This is the first novel of The Witcher series proper as the first two books were collections of short stories. Intriguingly, it feels less like Geralt’s story than that of Ciri and one does feel the stage becoming bigger as we gear up to events that change the fate of nations, including the human-scale stories of the previous books. It also marks the first appearance of Triss Merigold and it’s rather surprising that Triss plays the part of the mother figure to Ciri before Yennefer comes into the picture.

As the novel opens, Geralt is a celebrity, his exploits being sung of far and wide by his best friend Dandelion. But a mysterious Reince exploits Dandelion’s friendship with the famous witcher for information and it soon becomes clear that his real target is Ciri. Meanwhile Ciri grows up in Kaer Morhen, the stronghold of the witchers where she is trained in their ways. However she is plagued by nightmares, especially of the night that Cintra fell under assault from the Empire of Nilfgaard and the girl’s burgeoning magical powers make strange things happen when she is distressed. Geralt sends for help from Triss Merigold who arrives and takes Ciri under her care but admits that her expertise does not match that of Yennefer. She also insists that Ciri be given more of an education than just fighting and exercise so in the spring she is sent to the Temple School under the tutelage of Nenneke. Meanwhile Geralt and Dandelion hunts for Reince who has become ever more aggressive in his search for Ciri. Even the rulers of the Northern Kingdoms become aware of her importance while they deliberate on what to do about Nilfgaard and the Scoia’tael rebellion that are certain is being instigated by the Nilfgaardian Emperor.

While quite a few things happen in this novel, it feels like nothing much does. You can the sense that this is more like an extended prologue in which all of the important pieces are put into place but even as we turn the last page, we’re still left waiting for the real story to start. This feeling is exacerbated by the fact many of Ciri’s scenes amount to an extended training montage for her. There is markedly less action here than in previous books and the only monster that shows up is a river-dwelling creature that attacks passing ferries. At the same time, there is plenty of backroom plotting and foreshadowing of tumultuous events to come. Don’t get me wrong, this still makes for a great read as the moment to moment writing is exquisite and I greatly enjoy reading about Ciri learning and growing but this feeling of constantly being on the cusp of something and never quite getting there is unsatisfactory.

On the other hand, the world created by Sapkowski is as great as ever and I especially love how we are constantly reminded that for all the wonder and magic in it this is still a medieval civilization. Not long after Triss is introduced and Ciri expresses admiration and envy for her beauty and womanly qualities, she has a horrible bout of diarrhoea for several days. This means that Geralt has to stoically carry her into the bushes every few hours and clean up after her. I can’t think of any western fantasy book that has a scene like that. Also great are the group conversations such as when the various races evince their different yet similar prejudices. The sense of humor is delicious such as when a university academic disagrees with Geralt over whether or not a particular species of monster exist. The motivations and machinations of the rulers are suitably complex and Machiavellian and of course even Geralt can be wrong at times such as on how far the Scoia’tael are willing to go. I’m very impressed by how everything is so well thought out and thematically consistent in a way that makes this world distinct from other fantasy worlds.

Perhaps Sapkowski intended this as a book to merely whet the appetite in the first place. If so, this worked on me. Even as I’m left disappointed that the real story doesn’t seem to start yet, I’m left wanting  more and most definitely will be buying the next book. I love the characters and their developing relationships, I continue to appreciate how Geralt is an important character but the world doesn’t exactly pivot around him and it’s amazing that through all this, the writing is able to still feel like an old-fashioned fable.