Dude! Nevermind all things negativity. Just read the second book of short stories. Once you finish that you will know if you want to continue or not. I believe you will stick with it. The saga might be not as bad for you as doomsayers would like you to think... I remember enjoying it bigly. 😊
Idk why so many people hate this series. like its not the games, so don't expect the games? Its good if you give it a chance, even if it doesnt reach the height of some other series. Just remember that the series does change after the short stories, so if you liked those, and dont want the style to change, don't continue. Its basically a different series with the same characters
I loved the Witcher and highly recommend listening to the ETL Witcher Book Club podcast after finishing each book. These two guys are hilarious and insightful.. like a companion to each book. Also the Witcher has the best fan art on the internet. Baptism Of Fire & the Tower of the Swallow are so good, just read the books to get those two!
I guessed 4 stars but only because of your high prediction I really didn't think you'd like it for some reason. I've never really wanted to read the Witcher, but your review swayed me a little. I like the idea of Witcher trying to do the right thing!
I enjoyed the short collections. I couldn't get into the first novel. I do have the set of the first three novels so i guess i will get back to them eventually. I think approaching the shorts as a introductions to the world and characters is your best bet. I also really enjoy short stories especially Conan style Sword and Sorcery stories
I personally really enjoyed this series. But then again, im a huge witcher 3 fan as well. Sort of went through the same path- playing games before reading the books. So maybe a tad of bias because of it. I didnt realize people disliked the actual novel so much? I really enjoyed them 😅 if you did the audiobook, Peter Kenny did such a fantastic job narrating this series.
After Misery by Stephen King, The Witcher book series was what made me fall back in love with reading last year after 20 or so years. I'm stoked to see you enjoying them!
I liked the short stories. The main series is... sometimes fun, sometimes confusing, sometimes it wanders all over the place and there's a lot less monster hunting than I would've expected lol. But like I said they're still fun.
Witcher was alright but I think I only tolerated it because I played the game and it made me appreciate the easter eggs and the characters in the game even more. I did have a great time reading the series and I stopped with that prequel novel (I just can't be bothered with it). I would unfortunately say that I wouldn't probably like it that much as a book in comparison to my other books since my love for the witcher was influenced by the game. Some people did say that Sapkowski writes beautifully in Polish and the Witcher might be even better in its original language.
I also gave this four stars when i read it a few years ago and it is my favorite of what i read. I think i stopped after the second full length novel. It was fine but i didn't have any real drive to continue. Maybe one day
I’m curious if I had been a Witcher video game player if this one would’ve worked for me. Coming to it with no context probably hurt me, but I was on the bored side with most of these stories and never continued the series.
Having read the books in English and German, I want to add that Sapowskys writing, in my humble opinion, can very often be overly rich, a little(!) repetitive, somewhat convoluted and extremely descriptive, which in German equally annoyed and impressed me at times but in English( and I know my English isn't perfect, but it's decent enough, I mostly read in English nowadays) often confused me and left me feeling irritated or underwhelmed for reasons I can't quite describe. Might be because of me not being a native speaker ( even though I heard native people giving similar feedbacks) but also might just be because it's hard to translate the depth of its original language to English, which, compared to Polish and even German, is a rather simplistic language in itself( which I love). All I know is that reading the German books I was often sitting, reading, jaws dropped because of Sapowskys prose, descriptions and historical references and accuracies he described. It surely often enough reads more like a history novel than fantasy, which makes sense, given that Sapowsky is a historian. His use of symbolism and metaphors is brilliant, he uses words like weapons in a way I rarely came across and that surely is something not to be enjoyed by everyone, since it's often quite hard to follow or fully comprehend. He also unfortunately uses some ( in my opinion) quite outdated tropes which doesn't help the story. Also I think a lot of people reading the Witcher often expect something completely different going in compared to the story they eventually get, which often leads to disappointment( especially if they're there from the games) . It's a brilliant series and I am actually one of those rare people loving the short stories just as much as the main series itself( despite all their flaws) and I sincerely hope you will too 😊
Awesome, it's lovely to know there are people out there who really love both the short stories and the longer ones. I love historical books, so maybe I will love all the future ones here as well! Thanks for the lovely comment.
