Blood of Elves

My first introduction to Andrzej Sapkowski's work was the video game "The Witcher," by CD Projekt. I read about it in Games For Windows: The Official Magazine, and then I followed talk of it in a very positive thread on Quarter to Three. It sounded excellent -- an action-RPG with real consequences to choices and a mature dark fantasy, even though their "mature" included pin-up cards for women Geralt bedded. Fortunately, the game was excellent, especially the storytelling.

I've picked up both of the books about Geralt of Rivia that have been released on American shores, The Last Wish and Blood of Elves. The Last Wish is a collection of short stories starring Geralt, mostly unconnected to each other. I really enjoyed The Last Wish. Blood of Elves is a full novel. I didn't like it too much. I'm hardly a book reviewer, so this will be very short.

My main problem with Blood of Elves is that nothing ever happened. 90% of the book felt like setup, and we had very few conflicts or big scenes. Most of the book was Ciri's training, with two very brief fights by Geralt and one group combat largely missed because our focal character, Ciri, was out of sorts during that battle. It seemed odd to focus so heavily on a side character with Geralt, the main character of the series (to my knowledge), being so ancillary to the plot.

One thing I've learned in my writing is that every scene needs a point. If I write something and it serves no purpose, it goes on the cutting room floor. I feel like a lot of Blood of Elves should have been cut.

So, while I would recommend The Last Wish to fantasy readers, I would not recommend Blood of Elves.

Thus ends what is hopefully my most boring post ever.

This is Matt, trying to read more.