The Lady of the Lake (The Witcher, 7)

The Lady of the Lake is the final book in the Witcher Saga, but the story is extended in the Award Winning Witcher Video Game Series. Reading these books makes me appreciate the stories of the games even more. If you're not a gamer, this is the glorious end of an epic adventure. The Witcher Saga is a complex story about powerful kings, sorceresses, emperors, lords, assassins, spies, and criminals battling each other in wars, diplomacy, rhetoric, and deceit. This battle is set in a dangerous world based on folklore with mythical monsters and powerful magic. Geralt of Rivia, a professional monster slayer, is drawn into a tangled web of intrigue when his adopted daughter from a unique and powerful bloodline draws the attention of the major powers in the world. Accompanied by his most loyal friends, Geralt battles his way to the end of the world to help Ciri as she tries to evade enemies as ambitious as they are deadly. The world of the Witcher is populated with greedy simple minded peasants, deadly beasts, ancient evils, curses, and almighty kings. This story adds credibility to the old folktales and brings them to life. Because this series is rooted in folklore, it seems more genuine. The characters are complex with their own motivations, emotional scars, rivalries, and alliances. You get to know them so well, you’ll start laughing out loud at their mannerisms and grumblings. The story structure jumps all over the damn place, but it seems to work. A major event will happen with the main characters. A scholar from Oxenfort will discuss its impact on history 100 years in the future, a band of mercenaries at a campfire will talk about the legend, and the saga will resume with the main characters. This ads depth and broadens the world, and it works. In any other book series, this would have been a terrible distraction. The action is visceral and has dire consequences. There are wizard duels, beasts, skirmishes, brawls, wars, battle tactics, chases, and assassinations. It's all very well written and puts you in the middle of the action. These books have some swearing, torture, sex, graphic violence, and horror. They are not for kids. You'll need to read the other books in the series to understand The Lady of the Lake. Reading these out of order would be like taking all of the Game of Thrones Episodes and shuffling them. It's not something you should ever do. Overall, this is a great saga about a drinking, whoring, gambling, lout, who proves his love for his adopted daughter by risking everything and battling his way to the ends of the world for her. The characters and world are complex. The action is great. The fantasy and lore is very well developed. The pacing stalls at times and the story skips around a bit, but these are the only gripes I have with this series. Geralt of Rivia is one of my all-time favorite characters and his story is legendary. If you enjoyed these books, I highly recommend the Witcher Games. The stories in the books act as "Choose your own adventure" and the decisions you make ultimately determine who lives and who dies. The Witcher 3 is the greatest game I have ever played.

Ciri, the witcher girl, Princess of Cintra, and Child of the Elder Blood escaped from her pursuers through a portal in Tor Zireal, the Tower of the Swallow. Rather than finding freedom on the other side, Ciri found herself imprisoned in the world of the elves who wished to use her powers for their own gain. To escape the horrors that await her, Ciri delves deep within herself to discover her true power: the power to travel through space and time. With so many ill intentions pursuing her, Ciri must travel across different worlds to reunite with the ones she longs to see most: Geralt and Yennefer. After nearly ten years of translating four books and two short story collections, the final installment to writer Andrzej Sapkowski’s popular 'Witcher' series has finally arrived in the States and it was well worth the wait. Geralt is closer than ever to finding Ciri, the ongoing war between the North and the South prepares to fight the deciding battle, and Ciri is discovering the powers she has always been told she possesses. While the previous books were most certainly Sapkowski at his finest, The Lady of the Lake was Sapkowski at his absolute best, completing his series in a near-perfect way. Readers will get so much more out of 'The Lady of the Lake' if they reread the entire series first for Sapkowski pulled out all the stops for the final installment. If readers have kept up with the, at times, confusing pages of politics of this fantasy world, the deciding battle is finally fought between the North and the South. Battles and wars are a norm in the fantasy genre and these scenes can be rather tricky to write effectively; however, Sapkowski wrote his deciding battle, the Battle of Brenna, in a very intriguing way. Rather than just focusing on the fighting, Sapkowski jumps between many different points of view, having readers witness the battle as a soldier, as a medic, and as an onlooker. While politics have played a crucial role in the Witcher series, The Lady of the Lake has a minimal focus on it and more of a focus on the characters. Nearly every character that has been introduced in the previous six books makes an appearance, with some playing larger roles while others make a small cameo. As for the major characters, all receive an equal amount of attention; however, for the readers who have eagerly awaited this conclusion, the fate of three characters is what they may be most curious about. Witcher Geralt of Rivia and sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg have traversed half the world, desperately searching for the one who they see as their own daughter and readers are anxious to know if the three most deserving of a happy ending finally get one. While readers will spend a good amount of time with Geralt and his companions as well as with Yennefer in her imprisonment by the powerful sorcerer Vilgefortz, readers will learn more about Ciri than ever before. Readers will learn the reasons why so many want her power and will follow Ciri as she discovers the true power that lies within her. 'The Lady of the Lake' is a story one will want to complete, but at the same time, a story one will not want to have end. For readers who have followed the series since The Last Wish, it is strongly encouraged they experience its finale for themselves. All one who has read it can really say without spoiling major plot points is that Sapkowski concluded his well-received fantasy series in a near-perfect way. His masterful storytelling is the strongest it has ever been with countless twists and turns in the plot to keep readers turning the page. One can look forward to a final collection of short stories of Geralt’s adventures in Season of Storms next year, but as the curtain finally falls on the 'Witcher' series, one can truly say… it was well worth the wait.

