Sword of Destiny (The Witcher)

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Several years later, Dandelion could have changed the contents of the ballad and written about what had really occurred. He did not. For the true story would not have move anyone. Who would have wanted to hear that the Witcher and Little Eye parted and never, ever, saw each other again? About how four years later Little Eye died of the smallpox during an epidemic raging in Vizima? About how he, Dandelion, had carried her out in his arms between corpses being cremated on funeral pyres and buried her far from the city, in the forest, alone and peaceful, and, as she had asked, buried two things with her: her lute and her sky blue pearl. The pearl from which she was never parted. Supporting Protagonist: Eternal Flame is really more about Dudu making his fortune. Geralt merely serves the role of a mostly passive Audience Surrogate. 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. 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". I found Sword of Destiny to be more of a light-hearted romp than The Last Wish, particularly in the stories that predominantly involved Dandelion. Now this wasn’t a negative aspect, but it did take me a while to adjust to. Dandelion is a wonderfully amusing character; he’s your typical ‘cheeky chappie’ with his openly lewd behaviour towards women and his constant bragging of how great a poet he is! I found myself highly entertained by the contrast between Geralt’s more dry and stoic nature, and Dandelion’s brazenness. They had some excellent banter between them, and my love for banter never ceases! I also appreciated that Dandelion served as Geralt’s one true friend, which was warming.

Dandelion isn’t the only familiar face from The Last Wish . In The Last Wish Geralt saves a man from a curse and unites him with his princess love. The man offers him anything he wishes as a reward. Geralt invokes the Law of Surprise, claiming that which the man has, but doesn’t yet know he has. This ends up being a child that his lover is carrying. Geralt hoped the child would be a boy he could train as a witcher. After the exchange Geralt leaves, promising to return in six years to collect his boon. In Sword of Destiny, we learn what became of that Child of Surprise. I adored The Bounds of Reason, A Little Sacrifice and Sword of Destiny. Eternal Flame and A Share of Ice were very average. The final story Something More I really struggled with initially. It follows two timelines as Geralt in a fevered state and I sometimes got confused where and when we were. If it was a full-length story I wouldn't have finished it but I did and I'm glad I fought through as the ending is highly satisfying with setting up what can possible happen in the next outings. Law of Inverse Fertility: Continues to be a problem for Yennefer, who's willing to kill a dragon on the chance that it will allow her to have a child. Implied for Geralt as well, who invoked the Law of Surprise in A Question of Price and again in Something More for a chance to adopt a child, despite his own mixed feelings about destiny.An Offer You Can't Refuse: The fake inquisitor gives Geralt one of these when he is trying to hire him to find the doppelganger. Geralt doesn't want to because not only is Dudu not evil, there's no actual way to find a man who can shapechange in a city of 30,000 people. 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. However, it does confuse me how Geralt is sometimes completely calm and executes plans perfectly, but becomes somewhat of a bumbling man in other stories, particularly around Yennefer.

Dandelion, staring into the dying embers, sat much longer, alone, quietly strumming his lute. It began with a few bars, from which an elegant, soothing melody emerged. The lyric suited the melody, and came into being simultaneously with it, the words bending into the music, becoming set in it like insects in translucent, golden lumps of amber. Mi-a placut acesta colectie de povestiri mai putin decat primul din serie. Primele 3 povesti mi s-au parut destul de plictisitoare si un pic inutile. De asemenea, am preferat versiunea de pe micul ecran al ultimelor doua povestiri, unde ne intalnim cu Ciri. Ca si in primul volum, este mult dialog, personajele se iau la harta din orice dar se bat mai putin. In schimb filozofeaza mai mult, iar Geralt este mai deprima(n)t si sufera din dragoste. Flat-Earth Atheist: Geralt argues that golden dragons don't exist, even when he's standing looking at one. the stories are at times bleak and grim, and yet there is an odd sense of whimsy like you might find in a classic grimm brothers's fairy tale. they can be farsicle or tragic but never contrived. i really can't recommend them more highly.In “The Sword of Destiny” we are finally introduced to Princess Cirilla of Cintra, aka Ciri. I’ve been anticipating her introduction as I know she plays a very important role in the main series. I very much enjoyed her interactions with Geralt. They do not get off on the right foot yet by the end you could see the bond forming between them, even if Geralt was not ready to embrace the bond by the end of this short story. UPDATE: It seems our collective karening has helped. I've not only enjoyed the original, but also this amazing cover by the incredibly talented Orletta Vicover

