The Tower of the Swallow

Title: The Tower of the Swallow

Author: Andrzej Sapkowski
Publisher: Gollancz
Year: 1997 (20170 Gollancz)
Pages: 436
ISBN: 9781473211575
Series: The Witcher #4
Genre: Fantasy
Reading Time: 10 - 19 Apr
Binding: Paperback
Goodreads

Stars:
★★★★★

Blurb:
 The world has fallen into war. Ciri, the child of prophecy, has vanished. She has take on the guise of a petty bandit and finally lives free.
 But the net around her is closing. The Witcher has assembled a group determined to rescue her, while both sides of the conflict send brutal mercenaries to hunt her down.
 There is only one place left to run. The Tower of the Swallow is waiting . . .

Review:
 It's weird. Now that I've decided this one was a 5 star book, I can't work out how to put in to words why. I'm nearing the end of The Witcher series now so it makes sense that things started to pick up quite a bit in this book. I have to say that the beginning few paragraphs really had me wondering what was going on and if I'd picked up the books in the wrong order, things quickly started making sense though.
 In Baptism of Fire we spend a lot of time with Geralt and practically no one else. We see Geralt again, enough to make us happy but not enough to bore us. This book is noticeably longer than the previous installments and we get so much time with Ciri! Finally! Her journey in this book is just stunning and gut-wrenching. That skate scene, I cannot wait to see that in the Netflix series, I'll be clenching my fingers a lot through that scene! Yennefer makes another appearance, more than the previous two books but still not a massive amount. I'm glad more came up in the later part of the book as I'm really starting to wonder how she's so loved in this fandom when she's hardly present in the source material!
 I noticed a different writing style in this book that previously. I'm reading a translated version but I assume this is something Sapkowski has changed as he's come along. Where we previously went along with the story we now have lots of people revealing their accounts of the event and then having a flashback to it. I quite enjoy it, slightly refreshing to have a style change but my goodness does it bring in a lot of new characters!
 I do feel like we're now going somewhere in this series. But it's almost like things are just about to start as opposed to end. I've said for some previous books that there was almost nothing to further the plot and story for the overall series. The pace is picked up a lot in this book but I can't hep wonder that is this series were being written today or by a different author then the books so far would perhaps be two big books in the beginning of a series rather than all but two of the books. I hope that makes sense.
 I have to circle back to Ciri, my goodness that girl goes through so much in this book. Yen too but for a much less visible period. There's not attempt to shy away from the really awful things that happen in the world of political war where individuals are trying to gain all they can with no regard for the welfare of others.
 I'm kind of sad to be nearly finishing this series, I think I'll end up slowly going through the next book!

Baptism of Fire

Title: Baptism of Fire

Author: Andrzej Sapkowski
Publisher: Gollancz
Year: 1996 (2020 Gollancz)
Pages: 343
ISBN: 9781473231108
Series: The Witcher #3
Genre: Fantasy
Reading Time: 20 Mar - 10 Apr
Binding: Paperback
Goodreads

Stars:
★★★★☆

Blurb:
 The Witcher is supposed to be a guardian of the innocent, a protector of those in need, a defender against the monsters that prey on men in dark times.
 But now that dark times are here, Geralt lies gravely injured. As he recovers and learns that Ciri may be in the Nilfgaard court, he sets out through a war-torn land to find her.