The Last Wish is one of my favorites; I really loved it. I really loved those moments with Geralt and Nenneke having a conversation and Geralt sharing his experiences as a witcher. The Last Wish, Sword of Destiny, and Baptism of Fire are my favorite books in The Witcher Series. The others are okay and meh for me.
I think they are the 3 best, though I would say Tower of Swallows is also quiet good. Lady of the Lake is too if you can get around some of the strange choices.
It was a 4/5 for me as well. So far I’ve read the first 4 books (the 2 short story books and the first 2 full novels) and they’ve all been good. The 4th overall book (The Time of Contempt) has definitely been my favorite so far.
By the way check up another polish fantasy books called "meekhan empire" by robert wegner. It's not translated yet but it already on the pair with malazan and other fantasu cycles , basically masterpieces , if they ever will be translated don't forget to read it.
Most of the "hate" for the main saga is from people that clearly didn't get the point, it's not supposed to be an epic story filled with battles like the games, it's way more intimate. I honestly think the witcher series is amazing, I read it in spanish, and the translation is perfect, I don't know about the english one. The second short story will give you a taste of what the main saga will be like. The characters in this are some of my favourites ever
I really love this series, but there are a couple of things I could point out: 1. The Witcher is *very* subjective, it has some great ups, but also some not-so-great lows, and so it can be pretty hard to get into. 2. some of the books rank much lower than others (like BoE), and I saw the appeal of them only after I got invested in the series and re-read it again
I'm really glad you got to read it. I'm a little bit surprised you went with the audio on this one. Sapkowski's prose is so good, and the way he puts together narrative structures is so fascinating - I often found myself immediately rereading scenes or even entire chapters after finishing them. Plus his tone is very wry and ironic - you have to really pay attention to what is said as well as what is left unsaid. I'm not sure I would trust a narrator's judgment over my own in how things should be interpreted. Anyway, glad you liked it - I think Witcher is an S-tier series all the way through. I think when you get deeper in the series you'll look back on the earlier stories and realize they were even better than you thought.
The narrator actually does a really wonderful job, although I'm sure the physical book would be even better. I'm just always looking for more audiobooks since my physical book TBR is about 10 miles high.
Don't watch the show. Henry is a great Geralt (though imho he doesn't look like him). Everything else about the show sucks. They even changed how magic system works! For no reason whatsoever. I don't know if you know about the drama behind the scenes but the show is dead after S03 anyway. Hemsworth looks much more like Geralt but he'll bend to showrunners' whims unlike Henry and it's going to get even worse.
I played Witcher 3: Wild Hunt before I read this collection of stories, so the stories were kind of a letdown. Geralt is really douchey here - he objectifies literally every woman he sees which *should* bother people - as opposed to being a pretty cool guy in the game. Wild Hunt is one of my all time favorite games. Wish the book could have measured up.
I love the game so much that I painstakingly redrew a section of Gerald’s sword inscription and had it tattooed on my inner right forearm. It took forever to hunt down all the Glagolitic letters and redraw that circular design with all the dots. I LOVE that game. But no amount of love for the game is going to make me okay with rape jokes about 13 year old girls.
Sword of Destiny is the best book. Then it goes down and up, down and up again. But it may depend on how good the translation is, I guess. I read them in Czech which is very close to Polish language and heard English translation isn't very good.
@@heretic124 Translation matters a lot. The early books have a different translator for english, or at least two of the first three books or something like that. I believe it might be the reason the rest of the series was universally lousy IMO. I didn't realize it was a different translator until I finished and was wondering why I disliked them so much after the first few.
