I gave this book 5 stars, but I do feel like this book lacked a little bit of BAM power. Nothing major happens, but I believe we are setting the foundations for some drastic changes, and that is what gripped me and entertained me so much, thinking of all the possibilities for "what could happen". I loved that we had a loads of Ciri in this book, and that we can keep her company while she tries to find herself and understand what she really is.
Chapter 1 I was hesitant at first, but warmed to it as I went. At first I thought the dialogue scene following Dandelion's ballad went on too long, but by the end I enjoyed the setting and backstory it developed. And it was a bit exciting to see the witchers' keep.I said for one of the previous books that the series help me get out of a reading rut and I would come back when I felt stuck again. Well, here I am and am glad to be.
Chapter 2 The appearance of another sorceress who has slept with and still desires Geralt is...disappointing. A reminder that I'm reading something written in the 90s. Tess as a character is okay. I have some doubts about her motives for being there. I liked the bit with Ciri having started her cycle, makes sense and adds depth and humor to the story. It is interesting that the witchers were feeding Ciri the herbs, because if I remember the show correctly, Geralt was much more firm about Ciri not doing the change. I guess I also find their motives uncertain.
Chapter 4 My favourite part of the series so far has been this conflict between the races. In the short stories, we saw different races coping with being displaced from their land. In this chapter, we saw the complications of whether to choose to ally or fight, to survive or do go down with pride intact. But also the complications of who is considered 'original' to the land and therefore having a better claim to it.
I did find the whole scheme, the 'trap' set for the dwarves, to be a bit unbelievable. An expensive and time-consuming way of testing loyalty.
The structure of the book is interesting. Somewhere between short story collection and novel. Each chapter fed into the next, but I didn't feel like it was building an arc within the book, only setting up for the next book.
