4/5 stars.
ebook, 375 pages.
Read from October 1, 2019 to October 13, 2019.
Anyone else confused on the order these books are supposed to be read in? Some of the books are published at later dates but fit earlier into the series. I’ve done a bit of research and I decided to go off this order:
The Last Wish
The Sword of Destiny
Blood of Elves
Time of Contempt
Baptism of Fire
The Tower of the Swallow
The Lady of the Lake
Season of Storms
So far it’s working out well in terms of the timeline as I am three books into the series. If you’ve found a different order for the books or don’t know where to start I would still highly recommend starting with the short stories before starting with the full-fledged novels as they add a lot of depth to the world and the characters. I’ve also managed to work my way through the first Witcher game and I am looking forward to making my way on to the other two soon.
Sword of Destiny follows the same formula as The Last Wish, in that it is a series of short stories that related closely to each other. From dryads to dragons, the world that Geralt lives in really starts to take shape in this novel. Geralt starts to take on quests that are for more than just money as the Sword of Destiny focuses more on Geralt’s character rather than on action scenes, which actually adds to the novel rather than take away from it. You start to learn about Geralt’s personal moral code and how he tries to fight the destiny laid out for him that connects him to a child princess named Ciri. You learn of Geralt’s complicated romance with an enchantress named Yennifer, as the two are more similar than they realise.
Was this book better than The Last Wish? No, but it was still a great read that expanded on the world and added character depth. I think it will be actually pretty difficult to top The Last Wish going forward in this series but I hope I am wrong.
The Pluviophile Writer 