Rating: 5/5
A Review of Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski: A Short Story Collection set in the World of The Witcher
This is a review of Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski. This book is another collection of short stories from The Witcher world, and I thoroughly enjoyed it as much as I did The Last Wish!
While the stories featured in The Last Wish felt more isolated from each other, I felt that Sword of Destiny had more of a continuity to them. This anthology also seems to hold more weight in connection to the main series, as I could tell that a lot of the characters and details here will be crucial in the overall tale of the Witcher.
I truly do love Geralt’s character, and I loved going along with him on his insane adventures. I love his uncanny wit and humor, contrasted with his lone, fierce warrior vibe. At this point, I’m still a little baffled over his and the sorceress Yennefer’s connection, but I’m hoping I’ll warm to the sorceress in the main series.
I am TOTALLY HERE though for the relationship between Geralt and Dandelion, as well as that of Geralt and Ciri!!! I love Geralt’s friendship with Dandelion, and I think their whole dynamic is so unusual and hilarious and just PERFECT.
I also love love love Geralt and Ciri so much already, and I teared up at the end of the last story. It is amazing when you can feel an emotional connection to characters even after just a couple of stories!
I do love how these books somehow mix both a good amount of humor and dark themes, and I love how the fight scenes are written! There were also times when I was reading that I thought I knew what was going to happen, and then BOOM—PLOT TWIST!
Each story is once again interwoven with bits of classic fairytales and varied mythologies, and I love how we get many more mythical creatures in each one. I do love these all-out fantasies where sorcerers, mermaids, dragons, elves, and many more magical beings coexist.
I will mention that I don’t much like how women are treated in these books. I know this series is somewhat reminiscent of a certain era where women are treated as property or lesser beings, and even today we’ve still got a long way to go when it comes to women’s rights, but I’d like to see women being treated much more kindly in fantasy books! Granted this was written in the 1990s, and most older fantasies are at best neglectful of women, so that’s one thing to consider.
If you get to this point and are not yet convinced to read this book, let me just say this: DRAGON HUNTING.
