It took time to make myself write a review because I was just too angry at first. What a slog to get through, what dwindling hopes for the writing and plot to improve, all for nothing.

The inane framing device time jumps and random, unimportant characters discussing what happened, plus throwaway lines of how their story ended on top of it, had more dedicated pages than the actual story. It was confusing, it added nothing, and it was tiresome.

Speaking of what actually was happening, Geralt, Ciri, and Yennifer featured so little in this book that I think the author lost sight of the actual main plot and characters. There was so much description of a battle that I cared so little about towards the end of the book that I almost stopped reading. Unfortunately, I I felt obligated to know how this series ended.

Which brings me to the ending itself.

Spoiler

If they wanted to end it with Geralt and Yennifer's deaths, I get that. I even get Geralt dying in some awful racist slaughter than didn't add much to the story other than to continue adding to the bleak hopelessness that seemed to pervade much of the material; at least that could be bittersweet in that Geralt never gave up standing for his morals, even if he was pessimistic and brooding most of the time. The real issue I had was how much it spoke to how little the characters grew. Yennifer is bitching at Tris until moments before her death, and it makes you feel like no one ever grew beyond page one. After all they've gone through, you're telling me there is still no more complex feelings between the two? No, it's just forever petty jealousy? Fine. But what made me truly angry was that as Geralt literally lay dead, and Yennifer is ACTUALLY KILLING HERSELF trying to revive the man she loves, their daughter is… coldly telling Yennifer she is pathetic and powerless. That's the great love between mother and daughter that I've been told about more than I've actually read evidence of. That's the last thing Ciri said to her mother figure. And it just reiterated the point that I'd been spending hundreds of pages trying to deny in my mind, because I desperately wanted things to be better - Ciri sucks. No one ever actually has an arc. They are all static for most of the books.

If that weren't enough, I feel like the main point never really led anywhere. Ciri was the child of destiny, but all anyone seemed to think her destiny was good for was… having a baby? What was the baby supposed to do? Why was that title on Ciri if the baby was the one who was supposed to have these grand plans for them? What was with Ciri causing a plague? Was that coming in her world for everyone when she left? Was everyone about to just get fucked anyway, so it didn't matter that

Spoiler

the main characters die and she comes to our world, which already felt stupid enough

? What was the point of her even trying to master her powers, other than to get back to Geralt, since her powers never ended up being used for anything? What happened to the Wild Hunt?

My husband has only played the games and so still has so much love for this series that I will never be able to get back. It doesn't matter if the games add wonderful context and a wonderful ending; the books should be able to stand up as a complete story on their own, and all they hold is disappointment.