The Lady of the Lake

The Lady of the Lake is the final book in the Witcher Saga, but the story is extended in the Award Winning Witcher Video Game Series. Reading these books makes me appreciate the stories of the games even more. If you're not a gamer, this is the glorious end of an epic adventure. The Witcher Saga is a complex story about powerful kings, sorceresses, emperors, lords, assassins, spies, and criminals battling each other in wars, diplomacy, rhetoric, and deceit. This battle is set in a dangerous world based on folklore with mythical monsters and powerful magic. Geralt of Rivia, a professional monster slayer, is drawn into a tangled web of intrigue when his adopted daughter from a unique and powerful bloodline draws the attention of the major powers in the world. Accompanied by his most loyal friends, Geralt battles his way to the end of the world to help Ciri as she tries to evade enemies as ambitious as they are deadly. The world of the Witcher is populated with greedy simple minded peasants, deadly beasts, ancient evils, curses, and almighty kings. This story adds credibility to the old folktales and brings them to life. Because this series is rooted in folklore, it seems more genuine. The characters are complex with their own motivations, emotional scars, rivalries, and alliances. You get to know them so well, you’ll start laughing out loud at their mannerisms and grumblings. The story structure jumps all over the damn place, but it seems to work. A major event will happen with the main characters. A scholar from Oxenfort will discuss its impact on history 100 years in the future, a band of mercenaries at a campfire will talk about the legend, and the saga will resume with the main characters. This ads depth and broadens the world, and it works. In any other book series, this would have been a terrible distraction. The action is visceral and has dire consequences. There are wizard duels, beasts, skirmishes, brawls, wars, battle tactics, chases, and assassinations. It's all very well written and puts you in the middle of the action. These books have some swearing, torture, sex, graphic violence, and horror. They are not for kids. You'll need to read the other books in the series to understand The Lady of the Lake. Reading these out of order would be like taking all of the Game of Thrones Episodes and shuffling them. It's not something you should ever do. Overall, this is a great saga about a drinking, whoring, gambling, lout, who proves his love for his adopted daughter by risking everything and battling his way to the ends of the world for her. The characters and world are complex. The action is great. The fantasy and lore is very well developed. The pacing stalls at times and the story skips around a bit, but these are the only gripes I have with this series. Geralt of Rivia is one of my all-time favorite characters and his story is legendary. If you enjoyed these books, I highly recommend the Witcher Games. The stories in the books act as "Choose your own adventure" and the decisions you make ultimately determine who lives and who dies. The Witcher 3 is the greatest game I have ever played.

Ciri, the witcher girl, Princess of Cintra, and Child of the Elder Blood escaped from her pursuers through a portal in Tor Zireal, the Tower of the Swallow. Rather than finding freedom on the other side, Ciri found herself imprisoned in the world of the elves who wished to use her powers for their own gain. To escape the horrors that await her, Ciri delves deep within herself to discover her true power: the power to travel through space and time. With so many ill intentions pursuing her, Ciri must travel across different worlds to reunite with the ones she longs to see most: Geralt and Yennefer. After nearly ten years of translating four books and two short story collections, the final installment to writer Andrzej Sapkowski’s popular 'Witcher' series has finally arrived in the States and it was well worth the wait. Geralt is closer than ever to finding Ciri, the ongoing war between the North and the South prepares to fight the deciding battle, and Ciri is discovering the powers she has always been told she possesses. While the previous books were most certainly Sapkowski at his finest, The Lady of the Lake was Sapkowski at his absolute best, completing his series in a near-perfect way. Readers will get so much more out of 'The Lady of the Lake' if they reread the entire series first for Sapkowski pulled out all the stops for the final installment. If readers have kept up with the, at times, confusing pages of politics of this fantasy world, the deciding battle is finally fought between the North and the South. Battles and wars are a norm in the fantasy genre and these scenes can be rather tricky to write effectively; however, Sapkowski wrote his deciding battle, the Battle of Brenna, in a very intriguing way. Rather than just focusing on the fighting, Sapkowski jumps between many different points of view, having readers witness the battle as a soldier, as a medic, and as an onlooker. While politics have played a crucial role in the Witcher series, The Lady of the Lake has a minimal focus on it and more of a focus on the characters. Nearly every character that has been introduced in the previous six books makes an appearance, with some playing larger roles while others make a small cameo. As for the major characters, all receive an equal amount of attention; however, for the readers who have eagerly awaited this conclusion, the fate of three characters is what they may be most curious about. Witcher Geralt of Rivia and sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg have traversed half the world, desperately searching for the one who they see as their own daughter and readers are anxious to know if the three most deserving of a happy ending finally get one. While readers will spend a good amount of time with Geralt and his companions as well as with Yennefer in her imprisonment by the powerful sorcerer Vilgefortz, readers will learn more about Ciri than ever before. Readers will learn the reasons why so many want her power and will follow Ciri as she discovers the true power that lies within her. 'The Lady of the Lake' is a story one will want to complete, but at the same time, a story one will not want to have end. For readers who have followed the series since The Last Wish, it is strongly encouraged they experience its finale for themselves. All one who has read it can really say without spoiling major plot points is that Sapkowski concluded his well-received fantasy series in a near-perfect way. His masterful storytelling is the strongest it has ever been with countless twists and turns in the plot to keep readers turning the page. One can look forward to a final collection of short stories of Geralt’s adventures in Season of Storms next year, but as the curtain finally falls on the 'Witcher' series, one can truly say… it was well worth the wait.