Some fantasy series are designed to be read one at a time. If you're taking on Le Guin's Earthsea series for example, or Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser books, you can finish one, read something else, then come back to the series later, and you don't feel as though you need a refresher. Other fantasy series need to be read from start to finish in one go. It's hard to think of the books in those series as individual works, since they all hang together as one--they succeed or fail based on how the series reads as a whole. Sapkowski's Witcher series fits this category pretty well, which is why I've waited until now to review any of them. The good news is, Sapkowski's writing starts strong and ends even stronger. From the first page of The Last Wish to the last page of Lady of the Lake, he weaves together well-developed characters and smart storylines. He's not as poetic as some writers, but when he pauses his driving plot to make a point, it's disarming and beautiful. (Good example: the heartbreaking scene of starving elves crossing in front of Jarre's wagon after the war. Magnificent.) Also, the story is satisfying. Plotwise, there are plenty of clever twists and turns, nearly all of which get resolved in clever ways--sometimes in favor of the protagonists, sometimes not. And Sapkowski isn't afraid to kill his darlings either, which is something I admire. It can't be easy to bump off characters you've spent hundreds and hundreds of pages shaping. And as you probably know by now, he's a master at world-building. The setting of the Witcher series is foreign but familiar. That not only makes the story memorable, but also presents some interesting hypotheses about our own planet. The bad news is, the ending of the series falls flat. Even though Sapkowski had over 2,700 pages to wrap up the story, the conclusion feels rushed--like he realized that the deadline he'd given his publisher was three days away, and he said to himself, "I've got to shut this thing down." Not that I could've done any better in his place, but I spent several weeks reading these books, and Sapkowski himself spent decades writing them. I'd have liked something that left me dazzled, and I'm sure he would've, too. What I'm trying to say is, if you sat through every episode of The Sopranos and wanted more from the series ending, you may have a problem here. Also, some of the metaphors and themes Sapkowski brought up throughout the series never really paid off. I suppose we got a satisfying explanation of his notions around destiny, but all that chatter about mistaking the stars reflected on the surface of the lake for the night sky? There's one reference to it near the climax of the last novel, but it's subtle enough that it makes me wonder, "Wait, was that it?" Maybe it reads better in Polish. (I wouldn't mind some clarification about the physics of Sapkowski's world either, like the mechanics of the Conjunction of the Spheres, but I can live without it.) All that said, I found 95% of the Witcher series satisfying, compelling, and thoroughly pleasurable to read. I'm not going to ding Sapkowski too much for failing to nail a landing that was a long time coming.

The Lady of the Lake is chronologically last in The Witcher books (Season of Storms was published later, but set earlier). Andrzej Sapkowski is at his best in this book. The short stories (collected in the first two books) are often regarded as the best in the series, and the first four novels, while good, never quite captured the magic Sapkowski wove while writing in Poland during the final years of Soviet military occupation. Everything comes together in this last novel, however. Geralt's seemingly impossible quest to find Ciri, who is fleeing from one horror to another, and Nilfgard's invasion of the Northern Kingdoms all come to an epic finish. As Ciri jumps from one world to another, Sapkowski does an excellent job of entangling The Witcher's world with Earth's history and fairy tales. Sapkowski also proves he is a master of showing different points of view and how one person's righteous justice is pure evil to another. 2022 is an especially good year to read this book. After reaching the end of Jarre's story as an idealistic army volunteer, try looking up stories told by former mercenaries who operated in Ukraine. Look up firsthand accounts of Donbass civilians and what they think of Zelensky and NATO. Maybe you'll even find articles from 2014 about a group of American investors headed by Joe Biden buying up Crimean oil rights which had just been nationalized and offered for sale by the newly installed Ukrainian government, triggering Crimea's secession from Ukraine. Then ask yourself how well Sapkowski understood what war is really about to the rich and powerful, what soldiers actually experience, and how little anyone cares about the people who become collateral damage.

