I mean it’s the Witcher!
What else do you need to be told?
It’s a phenomenal world built around the characters, and these really are characters you get to know and feel a connection to.

This continues a story if depth and magic. I was intrigued to see what was next for Geralt. Fantastic storytelling.

A long while ago (2015) I read my first introduction to the world of The Witcher - Sword of Destiny - and really enjoyed it, and promised myself that I'd read more of the series, so a couple of years later when I saw The Lady of the Lake come up on Netgalley review site I grabbed it. Unfortunately the gap between reading the first book and the second was too long, and I couldn't remember characters clearly, their story-lines or how they related to each other, and so I abandoned the book.

Roll on a few more years, and Netflix have turned The Witcher into a tv series which I watched avidly over Christmas. Eight episodes wasn't enough for me, so I've returned to this neglected book. Now having a better grasp of The Witcher's world, I could comparatively easily slip back into it - I knew more about Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri, and how their stories fitted together, I'd realised that Jaskier of the Netflix series was called Dandelion in the books (it's a translation issue; Jaskier means 'buttercup' which wasn't considered quite right for the character). The Lady of the Lake doesn't however follow on from the tv series, in fact is the final book, so don't go reading it if you like a story to develop sequentially. I don't mind too much with an epic multi-book series; I like to know who lives happily ever after, that the bad guys get their comeuppance, and then go back and slowly read how it all came about.
Another thing I'd become used to on the Netfix show was the story jumping about in time and in viewpoint. The publisher's blurb above puts the emphasis on Ciri's story, but while she's trying to escape from the Elves, Yennefer is being held captive elsewhere, and Geralt and his companions are passing the winter in the kingdom of Toussaint, and in some uncertain future time two sorceresses, Nimue and Condwiramurs, are trying to unravel Ciri's story through dreams. Somehow Sapkowski manages to juggle all these elements (and a few shorter-lived threads) and keep the story moving as a cohesive whole, heading towards a grand finale for the series.

There's a compelling mix of fantasy and folk tales, with complex characters who feel emotionally fleshed-out and 'real', and scenes like the doctors struggling to save lives on a battlefield that, bar their obvious use of sorcery, could fit neatly into any historical drama.

The world created by Sapkowski intrigued me when I first read Sword of Destiny, now I'd definitely like to explore it further.

I did not realise this was a sequel -- oops! I did not read this, as I have not yet started the series.

DNF'd at 55%.

A shame that I couldn't get through the final book in the series but the majority of this book was a chore to read. Too much time hopping, world swapping, new and boring characters and not enough time spent with the people I actually cared about. I'm sure I'll come back to this sometime when I have more patience and time but it just wasn't for me at the moment. I just wasn't excited about what I was reading.

I have read and reviewed the previous 6 books on Fantasybookreview.co.uk which is why this has taken me so long to give feedback.

I' not posting this on FBR as hopefully one of our other reviewers will refer it and give it a better score.

Overall though, I really enjoyed the series and WIll review Season of Storms soon.

I did not know that this was a sequel so I put it down quite quickly.

What a wonderful end to a great series! This is the kind of book that lights up your imagination and works its way into your dreams. If you like sword and sorcery style reads, you'll love this tale.

A brilliant addition to the Witcher world - one that I really enjoy taking a mental vacation in for all the dark undertones. I think the world building and our Witcher MC are the author's greatest strengths. Loved tjis installment and looking forward to more.

My boyfriend recommended The Witcher series to me because he plays the game. It seemed like just the kind of fantasy series I love and when the chance to request Lady of the Lake came up on Netgalley I bought the rest of the series and read them all in a week.


As a quick summary of the others; The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny are collections of short stories and form the first two books in the series. Blood of Elves, The Time of Contempt, Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow and The Lady of the Lake make up the 'saga'.

I'll warn you initially that It would be impossible for me to completely avoid spoilers with it being the 7th book in a series so if you haven't read them don't read on!

The first few books focus on Geralt the witcher. A 'mutant' version of a human who earns money by killing a variety of monsters who live in the world. He has a friend called Dandelion, a poet or troubadour, an on/off girlfriend Yennefer who is a powerful sorceress. Then Cirilla the 'lion cub' of Cintra is thrown into the mix, linked to Geralt by destiny. Ciri is a link to the much coveted 'elder blood' and everyone wants to get their hands on her. Everyone, especially Ciri is at risk as Geralt and Yennefer and all Geralt's friends try to help her.


Lady of the Lake picks up where The Tower of the Swallow left off. Running away from her pursuers, Ciri has travelled to the world of the elder people through The Tower of the Swallow but they're not what they seem, they have their own motivations and intentions and Ciri has to try and make a desperate escape with the help of an old friend.

Meanwhile Geralt and Yennefer unsure of each other's intentions or even if they're each still alive are desperately trying to find her.


I'll try not to say too much more about the plot to avoid the aforementioned spoilers and instead I'll give my opinion on the book as a whole.

Firstly I found that this was the book I liked least out of the whole series. Where the other 6 show a lot about Geralt and the world the characters live in, this one is mainly about Ciri.

Ciri's time/place jumping felt very annoying and cliche. In the first few books Sapkowski uses well known fairy tale and twists them into his own style making them fresh and interesting.


In Lady of the Lake however it's almost as if he took every legend, myth, fairytale and even historical event and just threw it in there for good measure.

Not only that but the jumping between time and place in the story also became confusing. Paragraph by paragraph it jumped from one place and person to another making me lose the plot completely sometimes!

There were some shocks and surprises and definitely some good bits! It's been a great series all in all, in fact better than great it's been amazing and I'm sad that it's ended. I found the ending very confusing and I'm still not entirely sure what happened. However, despite being disappointed with the last book and ending I'd still definitely recommend this series to anyone who loves fantasy particularly fans of Game of Thrones and The Lord of the Rings.

Lady of the Lake (Saga o Wiedźminie #7) by Andrzej Sapkowski is a book of The Witcher but you don't have to have read the series to read this, it can be a stand alone. This book is told in such an unusual way that it makes the book intriguing in that way alone! The story is about Ciri, The Lady of the Lake, but told, well...it is a challenge to explain, easier to read. There is so many fantasy creatures and adventures in this book! Different worlds, so much action and adventure that my muscles were so tight from clenching up while reading I thought I would need a muscle relaxant! I stayed up all night to finish this, it was too good to wait. Elves, trolls, unicorns, magic, time travel, and so much sword play. This old lady's arms were sore, lol. No wonder this book has almost 6,000 5 star reviews alone! The characters are so well developed and the plot so twisted, surprise filled, looping, and well planned, incredible. Loved this book. Wow! Thanks NetGalley for another Winner!