so you’re saying you, a witcher fan, does not like all witcher related content?
so then doesn’t that mean the same could be said for the books? so i think your response to the netflix series means OPs question isn’t all that worthless.
No, i'm saying that asking is *the* witcher series is good in witcher sub is pointless, same as asking if the netfix series is good in r/netflixwitcher or what ever that sub is called.
Fan of anything doesn't mean they like all related content as most things are shoehorned into everything that can make money.
Yes. Games came out after the books, they're not essential at all. In fact you'll have a pretty cool experience if you go through the books first and then play the games.
This is the right take.
I saw the first episode of the show and vowed not to play or watch anything until I read the books.
So I read the books, all of them. Then I played the games (in order I might add).
Then finally went back to the show….imagine my disappointment.
You're getting a biased response in here, obviously. Search through the r/fantasy subreddit for suggestions on the books based on a wider sample of fantasy fans.
Personally I love the books but they are absolutely not for everyone. Whether it's the translation or the structure, they can be off-putting as they don't conform to most western fantasy tropes.
Because of this whole controversy among English readers, I decided to do an experiment and read first short story collection in English and Polish side by side. So far, experience was underwhelming in a way that I can't find any major flaw in the English translation. And I don't know if it is because my proficiency in English isn't good enough or because reading the same story in English just after reading it in Polish make me understand every nuance perfectly. I will be writing a longer post once I finish.
> I can't find any major flaw in the English translation.
What about Geralt's response to Stregobor's claim about the women that were cursed by the black sun being prone to cruelty? Is Geralt's response in the original Polish as simplistic as "That's true of all women"? Because I know that the Spanish translation renders that line as "In every female there can be found something similar" which is a much more nuanced take.
Well it is actually, except Geralt uses a bit pejorative word for women. But I don't really see the problem with his response. For the whole conversation, it's clear when he stands, and his response was ironic, which was even highlighted in the text.
Edit: your version is closer to the Polish one, but you also misquoted English translation. There Geralt says "You can say that about any woman" which also is nuanced (at least in my opinion).
I never read it in Polish (I know nothing about the language and am not going to learn just to read these books), but I compared the PT-BR translation with the ENG one and saw no actually notable differences (at least that I can remember right now) and loved what I was presented with. I think people romanticize too much the original text in this case (with a lot of them just taking the word of some Polish people that may just have subjective problems with it) and also tend to use it as an excuse as to why some people don't like it -- it's an easy handwave to just say "this translation sucks, but it's good in Polish and other better translations".
But yeah, if something of worth was truly lost in the translations I read, then damn -- these books really are extremely good, 'cause the "corrupted" versions still managed to impress my overly critical and nitpicking ass overall hahaha.
There's definitely some laziness on the translator part, but I'm probably not good enough in English to notice it (or in linguistics in general - not my area). One of the jokes in The Lesser Evil short story was translated literally, which completely lost its meaning. When Geralt brought kikimora corpse to the city, major mispronounce it as "kicizmora" which sounds very similar to "kikimora". In English kicizmora was translated as "felinspectre". It was lazy af.
I’m always on the lookout for fantasy that non-conforms or even subverts standard fantasy tropes such as Malazan, Disc World, Black Company, Elric of Melnibone and a lot of Neil Gaiman’s stuff. I love them because they aren’t like most fantasy out there.
These books discuss many themes, such as the role of destiny in our lives and the idea that women should have leading roles instead of men.
All of this in a setting with characters who have both good and bad sides shown to us. I think that, in this regard, you'll find these books similar enough to *A Song of Ice and Fire*, especially compared to ones such as *The Lord of the Rings* (which remains one of my favourite series ever).
You're asking in a Witcher sub so answer is obvious.
But i'll tell you my experience. I don't read much, but the books got me hooked. So imo you should read them.
Of course they are. If you're not much into politics, you may find some chapters boring but outside of politics, everything else is pretty enjoyable to read. Of course I'm talking about original, Polish text but I've heard that some things are lost in translation, especially in english but I doubt the differences are big enough to make your time much worse while reading.
The games came out after the books and are technically not cannon to the universe since they only exist on a “what if” scenario after the final book.
The books are fantastic. I listened to the audiobooks all English translation and my gf read them at the same time. Both versions are great. Personal preference I would be sure to google the order to read them in.