I love the Witcher book series, the games are great as well just prefer the books better though. This one doesn't have Geralt in it as much as it more about Ciri an her experiences though out events in the book. Worth the read!

I have to say I am disappointed. I was expecting a LOT more from the ending of this saga. The majority of the book is well written and interesting just like all the rest of the books for the most part, but I don't believe it delivered what it should have delivered in the end. A more specific review will follow. Spoilers: Every time I am watching a film franchise, a TV series, or reading a book, and I think to myself: "I do not know how the writer could possibly wrap this up in the amount of time left in [whatever form of media it is] and make it good," I end up being proven right (hoping the entire time I am not), but no less disappointed. This was no exception. My biggest issue was how many of the biggest characters were seemingly dispatched at the end as if the author needed to hit an imaginary deadline and was forced to find a quick way to write all the characters off. Geralt is a master swordsman literally mutated to hunt monsters that are in most cases far more threatening and dangerous than human fighters. However, at the end of a seven-book saga delineating all of his impressive skills and abilities, he's essentially brought down by an adolescent high on what is essentially crack. Then it is played off as some "prophesied" event as if that justifies such an absolutely despicable, disrespectful way of killing off the main character of the saga. The same can be said about Yennefer. Here we have perhaps the most powerful sorceress in the series (not including Vilgefortz who would be considered the most powerful sorcerer), a sorceress who demolished the Nilfguardians at the battle of Sodden Hill, and she is brought down by a rock thrown by a different adolescent probably also high on what is essentially crack. A ROCK. No, this is not what kills her, but it would have been if it had not been for Triss dragging her away. However, then when you think that the author isn't going to add Yennefer to the list of characters that, for no valid reason, needed to be given the "J.K. Rowling treatment" or the "George R.R. Martin treatment" (a joke based on those two authors' propensity to just kill off characters at the end of their books/series), she dies due to exhaustion after trying to heal Geralt. Some might say "oh, but then Geralt and Yennefer are fine and get to be together! They even get to have a wedding," but the way Ciri reacts after telling Galahad about it (he asks her if/why she's crying) heavily implies that that's not what actually happened. There is no way the people she listed could have attended the wedding together unless we're assuming that those who have "passed on" and those who are still alive can normally interact. If they could, which they can't, then we should have got to see Geralt get to see/talk to his companions (whose death I will also cover here in a second) again at least one last time. Heading over to his companions: The author takes upwards of two whole novels developing Milva, Angouleme, Regis, and Cahir (who actually has a character arc that spans the whole series in a way). We get to see their travels and struggles with Geralt, we get to see Geralt soften up to each one in a different way, and we get to see their characters develop and become better people in general (each in their own way). Angouleme admittedly had the least amount of character development, but even she was able to secure a meaningful place as a Witcher companion and most readers will find they have just as much love for her as a character. Cahir had the longest and most meaningful character arc, even his own redemption arc, given that he started out the series as a Nilfguardian military leader tasked with capturing Ciri from Cintra as it was being sacked. The reader has to set aside previously conceived notions of his character's motivations and wait for the Witcher to follow suit, all the while wondering if he really is a good person and not just pretending. His companionship to the Witcher was also about a two-book long venture and at the end of which they finally like and trust each other. All four companions accompany him to Stygga castle with the purpose of rescuing Ciri. Milva is the first character to be "spat on" so to speak. The companions are pinned down by arrow fire, so Milva decides to stand up and return fire. She is successful in killing archer after archer but continues to not flinch as arrows are continuously shot at her. This is meant to show how disciplined she is as an archer while contrasting the inaccuracy of the enemies. She shoots until "only the three bravest were still shooting," and still manages to kill another without being hit. Reinforcements arrive but are quickly scattered due to a lack of courage "with one exception." The situation is now this one enemy archer against four. Milva could have dodged the enemy's arrow and then returned fire or ducked down and let Geralt or Regis handle the last enemy. We've seen Geralt deflect arrows and crossbow bolts numerous times and we have seen Regis turn into a bat and rip people's heads off. The book once again attempts to justify this death with a short passage about her as a kid with her father