The Tower of the Swallow

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Ciri reaches Stygga Castle to save Yennefer, but Vilgefortz imprisons her since he plans to inseminate her to claim the prophesied magic user. Geralt and his group storm the castle and free Yennefer, but Geralt's companions Milva and Angoulême are killed, and Cahir is killed by Bonhart, who is himself killed by Ciri. When Geralt, Yennefer, and Regis confront Vilgefortz, Regis is killed, but Geralt kills Vilgefortz with help from an amulet gifted by Fringilla. Geralt and Yennefer reunite with Ciri.

Ominous Walk: Ciri takes her time when approaching what is left of the outfit chasing her. They can clearly hear her slow strolling with ice skates, but everyone is too affected by hypothermia at this point to even move. For a series that gives the impression of being about the Witcher, Book 4 does not have that much content regarding Geralt and his company. There is a relatively short account from Dandelion’s POV covering what happens to their group after the Battle for the Bridge on the Yaruga,but most of it is just interactions of the characters mainly featured in Baptism of Fire, which I very much enjoyed nonetheless. There’s also the fact that Ciri gets visibly upset when the female elf at Avallac’h’s lab implies that he is only interested in Ciri for his work and can’t wait to be rid of her. Ciri is in fact so mad after meeting her she wants to destroy the lab. Is Avallac’h Good or Evil? Apart from the above I pretty much like everything about this book. Just how Baptism of Fire was Geralt's book this is Ciri's book. The plot follows Ciri's life after the Rats were killed.

Tropes found in the book:

Protecting Ciri from the dangerous effects of her uncontrolled power, like severe mental illness, is only a secondary benefit, not his primary motive. Ciri and Avallac’h: Forbidden Romance? Drawings of Ciri in Avallac’h’s lab. The plot is also the same as it was in the previous three books. This series, a five book series discounting the first two short story collections, is definitely two books too long and probably four books too long. Everything seems to take around two chapters to tell. A journey that could be told in one sentence ends up taking approximately half the book and we are left wondering why. Nothing particularly exciting happens during these journeys, except meeting new characters that add nothing to the story because the characters we already know are weak and two dimensional. Their interaction is always so false and incredibly immature. Swallows even stepped up the action. The action scenes featuring Witcher and Co were complete mayhem as always, and there are many memorable moments.But Ciri stole the show with amazing finale fight on the ice. Seriously, words fail me! Sapkowski has won five Zajdel Awards, including three for short stories "Mniejsze zło" (Lesser Evil) (1990), "Miecz przeznaczenia" (Sword of Destiny) (1992) and "W leju po bombie" (In a Bomb Crater) (1993), and two for the novels "Krew elfów" (Blood of Elves) (1994) and "Narrenturm" (2002). He also won the Spanish Ignotus Award, best anthology, for The Last Wish in 2003, and for "Muzykanci" (The Musicians), best foreign short story, same year. Hermit Guru: Vysogota of Corvo, a philosopher who was exiled for his views and had to settle down incognito on a swamp.

I get the appeal of heroes who always do what is right, who are ready to die for their country or whatever greater cause they have in mind. Yennefer however admits that she doesn’t WANT to sacrifice anything, even for some greater cause, that she LIKES taking vengeance for all the wrong that was done to her. It must sound selfish, but I can completely respect that attitude! In the Northern Kingdoms centuries after the main story, the sorceress Condwiramurs is apprenticed to Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, to study the legend of Geralt and Ciri. Condwiramurs has clairvoyant dreams and recovers many scenes about them.Tired of Running: After half of a book worth of escaping from her captors (or the whole saga, including a few pre-Saga short stories till this point), Ciri finally snaps and turns the table on them, using all the advantages she can. The story once again follows our beloved protagonist, Geralt of Rivia. He is tasked with rescuing Ciri, a powerful young woman who is also a witcher-in-training. Ciri has been trapped in the Tower of Swallows, a mysterious and ancient tower located in the land of Tir na Lia. The tower is said to be a gateway to other worlds, and many believe that whoever controls it, controls the fate of the world. Ironically, Ciri doesn't know what Rience does to her adoptive mother. Her cutting off all of Rience's fingers is because he threatened to use those fingers to torture her. The Easy Way or the Hard Way: Ciri initially refuses to take the fisstech Bonhart tries to force on her, only relenting when he threatens to strip her and apply the drug to some of her other "mucous membranes".

To fully understand Avallach’s goal, we need to first talk about other lore elements like Ithlinne’s Prophecy and the Conjunction of the Spheres.The Witcher series by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski continues, with the Child Surprise Ciri travelling around with a bunch of thieves and bandits called the Rats, whilst Geralt, sorcerers and the Emperor send out people to find her. Dramatic Irony: Dandelion spends a large part of the saga collecting together his notes and writing a personal diary, doing his very best to keep the tube with them safe and sound. Which, given this is Dandelion we are talking about, is an achievement all by itself. The tube miraculously survives and centuries later is found by future archeologists, all excited to get their hands on such a treasure... only for it to be stolen by three illiterate diggers and soon after burned to ash. One day, old Vysogota finds a very badly injured girl in the swamp surrounding his retreat. He saves her life and she tells him her story... the story of Ciri and how she became a cruel killer meeting death at every step. Until she met her retribution - Leo Bonhart, who killed her fellow bandits and captured her. But instead of marrying Avallac’h as planned, Lara fell in love with a human sorcerer named Cregennan of Lod after the Conjunction of Spheres — the event that first brought humans to the Continent.