1993 (originally in Polish), 2015
(English translation); 374 pages. Translator:
David French. Book 2 (out of 8) in “The Witcher” series. New Author? : No. Genres: Epic Fantasy; Anthology; Sword and Sorcery. Overall Rating : 8*/10.
Six more tales of the early adventures of the
Witcher. Back before he was featured in
comic books, video games, role-playing quests, board games, and even a Russian
rock opera called The Road of No Return. Back when the only language the stories were
issued in was Polish.
This was in the early 90s when tales of the Witcher were only penned as short stories. After a dozen or so of those, Andrzej
Sapkowski, moved up to writing full-length novels, and still later his tales were translated into many other languages, including English.
The short stories would be
combined into two anthologies, each containing a half dozen tales. I’ve read the first collection, The Last Wish; it is reviewed here. I’ve finally got around to reading the second
volume of those short stories, which is titled Sword
of Destiny.
What’s To Like...
The six tales in Sword
of Destiny are:
1.) The
Bounds of Reason (81 pages)
2.) A Shard
of Ice (46 pages)
3.) Eternal
Flame (50 pages)
4.) A Little
Sacrifice (65 pages)
5.) Sword of
Destiny (66 pages)
6.) Something
More (59 pages)
Unlike the selections in the
first anthology, the stories here all seem to take place in chronological
order. They have other recurring
characters besides the Witcher, who of course is in them all. The bard Dandelion appears in 4 of the 6 tales, the
sorceress Yenefer appears in 3, and the waif of destiny, Ciri, who I don’t
recall being in the first anthology at all, makes her debut here via 2 of the
stories. I have a feeling these three
will all continue to be present in the full-length novels that follow.
Our heroes cross paths with a
host of critters, including basilisks, dragons, dwarves, zeugls, halflings,
dopplers, gnomes, mermaids, dryads, and myriapods. All of them are worthy to be wary of. There is some magic, including the Witcher’s
ability to invoke certain “signs”, but sorcery is not necessarily a cure-all against a hacking-&-slashing warrior. I liked that.
The paperback version I read is
written in English (translated, actually), not American, so you can fight with sabres,
eat vittals and molluscs, be as barmy
and nosey as you wish, and even carry
a child pick-a-back. The stories are set in various medieval-era
villages, including one, Novigrad, which I presume references a present-day
town in Croatia. I enjoyed joining in
with the Beltrane celebration in the Story 6, smiled smugly when halflings
appeared in Story 3, was impressed by the mayor who haggled with the Witcher in
Story 2, and snickered at the mention of cannabis, also in Story 2, where it is
used as a balm/elixir. Sure.
All six stories were good, but
my favorite was the first one, The Bounds of Reason, which is also the longest
tale. Without giving any spoilers, let us
simply make the point that, while putting together a gang of thrill-seekers to go find and kill a
dragon and divvy up the treasure trove it presumably is guarding, one of the group always has to confront the dragon first, and that poor soul almost always ends up
burnt to a crisp.
Kewlest New Word ...
Snug (n.) : a small, comfortable public room
in an inn or pub (a Britishism).
Others: Kilim (n.).
Ratings…
Amazon:
4.7/5
based on 30,294 ratings and 1,195 reviews.
Goodreads: 4.28/5 based on 168,483
ratings and 9,356 reviews
Excerpts...
“The Holy Book says,” Eyck said, now
yelling loudly, “that the serpent, the foul dragon, with seven heads and ten
horns, will come forth from the abyss!
And on his back will sit a woman in purple and scarlet, and a golden
goblet will be in her hand, and on her forehead will be written the sign of all
and ultimate whoredom!”
I know her!” Dandelion said,
delighted. “It’s Cilia, the wife of the
Alderman of Sommerhalder!”
“Quieten down, poet, sir,” Gyllenstieren
said. (pg. 53)
“I love her,” Agloval said firmly. “I want her for my wife. But for that she must have legs and not a
scaly tail. And it’s feasible, since I
bought a magical elixir with a full guarantee, for two pounds of exquisite
pearls. After drinking it she’ll grow
legs. She’ll just suffer a little, for
three days, no more. Call her. Witcher, tell her again.”
“I’ve already told her twice. She said absolutely no, she doesn’t
consent. But she added that she knows a
witch, a sea witch, who is prepared to cast a spell to turn your legs into a
handsome tail. Painlessly.”
“She must be insane! She thinks I would have a fishy tail? Not a chance!” (pg. 184)
“To me, frankly
speaking, you are equally loathsome.”
“Thank you.” (pg.
40)
It’s hard to find anything to
grouse about in Sword of Destiny.
There’s a moderate amount of
cussing: I noted 27 instances in the first 20% of the book, and I’m curious as to how a translator handles
Polish-to-English cusswords. I imagine
scatological and copulative vocabulary exists in both languages, but what about
eternal judgment ones?
That’s all I can complain
about. Yes, it is an anthology, and
those are rarely as good as an author’s full-length novels. But that just makes me anxious to start in on
Book 3 of the series, Blood of Elves, which
is not an anthology, and which I have on my Kindle.
Summing up, Sword of
Destiny was a pleasant reading surprise for me. The writing/translating was masterfully done,
and the dialogue was once again rich in Andrzej Sapkowski’s wit and humor. None of the stories dragged, and deeper
subjects, such as destiny and honor, are explored without the text becoming
preachy.
I’m tempted to take a look at
the Netflix adaptation of the series, just to see how well the author’s
literary skills segue onto the silver screen.
8 Stars. Sword of Destiny was the winner of the 2012 Tahtifantasia Award for Best Foreign Fantasy book released in Finland. You say you’ve never heard of that? Me neither, but it is nice to see that Wikipedia has a posting for it, and that Finland appreciates the labors of those who do Polish-to-Finnish translations.
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