While the stories contained in “Sword of Destiny” are undeniably part of the Witcher continuum and undeniably awesome, they also undeniably take second place to those in “The Last Wish.” Qualifier: nothing in “Sword of Destiny” is bad. Quite the contrary: it’s a great read and worth every one of its five stars. Each story in this anthology is entertaining, well told, has a message and is very much worth reading. Compared to the absolutely top-shelf quality and originality of every story in “The Last Wish,” however, “Sword of Destiny” can’t help but feel a bit wanting. Part of this is successor syndrome (i.e., the preceding installment was JUST SO GOOD the sequel can’t really compare), part of it is Sapkowski finding his voice and dialing in his style.
There are two very notable exceptions: “Little Sacrifice” and “Something More.” Those two stories rank among the very best of the Witcher short stories contained in either of the aforementioned collections. Holy wow do those stories hit the reader right in the feelz.
Geralt of Rivia returns for another foray into Sapkowski’s brilliant fantasy world; a world as vibrant and real as our own, full of metaphor, allegory and relativism, where everything exists only in some wonderful shade of gray. Are dragons inherently evil and what exactly does that mean? What do you do with a creature that clones a person, but only copies said person’s good behaviors? What precisely constitutes a little sacrifice? How do you define destiny or if it even exists? The Witcher series is making fairy tales relevant again, but with grown-ups as the audience.
With “The Last Wish” (Witcher #1) and “Sword of Destiny” (Witcher #2) finished, time to move onto the novels. “Blood of Elves” (Witcher #3) is already on this reviewer’s short list.
“The Witcher nodded. Not for the first time, the criteria by which women judged the attractiveness of men remained a mystery to him.”
- - - - - -
“It’s not worth worrying about storytellers. If they don’t have enough material they’ll make things up anyway. And if they do have authentic material at their disposal, they’ll distort it.”
- - - - - -
“The Sword of Destiny has two blades… You are one of them.”
- - - - - -
“She stood before him and Geralt regretted it was her and not the fish-eyed creature with a sword who had been hidden beneath the water. He had stood a chance against that creature. But against her he had none.”
- - - - - -
“Aha,” he said calmly. “Essi Daven, also known as Little Eye. The alluring little eye of Little Eye fixed its gaze on the Witcher and caused confusion in the Witcher. The Witcher behaved like a little schoolboy before a queen. And rather than blame himself he is blaming her and searching for her dark side.”
- - - - - -
“For me,” Dandelion fantasized, “a palliasse without a girl isn’t a palliasse. It’s incomplete happiness, and what is incomplete happiness?”
- - - - - -
“You’re sensitive,” she said softly. “Deep in your angst-filled soul. Your stony face and cold voice don’t deceive me. You are sensitive, and your sensitivity makes you fear that whatever you are going to face with sword in hand may have its own arguments, may have the moral advantage over you…”
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‘Doubts. Only evil, sir, never has any. But no one can escape his destiny.’Highlighted by 1,984 Kindle readers- A choice which should be respected, for it is the holy and irrefutable right of every woman.Highlighted by 1,631 Kindle readers
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Reviews with images
Classic Witcher stories, beautiful illustrations
Love the Witcher stories and was really excited to receive the illustrated edition! Only reason I can't give this 5 stars is this weird, clear, schmutz that was on the front and back of the outer sleeve when i received it. It luckily, very easily came off with a bit of warm water. Very small gripe. Other than that the illustrations are beautiful and the book is in great condition!
Top reviews from other countries
Yael Yerid Araizaga Gracia
Continuación de historia cortas que ligan a la historia lineal
Reviewed in Mexico on January 14, 2020