teaching her how to shoot. We are supposed to accept that the way she was raised and trained in archery by her father lead her to have absolutely no sense of self-preservation here in this moment, and those things are why she refused to flinch or back down while being fired at and ultimately why she felt the need to finish off the last archer left standing. Next we have Cahir. As I stated earlier, Cahir has a rich character and redemption arc. One that has spanned the entire series. The last time he met up with Ciri she almost killed him, but still he pledged himself to helping Geralt come to her rescue. He finally meets up with Ciri, and here the reader is most likely expecting, as one should be able to, a touching reunion where Cahir gets to explain how he's not actually an evil Nilfguardian, not actually trying to kill her or capture her with the intent of returning her to the emperor. He gets the chance to begin a relationship with her even if it is not a romantic one as was his original goal when attempting to find Ciri. These are all things that most readers are expecting, and quite frankly what should have happened, but Cahir is added to the list of despicably and disrespectfully "offed" characters. A master swordsman by the name of Bonhart who has been chasing Ciri for most of the last two books, and even had her as a hostage for a good chunk of that time, is in the castle chasing Ciri. Throughout Bonhart's story arc, the reader is probably wanting Ciri to finally get her justice with her own acquired skills, but many reader's like myself are probably wanting to see a showdown between Bonhart and Geralt. Bonhart serves as one of, if not the main, antagonist of Ciri in this series. It would have been spectacular to have included the ultimate showdown between Ciri's biggest threat (not including Vilgefortz who only very recently became a real threat to her directly) and her father figure and protector who had just come to her rescue after such a long time apart. However, instead of an epic showdown between Geralt and Bonhart, we get another cheap character death which is once again disrespectful to the character's development and in Cahir's case a redemption arc. Angouleme whom the readers have no doubt fell in love with at this point, is stabbed by an unnamed "lackey" and dies in the hallway after she leaves with Ciri to flee Bonhart and find Geralt. This is not at all the death that would befit her character in any way. We then end with Regis. Regis steps in as Geralt and Yennefer have their final face-off with Vilgefortz, and he manages to land more blows and damage than either of the other two protagonists up to that point. Geralt tells him to "beware" after Regis "nimbly" avoids a flame attack from Vilgefortz and materializes. The reader has no reason to believe Regis is suicidal, but his response to Geralt telling him to "beware" is quite literally (perhaps also comically): "Beware? Me? I didn't come here to beware!" and proceeds to rush the sorcerer and promptly die in the next paragraph. Once again adding his name to the list of characters whose death is disrespectful and unjustifiable. This case in particular was arguably one of the sillier, stupider ones at that. It was almost as cliché as a character saying "I'll be fine" only to not be "fine" in a very short period of time. The character death problem(s) I described above is enough to have a legitimate problem with how this book/series ends, but I have other issues I would like to point out. Geralt and Yennefer end up in what is essentially paradise together, or at least the "beyond." This directly contradicts what was said by the golden dragon in the short stories when he said that their relationship would simply not work out. Thankfully, he was mistaken, and the reader gets that much at least out of the ending, but why the golden dragon's comments necessary then? To build suspense or develop some kind of drama? The only reason that would excuse this little continuity hick-up would be that the author hadn't thought out Geralt and Yennefer's relationship to its conclusion at the time he wrote the short stories, but even then I do not see much need for that part of the golden dragon's dialogue. Then we have the sorceresses of Montecalvo. The book heavily implies that this is a somewhat rogue group of sorceresses trying to puppet everyone and everything in a way that is at the very least equal if not more nefarious than the original Brotherhood of Sorcerers. The coup ended the Brother of Sorcerers, but we are not really given a good reason why the Lodge of Montecalvo is started and why it is only women. The most powerful magician in the series is Vilgefortz who is a man albeit evil, and half of the other most powerful mages are also male. Some might point to the fact that the original organization's name was the "Brotherhood," which is somehow sexist because it excludes women, but such an argument would be silly and foolish for women were in the Brotherhood just as men were and two women, namely Tissaia de Vries and Francesca Findabair, who were part of the "Chapter" which was the highest of two branches in the Brotherhood. Also, as hard as it may be for people to understand especially in modern times, a name like "Brotherhood" is not sexist even if it was a group that was only for men. However, replacing the brotherhood