Review: The Lady of the Lake

The Lady of the Lake by Andrzej Sapkowski
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Of all the Witcher books, this is by far the least enjoyable. Moving a story forward by using random third parties that the reader neither knows nor cares about is not world-building.

The author seems obsessed with using women as sex objects, forcing them to degrade themselves, raping them repeatedly, and even holding young teenage girls captive and forcing them into sexual relationships, making them feel responsible for the old man’s lack of performance. Not to mention a case of Stockholm syndrome being lauded as a "duty".

Even the supposedly highly skilled and deadly female mercenary leader can not do anything without someone vividly describing what her "shapely ass" looks like or where her breasts are pointing.

The author has already made his misogynistic viewpoint very clear in other books, but this one takes it to a new level.

Aside from the disturbing content, this book is the longest in the series, and yet probably 60% of it is unnecessary filler that could be left out. Readers don’t get closure, many questions are left unanswered and the characters get unsatisfying endings.

The occasional brilliant moments (e.g. a medical camp scene) add nothing to the story. Overall, this is a series with brilliant characters and a great story idea that sadly never meet their potential. The author is great at short stories but lacks the skills to write compelling, fully-fledged fantasy worlds. This is one of those series that I wish I had left on the shelf.