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Andrzej Sapkowski


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  • 2 weeks later...

Is it necessary to read The Last Wish before Blood of Elves? Does the series has chronological order at all?

I believe so. I think some of the main characters in Blood of Elves have a some-what-setup story that begins in The Last Wish.

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Looks like my order of the final Witcher volume in Spanish (the second half of The Lady of the Lake) will be shipping tomorrow or Tuesday from Spain, so by the first of December at the latest, I should have it in my hands. Thinking about reviewing books #4-8 (have already reviewed The Last Wish, The Sword of Destiny, and Blood of Elves), in part so anglophone readers (and most other non-Germanic and non-Slavic language readers) can have an idea about these latter books, just in case Gollancz has discontinued the translation of this series.

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I'm tired of waiting for the English translations of the last four books to appear, so I'm going to be reviewing those books (in English, with a few small translations from the Spanish translations of the Polish original) over the next few days.

First up is my review of the fourth (third) book, Times of Disdain. It is a novel that loses some of its power for English readers simply because the important stories set up in The Sword of Destiny are not (officially) available in English and that ruins, among other things, the reunion of Geralt and Yennefer. Despite this, I do believe this story contains more action and character/plot developments than Blood of Elves and if you enjoyed the previous book, then you'd be very likely to enjoy this one...if the damned publishers could ever be bothered to publish it in English translation.

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Went ahead and wrote my review for the fifth volume, Baptism of Fire, although I would not suggest clicking on the link unless you want to read some mild spoilers for the previous volume. Liked this one the most so far of the first three novels, almost as much as I liked the two story collections that precede the five novels. Regis is a very cool character, for those in the know.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 2 months later...

Good news everybody!

I am reliably informed that the monstrous delays on getting the rest of the books out in English has been due to contractual negotiations between Gollancz, Sapkowski, the English translator of the books and Sapkowski's Polish publishers which have proven extremely lengthy and complex (presumably not helped by everything having to be translated back and forth as well). However, the end is apparently in sight and there should be news about the remainder of the books coming out in English soon.

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I adore The Witcher. Such a bummer that only a few books are translated into English :(

When I played the game, the story blew my mind-I'd never played a video game with such a developed story. So I followed up with The Last Wish and Blood Of Elves and have been waiting for more translation (and the second game!) ever since :D

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  • 1 month later...

I have read Hussite trilogy couple of years ago in Ukrainian. It's not better or worse, it's just different. The book series genre may be considered as historical fiction in spite of mild amount of magic inside. I was inspired to learn more about Medieval Reformation, heretic factions and Czech history at all. In Hussite trilogy you may find a plenty of bright characters (mainly humans, sometimes demons), particular "sapkowski" sense of humor, love story, indeed (I'm full of spoilers, but I'll keep silence). The one thing every Witcher fan has to say to himself – It's not a Witcher, it's a definitely new story, but it is worth reading none the less.

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Good news everybody!

I am reliably informed that the monstrous delays on getting the rest of the books out in English has been due to contractual negotiations between Gollancz, Sapkowski, the English translator of the books and Sapkowski's Polish publishers which have proven extremely lengthy and complex (presumably not helped by everything having to be translated back and forth as well). However, the end is apparently in sight and there should be news about the remainder of the books coming out in English soon.

Anything new yet?

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I've been waiting after these books for what it seems like forever. Does anyone know some fan translations while they negotiate and stuff? It's either that or I start learning Polish.

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  • 4 months later...

I finally got around to reading books 4 and 5. I almost wish I didn't. I've found the story too contrived, with plots and new characters I didn't care about while my favourite characters Geralt and Yennefer were turning into empty shells.

And the end of the series is definitely not to my taste.

I'll probably re-read the series in a year or two to try and understand why I liked so much the first books.

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there should be news about the remainder of the books coming out in English soon.

It should be pointed out that 'soon' in the parlance of publishers and - in this case - lawyers does not have quite the same connotations it does in the real world ;)

Or, no further news so far.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Is it necessary to read The Last Wish before Blood of Elves? Does the series has chronological order at all?

yes and yes. Last Wish and Sword of Destiny read first, and then Blood of Elves- btw short stories are better as novels.

And The Witcher (part 1 and 2) is one of my favorites game on PC ever. Love it :)

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