BoE was still tolerable for me, but I hate read the rest of the series wondering when it was going to get good like everyone on TH-cam said it was. The only decent thing after BoE was the vampire with like 15 names.
@@jwcarlson I disagree with this. I really liked Milva, Jaskier, Regis (especially him), the Yen/Ciri/Geralt trio was awesome too. I know some people hate the 4th book but I loved it, Thanedd and the desert part, seriously great stuff. Only the rats were pretty boring. The 5th book, while being the slowest, is definitely my favorite, I love that it's a lot more character focused
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I love how this author uses traditional Grimm’s fairy tales and weaves elements of them into the stories, while giving them all fun dark twists.
Yeah, well stated!
Dude! Nevermind all things negativity. Just read the second book of short stories. Once you finish that you will know if you want to continue or not. I believe you will stick with it. The saga might be not as bad for you as doomsayers would like you to think... I remember enjoying it bigly. 😊
Awesome, thanks for the advice!
Matt's reviews are always so on point. Glad I've found a TH-camr with my same taste.
You are too kind - thank you!
Idk why so many people hate this series. like its not the games, so don't expect the games? Its good if you give it a chance, even if it doesnt reach the height of some other series. Just remember that the series does change after the short stories, so if you liked those, and dont want the style to change, don't continue. Its basically a different series with the same characters
I loved the Witcher and highly recommend listening to the ETL Witcher Book Club podcast after finishing each book. These two guys are hilarious and insightful.. like a companion to each book. Also the Witcher has the best fan art on the internet.
Baptism Of Fire & the Tower of the Swallow are so good, just read the books to get those two!
Happy reading to you too. I’m glad you liked this one.
Thanks billyjoe!
I guessed 4 stars but only because of your high prediction I really didn't think you'd like it for some reason. I've never really wanted to read the Witcher, but your review swayed me a little. I like the idea of Witcher trying to do the right thing!
No way that’s how you say Dandelion haha
Glad you liked it!
It's how the audiobook said it! So I figured maybe that was technically the accurate way.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews I think the pronunciation changes after The Last Wish, if I remember correctly
I enjoyed the short collections. I couldn't get into the first novel. I do have the set of the first three novels so i guess i will get back to them eventually. I think approaching the shorts as a introductions to the world and characters is your best bet.
I also really enjoy short stories especially Conan style Sword and Sorcery stories
Yeah I fear I'll be in the same boat as you.
I personally really enjoyed this series. But then again, im a huge witcher 3 fan as well. Sort of went through the same path- playing games before reading the books. So maybe a tad of bias because of it. I didnt realize people disliked the actual novel so much? I really enjoyed them 😅 if you did the audiobook, Peter Kenny did such a fantastic job narrating this series.
Yeah the narration was really well done!
After Misery by Stephen King, The Witcher book series was what made me fall back in love with reading last year after 20 or so years. I'm stoked to see you enjoying them!
That's awesome to hear, I can't wait to keep going!
Read the dark Tower by Stephen King
Nice! Glad you enjoyed.
I like this one too.
Hope you continue to enjoy the series
Thank you!
I liked the short stories. The main series is... sometimes fun, sometimes confusing, sometimes it wanders all over the place and there's a lot less monster hunting than I would've expected lol. But like I said they're still fun.
Great to know, thanks!
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews :D
I agree with the idea of how is the game will effect your reading experience
What ending of Blood and Wine the DLC of The Witcher 3 is the best ending in your opinion?
Killing everyone. It has to be done.
Witcher was alright but I think I only tolerated it because I played the game and it made me appreciate the easter eggs and the characters in the game even more.
I did have a great time reading the series and I stopped with that prequel novel (I just can't be bothered with it). I would unfortunately say that I wouldn't probably like it that much as a book in comparison to my other books since my love for the witcher was influenced by the game.
Some people did say that Sapkowski writes beautifully in Polish and the Witcher might be even better in its original language.
Yeah any translated book is going to lose some of the magic of the original I think.