Review:
 Only on opening up this book did I realise quite how lost I got amidst the action in the closing chapters of Time of Contempt. I opened the page, wasn't immediately drawn into the first chapter and then put this book down for a few days or even weeks as COVID-19 took hold of us. When I picked it up again I couldn't really remember who had done the damage of what to our main characters. Obviously, don't read this review without having read the previous books in the Witcher series.
 Geralt begins in Brokilon where we meet Milva, a new badass female lead who's nifty with a bow and arrow. We get a lot of page time with Geralt in this one to make up for what was missed in Time of Contempt. He's as grumpy and determined to protect Ciri as ever. Dandelion is also very present along with further attempts to introduce Cahir and one of my new favourite characters; Regis. The company Geralt has in this book is great, throwing me back to The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny. It's like the good old days for him except he has far more purpose.
 How about our other characters? Ciri and Yennefer. Well. Don't expect to see much of them in this one, though I admit what we were given was enough for me to be satisfied in this book. Ciri hasn't landed herself in great company and is not the sweet girl Geralt was previously training. Yennefer better get a chance to kick some ass pretty soon!
 In terms of pacing and plot. For a book that doesn't move the plot of the series along at all, I couldn't have enjoyed it more. As I said above, it took me back to the great short stories of Geralt in The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny, it was great. There is a bit more world building and first hand experience of the war, allowing us to actually experience the fighting and those that are opposing Nilfgaard. Something we've only really read of in discussions.
 Having noted odd things on what is remarked about females in this series so far. Mentioning women's periods in Blood of Elves, describing revealing clothing in Time of Contempt, I'm not surprised that Milva added something else to the list. An interesting if brief trouble for our little gang to deal with.
 Swiftly on to the next book I go, that last paragraph or so just made me smile so hard.

Time of Contempt

Title: Time of Contempt

Author: Andrzej Sapkowski
Publisher: Gollancz
Year: 1995 (2020 Gollancz)
Pages: 331
ISBN: 9781473231092
Series: The Witcher #2
Genre: Fantasy
Reading Time: 12 - 19 March
Binding: Paperback
Goodreads

Stars:
★★★★☆

Blurb:
 After decades of oppression, the elves and other races are fighting each other and attacking the humans in ever-growing numbers. The kings and armies fear invasion from across the river - but fear their neighbours more. Dissent and intrigue fester in this time of contempt.
 As Ciri learns to control her magic, Geralt and Yennefer must protect the orphaned heir who is soughts by all sides. For the child of prophecy has the power to change the world - if she lives to use it.

Review:
 If you've read my reviews of the previous work in The Witcher series you'll know I really enjoyed the short story collections that come before the main series and I found the first book a little slow. This is not a usual second book in a series that just feels like a bridge to the next book, I was not disappointed. I felt like so much more happened than in comparison to the first book.
 Again this book is split only in to seven chapters. The opening few chapters were excellent and then I got a bit confused with all the loyalties and kingdoms and who is employed by who. This started a small amount in Blood of Elves but it left me a little more lost in this one, thus one start missing.
 I'm glad of the page time we get for Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri in this one. Lots of it together as well which we didn't get as much of in prior books. I'm still trying to work out exactly what Ciri feels for the witcher in this one as I'm not sure she knows herself.
 We have a more interesting setting for this book and we are introduced to a whole load of sorcerers and sorceresses. The sorceresses are typically a little more exotic and there's a fair bit of Geralt trying not to ogle at some exposed breasts. Honestly? I wasn't offended, this is not as bad as it could get and I think it fits that these are supposed to be more exotic characters with many years of history and many efforts made to make them beautiful. There will be scheming and simple pleasures. Sure, you could get offended by the misogyny but I didn't think it was bad enough to cause any dislike of the book. Female readers are happy to fall head over heels for Geralt and complain about the fact he has less page time on this book but feel outrage over some exposed breasts? Get out of here.
 We get a whole load of action and mystery in this one. We get a real bit of a view in to Ciri and what her training has done for her. Another great closing chapter.
 Where you would usually expect the first book to set up for a large cliffhanger, this is where this book ends up instead and so I expect the third book, Baptism of Fire, to be more of a bridge as we'd expect of a sequel. Something about how the pacing in these are written makes me think this whole series may have been covered by other authors in only two books. We shall see.

IT

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Blood of Elves

Title: Blood of Elves

Author: Andrzej Sapkowski
Publisher: Gollancz
Year: 1994 (2009 Gollancz)
Pages: 315
ISBN: 9780575084841
Series: The Witcher #1
Genre: Fantasy
Reading Time: 5 - 10 March
Binding: Paperback
Goodreads

Stars:
★★★★☆

Blurb:
 For more than a hundred years humans, dwarves, gnomes and elves lived together in relative peace. But times have changed, and now the races fight each other once again. In this tumultuous time a child is born; Ciri. She has strange powers and a stranger destiny, for a prophecy names her as one with the power to cha the world, for good or for evil.
 The witcher Geralt has taken Ciri to relative safety, but it soon becomes clear that Ciri is not like the other witchers. As the threat of war hangs over the land, Geralt and Ciri are pursued by someone who understands exactly what the prophecy means - and exactly what Ciri's power could do. This time Geralt may have met his match.

