Sapkowski is one of the best known fantasy writers in Poland and it's sad because it seems like there are some things that were lost in the translation into English. The dialogue sounds like the characters are overacting and that's about as close as I can come to describing it. The way the monsters interacted with the Witcher just didn't seem real, even for the world that was created.
mmpb - 359 pages
Publisher - Orbit
Who should read this?
If you're in the mood for something really fast-paced and light with very little world-building, this may be right up your alley. This also happens to be the book that inspired the video game The Witcher, so that might be another reason. Otherwise, it may not be for you.
2.75/5 Stars
4.5/5 Cover Art
I read and reviewed Sapkowski's Blood Of Elves last year. I liked it but it wasn't great for my taste. Actually I had high expectations because of the fact that he's the best known Polish fantasy writer.
ReplyDeleteI think most of his books are not translated to English yet. At one stage, I was considering reading them in Spanish, because they're all translated to Spanish apparently. But, as you know yourself, the TBR pile never diminishes so maybe one day I'll dare to order the sequel of Blood of Elves in Spanish.
It's so hard because it's such a cool idea and I love characters that are just knarly, who aren't afraid to go up against anything or anyone and win most of the time. But it just didn't seem to be executed extremely well.
ReplyDeleteI'm still interested in reading Blood of Elves. I should check that out with my new diminished expectations. :)
Tesco was having a sale and I bought this book at a discount. I was looking froward to reading this book... but now, maybe this book will have to go down a notch or two in the TBR queue. Thanks for sharing your view!
ReplyDeleteAlways glad to help. :) It's still a fun read if you just want a very light read that's about some cool stuff.
ReplyDeleteI try my best to give each book a good chance to grow on me, but after only fifty dreadfully boring pages this one was placed aside and shuffled to the very last spot on the bottom-most shelf of the rickety homemade book shelf that I store most of my mass market paperbacks. It got a lot of love from the community, including from a few people whose opinions and recommendations I value, but man, did it not work for me in any way whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteI was so close to doing that a few times, and in the end, that's why it got a 2.75 from me.
ReplyDeleteCame over from Cym Lowell's McLinky links for Book Review Party Wednesday (BRPW).
ReplyDeleteClicked your link from Cym's BRPW list, and to my surprise, I've been here already... :)
The Last Wish is still at the bottom of my considerable TBR pile.
Cherry Mischievous
www.cherrymischievous.com