Witcher

[sozme]

Hello all, I'm trying to find the correct chronological order of the Witcher series (English versions) by Andrzej Sapkowski. The comments under the amazon.com English version seem to muddle the issue of which short story or w/e is first, and also the location of where you can find everything in order.

For example, is this the first collection of short stories? (Chronologically speaking): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0010SIPT4/?tag=brite-21

 

[tinkerdan]

If you can sort this out you might get it::

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witcher

It looks as though the dates of publication on amazon try to keep it in the closest approximation of order.

 

[sozme]

Also looking for any comments on what people thought of this series...

 

[tinkerdan]

I will have to read before I form a thought; but it holds some interest.

It's a bit out of my genre; but its origin makes it a tantalizing piece of something fresh and new and I might easily be tempted to at least read the first one.

 

[Nerds_feather]

The correct order is:

The Last Wish
Sword of Destiny
Blood of Elves
Time of Contempt
Baptism of Fire
The Swallow's Tower
Lady in the Lake
Season of Storms

Also, this may be my favorite fantasy series of all-time.

 

[raduz]

Also looking for any comments on what people thought of this series...

I will chime in as someone who have read (almost) all Witcher books. I'm from the Czech Republic, and we have had our Witcher craze during the second half of nineties. The "Sword of Destiny" and "The Last Wish" (short stories) are excellent books full of great fantasy. The saga...not so much. It starts pretty well, but it gets progressively worse and worse with each book. It's obvious that the author got very bored with his characters and sometimes I felt he was trying to actively sabotage them (my opinion). To be honest, at the end of "The Swallow's Tower" I was really bored too, and I have never read "Lady of the Lake". I simply didn't care. I have no idea how good is "Season of Storms", but I will check it out some day. But I have to say it again - the short stories are really, really good. Read them, if you haven't yet.

 

[Overread]

I've been enjoying the Witcher books thus far though its interesting how quick the Witcher is dropped and the author has been spending a lot of time developing other support characters. Tiny bit of a break in the Saga from what I expected after the short story collection which was very Witcher focused, but I enjoy it and seeing the other characters develop in their own identities helps a lot.

Overall I do like them; The Witcher is a neat complex character and the world he's in is in a neat point of chaos and change on that "apocalyptic" edge as things are building up toward a disaster (or predicted one at least). I'd certainly say read the short story completion if nothing else; they are solid fun short stories and you don't have to dip into the large Saga if you don't want to with them. But the Saga is there if you want to

 

[Nerds_feather]

My favorite volume so far is Time of Contempt, which to me is near perfect fantasy.

Actually, if I was to rank the official translations (released so far), I'd put them in this order (follow the links for my reviews):

1. Time of Contempt (Saga #2)
2. (tie) The Last Wish (short story collection, pre-Saga)
2. (tie) Baptism of Fire (Saga #3)
4. Blood of Elves (Saga #1)

[And note that my site does not give '10s' out often--I think only 5 books out of more than 175 reviewed to date.]

 

[sozme]

My favorite volume so far is Time of Contempt, which to me is near perfect fantasy.

Actually, if I was to rank the official translations (released so far), I'd put them in this order (follow the links for my reviews):

1. Time of Contempt (Saga #2)
2. (tie) The Last Wish (short story collection, pre-Saga)
2. (tie) Baptism of Fire (Saga #3)
4. Blood of Elves (Saga #1)

[And note that my site does not give '10s' out often--I think only 5 books out of more than 175 reviewed to date.]

Ah.. thanks. Have you read any of the unofficial translations of the final 2 books (Tower of the Swallow and Lady of the Lake)?