Anti-Hero – DaneCobain.com

Andrzej Sapkowski – Sword of Destiny | Review

Title: Sword of Destiny

Author: Andrzej Sapkowski

Type: Fiction

Page Count: 394

Rating: 4/5

It’s been six months or so now since I read the first Witcher book, and while I did enjoy it, there was also something about it that kind of held me back from fully committing. But it was one of those books that really stuck with me, and I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about it. By the time that the Netflix adaptation came out, I’d realised that I wanted to carry on with the series. Then I got an Amazon voucher for Christmas, and the rest is history.

This second book is also a collection of short stories, and indeed the first novel is the next one, book three in the series. I’m not sure how I’ll feel about that, and I guess I’ll see when I get there. I’ve read enough short stories now that I just sort of associate them with Sapkowski, and so it might be weird to go from short stories to a full-length novel. I guess we’ll see.

But the short stories are a great little introduction to the world of the witcher, not least because they tend to be set in different locations and with different creatures, so we can get more of a sense of a full world being built. We get to learn more about the Witcher, too. Better still, it’s never explicitly spelled out for us and we don’t have to suffer through extended flashbacks and other overused literary devices. We get to know the Witcher through the things he says and the actions he takes.

That combines with the fact that he’s a pretty unique sort of anti-hero, a flawed but fully three-dimensional character who it’s a pleasure to read about, even though he himself isn’t always the most pleasant of people. But what do you expect? He’s a witcher.

Overall then, I preferred this book to the first one even though I suspect that the two of them are pretty equal when it comes to quality. It’s just that I was in a much better place for this one. I was looking forward to it and then when I finally picked it up, I didn’t feel disappointed. Now I’m looking forward to getting to the next one. I’d definitely recommend the series.

Learn more about Sword of Destiny.

Claire North – The End of the Day | Review

Title: The End of the Day

Author: Claire North

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 428

Rating: 4*/5

Claire North – The End of the Day

Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of this book for free to review as part of my position on the Young Writer of the Year Award shadow panel. Click here to find out more about that.

This is the third book that I read for the Young Writer of the Year Award, and while I’ve given all of them a 4/5 so far, this one made me realise that one of those should have been a 3/5 and one of those should have been a 5/5. But you live and learn.

The idea behind this book is pretty simple, but it’s hard to actually tell you what happened because it quickly became repetitive. We basically follow Charlie, who’s the Harbinger of Death, as he travels the world to visit people before Death does. Sometimes he’s a warning and sometimes he’s an omen. Sometimes he arrives in time for someone to change their life and to dodge death. Sometimes he doesn’t.

It’s a cool concept, and I was excited to begin with. I liked how it’s just an accepted part of life and thought that added an interesting slant to it, and it forces the reader to ask themselves all sorts of questions about life and death. It almost felt a bit like Neil Gaiman in places, and I thought for a while that it would make a good Tim Burton movie. Then I changed my mind and thought that Quentin Tarantino would do a better job of it.

Claire North

Then there’s Charlie, the protagonist, who’s almost an anti-hero. He’s certainly not necessarily what you’d expect from Death’s harbinger, and I liked that. I also liked that Death was a woman. I just felt as though the book was too long, and I struggled through the last third of it because I just wanted it to end. Then, when it did end, I was disappointed by how it ended.

So there’s a lot to like here, but there’s also a lot to dislike. After a while, you become jaded by it, but in many ways so does Charlie – so perhaps that move is deliberate. I certainly found it to be thought-provoking at times and I also think that I’d need to re-read it if I wanted to pick up on all of the little nuances. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to re-read things.

Overall, I’m glad I read it, but I think there was also room for improvement.