The Tower of the Swallow

So this book picks up right where the previous left, which ended in a little bit of a cliffhanger.
I loved the writing style using different timelines, jumping back and forth, and varying points of view. It gets confusing sometimes but in the end everything clicks together.
And the plot focus is Ciri, the last third of the book we don't even hear about The Witcher anymore.
There is lots of violence in this book, people getting killed, tortured, injured in a myriad of ways. I think it's one of the darkest books in the series so far, and Ciri's story is definitely harsh and cruel. I caught myself cringing a few times.
Now, it's the first time I ever saw a sword fighting scene on a frozen lake on ice skates!
There are some great new characters, like the hermit Vysogota on the good guy side and the spine-chilling bounty hunter Bonhart, on the villain side.
As always, I can't wait to check out the next book in the series.

This book was angling to be an all-timer with it's pacing and the genuine joy it brought with each passing page. The biggest problem with these books tends to be that they lose steam and, sure enough, this one did.

Ciri's story is great but the story being told from this many perspectives breaks up the narrative almost too much and slowed down the last act a lot.

To be honest I am a bit split on how I feel about this book.

The cover does not seem to really portray the story which seem to be more focused on #cirillaofcintra than #GeraltOfRivia who while had some part in the story was really more of a backdrop to the story than any main plot or story.

The writing at times was good but at other times kind of boring and found my attention wavering. Some of the politcal plot lines I found really didn't add much of anything of value.

However the story of Ciri's capture by bounty hunters, her eventual escape, finding of shelter, and eventual finding of the tower of swallows was certainly a good read, but really could of done without the rest.

3/5 stars on good reads. Didnt love it but didnt hate it. Will be posting a video review tomorrow

This book took the series from a fantasy adventure to a full blown drama. There is no plot, no witchering, and until where I read, no political intrigue and barely any mention of most of the main characters.

The beginning narration style was very of putting. It is told by Dandelion, as if he is telling a story that happened a long time ago. It gave a fairy tale feel, not what I was looking for.

The story is focused solely on Ciri's lack of magic and insufficient fighting skills. For someone meant to be the destroyer of the world, trained by the witchers of Kaer Morhen, and one of the most powerful sorceress in the world, Yennefer of Vengerberg, it sure looks like she ain't cut for the job when she can't even deal with a bounty hunter.

She is captured, beaten and treated like a dog. Then thrown into an arena to fight to the death for other people enjoyment. This already took 1/3 of this very long book. There is nothing of original or exciting about this. It's just her suffering for the lost of her friends and then whining about not wanting to kill people, “Please don't make me do this...”.

I read the reviews after I stopped reading, and it doesn't seem to get better, not in this or the next book.

Read 05:58 / 16:24 36%