Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Maybe I'm a slave to TV after all. I watched the Witcher production before picking up any of the short stories or the novels. Even before playing the games! (And I admit I still haven't played the games.)

So obviously, my opinion is going to be somewhat SKEWED from the rest of the hoards of fans of Sapkowski. Or maybe improved. Who knows?

The fact is... I had a wonderful time reading this.

At no point did I ever feel underwhelmed, think that the pacing was off, or want to complain about the lack of huge battles or epic whatnot.

I knew this whole series was a character study first, a social commentary second, and a delightful worldbuilding/epic fantasy extravaganza third. And so, since I already loved the characters, I continued to love the characters, get awed about the full ramifications of the elves, the brewing war that would bring about much more than self-destruction, but the end of so much that was good in this flawed world, and was properly horrified by the other wars that had already happened.

One could say that these novels are the effects and substance of massive amounts of Aftermath. And the TV show reflects that. We know things are all about to end. Spectacularly. And it is this over-story that keeps me at the table that is still, primarily, a delicious feast of characters.

So I repeat. :) I loved this. I love them. :)

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