First and foremost, I enjoyed every other book in this series. The writing was good, the character development was good, and all the characters were interesting. And then we get to this ‘masterpiece’ *insert extreme sarcasm* #1 This book is tedious and boring. I am only 50% through it, and that is after SKIPPING I don’t know how many pages. I can’t force myself to read it. Why? Because of the phenomenal amount of useless/irrelevant content. At least over a hundred random characters and scenes thrown in just because/to take up more pages? No idea. These characters contribute very little or nothing to the overall plot and are forgotten again once you’ve turned the page and encountered even more useless/pointless characters. #2 This series is about “The Witcher,” is it not? So where is Geralt - the main character - in this volume? Oh, that’s right, he was replaced by those 100+ meaningless characters from #1. I think that most fans of this series will agree with me when I say that the main draw of the Witcher is Geralt. I wouldn’t have minded if the book had focused on Cahir or Milva, or Regis, or any of the other SECONDARY characters that were introduced in any of the previous books. But the most you’re going to get out of this one is Jarre, right after Ciri. If you’re at all interested in Jarre, and I really am not. #3 Ciri shines as a truly dislikable character in this volume. She is bratty, arrogant, rude, stupid, senseless (you would have to get to the scenes where she ‘gives in’ and makes morally questionable decisions just because). The book keeps going on about how important she is, how powerful she is, and she does practically nothing but whine and give people attitude. She has absolutely no redeeming qualities. #4 Sexual assaults, manhandling, and attempted rape scenes throughout. In fact, it happens so frequently that you’d think the author has a fetish for them. The #1 target is of course Ciri, but there are random characters who are also targeted here and there. Basically, when Ciri is not being treated as “all-powerful” and “holier-than-thou,” she becomes a sex object and rape fodder. There is one particular scene which makes me shake my head for how far it got before she escaped the situation. It was like the author temporarily dumbed her down just so “Gramps” could have a go at her. #5 The vague geographical locations in the Continental was tolerable in previous volumes, but in this one it boggles my mind because many places are just mentioned - seemingly randomly - and you as the reader are expected to be able to understand where these places are in relationship to everywhere else. I’d love to go on, but I feel that I’ve wasted enough time on this book and this review. I wish that I’d read the other 1-star reviews before making this purchase because I could’ve saved myself a lot of time and spent my money on something worthwhile.

Great product. Entertaining story, and best price on the market.

I loved it. Feel so sad the story is over.

La historia de The Witcher es maravillosa. Son novelas de fantasía y aventura increíbles. Tienen un folclore y ambiente maravillosos. Los personajes están tan bien desarrollados que es fácil ver porque la serie ha tomado tanta relevancia en diversos medios. Es una gran lectura y muy fácil recomendación ya sea que vengan de la serie, de los juegos o simplemente les guste las novelas de fantasía.

It would be nice if the packaging was with bubble wrap so the books would be safer in case of a bang, but apart from that the book series is brilliant and I highly recommend them! The quality of the book is okay, though I would expect them to be of a bit higher quality for a hardcover. I also like that it has a quote at the front of the hardcover