Sword of Destiny
Ratings381
Average rating4.2
Some of the short stories are clearly better than others, but overall I loved it!
Somehow, when I first read The Witcher, I ended up skipping this book. This time around, I grabbed it and read it from front to back. It's a great book, even if it's not as good as The Last Wish. But the ending is...oh man! So good, so compelling. Geralt of Rivia is one of my favorite fantasy characters ever.
More short stories of Geralt of Rivia and his companion, Dandilion. The same topics are addressed, with more focus on one or another, I forget which one specifically.
I had to wait a while to get to this second short collection because of the wait at the library. But I'm glad I did, because it gave me an opportunity to savor the experience of the previous one and enjoy this even more.
As with any collection, this one had a couple of amazing stories and a few bored me. As a very dialogue heavy writing style, this one too had many many conversations which I thought were pointless, but some of them were profound and emotional too, so I don't wanna dismiss it all entirely. But it's the couple of stories which were part of the TV show which I had the most fun reading. I definitely like that Dandelion is much more prominently featured in the stories, Yennefer here is a little less fiery and more emotionally available, and Geralt is a grumpy delight. There's one story featuring a new character Essi which made me very emotional, and it was just so beautifully tragic. But it was the introduction of Ciri that stole the show, and I can't believe how different the first meeting of Ciri and Geralt is. I definitely would have loved to see that in the show. And the ending was amazing, with the exact final scene from the show playing in my head and on the page.
In conclusion, I'm having as much fun reading these books as I was watching the adaptation. Both the similarities and differences are quite exciting to explore and I can't wait to finally dive into the novels which will bring a whole new story. The writing (or maybe the translation) isn't always easy to follow, but hopefully I'll get used to it. The wait times for the next books seem to be quite high at my library, so I hope I'll be able to finish them all before the start of the next season.
“The sword of destiny has two blades. You are one of them. But what is the other, White Wolf?”
~
The Sword of Destiny brings us back for another bunch of witty tales following Geralt through his adventures and against the monsters of his world. I enjoyed getting more of Gerald's back story and what led him to his destiny.
Amazing book, last few time jumps are a little confusing at first but well worth reading!
Truly enchanting
As with the first book of short stories, you can't help but feel that every story has its worth. They're all slightly different, all introducing you more and more into Geralt as a person and his companions along the way. The lore and world that is built is dizzyingly exciting and has left me wanting to consume everything about this world.
If you liked the first book, you'll love this. If you like the games, you'll love this. If you like fantasy books, you'll love this!
A wonderful follow-up anthology that does a great job in giving the snowball that is the saga it's first push downhill.
Do you believe in destiny. If not this book just might have you believing.
Book 0.75 of the witcher series makes for a fun entertaining read. Mermaids. Trolls. Sea monsters etc...
Lots of adventure and fun for everyone
Witchers are not supposed to have feelings but don't believe it. Either Geralt of rivea is a odd ball witcher or that's just myth and legen. You will have to read it and decide for yourself
To check out a full review visit me on YouTube drews book reviews
Very entertaining set of short stories. A Little Sacrifice made me cry. I was confused a bit in Something More. But I figured it out in the end, I think.
Amazing. I'm so pleased by this book. I read The Last Wish over a year ago and didn't continue with the series straight away because I wasn't blown away by it. Well, after finishing this one, I can officially say I'm a Witcher fan. I have a few books on my immediate TBR, but I'll get to Blood of Elves asap!
This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: Sword of Destiny
Geralt does not believe his life is led by fate. But despite his adamant denial, each short story in this collection shows how fate continues to intervene in his life. Whether he chooses to believe in it or not. In this collection of stories, Geralt will find out that his destiny is not as escapable as he wants it to be. Despite the choices he makes in life, there will always be a way that destiny weaves his path back to its original design. And when he forces destiny's hand too many times, there will be dire consequences.
Sword of Destiny is the second set of short stories that takes place before Blood of Elves. The main set of secondary characters that accompany Geralt on and off throughout his journeys are given more depth in these stories. They also highlight key moments in Geralt's life. Even though The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny were published after Blood of Elves, I highly suggest reading them before you start the core series. Sapkowski writes in a way that makes the reader put together the pieces of character relationships and history. Reading the two short story collections will provide new readers with a better foundation to carry on into the main series.
As I venture deeper into the world of The Witcher, I am becoming more and more entranced by the world and Geralt. He's such a realistic character in how he behaves and questions himself. At one point he held an internal monologue about awkward feelings of attraction. I was amazed at the exposure to such raw emotions and it made him all the more endearing to me. And he can be such a stubborn character. Watching him fight against the inevitable provides a wealth of conflict and entertainment. Especially when Yennifer and Dandelion are thrown into the mix.
