Blood of Elves

This was such an enjoyable dip into a richly imagined fantasy world. My partner’s interest in the games got us watching the Netflix adaptation, and reading the books felt like the logical next step. This mass-market paperback sold me completely. I’m ready for the full boxed set. The storyline shares some beats with the show, but there’s enough distinction to keep it feeling fresh. Ciri is young, impulsive, and incredibly relatable. Geralt is dark and brooding but also caring. I love their interactions with each other and beyond. The world-building is immersive, brimming with the detail that fuels endless exploration and adaptation. It’s easy to see why this universe has inspired games, shows, and surely an abundance of show more fanfiction. The writing has a unique voice, balancing humour and heart. It’s hard to tell how much credit belongs to Sapkowski versus the translator, but the result is fantastic. I’ll be getting into the earlier short story collections and continuing the series as soon as I get my hands on them. So far, the books are absolutely worth the read. show less

The child is hunted because of her lineage and the power in her blood, yet she is under the protection of a man mutated to protect people from monster beasts. Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski is the first novel of The Witcher series as the titular character Geralt of Rivia looks after Ciri, the child of destiny and heir of Cintra.

Set in the aftermath of a war of conquest a few years before, the story sees Geralt and Ciri—a politically neutral witcher and the fugitive princess of conquered Cintra—navigate the new political order was one looks to find those looking for his ward and eliminate them while learns not only to fight but her magical potential. The novel feels like a string of Sapkowski’s short stories that at first show more seemed to be linked towards a narrative climax, but suddenly in the middle of the book things just get fractured into different storylines and timeframes with no narrative cohesion nor a satisfying stopping point in the arcs begun in the book. Overall Sapkowski’s action scenes and world building are very good, but the biggest fault is the randomization of narratives that are just introduced haphazardly chronologically in the flow of the book.

Blood of Elves is an okay start of The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski as it has good action scenes and background worldbuilding, but its overall structure especially in the second half of the book muddies things. show less

Everyone is after Ciri, an adolescent runaway with royal heritage. She is lucky enough to be taken in by Geralt, a grizzly witcher, meaning a chemically enhanced monster killer with lightning reflexes, and heightened skills and senses. When Ciri's powerful, potentially prescient dreams get out of control, Geralt first seeks the help of one female magician, Triss Merigold, before reluctantly asking a more powerful magician, Yennefer - a former lover, to step in and guide the girl. But what exactly is she? Part elf? Part magician? The source of the planet's destruction, or its saviour?

The novel is told via a series of episodes that loosely link together. Although the fantasy element, with magic, dwarfs, monsters and so on, is laid on show more thick, it is written with a clear maturity, where relationships and characters are complex, and the plot is involved and highly political. It is engrossing to read, and you do feel drawn into this world.

However, there were a few niggles that detracted from this. First, this is very much the middle of the story, and it really felt to me like a book section, or even an extended chapter inside a larger story, rather than a novel in its own right. Also, I struggled a little to find the world believable given how incredibly knowledgeable many characters are about medicine, illness, and so on - they at times seem to have very modern understanding, despite the medieval setting.

Nevertheless this is one of the best fantasy novels I've read, and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the other volumes. show less

It's funny, halfway through I would've given this a solid three stars, but it ended on such a high note that it colored my opinion of the rest of the book.

More than anything, Blood of Elves is chock full: of characters, of plots, of setup. At times it can feel like you're running behind Andrzej Sapkowski, trying frantically to grab hold of his coat, while he sprints ahead of you tossing exposition over his shoulder. And yet, despite the abundance of new characters and crucial mysteries, there is remarkably little movement. Not much actually... changes? It is a novel's worth of setup--getting the pieces into place so that they can start to move, hopefully, in the later installments.

And you can definitely tell that this is Sapkowski's show more first Witcher novel, because his instinct for the first half is still to chop the action up into temporally, spacially, even tonally distinct episodes (Triss and the witchers raising Ciri at Kaer Morhen, Geralt patrolling the delta on a barge). He has a propensity to introduce fascinating, seemingly very important characters--Philippa Eilhart, Djikstra, Vilgefortz of Roggeveen--give them one scene and then drop them from the narrative entirely, something which feels like a holdover from the short story format.

My last gripe is that this book really should have come with a map. I'm frankly baffled that it didn't. Maybe Sapkowski hadn't finalized the geography yet, but it certainly seems final here... At the opening of Chapter 6, several monarchs have a very consequential discussion in which they formulate a plan to break their armistice with Nilfgaard and there is so much geopolitical detail that I had to cross-reference fanmade maps with maps from the various games to figure out where Redania was in relation to the Yoruga or whatever. Crazy-making. A lot of this book's plot has to do with the formation of and tension between alliances so please, give a girl a map.

To end this review on a high note as well, I was a huge fan of Blood of Elves' final section, in which Ciri meets Yennefer and begins an education in magic. Yennefer is my favorite character of these books so far and this chapter displays all the best parts of her: honesty, pride, razor-sharp wit, unwavering strength, a surprising tenderness and depth of feeling. Geralt's absence here is absolutely crucial--they both love him and are deeply important to him but here they're able to bond without his influence. I hope for more scenes between the two of them, and I hope the next book has some of the momentum this one lacked! show less

I enjoyed the first two Witcher story collections and was eager to dive into the full novels. While interesting, this first book is really just a first act introduction. The threads of an overarching plot are introduced via a prophecy of doom (is there any other kind?) that centers on Ciri.