Review:
 Finally on to a full book of the witcher seri following the two collections of short stories. I have to say that after reading those fast paced short stories, this felt really, really slow. That's the point at which I took a star off. I really thought a bit more would happen given it's a first book in a series. Had I picked this up first, I'm not sure I'd continue. However I've got myself invested and am currently in the midst of beginning the fourth book as I write this.
 Geralt and Ciri have a great relationship and I enjoy really seeing it in action for this length of time. We get some detail of other witchers in the opening chapters which is really interesting and get to meet some other characters which I'm familiar with from the short stories. All great except one; Triss. What an annoying character she was in this one, the man doesn't want you Triss, get over it! Then it just gets worse and worse. I'm also shocked by the lack of presence of some characters that I know are considered main characters so it will be interesting to see how the love for the characters has built as more material from the author is given.
 In terms of world-building, I have to say I got more from the short stories. In this book I began to get really confused by the amount of places, people and who to recognise in relation to which places. This is not something I've experienced before, I'm usually really good at keeping track of detail like this and I wasn't attempting to read any other series at the time. I find that when there are lots of characters introduced in one scene, it all mixes up rather quickly.
 I enjoy the humour and really took note that Sapkowski hasn't driven away from female anatomy which I find even a lot of female authors fail to address in books. Periods can make women feel ill, yes, address that. I thought that scene was great.
 It's a short number of chapters to this book, only seven from what I remember and that last chapter with Yennefer and Ciri was. Just. Fantastic.
 I was borrowing this series from the library and there has been a LONG queue since the release of the Netflix series. So much so that my county library ordered 16 more of each book. I managed to go in just before COVID-19 shut all our libraries and grabbed the rest of the series. ALL. OF. THEM. Now I get to keep them for 3 months as they have postponed return times until July. I can take the rest at whatever pace I like!

Alice in Zombieland

Title: Alice in Zombieland
Author: Gena Showalter
Publisher: MIRA INK
Year: 2012
Pages: 404
ISBN: 9781848451575
Series: White Rabbit Chronicles #1
Genre: Zombies/ Paranormal/ Retelling
Reading Time: 24 - 29 Feb
Binding: Paperback
Goodreads

Stars:
★★★☆☆

Blurb:
 Her father was right. The monsters are real. . .
 To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn't careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies. . .
 I wish I could go back and do a thousand things differently. I'd tell my sister no. I'd never beg my mother to talk to my dad. I'd zip my lips and swallow those hateful words. Or, barring all of that, I'd hug my sister, my mom and my dad one last time. I'd tell them I love them. I wish . . . Yeah, I wish.

Review:
 It has been a few weeks since finishing this book, I was on a once in a lifetime holiday and had no qualms about leaving it on an airport stand for someone else to pick up later. It's back from the Twilight times, when retellings were busting out of publisher's ears and no one was sick of zombies, werewolves or vampires yet. I bought it a while ago and these books have just sat on my shelf ever since. Spotting an opportunity to clear some shelf space this book finally had its chance.
 The referencing to Alice in Wonderland is nice and plain to see, some of it was just a tad tacky for my liking but hey, it always will be. The white rabbit is my main issue, it didn't feel like it was really justified even with the explanation we got.
 Ali is awkward, a nice kind of awkward to read. The tone of her voice and the speed means I felt I could flick though and read this book rather quickly. It wasn't massively fast paced but enough to get me reading properly for the first time in a while.
 We've got a good range of characters and I'm interested to see how they develop in the following books. Meeting them all was a bit abrupt but that fits with going to a new school. I think the complexity of this world has got some real expanding to do in the next books. Not to mention, with COVID-19 going on I feel like continuing with a good little zombie series.