The Witcher - Blood of Elves - final thoughts
In the end, I'd give this book 3.5 to 4 stars.
I think your enjoyment of the book highly depends on how much you already like the Witcher universe.
Personally, I had a lot of fun reading this. Because I already know so much about the characters and the universe, I was delighted everytime someone I knew appeared or something I remembered happened. After spedning years reading and writing Witcher fanfics, it was great to go back to the original source material.
I was reminded of many things I had forgotten, like Dandelion's apprentice or Everett, and cleared up a few plot questions I had. It was also very validating to read about Lambert (my absolute favorite atm) being the youngest child(TM).
But I totally understand why some reviews call the book "underwhelming" and "lengthy". Most of these reviews compare it to The Last Wish or Sword of Destiny and I get that. Blood of Elves is very different from those two.
It is very clearly a book that aims to set the foundation for a series. Sapkowski enjoys his politics and his philosophical musings and you get a lot of that in Blood of Elves. But in a good way. Sapkowski worked very hard on his "show-don't-tell" and therefor we get to read about how the political and social climate is changing. He doesn't tell us "humans start hating non-humans" he shows us through lengthy debates, war meetings and arguements between characters of opposing sides.
To better understand why Ciri is the way she is, we are given an in-depth look into her life at Kaer Morhen and the Temple of Melitele. Learning to become a Witcher first, then learning how to become a sorceress. Sapkowski shows us how and through which events Ciri is developing her moral compass. And again and again and again it shows us just how much Geralt is willing to endure to protect his ward. His daughter.
Blood of Elves sets the foundation to Ciri's story, and it's a very strong and detailed foundation.
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