I also gave this four stars when i read it a few years ago and it is my favorite of what i read. I think i stopped after the second full length novel. It was fine but i didn't have any real drive to continue. Maybe one day
Yeah I fear I will feel identical.
I’m curious if I had been a Witcher video game player if this one would’ve worked for me. Coming to it with no context probably hurt me, but I was on the bored side with most of these stories and never continued the series.
Yeah the video games certainly helped me here!
Really enjoyed the short stories, mixed feelings about the novels.
Yeah I'm worried that's going to be me as well.
Having read the books in English and German, I want to add that Sapowskys writing, in my humble opinion, can very often be overly rich, a little(!) repetitive, somewhat convoluted and extremely descriptive, which in German equally annoyed and impressed me at times but in English( and I know my English isn't perfect, but it's decent enough, I mostly read in English nowadays) often confused me and left me feeling irritated or underwhelmed for reasons I can't quite describe. Might be because of me not being a native speaker ( even though I heard native people giving similar feedbacks) but also might just be because it's hard to translate the depth of its original language to English, which, compared to Polish and even German, is a rather simplistic language in itself( which I love). All I know is that reading the German books I was often sitting, reading, jaws dropped because of Sapowskys prose, descriptions and historical references and accuracies he described. It surely often enough reads more like a history novel than fantasy, which makes sense, given that Sapowsky is a historian. His use of symbolism and metaphors is brilliant, he uses words like weapons in a way I rarely came across and that surely is something not to be enjoyed by everyone, since it's often quite hard to follow or fully comprehend. He also unfortunately uses some ( in my opinion) quite outdated tropes which doesn't help the story. Also I think a lot of people reading the Witcher often expect something completely different going in compared to the story they eventually get, which often leads to disappointment( especially if they're there from the games) . It's a brilliant series and I am actually one of those rare people loving the short stories just as much as the main series itself( despite all their flaws) and I sincerely hope you will too 😊
Awesome, it's lovely to know there are people out there who really love both the short stories and the longer ones. I love historical books, so maybe I will love all the future ones here as well! Thanks for the lovely comment.
The Last Wish is one of my favorites; I really loved it. I really loved those moments with Geralt and Nenneke having a conversation and Geralt sharing his experiences as a witcher. The Last Wish, Sword of Destiny, and Baptism of Fire are my favorite books in The Witcher Series. The others are okay and meh for me.
Yeah those moments were great!
I think they are the 3 best, though I would say Tower of Swallows is also quiet good. Lady of the Lake is too if you can get around some of the strange choices.
It was a 4/5 for me as well. So far I’ve read the first 4 books (the 2 short story books and the first 2 full novels) and they’ve all been good. The 4th overall book (The Time of Contempt) has definitely been my favorite so far.
Great to hear!
Time of Contempt and Baptism of Fire are my favorites.
Man you are in for a ride with BoF. Best book by far, in my opinion.
Good call. I think I'd give that book 4 stars too. I think this author is at his best with his short stories.
Yeah that's my big worry!
By the way check up another polish fantasy books called "meekhan empire" by robert wegner.
It's not translated yet but it already on the pair with malazan and other fantasu cycles , basically masterpieces , if they ever will be translated don't forget to read it.
Will do, thanks!
Most of the "hate" for the main saga is from people that clearly didn't get the point, it's not supposed to be an epic story filled with battles like the games, it's way more intimate. I honestly think the witcher series is amazing, I read it in spanish, and the translation is perfect, I don't know about the english one. The second short story will give you a taste of what the main saga will be like. The characters in this are some of my favourites ever
Very well stated!
Hello 👋 sorry this series wasn’t for me.. always like ur review video and happy reading to you! 🎥📚
Thanks Safina!
nice i love the witcher! the novels are even better than the short stories. Don´t waste your time watching the netflix adaptation, it´s awful.
Good advice, thanks!
