Season of Storms (The Witcher, 8) Paperback – July 5, 2022

Good

I enjoyed this book a great deal.It occurs time-wise after the Witcher meets Yennefer, but before the events in the Circi stories.Without giving too much way (spoilers below), this book feels closer to the original Polish versions of the stories than previous English versions. The stories have an "adult" feel to them and are less "politically correct." The characters and their stories feel more natural and less focused and filtered through a current political filter.In the first town that Gerault comes to, he almost passes out in room inhabited by extreme farting, loud mouthed women guards. Some bathroom humor ensues, and eventually there is a scuffle with the amazons.There are at least two love interests in the book (not including remembrances of Yennefer).We get to explore a bit more of the world, which is fun, and the Witcher and his dwarven companion give us a bit more philosophy in a good natured, enjoyable way.We also find out a good bit about the mages and where some of the terrors in the countryside *actually* come from.All in all, a good book for a mature reader.** Spoilers Follow **The Witcher has his swords stolen, and then he is framed by the mages and physically exploited by a female mage (he doesn't seem to mind much).Dandelion actually has a pivotal role in this book and saves Gerault's bacon on several occasions.The story takes us from some simple monster hunting to the Witcher's framing to some shady criminals to some even shadier mages who need the Witcher to "eliminate" one of their own gone rogue.The Witcher barely escapes with his life after learning that *gasp* most of the creatures that he has been fighting over the years were actually *created* by the mages guild. (Actually that *was* a shocker for this reader.)After a couple of additional complications, including the introduction of a fox-woman, child stealing, shapeshifter, Gerault is reunited with his swords.It is a fun romp, and I enjoyed the snarky banter and anti-hero aspects of the Witcher even more in this book than previous ones.My take is that this collection is closer to the mother tongue than the previous versions and thus has a better, more natural flow to it. I've mentioned it a couple of times because it becomes obvious as you read the stories.**PC warning** One caveat, if you are easily offended, or you have very specific views about who is *allowed* to be portrayed as a villain then you might not like this book. **PC warning off**

This was certainly a breath of fresh air after Lady of the Lake, the Witcher sagas' ending. I enjoyed seeing an adventure that solely revolved around the Witcher. There was a little too much of everything else that was not the Witcher's storyline in the last couple books of the Witcher saga. I enjoy reading about those other storylines like the one following Ciri, Yennefer, and even Nimue in Lady of the Lake, but those should never be more of the story than the Witcher in my personal opinion. All that aside, I liked seeing Geralt get his own story. I really do not have many complaints other than the fact we did not get as many cool "Witcher killing monsters Witcher style" scenes because he went almost the whole story without his Witcher swords (which in my opinion did not need to be as big as a plot point as it was, especially given how rushed it felt at the end when he finally did get them back). I liked that we got to see more of Geralt's time with Dandelion, and I hope we get even more if/when Sapkowski writes the next book. I also liked that there was at least one mage that he was able to befriend from the Castle Rissberg, and I would not mind seeing him make a reappearance in another book. I recommend this book to anyone who loves or even simply likes reading and going through the Witcher stories.I will also add something someone else said in their comment/review that I forgot about when initially writing my own review: I too found "the allusions to pop culture and modern politics" "disconcerting." Like that same person said: it was "just at the edge of being visible, for the most part, but once or twice rather blatant, and broke my suspension of disbelief." This is especially surprising given a quote from an interview with Sapkowski himself after asked what he thought "is resonating with audiences about your Witcher books and their adaptations right now, in the political/cultural climate of 2020?" His response was "I am a bit puzzled to understand what political climate has to do with my books or their adaptations. I personally abhor politics and try to stay far as I can from it. I consider my books politically neutral." Then when you look at those few moments, that someone else had alluded to in their review, it is hard to think the quote just referenced belonged to the same person who wrote those moments.

good read, kept me interested

Came as described and quickly

Good read, as usual not in chronological order with the rest of the story. There are some sites that suggest a reading order other than production order. Such as reading the stories in the chronological order that they occur. But no matter how you read them they're a good read. I've only read the books I haven't played the games so I can't make any comparison to that but I have seen all of the new Netflix show and read all of the books which, as is usually the case, are infinitely better. The show is good too; it's worth checking out. but it just can't fit in everything that an author can fit into a book. Also the show may not be for young fantasy fans....more of an adult vibe. The books are much more eloquent if a little less audience friendly. I would recommend the witcher series to anyone who likes RA Salvatore, the authors of the Sundering series, or anyone who likes fantasy books that have as much storyline and character development as they do magic and Fantastical Inventions. Like I said maybe not a good first fantasy book ever, but definitely a series to read along the way

Definitely recommend getting the entire collection!