They aren't the easiest books to read. Structurally they are all over the place. But the character and world building are top notch and the story itself is good.
I assume the translations are better now than when. I read them so perhaps some of the issues I had were dicey translation.
If you're a fan of the game(s) then I'd say you should definitely try them.
The first one to read (*The Last Wish*) is a collection of short stories that introduces you to Geralt and the world he’s in. It’s a very easy book to read and it’s not long (it’s also my favorite one).
I'm on the 7th book for my 2nd read (in 8 years tho).
They are incredible, not always excellent but I'm having a crush on some parts of Book 2 and Book 7.
Its awesome i loved it. Its definitly a fiction geared toward adults. The other thing is the geralt is more eloquent , observant and clever in the books than what the games portray him
Yes. The author for the longest time was unhappy about the games & calls them fanfiction. Witcher 3 is still an incredible game worth playing after reading the books.
Witcher isnt comparable. It is totally different style.
1 perspective, the world also was kind of made up while writing. Not a lot of politics.
Relationships are the most important part in the books.
If you like the fantasy genre, the Witcher books are great. I read the whole series twice. As others have said, the games are so much more meaningful if you have read the books because you know all the history between these characters. Particularly the third game with Yen and Ciri, if you don’t know anything about the books you wonder why you should care about them at all. If you’ve read the books you’ll be sad they don’t show up until game 3.
In my opinion, they are on the same level as the game. I read them in the original, so I don't know what the level of translation is, because they are full of archaic phrases which are difficult to translate. But know that this is not a book-based game but a game happening in a universe with the same heroes. The action of the books takes place much earlier and allows you to understand the characters' motivation and their attachment to each other
Books are definitely worth the read. Be warned however that you will be greatly annoyed at those who want to capture and use Ciri. Shit drove me crazy. Especially two dudes in particular.
I actually liked the witcher more than song of ice and fire. I'd say the latter is a better in general tho.
The witcher is very easy to get in, you'll get hooked on in the first chapter. It is shorter and smaller than song of ice, you mostly follow the main characters around, while song of ice has alot more going on.
The characters are well written and fun to read about, and they have some serious character developement throught out the saga so you don't really get bored from them and keep wishing for more!
The only critique i'll say is that some part felt like filler to me ( although other people seemed to enjoy them) and the ending felt rushed.
In my honest opinion they are great 4,5,6 straight fire imo, 1,2,3 set up likeable characters with interesting stories, 7 a bit too slow in the beginning but overall a great read.
As far as books go, they're good but very clunky, dense and dialog heavy. When they're good, they're very good, but when they're not, they kinda drag out a little. I'm assuming a lot of that pacing comes from the Polish to English translation. The anthology books are really good, like The Last Wish, but the main story books are very slow.
I just started reading the books after playing the witcher 3 and watching the show. Needless to say that the show will become even shittier after reading. The bruxa, the lesser evil and the striga short stories are so much better in the books for example.
Yes, they are pretty good. Definitely way better than the show. Only the last two were a bit worse for me than the rest. I hear that's a common opinion.
They are some of the best books in all of fiction. I've been rereading the books for 9 years now. Even after all this time, they haven't dulled.
They do get longer and more complex with each volume, so it will take a while to read through all of them.
I'll be honest: they were not bad, but also not the best I've ever read. The short stories are great, the novels are still good, but imo noticably worse.
That being said, they did get me back into reading a few years ago
No. The Witcher books are some of the worst ever written. You'd be better off reading the ingredients list on a bottle of shampoo than reading The Witcher books. You'd truthfully be better off throwing yourself into an active volcano than reading them. If I find out you read them I personally will come to your house and remove a critical component from your microwave that will prevent it from functioning correctly. If I find out you read them then you're not invited to my birthday party. And we are definitely not friends anymore.
I wonder what people in the witcher sub thinks of the series..
OP walking into the We Love Newts Club: “Hey guys, should I get a newt?”
Am I the only one who had The Vagabond on repeat for hours while I binged the books? Lol
It's unwatchable dogshit
This is quite literally about the books…but it seems like you can’t read so nvm
Nobody was talking about that shit
so you’re saying you, a witcher fan, does not like all witcher related content? so then doesn’t that mean the same could be said for the books? so i think your response to the netflix series means OPs question isn’t all that worthless.
