The Tower of the Swallow

Part four of “Geralt is actually not a witcher anymore”.

I feel that the series gets better with each book and here the story and events are the most solid and to the point. Until Dijkstra shows up (although this episode is pretty short). And as always there are a lot of points of view and time jumps, however this time around they have a little more sense, purpose and context and show the story from different angles which enriches it.

While some points of view are not too interesting or last a bit longer than needed, the episodes where Ciri tells the story from the future and first person narrative from Dandelion are the best, as we’re rarely shown their perspective. And the dialogues are really immersive most of the time—when characters don’t repeat the same thing.

Also there’s a lot of classic-witcher, visceral action moments, which also feel better than ever, but some episodes can be too brutal for some readers.

And that scene on a frozen lake is just insane.

However the ending is not satisfying, as it’s too open and there are no hints at what's happening with other characters.

So I will definitely finish the story and hope the last book is even better!

Didn't enjoy the one as much

Very good I was audibly shouting at some points we love Ciri

Até cerca do primeiro terço do livro, a história se desenrola de forma lenta. No entanto, a partir do momento em que os elementos políticos e os contratempos entram em cena, a narrativa se torna bem mais interessante. Mesmo assim, acredito que, se estivesse lendo a versão física, poderia ter me sentido entediado em alguns momentos.

The Witcher is boring me quite a lot; however, the audiobooks are so good that they make the story much more engaging and enjoyable to consume. It's very strange because I can't stop listening to the audiobooks. I was looking forward to finishing the previous book and then, as soon as I did, I had a sense of grief that could only be soothed by listening to the following instalment, which I am now doing. I might actually finish The Witcher before the end of the year, as I only have two books to go and I am listening to them. We'll see. Am I actually loving it and not fully realising?!

3,5⭐️ I guess. Good beginning and ending.

Very good book. And Unicorns! I was a bit confused with all the characters. I was listening to the audio book though. If I had been reading the print version I could go back and look up where I had heard them before. The narration was wonderful.

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: The Tower of Swallows

Ciri has taken up a life of banditry, earning a name for herself and her gang. But being notorious criminals comes with a price. Ciri's carefree life comes to a violent end as she is captured and forced to fight for her life. Meanwhile, Geralt still searches for Ciri, plagued by nightmares and guilt. He journeys to find the Druids, believing they will lead him to Ciri. But along the way, he will find there is a price on his head and those that seek to collect the reward will carve a bloody path to receive their coin.

Now that all the political maneuvering has taken place in Baptism of Fire, we're finally able to focus on the characters once more. Immediately you are thrown into Ciri's storyline and all she has been through since the events of the previous book. The Tower of Swallows will show you some of the darkest parts of Ciri's journey, and her ultimate breaking point. But from that low dark place, she will rise to take up the sword and carve out the path to her destiny.

Now there were parts of this book I found hard to read, and not due to politics this time. Some of the ideologies and focus on sexualization turned my stomach. At the same time, I recognize that these elements were used to show the darker sides of history and certain characters, but I still felt it was unnecessary.

The storytelling itself was a bit disjointed, but I did like the idea of viewing Ciri's story from a mix of primary and secondary characters. Listening to it on audiobook was a bit hard. There is no clear distinction between the alternating viewpoints until suddenly you find another character making comments on the situation. But I have a feeling that was done on purpose and I would have felt the same reading the physical book.

The Tower of Swallows returned The Witcher series back to its roots of action and adventure. Despite its downfalls, I enjoyed once again seeing the characters struggle towards their goals and the comedic relief of Dandelion. I hope the final book, Lady of the Lake, does this series justice.

Besides the books of short stories, I really haven't enjoyed the Witcher novels. I kept trudging on because of my love for the game and the show. I'm glad I did. This one was far superior to any of the previous.

I will preface this review with a warning. Sapkowski's treatment of women is extremely bad in his books and this one isn't an exception. There is humiliation, mutilation, rape, harassment, assault, etc. It's awful and disgusting. One could argue that it's because this is set in the Middle Ages, but this book gets graphic at points.

Ironically, this book follows Ciri more than Geralt, showcasing how much of a badass she is. We continue where the last book left off. The story telling devices Sapkowski uses are interesting and dynamic. The pacing only felt sluggish when there was heavy exposition, but most of those points were necessary. This book didn't hold back any punches. It really made me love Ciri even more than I already did. It also made my affection for Yennefer stronger. Interestingly, I felt mostly frustrated with Geralt in this book. His chapters didn't captivate me as much.

