Sword of Destiny - Andrzej Sapkowski

⭐ 8.0/10

(Originally written by Tim)

I liked parts of this one more than the first book, but there were two stories in here I actively disliked, so tough to score.

I'll start with the good, and that was the last two short stories. Any story with Ciri is great, because we get great character dynamics devoid of sexual tension. I will talk about that more in what I don't like, but Ciri is cute and the classic protector dynamic works every time. The final story gave us a bit more insight into Geralt's past and relationships with other people which I liked. I think this universe is very cool, so anything that gives me more of the world is great, and that's probably why it makes such a good video game.

For the dislikes, I hate Yennifer. There is a story in here about her sleeping with some other mage, Geralt gets so jealous that they are going to duel to the death, but stops when he realizes they are both trying to commit suicide, rather die than see Yen with someone else. Give me a break. Geralt sleeps with every woman he meets. A new story starts, we meet a new woman, without fail described by the shape of her body, and by the end they sleep together. There is one called A Little Sacrifice about this beautiful poet that falls madly in love with Geralt, but he doesn't want to sleep with her because of his love of Yen. However, he allows her to sleep with him, a little sacrifice he makes, wondering if Yen feels the same way about him. So beautifully tragic, right? The annoying thing is that the premise of that story is actually great, but it turns into Geralt getting the author's fantasy at the end.

So ya, I like the books, love the world, and Geralt is a cool character. It's just hard for me to separate the stories I liked from the stories I didn't. Looking forward to getting into the more classic story format in hopes that the book feels like a more complete whole, but I'm sure Geralt's rascal ways won't change. More Ciri and Geralt please. Also, shoutout to the story with the doppler as well, that one felt very Asimov to me and I loved it.