Dandelion,’ the Witcher sighed, now genuinely tired. ‘You’re a cynic, a lecher, a womaniser, and a liar. And there’s nothing, believe me, nothing complicated about that. Goodnight.’ As I read Sword of Destiny, I realized that Sapkowski had woven a theme throughout the two books. In adventure after adventure things aren’t quite how they seem. The monsters aren’t really monsters. The rewards aren’t gratifying. Geralt has emotions that he shouldn’t. What looks like hate is love. I could go on but you get the idea. Dandelion knew that few would believe the story told by the ballad, but he was not concerned. He knew ballads were not written to be believed, but to move their audience. Mood Whiplash: Some of the silliest and darkest stories in the Witcher canon. A Little Sacrifice is especially notable, as it happens in-story. Twice. Interspecies Romance: The mermaid and the prince from the A Little Sacrifice, which puts Geralt into the role of their translator. They are genuinely in love and each asks the other to magically transform into their species, which would solve problems with incompatibile biology. In the end the mermaid becomes a human, so they can be together.

Supporting Protagonist: Eternal Flame is really more about Dudu making his fortune. Geralt merely serves the role of a mostly passive Audience Surrogate. And this was published in the 90's. It's always disappointing when this mentality shows up in an old fantasy book, but at least it's kind of predictable. It's like finding racism in a 19th century travel-adventure novel. But today... This should not be left unnoticed.Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The Battle of Sodden Hill, where the Northern Kingdoms united and successfully repelled the Nilfgaardian invaders, happens entirely offscreen. We only hear about it from Yurga.

Well, what can I say, it’s a base world,’ he finally muttered. ‘But that’s no reason for us all to become despicable.”La Espada del Destino, nos presenta un puñado de personajes principales que ya hemos conocido de la saga, y que aquí se vuelven más desarrollados a medida que su presencia nos acompaña. Jaskier, el amigo de Geralt y bardo, su misteriosa e indomable hechicera, Yennefer, y una potencial hija del destino llamada Ciri. Si has jugado a los videojuegos de "The Witcher", imagino que estarás familiarizado con estos personajes, yo lo estoy, y admito de buen grado y contento, que no hay nada mejor que un buen libro, es todo más completo, la historia, diálogos, luchas acercamientos y relaciones. The anthology consists of six stories, loosely linked in chronology. They introduce characters that become major players in the later novels, which began with 1994's Blood of Elves and are known as The Witcher Saga. The titular story, "The Sword of Destiny", introduces the character of Ciri. The following story, "Something More", is a direct prequel to the novels. World(-building). It was more of a world deepening in my experience. The political dynamics became a bit clearer, as did the ethnic diversity which leads to an overall improved understanding of the world. Braenn, Geralt, and Ciri arrive in Duen Canell, the heart of Brokilon. Freixenet's wounds have been treated, as the dryads intend for him to impregnate some of them. Ciri realizes that the dryads plan to keep her—the dryads bolster their numbers by taking and brainwashing young girls into their culture, as they had done to Braenn. Geralt meets Eithne and the two discuss destiny, which Eithne believes is a "doubled-edged sword".

it's really hard for me to convey the depth of this collection of stories. they have a range of tone- humor, romance, adventure, intrigue- that is amazing. the writing is contemporary and yet has a resonance that feels timeless. it reminds me of tolkien in that there is a depth to the world sapkowski has created that makes you feel like it's been around for a very long time. it's like there's a real world with a history that the book takes place in that the characters move through rather than just set pieces for the story to take place in.Like the original book, Sword of Destiny is a collection of six novellas (minus a Framing Device) that continue the trend of merrily deconstructing your favorite fairy tales, though the motif of You Can't Fight Fate comes across even stronger. All Myths Are True: When trying to find a dragon, Geralt mentions that gold-colored ones are a myth. Guess what colour it turns out to be. Whether he knows it or not, Geralt of Rivia is getting closer to his fate with every step he takes in this unusual but enlightening collection of short stories. Dragons, mermaids, dopplers and dryads, this book challenges him in very untypical ways. The Last Wish” and “The Sword of Destiny” are each a collection of short, inter-connected stories that read very much like a character study. A study of the witcher, Geralt of Rivia, and his tormented relationship with the concept of destiny. The stories are nonlinear, but the links are easy to follow, and not every story turns out the way you might think or expect. Flat-Earth Atheist: Geralt argues that golden dragons don't exist, even when he's standing looking at one.

I really enjoyed this short story collection, more so than the first The Last Wish. I think it helped that I had a better grounding in the lore and history of the world, and was less put off by the odd time jumps and pacing. I will say that the second half is a lot snappier in pace, and introduces the wonderful Ciri, which helped propel this to a 4 star read for me. On the whole, I mostly enjoyed each story immensely. Although the writing felt repetitive at times, I still found myself engaged in seeing each scene unfold. If you’re expecting lyrical descriptive prose here, you won’t find it. Let’s not forget though that this is a translation, and within the nature of that, nuances, meaning and general flow can be lost. Or this could be a trait of Polish/Eastern European fantasy stories, and therefore I appreciated the simplistic style, it was quite soothing. I did find that some of the stories lost their momentum during the middle section, they felt too long, but I absolutely loved how each story ended on little twists that really brought the narrative together. My favourite story was ‘Sword of Destiny’, which finally introduced Ciri’s character! I’d heard a lot about Ciri from fans of the game, so I was eagerly anticipating her arrival. She didn’t disappoint, I loved her fiery but innocent temperament, and I can’t wait to see her story arc develop in future books. I found the stories in The Last Wish more consistent but two or three of my favourites are from this entry. If you decide to read the short story collections first I'd truly recommend starting with The Last Wish and not Sword of Destiny. Two stories in The Witcher #1, one including Yennefer and one including a Queen and a Princess, add huge depth to the action and events that occur in this collection, especially with certain relationship complexities.

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Geralt heads to Brokilon, the Last Forest, to deliver a message to the queen of the dryads, Eithne, from King Venzlav. He finds bodies left by the dryads, along with one survivor, his friend Freixenet, alive but wounded. Dryads accost Geralt and the dryad Braenn agrees to take him to Eithne. Geralt and Braenn encounter and kill a giant centipede threatening a girl named Ciri, who joins them. Ciri likes Geralt, and explains that she is a princess and was going to be married off to Prince Kistrin, son of King Ervyll, but ran away.