I read the first two books and they just weren’t for me at all. Glad you enjoyed it though!!
Thanks Sam!
To fully enjoy this series either you should read it on polish or russian
That would require me to learn a new language, which is a big of a problem! lol
I wish I could play the games but I get terrible motion sickness. As for the show, not really worth watching, trust
Good to know, thanks!
I really love this series, but there are a couple of things I could point out:
1. The Witcher is *very* subjective, it has some great ups, but also some not-so-great lows, and so it can be pretty hard to get into.
2. some of the books rank much lower than others (like BoE), and I saw the appeal of them only after I got invested in the series and re-read it again
Great to know, thank you!
Just make it to Baptism of Fire, I think
I'm really glad you got to read it. I'm a little bit surprised you went with the audio on this one. Sapkowski's prose is so good, and the way he puts together narrative structures is so fascinating - I often found myself immediately rereading scenes or even entire chapters after finishing them. Plus his tone is very wry and ironic - you have to really pay attention to what is said as well as what is left unsaid. I'm not sure I would trust a narrator's judgment over my own in how things should be interpreted. Anyway, glad you liked it - I think Witcher is an S-tier series all the way through. I think when you get deeper in the series you'll look back on the earlier stories and realize they were even better than you thought.
The narrator actually does a really wonderful job, although I'm sure the physical book would be even better. I'm just always looking for more audiobooks since my physical book TBR is about 10 miles high.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews In a perfect world there'd be enough time for every book
Don't watch the show. Henry is a great Geralt (though imho he doesn't look like him). Everything else about the show sucks. They even changed how magic system works! For no reason whatsoever. I don't know if you know about the drama behind the scenes but the show is dead after S03 anyway. Hemsworth looks much more like Geralt but he'll bend to showrunners' whims unlike Henry and it's going to get even worse.
Good to know!
I played Witcher 3: Wild Hunt before I read this collection of stories, so the stories were kind of a letdown. Geralt is really douchey here - he objectifies literally every woman he sees which *should* bother people - as opposed to being a pretty cool guy in the game. Wild Hunt is one of my all time favorite games. Wish the book could have measured up.
Yeah for me I think it had the opposite effect. Since I was already invested in the characters it made it easier for me to like this one.
I love the game so much that I painstakingly redrew a section of Gerald’s sword inscription and had it tattooed on my inner right forearm. It took forever to hunt down all the Glagolitic letters and redraw that circular design with all the dots. I LOVE that game. But no amount of love for the game is going to make me okay with rape jokes about 13 year old girls.
@@janeb9698 wow thats super cool! And yeah I bet it was real hard to hunt down.
Adrian Sapowski
Wasn’t quite 4 stars for me. I found it pretty bland.
God I hate that fucking Netflix stamp...
I hate to say it, but it's all downhill after this book. In my opinion.
Big facts. Last wish is not a good representation of the series.
Sword of Destiny is the best book. Then it goes down and up, down and up again. But it may depend on how good the translation is, I guess. I read them in Czech which is very close to Polish language and heard English translation isn't very good.
@@heretic124 Translation matters a lot. The early books have a different translator for english, or at least two of the first three books or something like that. I believe it might be the reason the rest of the series was universally lousy IMO. I didn't realize it was a different translator until I finished and was wondering why I disliked them so much after the first few.
Ugh!
Good luck with blood of elves dude. Good. Freaking. Luck.
BoE was still tolerable for me, but I hate read the rest of the series wondering when it was going to get good like everyone on TH-cam said it was. The only decent thing after BoE was the vampire with like 15 names.
@@jwcarlson I disagree with this. I really liked Milva, Jaskier, Regis (especially him), the Yen/Ciri/Geralt trio was awesome too.
I know some people hate the 4th book but I loved it, Thanedd and the desert part, seriously great stuff. Only the rats were pretty boring. The 5th book, while being the slowest, is definitely my favorite, I love that it's a lot more character focused
Uh oh...