Some time after we have Geralt climbing up the Sodden hill towards an obelisk erected there, to read himself the names carved on it. Reading from top down reminiscing about the individuals, three names remain to be read and a rustle interrupts him. A blond haired lady passes by, radiating cold. She kneels down in front of the obelisk covering so the last name of a mage. They talk, he realizes who she is following him all the time. He is tired and peacefully asks about how it happens. She describes her duty. Geralt states he's been afraid of her, but he is not anymore. His appearance tells otherwise though. She challenges him to hear the last name, he says it himself and asks her to do her duty. She declines for today. He states she's taken all from him, but she interrupts him saying she doesn't take anything but hands to hold and accompany those alone, in a mist, which is what everything around fades to. Geralt recalls meeting Dandelion soon after Nilfgaard began marching across the continent. Geralt saves Dandelion and promises to help him cross the river after he goes to Cintra. Dandelion tells him that Cintra has fallen, with Calanthe throwing herself from the castle walls and all of the nobility committing suicide. Ciri is missing and assumed dead. Despondent, Geralt asks Dandelion if he believes in destiny, and claims that even if two people are destined to be together, there must be "something more" for that destiny to mean anything. It was nice to see that continuity from one book to the next. Just like his relationship with Yennifer, or meeting up with Dandelion again, these connections make Geralt’s world feel more three-dimensional and real. Hopefully, these connections continue throughout the series. A running theme in The Witcher novels I liked this short story collection less than the 1st one in this series. The first 3 stories were quite boring and useless and I preferred the on screen version of the last 2 where Ciri first appeared. As the previous book, there is a lot of dialogue and verbal confrontation. There was less fighting and more philosophy . I still enjoyed listening to this volume and I am planning to continue with the series as soon as Ionut Grama will record it (Hurry Up!) Dominant Species Genes: Dryads have to breed with human or elf men and the child will always be a dryad. The children will very rarely have their father's features like hair or eyes. This may be related to the dryads' demonstrated ability to turn fully human girls into dryads.

The second book in The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski, originally in Polish. For whatever reason, the English translator decided to skip it and jump from the first book straight to the third (despite the small fact that it introduced Ciri, around whom much of the saga revolves) but a translation was finally released in the UK in 2015. The original Polish title was Miecz Przeznaczenia. Bus Crash: Essi Daven, Geralt's Temporary Love Interest in A Little Sacrifice, is bluntly mentioned to have died of small pox four years later in Vizima.

Supernaturally Young Parent: In Something More, Geralt meets his mother, Visenna, who looks younger than him. Justified, because she's a sorceress. Ultimately, Eithné allows Ciri to choose her own fate and Ciri chooses the witcher. The queen also decides to spare Freixenet on the basis that he is an acquaintance of Geralt and that he did not have the intention of hunting dryads when he trespassed into the forest. After all, dryads still need males to make new dryads, so it seems that the large man will become a stud. Dramatic Irony: A Little Sacrifice has a very minor and plot-irrelevant example Played for Laughs: Dandelion reacts with disbelief when Geralt informs him high and low tides are caused by the moon.Following the theme of “less than human,” we have the short story the “Eternal Flame”. In the story, we explore the difficulty in surviving a world we you are not like everyone else. Given his experiences and who he is Geralt understand this more than anyone. He doesn’t always recognize it at first but in his wise way, he learns from his experiences. We also get to see more interactions between Geralt and his BFF 4-evah Dandelion. This story evaluates something that’s very prominent throughout the series which is discrimination. There’s a lot of exploration of discrimination and otherness throughout the series and it’s done in a way that it doesn’t come out as preachy, it’s a real issue in this world and our own and it’s something that needs to be exposed. What? You didn't know Geralt looked like a toast with tiny arms? You really are clueless, aren't you, my Little Barnacles? One-Gender Race: Dryads from the titular short story are downplayed version. They still need a male mate, but their offspring is always female. And they don't mind raising human girls as their own or outright brainwash pre-teens to bolster their numbers.