I'm very excited to read the next book! I couldn't say that with any of the previous books, so that's definitely an improvement!

absolutely stunning pacing and an amazing journey to witness. this book sparked something inside me. something I will never forget.

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%

To be honest I am a bit split on how I feel about this book.

The cover does not seem to really portray the story which seem to be more focused on #cirillaofcintra than #GeraltOfRivia who while had some part in the story was really more of a backdrop to the story than any main plot or story.

The writing at times was good but at other times kind of boring and found my attention wavering. Some of the politcal plot lines I found really didn't add much of anything of value.

However the story of Ciri's capture by bounty hunters, her eventual escape, finding of shelter, and eventual finding of the tower of swallows was certainly a good read, but really could of done without the rest.

3/5 stars on good reads. Didnt love it but didnt hate it. Will be posting a video review tomorrow

So I think this top portion will be the basis for my review for all five of the Witcher series (excluding The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny–Kind of, you'll see...)

I feel like it took me a long time to read these, when in actuality, I started the first one in January so that isn't really all that long. Some of the way I'm feeling may be based off a lapse in memory though because I read around 95 books around the reading of these so I may be hazy.

For starters, I think Andrzej Sapkowski is a phenomenal writer. Secondly, I think David French did an absolutely wonderful job translating these to English. And thirdly, I think the Gollancz paperbacks were amazing–great cover art, nice quality–I actually managed to read them all without breaking the spines.

Sapkowski has such a way about his writing that the dialogue in the novels can be truly captivating. He wields it so well that he has honestly created such a wonderful lush lore within his world that really carried the hundreds of pages he wrote. I think that overall, this attention to detail within every word uttered may actually have been in some ways at a detriment to his overarching story.

So to speak, his great characters, the companions of the Witcher, and even the enemies, all have this way of leaving you wanting more. However, if you were to pull away all of that and the world's lore, the series itself is kind of about... nothing. I did find myself more than once getting to the end of one of the novels and being like wait... nothing happened? Destiny has brought the Witcher and Ciri together, and yet they are also destined to never be together... it's just the kind of realization that stings. If you read the first book you can skip to the final book for the ending because the others are just more of the same. Luckily for me, as I've already stated, I enjoyed the dialogue and the world building, I drank that sh*t up. It's just kind of weird/funny to realize negative things like that about something you've rated pretty well. Despite all of that, I really enjoyed them.

In terms of The Tower of the Swallow specifically, I enjoyed that this storyline followed Ciri maturing and dealing with things on her own. There's a lot of growing and exploring for her.

However, Geralt and team are still looking for Ciri, but no Ciri is found.

Incredibly entertaining.

I don't know how I feel about the shift in narrative styles, but it worked pretty well and the story was great. I felt vindicated when Ciri sliced Rience's fingers off.

This book was angling to be an all-timer with it's pacing and the genuine joy it brought with each passing page. The biggest problem with these books tends to be that they lose steam and, sure enough, this one did.

Ciri's story is great but the story being told from this many perspectives breaks up the narrative almost too much and slowed down the last act a lot.

Abandoned after 150 pages.
A huuuuge letdown after an amazing series and a terrible, really bad book compared not only to the previous 5 Witcher books (5/5 all of them), but to itself or to the fantasy genre in general.
It is unoriginal. Uninteresting.
Sapkowski experiments with numerous POVs and it goes terribly. He experiments with some parallel worlds and somewhat scifi concepts and it goes terribly.
He gives up on Geralt as a character and develops only the uninteresting and annoying Ciri - not a real character, but only a lame image of what an old man imagines a teenage girl would be (a brat lacking anything except aggressiveness). And ”develops” is the wrong word - there is no character development for her, whatever the circumstances.
Furthermore, the world does not feel like the Witcher one anymore, but just another generic, very bland fantasy one; the new characters are too many, uninteresting, not credible and also unimaginative.
A really bad book, best avoided by the Witcher fans. Unfortunately, I see from other reviews the next is at least just as bad. Oh, well - so the series ends here for me.

Бозецки, я осилил эти 500 страниц >___