Blood of Elves

Blood of Elves (Krew elfów) begins the Witcher Saga, which currently has six volumes. Though since the latest one is apparently a prequel story, and was published just last year -- 14 years after the previous one -- I guess the story will end in the fifth one. But since it and fourth one still lack translations, hopes of ever finishing reading the series are not too high.

Unlike the previous witcher stories, Blood of Elves is a full length novel. I'm not sure how I like that change. The short stories had tighter pacing, and they covered more topics and monsters. They were also focused on Geralt, whereas the saga has Ciri as the main protagonist, though the white-haired witcher still remains a quite important viewpoint character.

The problem with Ciri, no matter how cool she'll become, is that she's a kid at the beginning, which means that the saga will most likely be a coming-of-age story. Such stories are pretty common in the fantasy genre, and I've read some with rather irritating main characters, as that's how children are. One of the reasons I like Geralt so much, is that he starts already fully developed.

I wonder if the third game takes place during the saga or after it. Well, they're not really canon -- at least not according to Sapkowski -- so I guess it doesn't matter that much. At the end of Witcher 2 there was a war coming with Nilfgaard, and in this book there's a peace with them. Maybe the games sort of happen over all of the books. Ciri suddenly appearing in third game will be a bit odd, however. I don't recall her being ever mentioned before. Triss also has a bigger role in this novel than previously. Her character had a more established background to draw from for the games after all.

Blood of Elves was a good read but definitely not as strong as the short stories. The ending wasn't too definitive either and ends a bit abruptly. The saga is obviously meant to be read as one story. Still, some sort of epilogue could've been nice.