Vad fan hände? Varför introducerar författaren ett tiotal nya karaktärer i sista boken?! JAG BRYR MIG INTE GE MIG YENN OCH MIN WITCHER. Jävla massa tidshopp. Yennefer får utstå tortyr, medan Geralt horar runt i Toussant och Ciri är fast i en annan värld. Riddarna av Runda bordet dyker upp. Dåligt slut. Va fan hände. Tre stjärnor för jag gillade de andra böckerna.

It was not bad, but definitely the worst from all of the volumes.

Didn't like it very much. The first half of the book can be skipped over, especially if you read a summary.

tl;dr: if you want to read the Witcher series, just read the short stories and maybe books one and two.

SPOILERS

God, I never write reviews but I'm so irritated. I'm only giving this 3 instead of 2 because I've stuck this whole series through and I think I would hate myself for reading a 500 page two star book. I was rooting for you, Sapkowski, we were all rooting for you!!!!

Things that pissed me off, in no particular order:
1. Introducing so many new characters that nobody cares about. This is the LAST book in a seven book series, and like 70% of it isn't even about Geralt?? Let's be real, he's the reason for these books, before Ciri. Even she wasn't in it enough. The best parts of this book were Geralt and the crew, everything else sucked.
2. Speaking of Ciri... Her whole plotline ended up being so stupid. So asinine. Basically everyone, including her dear old dad (which, wtf) wants to impregnate her. Like that's her purpose? The amount of rapey men in this is atrocious. The whole part with the elf king was absolutely horrendous, and then we're supposed to believe she stayed with him as he died and felt some type of way about it??? No. He was a dick.
3. Everything about the sorceresses. I didn't realize how unlikeable a group of otherwise really badass women could be. Also, it felt like the lodge took itself so seriously and it was just silly.
4. I get it, not everyone gets a happy ending in good books. But I guess NOBODY gets a good ending in these books. I was seriously upset and annoyed that not one of the witcher crew (Cahir, Regis, Milva, Angoulême) survived. Regis is like a thousand years old, seriously?
5. Really--what's wrong with Geralt in this book? He just gives up on everything so easily? We're supposed to believe both he and Yen are cool with sending Ciri off to get raped and impregnated by her gross dad? Nah, that's not them. It's so out of character.
6. On the out of character note: Emhyr started a whole WAR and murdered thousands of people and went through all this in pursuit of Ciri just to not follow through? The audacity to be this lazy is just... astounding.
7. The time jumps, the story within a story within a story within a story, constant jumping around, mostly between new characters nobody cares about. Awful writing.

Anyway, I'm just really pissed off that something that started so well and has been so good in its other iterations (game and show) has ended so BADLY. I'm off to play witcher 3 again for a corrective Geralt experience, and forgetting this book ever existed.

At long last, I have reached the end of the Witcher-saga. I've seen people complain about the introduction of several new POV characters, but I didn't mind it, as these characters offered perspectives that made the world feel more rounded and explored the wider impact of the main character's quest. I also enjoyed segments where the author would quickly change perspectives while describing a singular line of events, as it further enhanced the effect of tying together the present and the future.

The framing narrative with The Lady of the Lake exploring the past to find out the truth about Geralt and Ciri was an interesting choice, as it made me feel like all the leads are unreliable narrators to some degree and the ambiguous, dreamlike ending drives this point even further home.

The only thing that made me bitter about the conclusion is that

Spoiler

I've grown to like Geralt's oddball group of companions and almost none of them make it to the end.

I understand that Sapkowski wants to make this world feel like a cruel approach to classic fantasy conventions, but I found this just a bit too bleak for this specific series.

Legitimately one of the best book series ever written. I laughed. I cried. I gasped. I love everything about this series so much and I can't believe I'll never be able to experience it for the first time again