4. The Tower of Swallows (The Witcher Saga #4)
The Tower of Swallows is the penultimate entry in The Witcher Saga and continues the story directly following the events of Baptism of Fire. In many ways, it has the exact opposite issues in terms of balancing its many plotlines. The Tower of Swallows is primarily about Ciri, whose time with the Rats comes to a traumatic end at the hands of the brutal mercenary Leo Bonhart. Ciri’s plotline is so awful that at times it can almost be hard to read. This is The Witcher at its most horrific, and it’s a riveting affair.
The Tower of Swallows also gives Sapkowski room to play with framing stories, as we come to realize that the bulk of the story is being told by Ciri to a kindly swamp-dwelling philosopher months after her first grisly encounter with Bonhart. Sapkowski often uses such devices to great effect, and The Tower of Swallows is no exception.
As excellent as Ciri’s plotline is in The Tower of Swallows, Geralt’s tends to meander. He and his hansa spend much of the book traveling back and forth across the countryside in search of Ciri. There are a few close calls, but on the whole Geralt’s journey feels a bit aimless. It fits with how rudderless Geralt himself is at this stage of the saga, but it’s a lot less fun than some of Sapkowski’s tighter-plotted arcs. The difference is especially noticeable given how intense things are for Ciri.
Fortunately, what The Tower of Swallows does well it does so well that it rightfully deserves a place in the center of the list. It helps that it has one of the best endings of any of the books in the saga, which sees the death of one major villain while setting up an even bigger threat for the grand finale in The Lady of the Lake.