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Geralt is a witcher, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary murderer: his targets are the multifarious monsters and vile fiends that ravage the land and attack the innocent. He roams the country seeking assignments, but gradually comes to realise that while some of his quarry are unremittingly vile, vicious grotesques, others are the victims of sin, evil or simple naivety.
Genre: Fantasy, Pages: 280, Publisher: Gollancz, Published: March 2012 (1986), Source: For review
My thoughts:
I liked this one cos it was different from fantasy that I usually read. it was all about Geralt's different adventures. So there were a bunch of loosely attached stories and it worked well.
So what to we have then? Geralt, a witcher who hunts vampires, dragons and every evil thing there is. He does his job and that's it. In between stories we see him at a temple where he talks to a priestess as they are friends. On two trips he also has a troubadour with him, but other than that it's a very lonely job.
What's great about these "hunting trips" (yes I just watched Supernatural), is that the author takes in a few fairytales here and there. He makes this into a believable world and the fairytales are nothing like you know from before. There is a beauty and the beast one, there is a mentioning about a glass slipper, Rapunzel and a story about Snow White in a way. And trust me, Snow White is what you think she is. The stories fits well in the world and it's like the truly do belong there cos he takes them and makes them his. Like they are those kind of things that happens in every world, in every age. Because of this there is a fairytale quality over it all. And I do like how he uses a wide variety of monsters and since he is Polish, a of Eastern European ones. Monsters I have not come across often or ever, which is good since most just go with the safe ones.
A famous game seems to be based on this, but since I am not really a gamer I can't say much about that, but, I would like to try it.
Conclusion:
I enjoyed the tales and monsters that he met. It was a refreshing take on fantasy and traditional fairytales. A mix that worked well.
Cover:
It does look like him