The Witcher series is filled with memorable characters and a fantasy world bursting with lore. There is so much still to discover with this series, and I can't wait to dive into the next book! I took a side quest into the short stories, now it's time to continue my main journey!
“It is easy to kill with a bow, girl. How easy it is to release the bowstring and think, it is not I, it is the arrow. The blood of that boy is not on my hands. The arrow killed him, not I. But the arrow does not dream anything in the night.”
Fantastic, I really loved the Sword of Destiny for so many reasons! The beginning of Geralt & Ciri's bond in this novel is done so SO well, the way they're pulled apart and pushed back together really does have the feeling of destiny and the love you quickly feel between them is so strong.
Geralt, what can I say about Geralt. He is one of the most complex and diverse fantasy characters ever in my opinion. Mutated and edited so he can't feel anything when hunting yet he loves and fights hard for anyone who needs protection. He's paternal, loving and goes completely against the way everyone see's him. The word Sapkowski built for him is detailed and rich and it rivals all others. He's a monster hunter who follows a code that makes you question how we define monsters. Fantasy fans need to read this series, I can't wait to read more!
Sapkowski has a talent when it comes to character building, playing the games I adored Triss and found Yennefer difficult to like with how she treats Geralt, yet in the novels with Yen's backstory explained in more detail I can't help but understand and feel for her, Geralt loves her even though he shouldn't be able to love and that's very infectious!
Also, I love the unusual take on Monsters. The Polish folklore influence is so interesting and its a great twist on the standard Fantasy monsters.
Cant wait to read more, NEED to play the Wild Hunt again, each 10/10 - 5/5 read!
“The sword of destiny has two edges. You are one of them.”
I absolutely loved this book. All of the stories were great, but I think “Something More” was my favorite.
I feel like it took me a long time to read these, when in actuality, I started the first one in January so that isn't really all that long. Some of the way I'm feeling may be based off a lapse in memory though because I read around 95 books around the reading of these so I may be hazy.
For starters, I think Andrzej Sapkowski is a phenomenal writer. Secondly, I think David French did an absolutely wonderful job translating these to English. And thirdly, I think the Gollancz paperbacks were amazing–great cover art, nice quality–I actually managed to read them all without breaking the spines! Although, I will say that Gollancz choice of Cahir for this cover was really weird? I get the idea of giving each main character a cover, but Cahir isn't even mentioned by name for like another 2 or more books...
Sapkowski has such a way about his writing that the dialogue in the novels can be truly captivating. He wields it so well that he has honestly created such a wonderful lush lore within his world that really carried the hundreds of pages he wrote.
I think Sword of Destiny might be my second favorite book out of all of them. I just think that short stories is really a sweet spot for Sapkowski. Even though this one gets more serious and does much more of the setting up of the overarching series with Ciri, it still has that monster hunter deep-lore Witcher feel that I loved about The Last Wish. And as this is in fact the book where Ciri is first introduced, I loved it. Obviously young Ciri goes through some terrible things with the fall of Cintra, but it was necessary to the overall progression of the story.
The Ciri storylines were the best.
Other than that.. I get it Geralt loves boobs, geez.
ok this was actually such a good short story collection and it was so much more interesting than the first witcher collection. i really enjoyed all of them - also helped that i watched the tv show and i felt like i got way more out of the book cuz of that
Had a bit of a hard time with the writing style (again). But I did enjoy the stories and the world a bit more than the ones in The Last Wish.
It felt like a setup for something big. It had that tension feel like before a storm.
Can't wait to read the next one in the series.
I really did enjoy this short story collection, even though I DNFed it a couple times because I had a hard time getting through the first short story. I devoured the first book (Last Wish) in physical format, I was really enjoying the humorous and witty side of Geralt that you don't see in the show or video game, and you kind of lose in this book. But I'm not sure if it was an issue of switching to the audiobook for this one, or if his tone really did change. Solid and very enjoyable read overall. I'm going to continue on I think.
This was good but DANG was there a lot of Yennifer in this book... perhaps too much for my taste. I tend to enjoy the storylines that take place outside of the overarching ones. Further: these “side quests” of adventure tend to hold characters of more quirky, and ecclectic personalities, as opposed to the usual. (Also side note: I guess in this universe sorceresses have the ultimate power and are the most untouchable beings? I don't hate it because feminism but I do find it magically underexplained at times) Many female characters emerge as prominent people in Gerault's life during this novel. Many overarching storylines get followed up on, less side quests (less Dandelion, saaaaad). Overall 3/5 purely just because I don't like Yennifer. 4/5 book series, 3/5 this book in the 4/5 series.