The Lady of the Lake - Andrzej Sapkowski

⭐ 10.0/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

Above all the reviews in recent weeks, this is the one piece of media most precious to me. I started reading this book at 8pm last night and didn't put it down till I finished at 1:30am. What a beautiful, magical journey it's been reading these books this summer.

Throughout my time reading, I've had a hard time putting into words exactly why I love this series so much. It's really hard to say. The world building is terrific and atmospheric, but also The Continent isn't crazy unique and can sometimes get bogged down by politics and history. The plot is certainly fun and exciting, but not necessarily epic or engrossing, and has quite a lot of aimless wandering. I praise Sapkowski's writing ability quite a bit but heck, this is only a translation and he didn't even write the words I'm reading!

What it honestly boils down to for me is just that this series is a delight to read. It feels poetic without being flowery, emotional without being cheesy, and smart without seeming arrogant. It just nails it for me. He gets the little things right that make you feel like he lived in medieval Europe and after 7 books, I feel like I have now too. He uses some really unique storytelling devices, like telling events through totally random perspectives and hopping around in time a lot, and it just has this awesome way of keeping things fresh. The charm and humor are also things that more authors need to write into their stories!

I also think the characters are ones I'll take with me for a long time. It all begins with Geralt, and while part of me still wishes this was 7 books all written from his perspective alone, I know I'm being greedy. But he's a great leading man and a top 5 character for me all time. But Ciri and her evolution was an awesome experience, and then we get great characters like Regis, Milva, Dandelion, Cahir and Angouleme, as well as my favorite side characters Zoltan and Yarpen Zigrin. I know this sounds like a million characters but somehow they all get enough spotlight to be incredible additions. Then you get terrific baddies like Emhyr, Bonehart, Vilgifortz and Twany Owl who are each evil in such unique ways. Hell, I'll even say Yennefer was a great, unique character needed in this universe, as well as my love Triss Merigold. Again, I know I'm just naming characters instead of describing why they are great, but you'll have to take my word for it!

Most of this review has been for the series as a whole. This book in particular is amazing though. The war scene is perhaps my favorite description of a war, and again makes you feel like you were right there in a way that books have never made me feel. The final showdown, the aftermath, Ciri's escape. This book really might be the best in an awesome series.

So anyways yeah, this series was incredible and lands comfortably in my #2 fantasy series all-time, and might be my #2 fiction series altogether? I know you're all sad to not be getting any more Witcher content from me, but fear not because I'm about to replay the games in which the story continues. I'm really just praying y'all will pick these up, but beware because if you do I'll be messaging you daily to discuss.