Operation Backlog Completion 2025

Sword of Destiny Bridges the Gap

 Books, Reviews  No Responses »  Tagged with:
Mar 022016
 

Sword-of-DestinyFor years, reading the Witcher novels in English was a tricky matter because the translators skipped Sword of Destiny. At last, that is not the case. While I read the Sword of Destiny fan translation to understand the story, I was excited to finally get an official copy.

Sword of Destiny bridges the gap between the short stories of The Last Wish and the novel Blood of Elves. While it’s another collection of short stories, it contains important details for the overall saga, particularly in the stories “The Sword of Destiny” and “Something More.”

The overt fairy tale nature of The Last Wish is gone. Sword of Destiny still contains ties to fairy tales and legends, such as the role of mermaids in the heartbreaking story “A Little Sacrifice,” but also shows more of the dark fantasy elements found in the later novels.

While only a couple of its stories directly contribute to the saga’s plot, the others are enjoyable on their own and provide additional character development for important figures like Yennefer and Dandelion.

All the elements work together well. In particular, one discussion in “A Shard of Ice” about the elven legend of the Winter Queen references a myth, contributes to characterization, sets up the short story’s theme, and foreshadows something which in retrospect is quite important to the series:

“It’s not a legend at all, Yen. It’s a pretty description of the hideous phenomenon that is the Wild Hunt, the curse of several regions. An inexplicable, collective madness, compelling people to join a spectral cavalcade rushing across the sky. I’ve seen it. Indeed, it often occurs during the winter. I was offered rather good money to put an end to that blight, but I didn’t take it. There’s no way of dealing with the Wild Hunt…” (91)

Like the rest of the series, despite portraying a bleak world, Sword of Destiny also contains some humor, through both quirkiness [at one point Dandelion mentions four princes, “exasperating brats called Putzi, Gritzi, Mitzi and Juan Pablo Vassermiller” (242)] and irony, such as Geralt denying the existence of destiny while destiny all but hunts him down.

Finally, Sword of Destiny has some emotional moments, with the conclusion of “Something More” being particularly heartwarming.

If you’ve read The Last Wish, this is the book you should read next. If you jumped straight to Blood of Elves, this should clear up any confusion. In any case, I highly recommend Sword of Destiny for any fan of The Witcher or dark fantasy.

It’s great to see this book finally available, and the last two are finally receiving official translations, as well. The Tower of Swallows will be available this May, and Lady of the Lake will follow in 2017.

And guess what? I’ve finally begun playing The Witcher!

Witcher Movie Planned for 2017

 Movies and Shows  No Responses »  Tagged with:
Nov 092015
 

Last week, Platige Films announced its collaboration with the Sean Daniel Company to create a movie about Geralt of Rivia.

If you’re familiar with the apparent curse that all movie adaptations of video games turn out terrible, don’t panic. This movie isn’t based on the Witcher games.

The-Last-WishRather, it’s based on the short stories “The Witcher” and “The Lesser Evil.” Both are found in The Last Wish, which I enjoyed and reviewed. (You can also get a PDF copy of “The Witcher” if you buy or redeem the first Witcher game from GOG.com.)

Okay, if you feel like movie adaptations of books often disregard the source material and ruin your favorite stories, now you can panic.

I admit, I’m one of those people. Whenever I hear a book I like is getting a movie adaptation, my excitement is tempered by sheer dread. My first reaction to the news that the Star Wars Extended Universe was no longer canon was, “At least they’ll never ruin Thrawn.” So I can’t help but worry they’ll ruin this, too.

However, it gives me some hope that the movie is based on two short stories rather than a full novel. They shouldn’t have to cut content. This movie is also intended to lead into a TV series, which gives me hope that they want to faithfully represent the universe.

On the other hand, the original announcement says the movie is based on “themes from” those two stories. It might just be the phrasing, because basing something on “themes” gives a lot of room for changes. Let’s hope they stay true to the source material.

If they do, this should be an interesting adaptation. “The Lesser Evil” in particular involves the fairy tale themes so prevalent in The Last Wish and reads like a grim, twisted spin on Snow White (while raising questions about whether there is truly such as thing as a “lesser evil) and shows how Geralt got the nickname the Butcher of Blaviken.

The movie is being directed by Tomasz Baginski and planned for a 2017 international release. While we remain cautiously optimistic, I recommend reading The Last Wish to see what these stories are all about.

Will the Witcher movie be a success or a failure? Will it stay true to the stories or veer off on its own path? Share your hopes and fears in the comments below.

The Wild Hunt is Almost Here

 Books, Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
May 182015
 

All right, so when I said I wouldn’t talk about The Witcher again until I played the first game, I was mistaken. And despite my plan to catch up on the entire series in time for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, I’m not going to make it. I haven’t even started playing The Witcher yet.

And Wild Hunt comes out today.

Witcher-3-Ciri

I know, its release date is actually tomorrow, but digital copies will become available at 1 AM in Warsaw, which is this evening in the United States. But even if I consider tomorrow as the actual day, I can’t play through The Witcher and The Witcher 2 in a single day.

But I’m still excited. Even though I planned to not even order Wild Hunt until I finished the previous games, speed-reading the fan translations of The Tower of the Swallow and The Lady of the Lake over the past couple of days left me even more excited than I was already.

I know what the Wild Hunt is, and why they want Ciri (probably).

I know how the books end, and how the games begin (sort of).

I know that the Witcher series still has plenty of surprises in store for me, and I can’t wait to see how the games continue the story. Now, the author of the books considers the games to be non-canon. In his eyes, the story ended with The Lady of the Lake. Right now, I can see both perspectives. Lady of the Lake had an unusual ending, one I’m not wholly satisfied with. It concluded the main plot well enough that, if there was nothing else in the series, I think I’d be content with it.

On the other hand, since the games do continue the story (canon or not), I’m happy that it isn’t over yet. I wouldn’t want to end here, without playing the games.

Now I’m starting to ramble. The point is that even though I won’t be ready in time for The Witcher 3, I still intend to play the games soon. My new goal: finish the Witcher series by the end of the summer. If you also need to catch up on the series, the order is…

  • The Last Wish – This short story collection has a different tone than the rest of the series, but it sets the main events of the saga into motion. Take a look at my review for more information.
  • Sword of Destiny – This is also a short story collection. Like The Last Wish, some of its stories tie into the overarching plot.
  • Blood of Elves – The first novel centers around Ciri and truly begins her story. I also reviewed this one.
  • Time of Contempt – The plot really begins to pick up in this next novel, which also introduces the Wild Hunt. As I indicated in my review, it has the most self-contained plot in the series.
  • Baptism of Fire – The last novel translated into English continues the story and introduces some memorable characters, along with a brief interlude of bizarre humor. Once again, you can take a look at my review if you want.
  • The Tower of the Swallow – This felt like one of the darkest novels in the series (though they all have some pretty dark moments), but also one in which we really learn more about Ciri and what she is capable of.
  • The Lady of the Lake – Old enemies are confronted, new enemies reveal themselves, and everything comes to a climax in the last novel.

The first game picks up a few years after the last book, and that’s where I’ll be headed next.

What about you? If you’re interested in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, are you planning to play it right away or wait a while? How familiar are you with the rest of the series? What do you think about Ciri and the Wild Hunt?

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