Hi Cara,
Following Netflix bring out The Witcher TV series, I decided I wanted to read the first book to see what it’s like. The first full book in the series is called Blood of Elves.
For over a century, humans, dwarves, gnomes, and elves have lived together in relative peace. But times have changed, the uneasy peace is over, and now the races are fighting once again. The only good elf, it seems, is a dead elf.
Geralt of Rivia, the cunning assassin known as The Witcher, has been waiting for the birth of a prophesied child. This child has the power to change the world – for good, or for evil.
As the threat of war hangs over the land and the child is hunted for her extraordinary powers, it will become Geralt’s responsibility to protect them all – and the Witcher never accepts defeat.
(Synopsis from Goodreads.com)
Blood of Elves feels like a detailed introduction to the world of The Witcher.
A lot happens and it jumps from past/ present and the different characters. I did find it hard to keep track of the jumps. As the changes can happen anytime.
Blood of Elves has a lot of characters I felt my opinion of the character were based more off the show than the book. The book I didn’t get a real feel for them. Maybe if I had read the short stories before Blood Elves than I might have got a better idea of them.
The one thing that is done amazingly well is the action/fight scenes. Especially fight scene with Geralt of Rivia, he can kick butt.
One thing that took me by surprise was the bit of humour dotted throughout the book. My favourite moment that I found funny was the dear friend letter that Yennefer ent to Geralt. It’s such a great women response.
Blood of Elves has some great quotes, below are a couple of my favourite;
“A Woman accentuates her beauty for her own self-esteem.”
“To be neutral does not mean to be indifferent or insensitive. You don’t have to kill your feelings. It’s enough to kill hatred within yourself.”
“I know you’re almost forty, look almost thirty, think you’re just over twenty and act as though you’re barely ten.”
My favourite aspects of Blood of Elves
- Action scenes
- The mystery behind the hunt for Ciri.
- Magic
- Ciri training.
My least favourite aspects of Blood of Elves
- multiple plots and jumping character
- No emotional connection to any of the characters.
My rating for Blood of Elves is 3.5 out of 5
Thank you to Netgalley and Gollancz for supplying an e-book copy of Blood of Elves for a fair and honest review.
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Thanks for reading,
