Blood of Elves by: Andrzej Sapkowski translated by Danusia Stok

Shifting a series from short stories to feature length novels are not an easy feat due to the different styles of writing that must happen when writing these different types of prose.  Short stories can only facilitate a few characters and tell a whole story meant to be experienced in one sitting while novels facilitate a much longer page count.  The plot of a novel by its very nature must be more complex than that of a short story and almost always features more characters and plots.  Blood of Elves is the first full length novel of The Witcher series and shifts away from collecting short stories into a five-part story arc which runs deeply through each of the books.  When opening Blood of Elves, what the reader will immediately notice is that the story begins during the events of “Something More” from Sword of Destiny, yet not told from the perspective of Geralt of Rivia, but as a nightmare had by Ciri.  While Sapkowski seems to be using this as a recap, it isn’t as effective as it could have been made more effective if “Something More” was included as a prologue to this novel.  It is further compounded by the fact that Sword of Destiny was not published in the English speaking world until 2015.  Luckily any damage to the story because of this is made up for due to the fact that now all readers can read in order, but there is still a sense that something is missing from the beginning of this book.  It is also interesting to note that this book was translated by Danusia Stok and published in the English speaking world just after The Last Wish, so the style of translation throughout reading is slightly different with small portions of the book feeling like metaphors that only work in the original Polish.



Blood of Elves is also a book where the “main” character is not Geralt of Rivia, this story is not the story of the Witcher, but the story of Ciri.  Yes, Geralt heavily features in the book and is a major player, but after the halfway point his appearance and contribution to the plot is minimal.  The later half spends its time with Geralt setting up his own plotline for future events.  During the first half of the novel there is quite a bit of time spent developing the subtle caring relationship he has with Ciri.  At the beginning of the novel, Ciri is training with other Witchers at Kaer Morhen and while Geralt never takes it easy when it comes to Ciri, there are these subtle moments which show that he cares and that he is proud of her for coming this far and persevering.



The scenes at Kaer Morhen also introduce another enchantress character, Triss Merigold, who is a fierce woman unabashed at challenging the Witchers for what they plan to do for Ciri.  The Witcher’s elixers which allow them to become witchers have damaging effects on their bodies and it is Triss who stops them from using them on Ciri.  She becomes protective of allowing Ciri to grow into a woman, as the effects would be harsher for women than men.  Sapkowski uses Triss to give the reader good inclinations at the other Witchers of Geralt’s order including Vesemir and Lambert.  Vesemir was Geralt’s mentor and is several centuries old, but due to being a Witcher only looks middle aged.  Sapkowski characterizes him as incredibly intelligent, yet lacking some slight common sense as how to teach a young girl such as Ciri.  Lambert is the most antagonistic of the Witcher’s presence, hating the fact that she is impressed with Ciri’s skills and the one it takes the longest to be impressed by.



The second half of the novel deals with Ciri being sent to the temple of Melitele from The Last Wish and being trained by Yennefer to be a magician.  The dynamic between Ciri and Yennefer is one that almost forms to a mother/daughter bond.  It isn’t a typical bond as such, but the mentoring force of Yennefer shows that the sorceress grows to care for the child.  She is a character who has this influence and almost godlike calm when dealing with Ciri, who believes she doesn’t have the ability to use magic.  Yennefer spends much of the later half of the book giving Ciri a mix of encouragement and stern guidance to coax out Ciri’s best possible self.  There is also teaching of emotional maturity given to the young princess, as she is teased for remaining a virgin at the incredibly high age of 13.



Outside of Ciri’s plotline, the background of the novel is devoted to a brewing war between the Scoia’tael (Squirrel) elves and the kingdom of Nilfgaard.  There are forces working behind the scenes attempting to make the prophecies about Ciri come through including a wizard called Rience who serves a higher power, Vilgefortz of Roggeveen.  Vilgefortz is clearly being set up to be one of the big bad’s behind as he is shrouded in mystery.  Rience is immediately introduced as a threat as he lulls Dandelion into a false sense of security and proceeds to torture him for information on Geralt and Ciri.  This is Dandelion’s only appearance in this novel and he is saved by Yennefer before he can actually give up his friend’s location.  Sapkowski writes the scene excellently, showing just how strong the normally comic relief character actually is.  He holds out in the face of torture and Yennefer being an absolute badass, scarring the villain is also excellent.  There’s also a lot of this early book showing just how the tensions are building and how neither the elves nor the humans really have valid claims for war, but war is definitely coming and dwarven friends of Geralt seem to be caught in the middle.  Overall, Sapkowski does an excellent job setting the stage for the coming saga and putting plots into motion which will eventually be paid off in future books.  The book has a slow start, yet leaves the reader wanting more.  9/10.