Lady of the Lake

I really liked the first 3 books; number 4 was slow; this one was tough to finish. Only to see the ending did I press on.

***Spoiler***

My main complaint is there was so much build up that never went anywhere:
– the prophecy about the child Ciri was supposed to have to change the world
– Nilfgaard + Cintra+ northern war conclusion. So the Emperor/Duny is an ok guy who marries the impersonator and lives happily ever after? I am so unfulfilled. So many pages read for him to just ride off.
– how dare he kill all the witchers friends so nonchalantly. Could at least Cahir or Regis lived? They were great characters. I thought Cahir + Ciri would have some epic conclusion but..nope
– the time jumping! Gah! I could barely follow his story jumping to times + characters we don’t give a rat’s butt about! Final book should have been focused on the Witcher and crew.
– The final ending…Ciri just lives in Camelot now? Annnd what about her world that I just spent weeks reading about? Just…. so frustrating!!!

The book was all over the place with irrelevant stories.. All I wanna read about is Geralt and his companions. All the books before this I thought the story with Geralt and his companions was 4-5 stars…. It did get annoying when the book would have 10 pages talking about the politics of the world.

<!!!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!> <!!!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!> <!!!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!>

The story line with Jarre was okay, but the whole Ciri travelling to different realities was really weird. The beginning of the book made no sense to me. Was she in our reality or what? One of the last parts was really cheesy. “I wanna see the Sun,” C’mon man. Then Geralt’s fight with a mob… He’s fought much worst opponents and decimated them… When the series introduced “The Lodge of Sorceresses” I was excited to see what kind of crazy stories they would have but yet those parts seemed to be one of the most boring and annoying. Overall the series was really good, Except for this last book. Very disappointing ending, I’m so glad CD Projekt Red took a new turn and made this fantasy world spectacular. All 3 of the Witcher games’ stories are a 10/10 for me… These books really changed the way I thought of some characters. Dandelion is great, Triss is amazing, and Geralt’s dwarf friends are awesome. The biggest change of my opinion would have to be Yennefer though. I really disliked Yennefer after reading the books and finding out more about her personality/past… and finding out what she really is behind all that magical make-up lol

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, youll 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.

I really enjoyed the first three books but started struggling with the fourth book and literally wanted to take the 5th book and toss it in the fireplace and ask for my money back. When the protagonists of the story(two main ones and 4 lesser ones) are relegated to less than 20% of the book, when the author writes 30 pages concerning battles which have no real place in the plot and another 30 pages in dialogue concerning a peace treaty with characters I dont even recognize and really could care less about, at this point I started realizing that perhaps the author is getting paid by the word. Did you really need to bump off in totally careless and undramatic prose 3 characters in the 5th book of the main group of five other than the author was just tired of them and decided what heck Ill just kill them off. None of the magic in all five books was of anything more than killing people and for vengeance. Why would you introduce 10-15 new characters in book 5 who I could care less about and have really nothing to with the main story. The main plot of all 5 books was concerning the odyssey of the two main protagonist was lost somewhere in unrelated incidents, unimportant characters and general uncaring prose by an author who seemed to care more about the number of words he wrote than maintaining a coherent plot. Then to add insult to injure this has author has book 6 coming out, God forbid.

Absolutely gorgeous story-telling and world building abound through the five books.

At first I was a bit unsure of the narrative trick of introducing a random character e.g. a messenger and then from his point of view him recounting how he saw three villains killed by one of our heroes. Or a battle described partially from the combatants perspective and partly through a school history lesson years later. But what it does, aided by the brilliant writing, is really immerse you in the world. Its second to none in making real the background to our heroes adventures.

And then theres the fact that its smart, funny, sad, terrifying and overall uplifting.

Theres a lot of grey in peoples actions, both the good and the bad people and one of our heroes goes seriously astray for a while. And theres also one of the best out and out bad guys youll encounter in fiction.

Throw in the fact that the author then manages to seamlessly blend his world in with some our more well known myths and legends and frankly youve got a near masterpiece.

Loved it unreservedly.

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