"Baptism of Fire" by Andrzej Sapkowski

I’m a bit concerned about my ability to be fair to this book. On one hand, this is probably my least favorite in the series so far. On the other: I’d be malignant to ignore that I’ve struggled to find the energy to read this year, and it’s resulted in this book being split across multiple months. It’s an inevitability that the story would lull after The Time of Contempt — especially with the former having such an explosive ending — and a large chunk of my frustration comes from how the narrative focus is split. Conceptually I understand that storytelling dictates a falling action after the climactic events of the previous novel, but The Time of Contempt really left me wanting to follow Ciri’s story. Baptism of Fire leaves her on the wayside for the majority of the book; off the top of my head, Ciri has three scenes. Broadly speaking I think this is a difficult issue for a book or series which splits across multiple perspectives to cover: it’s impossible to always be following the perspective which the reader is most invested in. This is the only part in the series where I’ve found it grating, but it’s a frustrating low in a series that I’ve otherwise enjoyed.

I don’t want to come across as disliking this book. While I found parts of it a slog to get through, it shared many positives with the rest of the series. Geralt’s continued development, his budding relationships with his companions — Geralt’s knowledge and combat competency are both satisfying to watch and a strong contrast to his emotional naivety. The conversations and discussions between characters are entertaining and engaging, and Sapkowski takes advantage of the lull in action to establish more worldbuilding. It’s poignant that as Geralt gets swept away from his profession and his role as a father figure, he has to adapt around and survive a war that he otherwise would have ignored — if not intentionally run away from. There’s a lot of symbolism and narrative depth which I would have enjoyed thinking about more if I enjoyed the book more than I did. Despite Geralt’s desires he’s spent a lot of the time in the series embroiled in politics, both with and without his influence. Tensions boiled over at the end of The Time of Contempt and the result in Baptism of Fire is an examination of man-made violence and horror. Unfortunately by the time I got fully invested into Geralt and his band, I was on the last chapter of the book. I have high praises for the ending, but it took a lot for me to get there.

Ultimately my favorite parts of the novels have been the relationship between Ciri, Geralt, and Yennefer, and these characters do not interact with each other in this book. Their relationships themselves are key to everything going on, and every major decision being made, but the borderline unilateral focus on Geralt left me missing the other characters. I don’t think it’s a bad book — perhaps it was doomed from the start, given that it was following up The Time of Contempt, which I greatly enjoyed — but it reminds me of the worst aspects of Blood of Elves, but this time in the middle of the series. The lows of this book were mundane and boring to sludge through, and while I enjoyed the highs I simply did not enjoy it that much. I honestly think it’s a problem with me more so than an issue of the book, and that a majority of my criticism and general lack of enjoyment are extrinsic to the novel itself.

After how much I enjoyed The Time of Contempt it feels bad to say I felt like this one was just fine.