Where there is fire, now comes ice. Yes, fire was a huge theme in the Baptism of Fire. Burning. Destruction. Renewal. Rebirth.

The Tower of Swallows is set against a wintery backdrop. Death. Standstill. A waiting game until the time comes when she can spring back into action. A great time for Ciri to reflect on the events leading up to her finding solace in a hermit’s home.

Side note: The imagery of Samhain Eve, Autumn Equinox with the banshees, Wild Hunt, spectres and stormy weather is so hauntingly beautiful. My gothic lover soul is very pleased by this. This imagery is symbolic of Ciri’s character. That she is certainly a force to be reckoned with. People have no idea yet just how powerful she truly is.

Ciri and The Hermit

First off, I love the dynamic between Ciri and the hermit. With even more dangerous, skilled and determined mercenaries hunting for her from all directions, Ciri is trapped and forced to hole up in this out of the way place where she’s actually found safety and companionship in the hermit’s home. Here, with the help of her new friend, she re-learns her purpose of being a witcher, learns to rein in her anger, contempt and viciousness that had be cultivated while she was hanging out with the bandits. After all the shit she’s been through, it’s about time Ciri gets back to business. Even if it wasn’t Geralt or Yennefer this time to mentor her, I’m glad someone served as a wise and grounded mentor for her again.

Ciri suffers so much abuse in this series, it’s really heart-wrenching. The things she witnesses are traumatic. It was difficult for me to read some of the gorier scenes. Though I developed sympathy for her growing contempt and obsession with killing. The world is pretty shitty during their time. And the people are even worse. Who wouldn’t have gone off the rails?! That’s why I felt it was important for Ciri to have an anchor (like Geralt, Yennefer, Triss and the hermit) to ground her and remind her how to be human. I’ve said this before but war transforms all humans into monsters.

The beginning and ending of the book were fabulous!! Ciri faces off against her adversaries and the battle was EPIC! I’m happy to see her defending herself and making controlled kills, instead of mindlessly killing like when she was with the Rats gang. The middle was kind of boring to read.

On the plus side, Ciri gets a new really cool new weapon! I hope to see her use this more in the following book.

Update on Geralt and His Company

Understandably so, but Geralt is quite bitchy in this book. Even Dandelion points out how disgruntled Geralt’s been acting. He’s become sensitive, dismissive, boorish towards his group/allies. He particularly has a fight with Cahir, accusing Cahir of being a double-crosser and spy, and then accuses Yennefer of betraying him as well.

I know he’s injured, frustrated, in a lot of pain but boy his temper has been real sour lately and his companions and friends don’t deserve that.

Yennefer says something very true and hilarious about Geralt. How he’s not a planner but super stubborn and tries to act the hero only to get himself into other predicaments then never actually achieves his goal. Then he becomes broody. And we see that with Geralt fumbling around, trying to find Ciri for two freaking books now. I would like to have seen Geralt accept the help from his new friends more. Because, clearly, he can’t make it on this journey alone. He’s only gotten so close to finding Ciri because of his friends.

Hopefully, in the next book, his attitude improves. I kind of miss the Geralt from The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny. But it is interesting to see this side of the usually composed Witcher. It does allow depth to his character, even if his bitchy attitude does irk me to read about.

Overall…this wasn’t my favorite book in the series

Okay. Okay. Let’s start with the good first. What I like about this book is that it felt more like a mystery novel or political thriller but set in a fantasy land.

There’s so many things going on in this book!! Which makes for good, complex but confusing as hell storytelling. I’m not sure if epic fantasies usually are like this (probably are) but seriously, there are so many new characters, so many double agents/spies/moles that I have to take detailed notes and draw up a red thread detective board to connect who is who, working for whom and plotting want.

Honestly, the new characters in this book – don’t care about them because I haven’t gotten to know them. Bring back the characters introduced in the previous books! And then deepen their characters. I’d much rather have less characters with more character development than a whole slew of characters who we only get to know briefly.

I would have liked more fantasy and magical elements which I didn’t feel was heavily included in this book. Except for the Samhain and Equinox imagery. Though, there is no shortage of drama even if all these moving pieces kept my head spinning.

It feels like this series is being dragged out longer than it needs to.

I suggest sitting down and actually taking the time to read this book. No joke, there’s a lot going on. Lots of characters with their own motives. Makes me wonder if some of the scenes are actually necessary to the overall plot. Seems like a big tangled mess that I am ready to have sorted out and resolved (*finger-crossed* it gets wrapped up and well-explained in the next book). Yeah, reading this book in a week was probably not my greatest plan. Take your time to read this one. It’s probably more enjoyable that way.

I would have also liked to see Emhyr participate more actively in his desire to capture Ciri. He’s meant to be the main villain yet he primarily makes his lackeys do the work and gets even more frustrated because they start making decisions to serve their own selfish needs. With all these other characters chasing to capture Ciri first for their personal reasons, Emhyr’s plans seem to fade into the background. Like, I’m more interested in all these double crossing spies, mercenaries, sorcerers and elves rather than the “big bad” Nilfgaardian emperor who I don’t really give a shit about because he doesn’t actually have scenes and I haven’t developed a connection with him throughout the series. Give me scenes of Emhyr!! It’s not enough to learn about the emperor only through what others say about him. I want to experience his character directly. I want to love the villain!! They are important!! Or maybe Emhyr’s not the actual villain we have to worry about?

All Book Reviews for The Witcher Saga (in series order):

1. The Last Wish
2. Sword of Destiny
3. Blood of Elves
4. The Time of Contempt
5. Baptism of Fire
6. The Tower of Swallows
7. The Lady of the Lake
8. Season of Storms