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A review by grrr8_catsby
Season of Storms by Andrzej Sapkowski
1.5
Season Of Storms is the attempt to go back to Geralt of Rivia's roots, to recapture the magic of what made the Witcher series special.
It failed.
The Witcher was originally introduced to us in a series of short stories, and I can truly understand what the author tried to accomplish here; to give the feeling of multiple short stories throughout the course of a larger, overarching story. Unfortunately, the execution comes up short and the narrative feels distracted and superfluous.
It's hard to write a good prequel, especially one that takes place before the events of the Witcher Saga series; we already know the fate of Geralt, so any sense of peril or consequence is immediately dispelled. Because we know that Geralt will survive the events of this book, what could have been the escapades of a genuine badass turns into an undisciplined adventure of a character we just expect more from. In this book, Geralt loses his weapons (multiple times), does everything in his power to find ways to sleep with multiple women, scowls and debates the morally gray, and, on occasion, fights (humans surprisingly more than actual monsters).
In all fairness towards the author, Sapkowski does (and has done throughout the series proper) an excellent job of writing action and combat scenes. Sapkowski exhibits mastery over time and flow, adding true excitement over events we can likely surmise the outcomes to.
The Witcher series ended on a sour note for me, and Season Of Storms directly falls in line with this. While there is an epilogue that attempts to tie a bow around the entire series, its ambiguity prevents it from being an essential read.
It failed.
The Witcher was originally introduced to us in a series of short stories, and I can truly understand what the author tried to accomplish here; to give the feeling of multiple short stories throughout the course of a larger, overarching story. Unfortunately, the execution comes up short and the narrative feels distracted and superfluous.
It's hard to write a good prequel, especially one that takes place before the events of the Witcher Saga series; we already know the fate of Geralt, so any sense of peril or consequence is immediately dispelled. Because we know that Geralt will survive the events of this book, what could have been the escapades of a genuine badass turns into an undisciplined adventure of a character we just expect more from. In this book, Geralt loses his weapons (multiple times), does everything in his power to find ways to sleep with multiple women, scowls and debates the morally gray, and, on occasion, fights (humans surprisingly more than actual monsters).
In all fairness towards the author, Sapkowski does (and has done throughout the series proper) an excellent job of writing action and combat scenes. Sapkowski exhibits mastery over time and flow, adding true excitement over events we can likely surmise the outcomes to.
The Witcher series ended on a sour note for me, and Season Of Storms directly falls in line with this. While there is an epilogue that attempts to tie a bow around the entire series, its ambiguity prevents it from being an essential read.