Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
Orbit, Paperback, 531 pages
Description
"The Witcher returns in this action-packed sequel to The Tower of Swallows, in the New York Times bestselling series that inspired The Witcher video games. After walking through the portal in the Tower of Swallows while narrowly escaping death, Ciri finds herself in a completely different world ... an Elven world. She is trapped with no way out. Time does not seem to exist and there are no obvious borders or portals to cross back into her home world. But this is Ciri, the child of prophecy, and she will not be defeated. She knows she must escape to finally rejoin the Witcher, Geralt, and his companions - and also to try to conquer her worst nightmare. Leo Bonhart, the man who chased, wounded and tortured Ciri, is still on her trail. And the world is still at war"--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member kenzen
I did not care for this book at all. In the end I just skimmed the pages for interesting parts, which were quite rare. I strongly disagree with the high average rating.
LibraryThing member mamzel
As a long time fan of the Witcher book series and games, I heartily rave about this latest episode of the story.
Geralt's long time lover and sorceress, Yennefer, is being held by a very powerful sorcerer to lure Ciri, Geralt's ward and heir to an immense power to travel through time and space, even
Ciri is being chased (as she is through most of the Witcher canon) and uses her power to bounce to different worlds, different times, different locations, to try and connect with Geralt. Geralt is trying to reach Yennefer's location over land with the aid of friends who include the very powerful and ancient vampire, Regis.
In the meantime there is a huge battle on the ground being recorded by a young scribe. There is no lack of action in this book! In fact I stayed up to the wee hours last night and joined it again in the early hours of this morning as I could not put the book aside until the end.
A blurb at the end of the Kindle version said that Sapkowski is Poland's favorite author. I have no way to argue with this but he is certainly MY favorite Polish author.
Geralt's long time lover and sorceress, Yennefer, is being held by a very powerful sorcerer to lure Ciri, Geralt's ward and heir to an immense power to travel through time and space, even
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to other worlds. This power is also coveted by her true father, the emperor, and the Lodge of Sorceresses. Ciri is being chased (as she is through most of the Witcher canon) and uses her power to bounce to different worlds, different times, different locations, to try and connect with Geralt. Geralt is trying to reach Yennefer's location over land with the aid of friends who include the very powerful and ancient vampire, Regis.
In the meantime there is a huge battle on the ground being recorded by a young scribe. There is no lack of action in this book! In fact I stayed up to the wee hours last night and joined it again in the early hours of this morning as I could not put the book aside until the end.
A blurb at the end of the Kindle version said that Sapkowski is Poland's favorite author. I have no way to argue with this but he is certainly MY favorite Polish author.
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LibraryThing member High_Enginseer
Here it is, the end of The Witcher Saga. The beginning of the book is bogged down with the two scholars researching the legend of Geralt and the witcher girl. Once passed this hurdle, the book returns to Geralt, Ciri, and Yen, with minor interruptions of other characters discussing the war and its
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aftermath. These at least, were about the events taking place around the main characters and more enjoyable to read. We are left a somewhat ambiguous ending, left to interpretation although its unlikely the fairy tale ending at least one character wanted. Show Less
LibraryThing member reading_fox
Continuation of the story and in some ways the end, finishing about the time the PC games begin.
TBC
TBC
LibraryThing member MontzaleeW
Lady of the Lake (Saga o Wiedźminie #7) by Andrzej Sapkowski is a book of The Witcher but you don't have to have read the series to read this, it can be a stand alone. This book is told in such an unusual way that it makes the book intriguing in that way alone! The story is about Ciri, The Lady of
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the Lake, but told, well...it is a challenge to explain, easier to read. There is so many fantasy creatures and adventures in this book! Different worlds, so much action and adventure that my muscles were so tight from clenching up while reading I thought I would need a muscle relaxant! I stayed up all night to finish this, it was too good to wait. Elves, trolls, unicorns, magic, time travel, and so much sword play. This old lady's arms were sore, lol. No wonder this book has almost 6,000 5 star reviews alone! The characters are so well developed and the plot so twisted, surprise filled, looping, and well planned, incredible. Loved this book. Wow! Thanks NetGalley for another Winner! Show Less
LibraryThing member SharonMariaBidwell
As this is the last of an 8 book read I committed to, I was looking forward to this. Felt a little disappointed at the start. Ironically, one character close to the start of the book states she doesn’t like legends that mix fables with reality. While we can hardly quote tales of King Arthur as
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reality they are of our world, and I’ve always preferred The Witcher to exist completely apart, not linked to famous myths and legends as we know them. The book also felt somewhat padded, but there are plenty of personal stories, and fabulous, bitter and sweet endings. Without spoilers, the most I can say is the conclusion felt a little nebulous, but the story of Ciri, Yennifer, and Gerait is a journey worth travelling. Show Less
LibraryThing member varielle
I’ve finally slogged to the end of the Witcher series. Thank god it’s over. This last entry exists to feed the gamer franchise. Hundreds of pages are devoted to extraneous characters and the main characters disappear in the chaos. When I say extraneous, I mean the life stories and perspectives
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of every soldier and officer on both sides of the conflict are provided in excruciating detail. The series and the movies, games, and other paraphernalia it has spun off has certainly been a cash cow for Sapkowski. Too bad the original vision went off the rails. Show Less
LibraryThing member Andorion
2 stars because of the excellent battle. Otherwise a forgettable book.
