The Witcher Saga

[Escriba]

Has anybody read the books in "The Witcher Saga" by Andrzej Sapkowski? I'm about to end the fourth and I'm totally hooked! (I'm so hooked that I've bought the next two books and I plan to read them tomorrow.)

You know all the violence, the blood, the bad language and the sex that "The Lord of the Rings" hints but doesn't show? The Witcher has it

Geralt of Rivia is a damn fine hero, yes sir I really like him. He is cynical, gloomy, pesimistic and annoyingly neutral, but I love him

And Yennefer of Vengerberg... oh-ho, that b-- sorry, witch. Sorry again, Sorceress Personally, I think Triss Merigold is much nicer, but, well, that's her problem, I think.

And Tissaia de Vries! Just... Tissaia de Vries. I love that name. Although the best name goes to Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach Try to put that in a visiting card. By the way, I imagined what he did before actually reading it. I'm a genius.

Sorry, but I'm really liking these books, that's why I sound like a frantic fangirl

Now, if you excuse me, I'll finish the fourth book and take a look at the fifth, just to know if Vilgefortz of Roggeveen has the end he deserves.

[Alelou]

Gah. I'm not sure I can pronounce any of those names while I'm reading, let alone the author's name!

Sounds interesting though. Are those English language books or in translation?

[Escriba]

Heh, not been able to pronounce the names is part of its charm

The books are translations, Sapkowski is a Polish writer. I don't know if it has American distribution, I know you can buy it by UK Amazon, but I'm not sure about the American edition.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Fantasy with violence, blood, bad language and sex? Sounds like George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire saga. Is it as good as Martin's?

[Escriba]

In my opinion, yes. They're different, of course. But the two of them have worlds more based on Middle Age History and realistic settings.

Now, Sapkowski uses European folk much more, especially folk tales (his take on Snow White is priceless.) The Witcher has less main characters, but a good bunch of secondary characters that are very powerful. And it has sex, but less than ASoIaF (and I think it's more... romantic, somehow.)

I suppose R.R. Martin's books are more epic. The Witcher has this sense of "Unforgiven" (the film by Eastwood), you know, the Witcher (who is a "mutant", a pariah) hates his work, but has to do it and do a lot of nasty things to protect people. And he has a wonderful and acid sense of humor.

I have to say that the first novel, although good, seemed a little so-so to me, but I kept reading and in the third book things warm up a lot and it hooks you. It's worth the try.

[Alelou]

Hmm. Amazon has the first book, at least, and the second available for pre-order. The local library system has never heard of the titles or the author. Grrr.

Unforgiven is one hell of a depressing movie, but I love dark takes on old fairy tales. Do you ever read any Angela Carter?

[Escriba]

No, I've heard of her, but never had a chance to read her. Is she good?

Ah, a thing I forgot about the Witcher is its take on non-Human races. Dwarfs and Elves live on guettos and suffer pogroms. And Elves had this guerrilla fighting for their rights and the long lost kingdom...

[Alelou]

It sounds fascinating.

I think you would like Angela Carter. Heroes and Villains is a dark, sexy novel I keep on my shelf and reread from time to time, but I think she's more famous for her takes on fairy tales. I passed along the collection I had of those to friend in my writer's group. I just really admire Carter's writing.

[Asso]

Me too.

[Escriba]

I think you would like Angela Carter. Heroes and Villains is a dark, sexy novel I keep on my shelf and reread from time to time, but I think she's more famous for her takes on fairy tales. I passed along the collection I had of those to friend in my writer's group. I just really admire Carter's writing.

Oh, great, it sounds very interesting, I'll try it when I finish the Witcher.

By the way, I said The Witcher wasn't as epic as ASoIaF, but now I'm not so sure. This thing goes in progression. And Sapkowski follows the rule you learn playing Rol: "If you're a female and you're taken prisoner, you know what's going to happen to you."

[Escriba]

I'm... angry, to say the least.

After waiting patiently to the last book of "The Witcher Saga" ("Lady of the Lake") to be published in Spain, the publishing house releases it this week, I buy it and what do I find out? That it's only the first volume of the last book. Yeah, the publishing house has had the nerve to part the book in two (when originally it's just one volume), sell the first part to 18 euros and then not telling when the second part is going to be published



I'm going to inflict some really hard physical pain to somebody for this. I swear, somebody is going to suffer.

[Alelou]

LOL. Clearly the publisher has no idea how to support itself when that nice source of dependable revenue dries up.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

After waiting patiently to the last book of "The Witcher Saga" ("Lady of the Lake") to be published in Spain, the publishing house releases it this week, I buy it and what do I find out? That it's only the first volume of the last book. Yeah, the publishing house has had the nerve to part the book in two (when originally it's just one volume), sell the first part to 18 euros and then not telling when the second part is going to be published.

It's a common practice here in Sweden too (and I think in a lot of other European countries as well). Some novels have even been split up in three parts. That's why many fans/readers just buy the damn things in English, which also has the advantage of not having to wait for translations. Of course you must know enough English to understand it, but we Swedes are generally quite good at that.

Also, since ours is a small language, not much genre stuff gets translated. In fact, almost no science fiction is translated. What gets translated is only the most popular fantasy novels.

[Ludmila]

It's a common practice here in Sweden too (and I think in a lot of other European countries as well). Some novels have even been split up in three parts. That's why many fans/readers just buy the damn things in English, which also has the advantage of not having to wait for translations. Of course you must know enough English to understand it, but we Swedes are generally quite good at that.

We have many translated books and quite quickly (except Star Trek, as far I know). And our publishers did not make any splitting one book in few ones.
But if I am buying the book in English via Amazon I am spending quadruple (at the best) as compared with the buying of the translated book.
I suppose that is the local peculiarity of the publishing business in the large
reading country.

[Alelou]

Do you have access to Amazon's used books? So many of them are a penny plus postage (which would be a fortune from here, of course).

A field trip to Amsterdam would set you up with plenty of English books from all the English speaking countries, if the city is as I remembered. Or maybe those giant bookstores have been Amazoned out of existence by now.