one are short story collections that set up the characters and relationships while also building out the world.

The funny thing is, this book still felt a bit like several novellas stitched together, like the old-fashioned fix-up novels from the golden age of sci-fi. The end result is a novel that still feels fairly episodic. It works, but it doesn’t build to much of a climax.

Instead, it’s a series of stories about Geralt’s ward, Ciri, her early training, and the dangers she faces from the outside world. Geralt isn’t even the viewpoint character for most of the book, with Dandelion, Triss, Ciri and Yennifer all getting their turns at the helm. I like that this book kept things fairly small-scale. I’m assuming the series only builds in scope from here.

Enjoyable fantasy read - but don't start the series here.

Most readers recommend starting your Andrzej Sapkowski journey with the short story collection The Last Wish. I, however, picked up Blood of Elves randomly while browsing a bookstore. Going into Blood of Elves, I had a general understanding of the author's world and characters from playing the Witcher 3 video game and also watching the Netflix show, but as far as the books go, Blood of Elves was the first Sapkowski novel I read.

I did find sections of Blood of Elves quite confusing, especially halfway through it. Names are dropped and characters burst into scenes without much, if any, introduction. This is of course not unusual for a high fantasy novel, but seen as how this is the first instalment in a series it did surprise me and I found it a bit jarring to read.

Having said that, I found the character development in Blood of Elves to be excellent. While the famous Geralt of Rivia is something of an enigmatic, shadowy figure throughout the narrative, the main protagonist, Ciri, is explored in great detail through her interactions with other, well-fleshed-out characters.

The narrative itself is a slow burn. At the same time, you're inundated with historic information which can at times be difficult to follow. As I previously mentioned, I have a basic knowledge of the world-building thanks to the third video game and the Netflix series, and therefore I picked up on some of the characters and past events mentioned quite quickly, but even so, there were many paragraphs I had to reread to make full sense of them. Perhaps that sounds silly, as long info dumps and in-depth world-building is something you come to accept as the norm with high fantasy novels, but there were times as I was reading Blood of Elves when I frustratedly wondered why the author didn't show the events he was referring to rather than relegating them to topics in a conversation.

I know my review has been quite negative so far, and perhaps I'm focusing too heavily on the cons of Blood of Elves. Despite the negatives, I still thoroughly enjoyed the reading experience. Something Andrzej Sapkowski does really well is to lure you into his sense of place with rich world-building and believable characters. I particularly enjoyed the chapters that included the bard character, Dandelion, and the sorceress, Yennefer.

Overall I would score Blood of Elves 3.5/5, although I will doubtlessly read more from Andrzej Sapkowski.

All of the Witcher books I've read offer an interesting take on the place of magic in their culture. In my view, magic should not be simply an 'abracadabra'. Like other skills, it should have to be learned and understood. I have been told by readers that my book series offers an interesting blend of the Witcher series with The Game of Thrones series. In my On the Trail series, I have attempted to create similar excitement with twists and turns in the plots and interesting characters.