with a group of only women does in fact raise questions of intention. The reader was given no valid reason (I use the word "valid" because there may have been a reason given, but not one that was justifiable or "valid") that a female-only lodge was created to oversee the fate of the world or the kings that way the two governing bodied Brotherhood (with both sexes) did. I also imagined that there was a point to making the majority of the members obnoxiously arrogant and stuck-up, hopefully leading up to the lodges' downfall (ideally at the hands of Ciri or better yet Yennefer), the idea of which is brought to a climax when they sit Ciri down and treat her like a child while acting in the most arrogant way possible. Shaela de Tancarville's speech was among the more infuriating due to her absolutely condescending, self-important, egotistical attitude in addressing Ciri, continuously referring to Ciri as "a wild kitten...[which] needs to be grabbed by the scruff of the neck." I believed this would finally be the breaking point, and we would finally get to see Ciri or both Ciri and Yennefer just put all of them in their place, perhaps even bring a justified end to some of them, but once again I was disappointed. To make matters worse (but not significantly) the end does not even address what will become of the lodge now that Ciri is out of their grasp. Similarly, nothing bad happens to Emperor Emhyr who you learn is Ciri's father. In fact, it is understood that Nilfguard will be doing very well once the peace treaty of Cintra is finalized and all the kingdoms are forced to look to Nilfguard for commerce due to the Nilfguardian's "scorched earth policy." We also do not actually get proof that Dijkstra is actually killed by the assassins that come to kill him, even taking into account a passage earlier in the last book that says: "Dijkstra recalled Esterad's words in Tretegor, as he listened closely to the steps of the assassins approaching from all directions, along all the corridors of the castle." What happened to him? He was clearly a clever man and was no longer in the room he was in that supposedly only had one exit despite that exit being blocked by the assassins. We then have the people of Rivia who started a pogrom at the end of the book which resulted in the death of many innocent non-humans as well as Geralt and Yennefer. These people were merely suppressed by the military finally after Triss' actions, but in no way were the people of this town nor the people treating the innocent Nilfguardian settlers *cruelly* as they were made to leave the invaded territories by the peace treaty (like the procession witnessed by Dandelion and Geralt near the end of the book) were punished for their actions (I am arguing specifically against the way the settlers were being treated as they were led out, not the action of "repatriation."). When we take into account the arrogant, puppeteering Lodge of Montecalvo, the Hierarch of Novigrad that goes on to torture Philippa one day but who does not die in the scope of the story, Dijkstra, the humans of Rivia, and the cruel military members in charge of Nilfguardian settlers' repatriation, this quote from Geralt to Emyr is even more "on point," humorous and almost insulting: "Because a story where the decent ones die and the scoundrels live and carry on doing what they want is full of sh**." If that quote wasn't "on the nose" enough there was also another from Ciri, after we see Geralt wake up with Yennefer after the mysterious boat ride at the end of the novel: "'And is that the end of the story?' Galahad asked... 'Not at all,' protested Ciri... 'Would you like the story to end like that? Like hell! I wouldn't!" Well said Ciri, well said. To wrap up my thoughts on this novel and main Witcher storyline: I still have a great affinity for the Witcher as a character and for most of the novels. It is due to my love and passion for this story that I am so critical and upset at how it was ended. I still very much look forward to reading Season of Storms and playing all three Witcher games.

A good continuity to the other books. I see people give it a poor rating and wonder what is their objective. The purpose of a good story is to transport you to that realm and give you an adventure. This book does a good job. Some parts are a little slow but they do give more color to the story and unless one is only looking for action, the story is fine. It does arrive to a lot of action and then finally tidy up of the various story lines. So all in all, a good read for those that like the Witcher stories. I saw one criticism of the book where they felt it was disjointed. If one has a good memory there is no problem. Any author uses that technique to keep all the various players involved. It ends nicely and in an unexpected way. I will not say how but it was good enough that I did not second guess the conclusion regarding Ceri. This book does finish the story of Gerald though, you can look forward to that. Enjoy it, you will if you liked the other stories.

A rich layered story with massive world building while weaving in faith tales and folklore. Sometimes it was hard to track what world and time the characters were in but nothing some quick rereading couldn't answer. I wanted to blast through the story but the details were so good that I slowed down to really experience them.