I have become increasingly disenchanted with this series. The first two short story collections were excellent. They built up a rich and intriguing world while also bringing to the reader some very memorable characters. The
All of that went away with the novels. It seems to me that the author has a problem with the format. he cannot handle pacing or endings. The first two books did not actually have any endings or climaxes. From the the third book onwards I got increasingly annoyed with character development.
Who is Ciri? A girl of destiny who spends the entire series getting traumatized, yet still in the final book remains naive. Her simple surrender at Castle Stygga to Vilgerforce was inexplicable.
Who is the Witcher? A very, very cool character in the short stories, he spends the novels getting caught up in events beyond his control, embarking on completely futile ill-informed quests, and somehow succeeds in the last book with a huge narrative jump that is never explained well.
Who is Yennefer? No clue really. After a rather interesting foster-mothership to Ciri to begin with she spends the entire series being imprisoned ot trying to escape from being imprisoned. That is literally all she does.
Also the author apparently learnt how to write female magic users from Robert Jordan. The continuous backbiting vindictiveness was exhausting.
The author tried a huge number of narrative strategies mostly consisting of flashbacks or historical narration, sometimes flashbacks within historical narration. What this did was introduce some completely inconsequential side-characters to the story.
Lastly, this series and this book has very little narrative momentum. This book is the series finale. Yet literally the first part of the book is mostly quite inconsequential stuff. The entire Jarre section could have been skipped. There is then a very good battle description, a very very forced climax, then an huge section of completely irrelevant politics which does not really draw interest. And then the rather bizarre ending.
I have become increasingly disenchanted with this series. The first two short story collections were excellent. They built up a rich and intriguing world while also bringing to the reader some very memorable characters. The
Show More
writing was very well done. All of that went away with the novels. It seems to me that the author has a problem with the format. he cannot handle pacing or endings. The first two books did not actually have any endings or climaxes. From the the third book onwards I got increasingly annoyed with character development.
Who is Ciri? A girl of destiny who spends the entire series getting traumatized, yet still in the final book remains naive. Her simple surrender at Castle Stygga to Vilgerforce was inexplicable.
Who is the Witcher? A very, very cool character in the short stories, he spends the novels getting caught up in events beyond his control, embarking on completely futile ill-informed quests, and somehow succeeds in the last book with a huge narrative jump that is never explained well.
Who is Yennefer? No clue really. After a rather interesting foster-mothership to Ciri to begin with she spends the entire series being imprisoned ot trying to escape from being imprisoned. That is literally all she does.
Also the author apparently learnt how to write female magic users from Robert Jordan. The continuous backbiting vindictiveness was exhausting.
The author tried a huge number of narrative strategies mostly consisting of flashbacks or historical narration, sometimes flashbacks within historical narration. What this did was introduce some completely inconsequential side-characters to the story.
Lastly, this series and this book has very little narrative momentum. This book is the series finale. Yet literally the first part of the book is mostly quite inconsequential stuff. The entire Jarre section could have been skipped. There is then a very good battle description, a very very forced climax, then an huge section of completely irrelevant politics which does not really draw interest. And then the rather bizarre ending.
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LibraryThing member SGTCat
I mostly enjoyed the story itself but throughout the series, I wasn’t particularly fond of the writing style. Despite there being a follow-on book, this seems to be the last book in the story about Ciri. It wraps up the major story arc. With the author having so much more experience, I had some
I really, really don’t like the Inception model this guy adopted. A story about a girl by the lake telling a guy a story, and within that story are stories about stories about stories. The narrative constantly jumps around in time. Plus, this need to put the story inside another story leads to the author spending inordinate amounts of time creating and developing characters that mean f*** all and do nothing but drag down the plot.
I also felt that there was a lot of name dropping of places and myths that was done not for the sake of progressing the story in a meaningful way or even to do any meaningful world building, but just to titillate the reading audience.
I had a few problems with how the author handled the characters:
This ultimate ability that Ciri winds up with seems implausible because the way it’s set up, she would have used it more frequently on accident before being truly aware of it. Plus, if it can’t be bound, how was it bound when she was trapped (being vague here to not spoil the story)? And when she was no longer trapped, why did she not continue to use it?
I’m also really bothered by the way the author handled Ciri and Bonhart’s storyline. The conclusion doesn’t seem plausible.
If sorcerers/sorceresses are so powerful that they were crucial to winning battles against Nilfgaard, then why were they portrayed as being pathetically weak in the last scene in Rivia?
How does Ciri’s presence in the location of the closing scene jive with what she told the Lodge about Geralt and Yennefer?