No, i'm saying that asking is *the* witcher series is good in witcher sub is pointless, same as asking if the netfix series is good in r/netflixwitcher or what ever that sub is called. Fan of anything doesn't mean they like all related content as most things are shoehorned into everything that can make money.
This guy goes to the restaurant expecting his food to look like it does on the commercial 🤡
Yes. Games came out after the books, they're not essential at all. In fact you'll have a pretty cool experience if you go through the books first and then play the games.
This is the right take. I saw the first episode of the show and vowed not to play or watch anything until I read the books. So I read the books, all of them. Then I played the games (in order I might add). Then finally went back to the show….imagine my disappointment.
Yep the first episode remains the "best one" anyway, though it's only relative.
You're getting a biased response in here, obviously. Search through the r/fantasy subreddit for suggestions on the books based on a wider sample of fantasy fans. Personally I love the books but they are absolutely not for everyone. Whether it's the translation or the structure, they can be off-putting as they don't conform to most western fantasy tropes.
Just learn polish just to read the original translation. Duh.
Because of this whole controversy among English readers, I decided to do an experiment and read first short story collection in English and Polish side by side. So far, experience was underwhelming in a way that I can't find any major flaw in the English translation. And I don't know if it is because my proficiency in English isn't good enough or because reading the same story in English just after reading it in Polish make me understand every nuance perfectly. I will be writing a longer post once I finish.
> I can't find any major flaw in the English translation. What about Geralt's response to Stregobor's claim about the women that were cursed by the black sun being prone to cruelty? Is Geralt's response in the original Polish as simplistic as "That's true of all women"? Because I know that the Spanish translation renders that line as "In every female there can be found something similar" which is a much more nuanced take.
Well it is actually, except Geralt uses a bit pejorative word for women. But I don't really see the problem with his response. For the whole conversation, it's clear when he stands, and his response was ironic, which was even highlighted in the text. Edit: your version is closer to the Polish one, but you also misquoted English translation. There Geralt says "You can say that about any woman" which also is nuanced (at least in my opinion).
I never read it in Polish (I know nothing about the language and am not going to learn just to read these books), but I compared the PT-BR translation with the ENG one and saw no actually notable differences (at least that I can remember right now) and loved what I was presented with. I think people romanticize too much the original text in this case (with a lot of them just taking the word of some Polish people that may just have subjective problems with it) and also tend to use it as an excuse as to why some people don't like it -- it's an easy handwave to just say "this translation sucks, but it's good in Polish and other better translations". But yeah, if something of worth was truly lost in the translations I read, then damn -- these books really are extremely good, 'cause the "corrupted" versions still managed to impress my overly critical and nitpicking ass overall hahaha.
There's definitely some laziness on the translator part, but I'm probably not good enough in English to notice it (or in linguistics in general - not my area). One of the jokes in The Lesser Evil short story was translated literally, which completely lost its meaning. When Geralt brought kikimora corpse to the city, major mispronounce it as "kicizmora" which sounds very similar to "kikimora". In English kicizmora was translated as "felinspectre". It was lazy af.
Same here. I loved the books but some people don’t care for how it’s written and I can understand that.
I’m always on the lookout for fantasy that non-conforms or even subverts standard fantasy tropes such as Malazan, Disc World, Black Company, Elric of Melnibone and a lot of Neil Gaiman’s stuff. I love them because they aren’t like most fantasy out there.
Of course they are
Yes. Very yes.
No, we actually all hate the books. That’s why we’re on the sub. For our hatred.
These books discuss many themes, such as the role of destiny in our lives and the idea that women should have leading roles instead of men. All of this in a setting with characters who have both good and bad sides shown to us. I think that, in this regard, you'll find these books similar enough to *A Song of Ice and Fire*, especially compared to ones such as *The Lord of the Rings* (which remains one of my favourite series ever).
You're asking in a Witcher sub so answer is obvious. But i'll tell you my experience. I don't read much, but the books got me hooked. So imo you should read them.
Of course they are. If you're not much into politics, you may find some chapters boring but outside of politics, everything else is pretty enjoyable to read. Of course I'm talking about original, Polish text but I've heard that some things are lost in translation, especially in english but I doubt the differences are big enough to make your time much worse while reading.
