WiC Reads: Blood of Elves

CHAPTER THREE

Ah, now I’m sinking into the book. Sapkowski is still taking his time, exploring the mythology while sticking close to a core group of characters. In a sprawling story like this, side characters count for a lot, so I’m happy that witchers like Lambert, Vesemir, and Coën are getting fleshed out. I’m still coming off Game of Thrones, so I’m expecting some of them to die at some point and would prefer to be gutted.

Speaking of Game of Thrones, the witchers are giving me serious Faceless Men vibes, particularly in the last chunk of this chapter when Geralt justifies the way he and his order work. They don’t get involved in politics, they don’t try to go for the “source” of misery, as Triss claims to; they fight monsters for money. Monsters often crop up in the wake of war, and the witchers go where they’re needed. Are they profiting off war? Are they providing a valuable service? As Geralt frames it, they’re simply doing what they do. They’re playing a role, doing a job. It doesn’t go deeper than that.

But Ciri, like Arya Stark, still has vengeance in her heart. She wants revenge against the Nilfgaardian army that decimated her home and killed her grandmother, Queen Calanthe of Cintra. She wants revenge agains the “black knight,” who did…something to her. Best not to dwell on what Sapkowski seems to be implying there.

In other words, Ciri has a list. And like Arya, her desires don’t jibe with the philosophy of the mysterious assassin cult where she’s training. By the end of this chapter, the witchers are planning to take Ciri away from Kaer Morhen and get her some experience in the wider world. I expect lots of juicy conflict as Ciri struggles with her path.

I will say that I wasn’t wild about the way some of these ideas were conveyed. Triss and Geralt, in particular, talk in long, mannered paragraphs at each other. I’m still getting used to Sapkowski’s writing style. I feel like it should be a little…I don’t know, choppier? Rougher?

Speaking of style, Sapkowski gets loose in the middle part of the chapter and stages a series of dialogues between Ciri and the various witchers (and Triss) as they train her in elvish, monster lore, sword-fighting, and the like. It’s fun enough, and gives us a better look at Ciri, who comes off as likable, hard-working, and maybe too innocent for her own good. Should a 12-year-old who’s been through what she’s been through be this chipper?

And in the first part of the chapter, Sapkowski feeds us more exposition, about the “chapter” of wizards, about what a “Source” is (apparently a person with inherent magical talent that can be difficult to control — it’s still a little squishy for me, but fine, let’s go with it), about a prophecy that could spell doom for a couple of the witchers, about a mysterious entity working through Ciri to unknown ends. The building blocks are being laid. It’s time to leave the confines of Kaer Morhen and build upward.