As The Lord Of The Rings to The Hobbit, Blood Of Elves relies heavily on story told in its predecessors, The Last Wish and Sword Of Destiny. However, the tone of Blood Of Elves helps solidify and change both The Last Wish and Sword Of Destiny from a light-hearted collection of short stories regarding the adventures of a renowned monster hunter to an important historical insight to the living surrounding world.

To its credit, Blood Of Elves reads as an organic continuation of the previous adventures of Geralt of Rivia, but this comes as both a blessing and a curse. The first true entry in The Witcher saga, Blood Of Elves reads as a short story expanded into a full-length novel; it is truly a slow burn, and long-time readers may find themselves discouraged, being overly-familiarized to the rapid pace of Geralt's previous exploits. It's a delicate balance, welcoming back veterans of the Witcher series and attempting to not alienate first-time readers, and I do not envy the task Sapkowski has ahead of him. 

One area in which Blood Of Elves has excelled over its predecessors is the shifting of character POV and the humanization of its peripheral characters. Truly, both Ciri and Yennefer (a character I have not looked fondly on to this point) shine in this book. Both characters have previously been depicted as two-dimensional, and massive character development has kept me invested in reading more. Although the series bares the name The Witcher, I am not entirely convinced that Ciri was not the main character of this book.

The promise of impending danger looms heavily at the end of this entry; will the following books keep the promise that Blood Of Elves failed to deliver on its own?