atrollreads
Initial review: Why does nobody know that you don't urge a horse forward by pulling at the reins?
Longer Review below (28/8, 2022)
The biggest problem for me with this book, as seen in the very short review above, and this comes from a horse-girl-turned-horse-man so I'm probably in the minority about this detail being a problem at all, is the way riding horses is portrayed. If you know you know, but you don't pull on the reins when you want to urge a horse forward. Perhaps characters inexperienced with horses could be written to do this, but characters that ought to be fully experienced riders? I think not. Those poor horses. Has Sapkowski never been on a horse or is this down to a translation thing? I do not know Polish, so I can't simply find a copy in Polish and compare it. This might be one seemingly insignificant problem, but it has haunted me through the entire book, even when it's not described done. It simply frustrates me to no end and yes, something so âtrivialâ made it lose a whole star.
Now for the good parts. Dandelion is both a busybody and a gossip and he is a gem. Even ravenous werewolves agree. He is quite delightful and I love when he makes an appearance. Little Eye is a very interesting character and I would very much like to see more of her. Her dynamic with Geralt is very different from his dynamic with Yennefer, and Dandelion having basically a little sister is really nice. (I quite like the Found Family trope.) It's not that often that you get to see him be the older one in his relationships, so to speak. (Though, this is coming from someone who has only read this particular Witcher book, âThe Last Wishâ, and watched the two seasons of the Netflix adaption; but I'll get to the other books in time.)
Geralt using Witcher Signs for non-Witcher things was amazing. It's a brief mention, barely touched upon, but I am a person who loves the misuse of magic thing. It's in fact one of my favourite tropes. Something so smiple as using abilities meant for battle for mundane things like fixing a pot fills me with such glee like you wouldn't believe.
The last page of the last chapter of âA Little Sacrificeâ made me tear up. I won't go into it, but there's a lot of emotion on that one page. I also like that there is much more emotion in Geralt that people expect, and when he learned about the fall of Cintra, I felt for him.
Sometimes the book did feel a bit disjointed, though I understood after a while that at least in some parts (especially in the last chapter) it was purposeful. It does not change that I was very confused the first couple times the text literally fell down a paragraph in the middle of a sentence.
There's so much recognition in these little stories, it's so nice to see the silliness of cats in these comic strips. Additionally, feel a particular connection with the cats' story because the adoption circumstances were similar to how I ended up adopting my boys.
En litten blick i hur underliga barn kan vara nÀr de kommer i bytartaget, och om att ibland Àr ÀndÄ det man redan har bÀttre Àn det man pÄ en nyck kan vilja ha istÀllet. Inte alltid, men ibland.