I've recently become more interested in the world of the witcher after playing the games, so it was delightful to read where the series started. It was a good story, episodic at times, but it gave a good sense of the characters and the relationships they develop, not to mention a wider view of the world and the politics within it.

That being said, the writing was heavily focused on the dialogue or the thoughts of a particular character, so there was little outside description which made picturing these scenes challenging. At times, it even read more like a script than a novel

for example during the scene where the monarchs are meeting. The dialogue passes from one to the next so fast, it was hard to keep track of who was talking, especially given the information about lineage and current political affairs thrown in.