At the beginning of the book, the author has one of his throwaway characters say that legends should have happy endings and not be gritty and real. And that’s what we wind up with, more or less. A deus ex machina. But even the need for the deus ex machina is bizarre, because it only happens when the author forces all of the characters to not use their abilities or to use them poorly for no reason other than to create the situation.
I have the next book. I guess I’m going to read it because I’ve come this far, but this book was really disappointing in a lot of ways.
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hope that this story would be better put together than the previous books. That hope was misplaced.I really, really don’t like the Inception model this guy adopted. A story about a girl by the lake telling a guy a story, and within that story are stories about stories about stories. The narrative constantly jumps around in time. Plus, this need to put the story inside another story leads to the author spending inordinate amounts of time creating and developing characters that mean f*** all and do nothing but drag down the plot.
I also felt that there was a lot of name dropping of places and myths that was done not for the sake of progressing the story in a meaningful way or even to do any meaningful world building, but just to titillate the reading audience.
I had a few problems with how the author handled the characters:
This ultimate ability that Ciri winds up with seems implausible because the way it’s set up, she would have used it more frequently on accident before being truly aware of it. Plus, if it can’t be bound, how was it bound when she was trapped (being vague here to not spoil the story)? And when she was no longer trapped, why did she not continue to use it?
I’m also really bothered by the way the author handled Ciri and Bonhart’s storyline. The conclusion doesn’t seem plausible.
If sorcerers/sorceresses are so powerful that they were crucial to winning battles against Nilfgaard, then why were they portrayed as being pathetically weak in the last scene in Rivia?
How does Ciri’s presence in the location of the closing scene jive with what she told the Lodge about Geralt and Yennefer?
At the beginning of the book, the author has one of his throwaway characters say that legends should have happy endings and not be gritty and real. And that’s what we wind up with, more or less. A deus ex machina. But even the need for the deus ex machina is bizarre, because it only happens when the author forces all of the characters to not use their abilities or to use them poorly for no reason other than to create the situation.
I have the next book. I guess I’m going to read it because I’ve come this far, but this book was really disappointing in a lot of ways.
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LibraryThing member Belbo713
Not the end I was expecting, but the end the characters deserved
LibraryThing member mattries37315
The Second Nilfgaardian War continues as the Northern Kingdoms attempt to push back Nilfgaard while the search for Ciri by everyone concerned with her politically and magically continues, but it’s a certain Geralt of Rivia who is doing it out of love. The Lady of the Lake is the final book of
After the previous book, I came into this one without high expectations and so wasn’t disappointed but after finishing really didn’t feel satisfied. The entire book is framed as a story told by Ciri to Galahad—from the King Arthur mythos—that makes sense when we learn how they’re able to interact in the first place though not so much when it comes to the multiple point-of-views from the decisive battle of Brenna and any other point-of-view that isn’t Ciri, unless the entire series has been told by Ciri which seems a stretch. If there is a huge bright spot it’s Sapkowski’s writing of Brenna that decisively ends the Second Nilfgaardian War with multiple points of view spread throughout both sides. The main plot that deals with Ciri is an interesting arc showing off why everyone is looking for her as well as explaining why she’s talking with Galahad. The last quarter of the book felt like a very long anticlimactic wrap-up with the big event not really a surprise given how the book was opened, it felt like a lot of padding honestly especially the sections on Peace Conference which could have been handled with less text. Overall, this book was like the main series was for me, peaked in the middle with a meandering start and finish.
The Lady of the Lake completed The Witcher story arc, but honestly except for short sections of writing I wasn’t really into Andrzej Sapkowski’s work. While there is a full length prequel book still to be read, I’m overall impression of the series is meh.
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Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher saga and penultimate book published in the series featuring the end of the story of Geralt, Yennifer, Ciri, and everyone else the reader as followed over the course of the series.After the previous book, I came into this one without high expectations and so wasn’t disappointed but after finishing really didn’t feel satisfied. The entire book is framed as a story told by Ciri to Galahad—from the King Arthur mythos—that makes sense when we learn how they’re able to interact in the first place though not so much when it comes to the multiple point-of-views from the decisive battle of Brenna and any other point-of-view that isn’t Ciri, unless the entire series has been told by Ciri which seems a stretch. If there is a huge bright spot it’s Sapkowski’s writing of Brenna that decisively ends the Second Nilfgaardian War with multiple points of view spread throughout both sides. The main plot that deals with Ciri is an interesting arc showing off why everyone is looking for her as well as explaining why she’s talking with Galahad. The last quarter of the book felt like a very long anticlimactic wrap-up with the big event not really a surprise given how the book was opened, it felt like a lot of padding honestly especially the sections on Peace Conference which could have been handled with less text. Overall, this book was like the main series was for me, peaked in the middle with a meandering start and finish.
The Lady of the Lake completed The Witcher story arc, but honestly except for short sections of writing I wasn’t really into Andrzej Sapkowski’s work. While there is a full length prequel book still to be read, I’m overall impression of the series is meh.
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Awards
Nagroda SFinks (2000)
Original publication date
1999
Other editions
The lady of the lake by Andrzej Sapkowski (Paper Book)