Title: Sword of Destiny
Author: Andrzej Sapkowski
Genre: Fantasy
In short: A wonderful collection of shot stories about Geralt of Rivia.
No spoilers
It’s taken me a very long time to get around to reading the second collection of The Witcher short stories, Sword of Destiny. In fact, I first downloaded the ebook of The Last Wish about a year ago now, but you know, life gets in the way (that, and I’ve also been spending a lot of time trying to finish the video game adaptation). Spurred on by the teaser for the television show I am glad to announce I finally picked up the next Witcher book. So here is my review.
The second collection of Witcher short stories is very different from the first. There are more reoccurring appearances by old characters and there is more of a feeling of continuation through the stories. Sapkowski uses The Sword of Destiny to further explore the world of The Witcher, whilst also setting up characters for the events of the series of novels (which starts with Blood of Elves). The short stories in this book seem more concerned with character development than monster-fighting action. Not that I minded much at all. I loved reading about the characters who I have become so familiar with in the video games (although many of them are quite different in the books).
My absolute favourite tale in this collection of short stories was the first, The Bounds of Reason. I loved the characters in this short story and I loved how rounded the story was. There was a solid beginning, middle and a nice little twist at the end to sum it all up. The story also expands on the relationship between Yennefer and Geralt whilst also including an appearance by Dandelion. Whilst the rest of the stories in this collection weren’t quite as great as the first I still enjoyed them immensely.
I thought it was quite genius how Sapkowski weaves folklore and fairytales into the Witcher universe. I greatly enjoyed the allusion to The Little Mermaid in the short story A Little Sacrifice. My only real complaint is that there aren’t more short stories to read before I delve into the novels.
I’m rating Sword of Destiny 4/5 stars.
Brylie and Books 
I am working through this book now! Great review.
Thanks! Hope you’re enjoying it!
I also really loved Sword of Destiny more than The Last Wish and I agree with the points you made. Thanks to that teaser I also made my way through the book series and I really loved it! I had some issues with the political aspects and some of the storytelling arrangements, but overall a fantastic series!
I just finished Blood of Elves. I’m not sure how to feel about it. Not at all what I was expecting, but I think I’ll continue with it anyway.