The story opens with Ciri living and training in the Witcher stronghold with Geralt. She shows untapped power, and they invite the sorceress Triss Merigold to come assess/help. Ciri is beyond her skill and recommends Geralt contact Yennefer. Come Spring, Ciri travels to Nenneke's temple and the rest of the book takes place there as she is trained by Yennefer.

The expanded world-building kept me turning the pages, and Ciri is more engaging and show more developed here than the tv show. However, without Geralt, the book has very little action and the plot doesn't go beyond a general tesse.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed getting to know Ciri and Yennefer and look forward to seeing where the prphecy leads. Hopefully back to Geralt. show less

The thing I was most struck by in Blood of Elves -- aside from the character work, which remains my favorite aspect of this series -- is its structure. Despite being a novel in every sense of the word, Sapkowski's chapters are segmented in such a way that they feel like short stories. The timelines aren't as bifurcated as they are in the prior two entries, but they also don't flow together in the way you expect.

The Kaer Morhen and Ciri/Yen chapters were my favorite. I especially loved watching Ciri and Yen's relationship blossom.

This was a lot slower paced than I was expecting. There is plenty of blood and magic involved, but the book's general tenor feels more like set-up than bombast. But I liked that. The characters are what drew me show more in, and as long as that focus remains, I'll be a happy reader. show less

4.5 stelle.

"La magia ti tende la mano, Ciri. A te, strana bambina, Sorpresa, Figlia del sangue Antico, il Sangue degli elfi. Strana bambina intessuta di Movimento e Cambiamento, Distruzione e Rinascita. Destinata e tu stessa destino. La magia ti tende la mano da dietro la porta chiusa. A te, granellino di sabbia begli ingranaggi dell'orologio della Sorte. Tende le sue grinfie verso di te il Caos, che non sa ancora se diventerai uno strumento o un ostacolo ai suoi piani. Ciò che ti mostra in sogno è appunto questa incertezza. Il Caos ha paura di te, Bambina Sorpresa. E vuole fa sì che sia tu ad averne."

Dopo il precedente volume che non era altro che la seconda raccolta di racconti e che non mi aveva convinto molto, non sapevo cosa show more aspettarmi da questo primo romanzo.
Partendo dal presupposto che questo libro non ha una fine, come ha scritto Lys nella sua recensione, e gli eventi vengono messi in pausa, un po' come nei libri di ASOIAF di Martin, il Sangue degli Elfi è riuscito comunque a conquistarmi.
In questo primo romanzo vengono poste le basi per una buona trama, dei personaggi ben caratterrizzati e un worldbuilding che, seppur sia pennellato a tratti e risulta di tanto in tanto vago, trovo sia originale ed efficace.

Cerco di esaminare ogni punto un po' più approfonditamente.
Personaggi: più che Geralt, che abbiamo conosciuto tramite dei flash nelle raccolte di racconti, qui la protagonista è Ciri che sta iniziando il suo addestramento come stringa/maga.
Solitamente sui personaggi femminili ho sempre delle riserve, non riesco ad entrare in empatia..questa volta invece ho amato questo personaggio dall'inizio alla fine.
Tenera e tenace, trasparente e curiosa, Ciri ha un rapporto speciale con lo strigo e profondo con la maga Yennefer.
Come personaggi secondari ritroviamo di nuovo il nostro Ranuncolo (Dandelion, in inglese) e la maga Triss.
Per quanto riguarda i cattivi, mi riesce difficile tirare una riga di confine, perché ognuno fa i suoi interessi e tira acqua al proprio mulino per ottenere sempre più potere. Dovrei leggere i seguiti per capire se ci sono particolari evoluzioni.

Trama:
Sullo sfondo dell'addestramento di Ciri ci sono intrighi, spie, una imminente guerra e gente che la vuole morta o addirittura vuole vedere morti tutti. Risultato: forse lo vedremo nel seguito. Per ora ci sono le premesse.

Worldbuilding:
Gli strighi, o meglio i Witchers, sono unici, non sono propriamente stregoni, né maghi, né guerrieri, ma sono mutanti che hanno in sé più caratteristiche.
L'ambientazione è un po' vaga. Non c'è una mappa per ora, ma vengono nominate città, un Nord e un Sud, secondo me quel che basta ai fini della narrazione. Siamo in un mondo medievaleggiante, ma non rientra nei canoni della nostra storia e vi sono svariate razze, alcune conosciute, come umani, nani ed elfi ed altre inventate oppure risalenti al folklore slavo (non ne ho idea) come le driadi e svariati "bestie/animali" umanoidi o meno.

Consigliato a tutti. Dovete conoscere Sapkowski, o meglio quel figo di Geralt, l'adorabile Cori, quello strampalato di Ranuncolo e la potente maga Yennefer. show less