Apparently this series has a funny publishing order, but I'm going to label the books (if I do review more of this series) by how they're numbered on the Dutch copies I read. They number this installment as the first, so that's what I'm going with.
This book contains several short fantasy stories all surrounding the same central character: a Witcher (basically a magical assassin who hunts monsters) named Geralt of Rivia. He encounters several interesting foes throughout this book.
This book just kinda frustrated me. On the one hand, I really liked some parts. I could get pretty invested in this world and some of the short stories were genuinely really intriguing to me. But then for every story I liked, there was another I really disliked. Especially the stories surrounding Cintra and Yennefer/the jinn I just couldn't care less about. They were just rather uninteresting to me and failed to hook me whatsoever.
However, I did find it interesting that this book is based on some fairy tales (e.g. Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) and usually enjoyed seeing the subversive things the author came up with. These aren't straightforward fairy tale adaptations.
What really did frustrate me though in this book was its treatment of female characters and the subject of rape. It's rough, man. I don't even really want to go into the details, but know that sexism and (a poor handling of) sexual assault are recurring themes in this book. And no matter how much I enjoyed some of these stories, the sexism and poor handling of SA never stopped bothering me.
Honestly at this point I'm not sure if I want to keep reading this series. On the one hand, the stories I liked I really liked and I do want more of those. But then there's the poor treatment of the women and some of the stories which absolutely failed to hook me and I'm like "do I really want more of this?".
So honestly I have no idea if I'll read more of this series or not. I may, I may not. Only time will tell.
Rating: 3/5
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