Sword Of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski

Author : Andrzej Sapkowski
Title : Sword Of Destiny
Published : 1993
Publisher : Gollancz
Pages : 400
Genre : Fantasy / Short Stories 

     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 realize that while some of his quarries are unremittingly vile, vicious grotesques, others are the victims of sin, evil or simple naivety. In this collection of short stories, following the adventures of the hit collection THE LAST WISH, join Geralt as he battles monsters, demons and prejudices alike . . .

     I came to this book for two reasons, Firstly I'm still trying to expand the kinds of books I reed. It has been a long time since I read anything remotely fantasy and even then It was more set in the modern world. The second was that with the announcement of a Netflix adaptation in the workers I figured it was best to get my own mental image of the people and their world before the t.v shows was forever in printed on my brain. I guess to say these books where huge would be a slight understatement if nothing else impart down to the video games.  I would hazard a guess that they are the most read books by a polish author outside of its native country. 

     For me, this was all new, While back in the day I played a lot of games the witcher was never one of them. Maybe this works in my favor as everything was shiny and new and any bias I may have had was nonexistent. Due to it being a collection of short stories you kind of get thrown in at the deep end. The world erupts up around you as each story unfolds never giving an inch. I managed to learn about these characters and how they all know each other fairly quickly. I enjoyed the way they this little weird family interacted with each other. There was something that felt very Genevieve to me about them. They felt like people who had known each other for a long time, there is a certain sense of ease that comes from this. People say things they might not otherwise say. So within this world of fantasy, the characters come to life, it is all too easy I think to lose sight of this in fantasy books. Despite whatever setting they may call home it is how the characters play out that pulls us in as readers. If it feels unnatural the book will be tossed aside and forgotten. 

    For me short story collections don't usually work, I find it difficult to get a handle on anything before it's all over. Her though it comes a little easier for me in part due to the threads that still connect each of them. It helps a great deal that each story still deals with the same core characters. It gives them a grounding and pulls them together while still allowing a certain amount of flexibility. In this case, we get to see the witcher tackle a different creature or problem to be solved. To me, there seems to be a good mix of action and adventure here. But also there is plenty of humor to be thrown about. Things rarely seem to go to plan and with a good bit of chaos thrown into the mixture, this stories all become captivating for one reason or another. The world the author has created here stands up, while it may seem somewhat bizarre at first for someone who doesn't read fantasy it has it's set of rules and while there may be a little play here and there it holds them at its center.  

     It is definitely a book I enjoyed more than I thought I would at first. It is a collection of story's carefully built to highlight some of the better features of this genre. The characters are strong and bold and they rip themselves off the page and bring their story into bloody focus. Having finished booking I can now see why it has been so open to adaption. Unlike some other's within the genre I felt like with the witcher it was about a man just trying to do his job, all be it hacking and slashing mythical creatures and demons. It gives a little grounding to the story and something to relate to before it shoots off into the world of fantasy.  By the end I had come to embrace these people and there world and I'm sure I will return to them both soon enough.