Name: Blood of Elves
Rating: 3.976098689282961 (1297 reviews)
ISBN: 9781399611404

Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski | SansFiction

§Synopsis

For over a century, humans, dwarves, gnomes, and elves have lived together in relative peace. But times have changed, the uneasy peace is over, and now the races are fighting once again. The only good elf, it seems, is a dead elf. Geralt of Rivia, the cunning hunter known as the Witcher, has been waiting for the birth of a prophesied child. This child has the power to change the world for good--or for evil.

As the threat of war hangs over the land and the child is hunted for her extraordinary powers, it will become Geralt's responsibility to protect them all. And the Witcher never accepts defeat.

§Our take

Blood of Elves is where Sapkowski stops writing stories and starts building a saga, and you can feel the gears change. The two earlier collections had the monster-hunting. This one runs on conversation, politics and training, and the spotlight slides from Geralt to the young Ciri. Her chapters are the freshest thing in it.

The cost is momentum. The plot is episodic, much of the worldbuilding arrives through dialogue, and one critic compared it to a radio script. Strange Horizons called it an interesting failure, while the English edition reportedly won the 2009 David Gemmell Legend Award. Both verdicts are easy to understand. It's smart, dryly funny and steeped in folklore, and it's also patient to a fault.

§Themes

Prejudice with teeth: Human against non-human hatred drives the plot, and one critic ties it to modern arguments about ethnicity and racism.
A girl in training: Ciri enjoys her physical training, and readers found that a fresh angle.
Moral murk: Nobody is clean here, and the dark humour keeps the gloom from going solemn.
Folklore underneath: Polish folk influences give the world a texture that standard fantasy lacks.
Talk as action: Politics and exposition play out in conversation, which some readers find rich and others find a drag.

§How it was received

The trade-off is plain: the folklore, the moral murk and Ciri's point of view win people over, but the slow, talky, episodic plot leaves readers missing the monster-hunting.

§Read it if

You've read the two story collections and want to see the saga begin
You'd follow a young heroine's training over another monster-of-the-week plot
You like fantasy with dark humour, moral ambiguity and a lot of dialogue

§Skip it if

You came for Geralt slaying monsters. Ciri takes over and the action is scarce.
Heavy exposition and political talk make you impatient

§Before you start

Reading experience: Slow, episodic and conversation-heavy, with far less action than the story collections, and it ends mid-saga.
Reading order: Start with The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny if you can. Blood of Elves is the first novel, opening the five-book run that ends with Lady of the Lake, and Time of Contempt comes next.
Content notes: War and political violence; A youth training with weapons; Themes of racial conflict.

§Common questions

Should you read The Last Wish first?: Yes, if you can. Reviewers recommend both story collections first because they introduce the cast this novel assumes you know.
Is Blood of Elves a standalone?: No. It's the first novel of a five-book run and ends mid-saga.
Is it about Geralt or Ciri?: Mostly Ciri. Geralt is still there, but the story follows the young girl more closely than the Witcher.

§If you liked this

A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin — One reviewer linked its familiar yet absorbing worldbuilding to Martin's.
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski — The collection that introduces the cast, and the one reviewers say to read first.

Sources

§Genres

fantasy2action & adventure1adventure1dragons & mythical creatures1epic1fantasy fiction1historical1

§Content Warnings

§Moods

adventurous1challenging1dark1emotional1funny1inspiring1mysterious

§Tags

#a mix driven1#character driven1#colonisation1#diverse characters1#hate crime1

§About the Author

Andrzej Sapkowski

5 books in catalog

Andrzej Sapkowski (born 21 June 1948) is a Polish fantasy writer. He is best known for his series of books, The Witcher, which revolves around the eponymous monster-hunter, Geralt of Rivia. The saga has been popularised through video games, television, stage, comic books and translated into 37 languages, making him the second most-translated Polish science fiction and fantasy writer after Stanisław Lem.

Described as the "Polish Tolkien", he has written multiple novels and short story collections, selling over 30 million copies worldwide. The influence of Slavic mythology is seen as a characteristic feature of many of his works. He is a five-time recipient of the Zajdel Award, Poland's most popular science fiction and fantasy prize, as well as many other awards and honours, including the David Gemmell Award, the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award and the Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture.