Daniel Vanzin
This writing feels just a little better then 15th-century Le Morte d'Arthur. It's unnecessary “disconnected”(?). The first reviewer says it best: is grandiloquent and eccentric, harsh and grating, and crammed full of hard words”
This is an awful book, for me at least. If I were to try to give it a compliment, it is as bad as Shakespeare or some other book of these kind. It is highly regarded though, as it is the book who influenced D&D's magic system.
So there is 100 spells left in the world, there is just a handful of wizards left. They are all very powerful, and seek knowledge.
The first tale of the book is a very short story of one of these wizards on a quest for another wizard, in order to gain the knowledge of one of his spells. He can create like and give it intelligence. Or some at least.
Naturally, these wizards all want to create women to “make them company”, and they basically don't care that they are brain dead.
Read 1:28 / 6:24 22%
This is my 3rd attempt into the vampire/paranormal romance genre. I tried 2 other books (Magic Bites, Guilty Pleasures), they were also disappointments. But this one takes the cake!
I could barely stand 30 minutes of listening this. This is the most over the top of everything I hated about the genre. Kick ass heroine, who is better then everyone else, looks down on “inferior” men trying to hit on her. There is LOTs of name calling, as if just mentioning the word “vampire” you're instantly in love with the story, so, lets exaggerate it.
This also suffers from bad writing, lack of empathy for protagonist, black and white morality, etc.
Read 0:33/13:15 4%.
My first foray into the vampire/paranormal romance genre. I set my expectations as low as possible, and they were well met. I was hoping to find a gem in this genre I knew I couldn't possible like. I had a few nice surprises before, like with Outlander, which turned out to be one of my favorite books of all time. I also hoped at last for a glimpse of something like Mercy Thompson, one of my favorite series of books.
So what did I expect? Well, when you check the reviews and you see the first 100 or so are all women gushing over the mere mention of the word “vampire”, and praising the kick ass girl power heroine who takes no shift from anyone, you get an idea.
But it doesn't stop there. The characters are blend, the story is simple and straightforward. There is nothing in the prose for me to hold on to. This seem to be the most popular book in the genre. It doesn't mean it's the best, but it should count as a good representative.
This feels much like a poor man's True Blood. I tried 2 other books in the genre (Magic Bites, The Hollows), they were also disappointments.
Brief summary
Anita Blake is an Animator, someone who can bring the dead to life for a a little while. Her intimate knowledge of the dead turns her into the go for person a perfect fit for a consultant for the law enforcement agencies when dealing with vampires.
In the first scene, she is invited by a friend of her best friend, who she doesn't know, to participate in a bachelorette party in a vampire strip club. She really doesn't want to go, because she is not that kind of person, but it is for her best friend, so she must endure it. Vampires are out in the world, and society pretty much accepts them as they are, as long as they don't kill anyone.
In the club, she is assaulted at every moment by vampires trying to “hipnoseduce” her. If she looks into their eyes, she is their forever (apparently this is totally legal). She is approached by BillJean Claude, a beautiful and seductive vampire who she isn't supposed to like, but he is so nice, for a vampire. He asks her to help the vampires in a murder investigation. She refuses, he threats her friend. She agrees.
She is taken to see their vampire lord, there she meets Erick a good looking and seductive vampire who is a bad boy, and his progeny, a female vampire who enjoys tormenting humans.
Read 1:51 / 9:19 20%
My second book in the paranormal/vampire romance genre. I tried 2 other books in the genre (Guilty pleasures, The Hollows) and they were also disappointments.
This books starts much more promising then Guilty Pleasure's vampire strip club first scene. The heroine is a kick ass girl, much like Anita Blake, but she is mourning the lost of her friend and town's Knight Protector Gabriel (?)
The thing i didn't like about the book was the poor quality of writing. Every person she meets has their clothes briefly described. “So I went to the police, the clerk was wearing a white shirt and blue jeans. I asked him for information... On the way to the chief of police, a women in dark skirt and yellow shirt greeted me. The chief was a short fat men, wearing...“
She goes to the “police station”, or equivalent law agency, to ask information about her friend who died. It is a place who she scorns because even though she wants to fight evil, she is a free spirit (aka, vigilante).
They somewhat know about her, that she is a capable monster killing mercenary or something. But when she asks if she can investigate her friend's death, they not only agree with this (she is still just a civilian), but they give her an office and everything.
The protagonist also feels like an anti social, xenophobic, misandrist (dislike of men) idiot. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the author's intention, but in the scene she meets the police chief, she immediately dislikes him for
1) being a man
2) being short and fat
3) being a Texan
The chief barely gave any indication of being the stereotypical neanderthal one could expect, but I understood the intention.
Read 1:29/09:06 16%
I loved the movie. Bale's Patrick Bateman is one of my all time favorite characters. This book is awful though. And not for the very few disturbing torture porn scenes.
It is a first person fiction story narrated by the protagonist, and since he is a narcissist, misogynist, psychopath playboy, we get to experience the world how he sees it. And this is the problem, at least on the amount of details the author provides. It does make a good work in putting ourselves in his shoes, but man what a boring, even if very expensive custom made designer tailed shoes, they are.
I would say 80% of the book is exclusively the character detailing what he and everyone else is using. And it is a LONG book. I think this is how to watch the Kardashians feels like. He describes every single piece of clothe, for every single person he finds, in every single scene, naming every designer of that particular piece. Also he describes in painstakingly details the things he has in his apartment and the products he uses to keep his appearance. His sound system and skincare products, for instance.
He also describes other people looks, how good or bad their tan, their hair, and compare those features with hist. That's how he measures a person's worth. Unless its a woman, then he measures weather he would fuck her. That's the only thing women are good for according to him. That and killing them.
There are some chapters dedicated to him describing an album of music he likes. Yes, whole chapters of this. I managed to skip just the last one of these, as just then I knew that it wouldn't contain nothing relevant to the character or the plot.
These scenes of descriptions of his vestiary, on how he spent $400 in a sock or something, is followed by he meeting some random beggar on the streets. He describes his disgust for the scene, their stench, their lack of concern for their appearance, mocks, taunts and sometimes, kill them (of course) This is a very good critic of our society right there. Not the killing though, most people are content to just ignoring or mocking them.
When he is among friends, other psychopaths like him it would appear, all his talk is about this kind of stuff. They only talk about food, people they fucked or would like to fuck, mind you they all have steady girlfriends. They are racists, xenophobic, elitists, womanizers, superficial, a caricature of what incredibly rich and well successful wall street businessman are. Because of the time the book is written, AIDS is still a new thing. They believe themselves to be immune to it, only women and homosexual can die from the disease.
Among the interesting things about the book, we found out he lives in the same building as Tom Cruise. He has an awkward encounter with him in the elevator. He is fascinated with Donal Trump, has a brother whom he hates and wouldn't mind killing him. He also hates his father, who is very rich and successful as well.
The quality I like most about the character present in the book, his overreacting of things that most people would find trivial. The classic scene when he looses it when he sees his coworkers business cards is here, but it didn't have nearly the same impact as in the movie, as it was mixed with all the boring things I talked about. And there is many of this kind of overreaction scenes, which were nice. But the movie has thoroughly captured this aspect of his personality with just that one scene. And that is the thing about the movie, it is a much abridged version, and it was better because of it.
Also, there is much more killing in the book. Some murder and sex scenes are very graphical, especially toward the end of the book. Patrick is obsessed with watching porn, and masturbate to killing scenes.
The thing I loved most about the movie was its ending, which is not present here. They took an implied minor scene of the book and made the whole idea of the movie around it. It was BRILLIANT. The movie ends with Patrick doubting wheater he did in fact kill all those people he remembers killing, as they all seem to be still alive. It makes sense because of the copious amount of drug he uses, plus his disturbed personality. He has many hallucinations where he sometimes can't tell what is real. In the book its just one person he thinks he might not have killed. At least not the right person. But he has committed dozens of cruelty acts, inclusive with animals, and has killed maybe a hundred people, according to his calculations.
Not present in the movie is how Patrick Bateman is extremely vicious and cruel to his victims. Perhaps that's because of the details and time the book has, plus not being restricted by TV moral standards. He likes to torture them in very spectacular ways before killing them. He is also a cannibal.
In conclusion, I don't sympathize with the reasons people liked this book so much. I read the top reviews and I completely disagree with them. Its like an artist exposing a blank painting in an art gallery, and everybody praising it. I just don't see it. Then there is the complaint about how he treats women. This is an unfounded criticism. Its like saying “I will now describe how it feels to be under water”, and then people complaining that they now feel wet. Also, I don't know or care about the “torture porn” genre, but I would guess this would get a 1 out of 5. Its just too few scenes. I hate a book without content. Other reviews are praising the book's dark take on society. Again, 80% of the book is just FILLER. It is not a good book!
Overall I enjoyed the book, but nothing justifies all the useless info dump the book presents.
Rice's masterful storytelling is still here, but there is too little content, and its not very good. Some people were upset by the religion underpinnings of the story. For me it's all fiction, and I judge it accordingly.
Here is all you need to know if you plan to avoid reading this book.
A group of dozens of vampires kill 16 years old Vitorrio's family. One of them spares his life. He lusts for vengeance, finds out where they hide and goes alone at night to face them. Shockingly, he is defeated and captured. The one who saved his life asks to the vampire leader to allow him to join them.Vittorio refuses the invitation and is thrown in a courtyard which acts like a cattle cell, filled with people that the vampires use for feeding. After a while he is brought back before the vampires that then decide to release him. Vittorio warns them that he will come back by day when they are most vulnerable and will kill them all. He does so, but takes pity on the one who spared his life. She turns him into a vampire, and then they go on a murder spree.Oh, and there are angels involved.Only by the end of the book is explained why he was let loose by the vampire elder, but it felt very unsatisfying. The plot still left a bitter taste. The angels arc could have been amazing if it turned out they were just in his imagination, but no such thing was even implied. The story was as linear as it could get.
Another solid entry in the Mercy Series. Too much of that “the power of love will save you” for me, but otherwise the same level of quality I expect from Patricia Briggs.
Mercy is worried that Adam's been distancing himself from her, closing the “pack bounds”. There is also a rival werewolves pack moving in to take their territory and a Fae demon, very powerful, killing people and targeting Mercy for some reason. Wulfe has been acting weird, he is also a concern.
Farm girl becomes a wizard. This is and old book, not much its fault for being a cliche, but I hate this particular one. I hated in Harry Potter, I hate it here.
Talia is a 13 year old living in a The Handmaiden type of world where she expected to be a breeder in a house with many other wives. She is supposed to be treated as an object, a property of her husband to be. But one day a magical horse comers along and rescue her, taking her to see the world and fulfill her destiny to become a powerful Herald.
Read: 01:32/09:19 17%
The same problems with the previous book, there is little effort of being funny, its just a bunch of actions strung together. These books were never a masterpiece of literature, but I read this for the nostalgic D&D feeling and the jokes. This book has none.
The characters personalities shine very dim, they pretty much feel the same. With the exception of Denise, that still adds a lot of color to the story with her hillbilly dirty mouth attitude.
I can't understand how other like this book so much. There is nothing that made the first few books especial in it, except for the idea of a D&D world turn alive and the familiar characters, and they are very boring in these later books.
Read 07:02/16:04 44%
Mercy and Adam are here, in their first draft version. They're still a few iterations short of being interesting full fleshed characters. The story is dull, the characters are blend. Its basically just a bunch of actions happening, it doesn't feel like a proper story.
“So I was the best spy in the Kingdom, but some day my boss started to act a little weird. So I was sent to a remote place to spy on as a punishment for something I did. There I found out the bad guy was influencing my boss, so I joined the rebels...“
I wanted to finish this to see if I would enjoy the sequel, written much later in Patricia Briggs career, but it was too painful, and the reviews of the sequel, Wolfsbane, were not stellar to make the effort worthwhile. I felt like Mercy Thompson is everything this book is supposed to be.
Read 05:00 / 09:43 52%
I've read all the books until The Vampire Armand, and I loved all of them. This book is uninspired, there is nothing novel in this story, although there is a minor addition to the the vampire mythology.
I think about 70% of the book is truly ordinary, just the story of a unremarkable aristocratic woman in Ancient Rome time. She explains how her father wanted her to be well educated, and as such she grew up to be not just a wife, but an independent and intelligent woman.
During her youth she got involved in a cult of Isis, and due to some events she is forced to flee to Antioch, where she eventually meets Marius.
The historic details were very faint, just a brief mention of what it was like living in that time, plus some of that period intrigues. Pandora is a flat character, and Marius short appearances didn't portray him nearly as magnific as the other books did.
The support characters, like her slaves, were “just there”. They almost were well developed enough to create a connection. The expanded mythology, that Akasha was actually Isis was a nice touch.
One of the things I like about immortal stories is the possibilities that the span of time of their lives bring about. This book had none of that. Most of it is about her mortal life, then a very brief mention of her opinions of how the world changed through the millennia. Even though Armand's book followed the same pattern, his story was much better.
A book about the lives of some people in New Orleans. A lot of character building, no plot. The problem is the characters are mundane. There is nothing exceptional about them.
Imagine your aunt telling the history of her life, in painstakingly details. Where she went to school, for how long, her relationship with her father...
The first chapter was omniscient enough. I thought it was VERY slowly building up the witches plot, making some brief and vague mentions regarding the Mayfair family. But then came chapter two, “The Life of Walter”. He has some ESP abilities, such as seeing images by touching objects and even by just coming near them sometimes. You might think the chapter would be interesting. It was not. I trudged on, but then skipped it.
I should have stopped then, but I continued reading because Anne Rice has become my favorite author. The next chapter was about father Mathew. It soon became clear what kind of book this is.
Read 5:14 of 50:02 / 10%
This book took the series from a fantasy adventure to a full blown drama. There is no plot, no witchering, and until where I read, no political intrigue and barely any mention of most of the main characters.
The beginning narration style was very of putting. It is told by Dandelion, as if he is telling a story that happened a long time ago. It gave a fairy tale feel, not what I was looking for.
The story is focused solely on Ciri's lack of magic and insufficient fighting skills. For someone meant to be the destroyer of the world, trained by the witchers of Kaer Morhen, and one of the most powerful sorceress in the world, Yennefer of Vengerberg, it sure looks like she ain't cut for the job when she can't even deal with a bounty hunter.
She is captured, beaten and treated like a dog. Then thrown into an arena to fight to the death for other people enjoyment. This already took 1/3 of this very long book. There is nothing of original or exciting about this. It's just her suffering for the lost of her friends and then whining about not wanting to kill people, “Please don't make me do this...”.
I read the reviews after I stopped reading, and it doesn't seem to get better, not in this or the next book.
Read 05:58 / 16:24 36%
I still enjoyed the reading but the plot has come to a stop here. The previous books are packed with events, this one is just about a journey from point A to point B. It is about people met on the way, the consequences of war, and about Geralt finally coming to terms with his humanity. There is some further explanations about Ciri's past as well. The new characters introduced are once again well fleshed out. This kind of investment on details of secondary characters helps to make the reader care later on when something bad happens to them, they are not just some random NPCs.
Ciri's arc is very uninteresting. The first two books centered around her training as a witcher, a sorceress and the mysterious destiny she is supposed to fulfill, either as a savior or destroyer of the world. This book focus on her time as a bandit, doing regular bandit stuff.
While Ciri is busy being evil and having gay sex, Geralt is rescuing survivors of the war, in his travel towards where he thinks Ciri is. He is advised by everyone that that going into ongoing battlefields is crazy, but he is a simple man, and his mind is made. His friends decide to tag along, in spite of his protests. And there is many of these protests.
He is accompanied by a new character, Mulva, a human that is indebted to the dryads of Brokylon. She is very good with a bow and has been helping the Scoia'tael in the war against the northern kings, at the request of the queen of the dryads. Dandelion also appears, and insists on going with him. There is also a group of dwarves that are fleeing the war, a renegade Nilfgaardian who Geralt had previously spared his life, but vowed to kill him if he saw him again, and a surgeon, who Geralt also threatens to kill because he turns out to be vampire, although a friendly one that does not drink blood.. Geralt's stuberness might be infuriating, but it is on par with his personality.
The counsel of mages have been destroyed, now Philippa Eilheart decides to create a sisterhood of sorceress, because she decides that men are the problem. This new society is goal is to ignore politics completely and focus only on magic itself, whatever that might mean. An no, they don't elaborate on that.
Now this is obviously utterly stupid. One: gender discrimination makes no sense. Two: ignoring politics is impossible. Three: magic without a purpose is useless. If you think that sorceress are among the brightest minds in the world, this would be a completely let down. I'm however attributing this new order as a pretext into a greater thing. Probably each of the members have their own agenda, specially Philippa.
But for now, their main focus is to find princess Cirilla of Cintra, to marry her to a northern king and to exact control over her destiny. The marriage of a sorceress to a king is something unheard of, because people are too distrustful of magic. But were they to succeed, and have Ciri's completely loyalty, that would be good for the future of magic.
Yennefer's fate is revealed. She was rescued by the elven sorceress Francesca Findabair by turning her into a jade statue. She believes Yenneffer will play an important role in Ciri's destiny and wants to be in good terms with both of them. Francesca also invites Yennefer to be a part of the sorceress sisterhood, but upon discovering their plans for Ciri, Yennefer escapes from their grasp, not wanting to have any part in this sort of manipulation os people lives anymore.
There are some developments along the geopolitical landscape as well. A “free” elven kingdom was created, as free as one can be while indebted to the ones who gave you the land and continue to charge a great price for their “altruistic” help. Dikjstra is now the acting ruler of Redania, and he is nearly the only one still on the fight against the Nilfgaard invasion. The other fighting force is presented at the end of the book.
Once again a good story for a fantasy book. There is some fighting, intrigue, spying and backstabbing.
War is coming again. Nilfgaard once tried to conquer the northern kingdoms, but a group of mages and sorcerers prevented their progress by setting aside their neutrality in human affairs and taking up arms against those who would disrupt the peace that they encharged themselves to keep.
Many of them died that day, but Nilfgaard was stopped for the moment. Now the northern kings are planning their next move, because they don't believe the invaders will give up their ambitions af conquest, even though they signed a peace treaty. They want to get ahead of the invaders and attack where they re most vulnerable, taking back Cintra in the process.
But they can't be the ones to break the peace treaty, else the mage counsel will turn against them. This is the background of Ciri and Geralt's adventures this time. She finds herself being a key part in it, whether because the prophecies regarding her powers are true or just the fact that she is of royal blood, the solo heir of Cintra's throne. This kingdom holds a key strategical geographical position in the war to come, and having a rightful claim to its control will make it much easier to rule it then by force.As such, both Nilfgaard's emperor Emhyr and the other kings are searching for her. Emhyr wants her alive at any cost, as he seem to believe in the prophecies as well as see her political value. The other kings however are more distrustful of mages, sorcerers and magic in general. They want her either on their side, or dead so she doesn't fall into enemy hands. Since they can't be sure of her loyalty even once found, they decide that is better that she dies. Dijkstra, head of Intelligence for the kingdom of Redanian is heading the search.Geralt hires the best detectives money can afford to find out more about Ciri's pursuers, and learns along the way more about her past and why she is so important for both parties in the conflict. He had previously entrusted Yennefer to take care of Ciri is but now he is worried for both of their lives, He is after all Ciri's destiny appointed protector, and Yennefer is the love of his life. He sets off to find them.On the way, he dispatches some assassins and tracks down the ones who hired them. The trace leads back to a mage named Rience. In order to find him, he gets help from his friend Dandelion, a medical student named Shani, joins forces with the kings sorcerer Philippa, and finally gets to fight the mage.The battle is brief and bloody. But when he is about to kill Rience, another mage comes to his rescue, by opening a portal and lending his power for him to escape. Geralt wants to pursue him, but Philippa stops him. She doesn't want him to find out who hired those assassins.Meanwhile Yennefer is teaching Ciri how to become a sorceress, how to control her powers and how to vanquish her nightmares. After learning more about Ciri's powers, she decides it is imperative she tells the other mages about it. She and Ciri leave the temple of Melitele where they have being staying.On the way the conclave, with plans to drop Ciri at a school of sorceresses, Ciri has some adventures involving a "fake" monster and the ghosts of the Wild Hunt.Eventually Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer all meet and proceed to the enclave, where the upcoming war is expected to be discussed. On a normal occasion they would discuss what they can do in order to stop unnecessary blood shedding, but there is a faction inside the Guild of Mages that believe that magic and power is all that matters, and this war is necessary to further their goals.Not knowing about this faction and what is about to happen, Ciri is brought to the conclave and spouts a prophecy while in a trance. Soon after all hell breaks loose, the mages start to fight each other. basically there is a faction of those loyal to the kings of the north and those loyal to Nilfgaard. Geralt, who doesn't care about either way, is caught in the middle.As Ciri is in the hearth of their dispute, Geralt fights his way towards her. Many mages die along the way, one or another by the hands of Geralt himself. Ciri is captured by soldiers of Nilfgaard, but manages to fight them off and escape, Geralt helps her.Once she is out of harms way, he goes back to help Yennefer. But then he finds his match in the hands of Vilgefortz, and is brutally beaten into near death. Triss Merigold with the help of Philippa take him to Brokilon to heal his wounds.Ciri escapes by entering a mysterious portal. She is teleported in the middle of a desert, goes trough hell but manages to escape it. She finds a safe haven with a group of bandits, and become one of them.The story ends with Yeneffer's fate unknown.
A very well written story for a fantasy book, a qualification I unfortunately must add. I read almost exclusively fantasy books, and in regards to prose quality, there are 2 types: good prose, bad story and good story, bad prose. This one is fulfills the checklist of what I consider to be a minimum for a descent reading.
The story shows signs of tactical thinking, the plot is well planned out. The geopolitical discussions regarding kings and wars are meaningful, short and to the point. So are the fight scenes, the world building and the apprenticeship scenes. The “school apprentice” is a trope that can make me quit a book imediately, but it is well executed here. Ciri's learning period as a witcher and latter as a sorceress has a good amount of character focus rather then on the day to day activities which I find dreadful.
The plot itself is nothing exceptional, but the the characters take the front seat by being well fleshed out and with distinct personalities.
Geralt is the most boring one because he is so simple, but he does have a Conan like quality of the brute that talks little, understands nothing but kicks ass when needed. For him life is about duty, and his mission is to kill monsters for a living.
He is not a knight in shining armor, but a magically and genetically mutated monster slayer mercenary on drugs. He uses his brutal training, forced physical mutations and magical elixirs to overcome his foes. He has no emotions, and has no use for concepts such as morality. Or at least that's what everybody thinks. And so does he, most of the time.
He does have a code of honor though, and that is good enough for him. Or used to be enough. Where once he was a lone, uncaring monster killing machine, now he has friends he cares about. And the things their friends care slowly starts to sip in to him, making him care about those things too. Or almost care, it is not clear yet what he believes in. Wars come and go, people will always kill each other. It is not his business to interfere.
Dandilion plays perfectly his role of the unlikely friend. He is the opposite of Geralt, he talks a lot, is wise in knowledge but has no fighting skills. Life for him is about pleasure, and his mission is to exercise his skills as a bard and poet to create beauty in the world, and in turn, to indulge in everything beautiful the world has to offer.
In spite of his demeanor of a care free bon vivant, his loyalty to Geralt is unyielding.
Triss Merigold is a powerful sorceress and Geralt's former lover. She is strong willed and just might be the only person in the world capable of bossing around the witchers of Kaer Morhen. She is loving and caring towards others. She dislikes the witchers indifference to the rest of the world, as she herself is willing to give her life for the sake of others, and even to disobey her superiors in the council of magic.
Ciri is the focus of the story, and the most colorful character in the book. Her personality shines throughout the story. She is the one that came to challenge Geralt's life long belief that he lives somewhat apart from this world, unmoving to the pain of others unless it involves a monster and a payment. Destiny has put them together, no matter how much he tried to deny his fate. And Ciri is his fate.
He takes her along to the witchers training grounds fortress and she begins her first apprenticeship as one of their own. He does not put her through the more harsh challenges and forced mutations a witcher has to endure though. The only reason given for this is that they are uncertain of how the girl's innate and mysterious powers will interact with their usual magical herbs and trials routine.
That's where Triss Merigold comes in. She has proven to be their friend in the past, and someone they can trust with Ciri's secret. Maybe she can figure it out just what her strange power is.
After Triss arrives, even if the witchers did plan to make Ciri into a fully fledged witcher, Triss would not allowed it, as it is very cruel to submit any child to the sort of procedures that makes a witcher. That and the fact that they never used their mutagens on a girl before.
Triss's beauty, imposing presence and protectiveness makes Ciri to immediately become attached to her.
Yennefer comes in a little late to the party. She is Geralt's current love affair, although they aren't on speaking terms for quite some time. At the suggestion of Triss, she is entrusted to care for Ciri's instruction in the ways of magic, to keep her safe and to find out just what kind of power she has. She and Triss are very good friends, having fought and nearly dying together
Triss is hoping that Yennefer's greater knowledge of the magical arts can help to figure it out the source of Ciri's mysterious predictions and nightmares. She is stern in her teachings, acts like a cold hearted and bossy bitch. Ciri didn't liked her at first. But in time, their master apprentice master relationship evolves into a beautiful friendship, the lengths of which are still to be developed in the book series.
Yennefer and Geralts are basically Ciri's adoptive parents, an informal arrangement brought by need that suits all three of them very nicely.
Challenging prose. I liked the artistic focus given to the scenario descriptions, but it was mostly wasted on me and it was way too much. Many paragraphs were used to describe works of art in some places, and I just don't have the art affinity to appreciate it (see here for what I mean). Also the dream sequences of Armand's childhood in the monastery were too much abstract and conveyed little of his character to me.
Overall I'm a sucker for good and intelligent prose, bringing up things I don't quite understand (art) or feel much (emotions) in a vivid and descriptive way. It takes a lot to make an immortal character feel unique, you could expect that after a few hundred years old they would all be the same.
Rice once again brings to life creatures centuries of years old. The story has little connection to Lestat's saga, but it is nonetheless a compelling tale. I liked the outcome in the end of the book regarding Marius, it was an appropriate reaction from his encounter with the reanimated Akasha.
The book starts with Armand telling David Talbot his history, from the day he was first bough as a slave and passed around in the hands of old and lascivious men. The account of his suffering in the ship that brought him to Venice was brief, his real life started when Marius found him and raised him up to be the an educated young men.
Half of the book is about his time with Marius, who was his father, his brother, his friend, his teacher, and latter his lover and then his sire, the one who gave him eternal life. Their relationship is both loving and lascivious, although Marius latter explains how he doesn't experience the same emotions as Armand does because of his undead flesh can only care about the blood. This is exposed gradually throughout the book.
Armand learns how to be an scholar through many teachers and books, and the greatest of lovers by spending many hours in brothels, both with men and women. Sexuality is fluid in this story, but Marius explains why he prefers boys over women, and even other men. At a moment when Armand is dying, Marius, reluctantly turns him into a vampire. He is worried they would grew apart after that.
Bu a new phase starts for Armand, and Marius is there to teach him everything once again. That is, until they're attacked, as Armand had previously described in the The Vampire Lestat. But now he recounts how he was mind washed by the vampire Santino into coming into the service of Satan, and do the Devils work. After a few years, Santino vanished, nobody knew what had become of him. But it wasn't until his encounter with Lestat that he started to doubt his beliefs, his teachings of misery and hate, of enslavement to a higher power that he once had opposed, being himself deeply religious once. And with Louis his life turned another page, and then gain with Daniel, his first progeny. And them the latest of his revelations, Lestat's encounter with God, his surrendering to the eternal flame, his agonizing recovery, and meeting the two mortals that would again return meaning into his life.
This book was a long and exciting ride.
A collection of short stories, none of which is exceptional, but they're interesting enough to scratch that fantasy itch. I'm reminded of Conan in the style, if not exactly in the quality.
The world is a low magic setting. Sorcerers are few and magic is feared and revered by the common folk. Geralt of Rivia is a Witcher, a human magically enhanced as a child and brutally trained to hunt down monsters. He is a wielder of some basic spells, and his mutated body posses increased strength, agility and eyesight.
His profession was once crucial to humanity, for when they first arrived in this world, monsters and other races dominated the land. The Witchers were created to exterminate the more powerful and evil monsters, while the rest of the humans took care of exterminating the other races, being they good or bad.
The Witchers are taught to be neutral regarding human affairs. Men and women may kill and rape each other in bar brawls or wars that may bring kingdoms down, they ought to not interfer. A Witcher's neutrality is essential for their profession, otherwise a king might not allow him to enter his lands to hunt down a monster otherwise.
But time has passed, and there are no much more monsters left. A Witcher is left with some hard choices to make, because in order to make a living they need to exercise their trade, the only thing they know how to do, ingrained in their minds from childhood. This knowledge emboldens their potential employers to make some moraly dubious propositions, such as to hire him as a mercenary or an assassin.
Geralt struggles with questions of morality, whether he should use his powers to help the defenseless against all evil or just the monsters he was told to slay. He is a relic of the past struggling to find his place in this new world. He is despised and distrusted by most humans because he is a mutant, as are all other races despised as well.