Thursday, November 11, 2021

The Witcher

Tucked away in my previous post was the fact that I have now finished my read through of the Witcher novels - eight volumes comprising two short story collections, five novels in the 'main' sequence, and then a prequel novel.

They were very much a mixed bag.

I really enjoyed the first two volumes, especially the second. They did have the weakness that most of the stories had already been adapted for the Netflix series, but that was okay - there was enough different here to be interesting, and it also provided useful context for the series.

The main cycle, unfortunately, was very much a case of diminishing returns - I enjoyed the first volume, but a bit less than the short stories, then enjoyed the second less than the first, the third less than the second, found the fourth to be a real slog, and then faced the final volume as an ordeal rather than an enjoyment. Which was a real shame. It did, at least, have an ending that was... different, which is always worth trying.

The prequel volume, "Season of Storms" was actually my favourite out of all the volumes. That was a great way to round out the series, and rather improved my impression of the whole. Which is a good place to end.

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