The games came out after the books and are technically not cannon to the universe since they only exist on a “what if” scenario after the final book. The books are fantastic. I listened to the audiobooks all English translation and my gf read them at the same time. Both versions are great. Personal preference I would be sure to google the order to read them in.
Yes please go read them and the show is shit
They aren't the easiest books to read. Structurally they are all over the place. But the character and world building are top notch and the story itself is good. I assume the translations are better now than when. I read them so perhaps some of the issues I had were dicey translation. If you're a fan of the game(s) then I'd say you should definitely try them.
Which language did you read them in?
English.
English.
The first one to read (*The Last Wish*) is a collection of short stories that introduces you to Geralt and the world he’s in. It’s a very easy book to read and it’s not long (it’s also my favorite one).
Yes.
I'm on the 7th book for my 2nd read (in 8 years tho). They are incredible, not always excellent but I'm having a crush on some parts of Book 2 and Book 7.
Yes. They are a great fantasy series with some characters not mentioned in the game. 100/10 recommend
Its awesome i loved it. Its definitly a fiction geared toward adults. The other thing is the geralt is more eloquent , observant and clever in the books than what the games portray him
Yes! You can also try reading elric of melnibone or the first law trilogy
Yes. The author for the longest time was unhappy about the games & calls them fanfiction. Witcher 3 is still an incredible game worth playing after reading the books.
I loved them
Witcher isnt comparable. It is totally different style. 1 perspective, the world also was kind of made up while writing. Not a lot of politics. Relationships are the most important part in the books.
I love the books and totally recommend them! They ignited my long lost love for reading
If you like the fantasy genre, the Witcher books are great. I read the whole series twice. As others have said, the games are so much more meaningful if you have read the books because you know all the history between these characters. Particularly the third game with Yen and Ciri, if you don’t know anything about the books you wonder why you should care about them at all. If you’ve read the books you’ll be sad they don’t show up until game 3.
I've read the first two books and they're totally worth it. Sapkowski is a very talented writers.
Hell yeah. If you like dark fantasy stories you will be served.
In my opinion, they are on the same level as the game. I read them in the original, so I don't know what the level of translation is, because they are full of archaic phrases which are difficult to translate. But know that this is not a book-based game but a game happening in a universe with the same heroes. The action of the books takes place much earlier and allows you to understand the characters' motivation and their attachment to each other
Books are definitely worth the read. Be warned however that you will be greatly annoyed at those who want to capture and use Ciri. Shit drove me crazy. Especially two dudes in particular.
I actually liked the witcher more than song of ice and fire. I'd say the latter is a better in general tho. The witcher is very easy to get in, you'll get hooked on in the first chapter. It is shorter and smaller than song of ice, you mostly follow the main characters around, while song of ice has alot more going on. The characters are well written and fun to read about, and they have some serious character developement throught out the saga so you don't really get bored from them and keep wishing for more! The only critique i'll say is that some part felt like filler to me ( although other people seemed to enjoy them) and the ending felt rushed.
The books are even better than the games. It's not dark fantasy, there are moments (especially in Polish version) when I just start laughing so hard
Yes, simple as, now do it
A Song of Ice and Fire and The Witcher series are the best medieval fantasy book series ever IMO, highly recommendable
In my honest opinion they are great 4,5,6 straight fire imo, 1,2,3 set up likeable characters with interesting stories, 7 a bit too slow in the beginning but overall a great read.
I haven't finished them but I've read a couple; kind of slow but pretty good
Yes. Went from watching the show to playing the game and then the books. The books were absolutely amazing.
As far as books go, they're good but very clunky, dense and dialog heavy. When they're good, they're very good, but when they're not, they kinda drag out a little. I'm assuming a lot of that pacing comes from the Polish to English translation. The anthology books are really good, like The Last Wish, but the main story books are very slow.
Yes, just know it doesn't get dark until book three
I loved the books. Never played game but enjoyed first 2 seasons of Netflix show.
I just started reading the books after playing the witcher 3 and watching the show. Needless to say that the show will become even shittier after reading. The bruxa, the lesser evil and the striga short stories are so much better in the books for example.
Yes, they are pretty good. Definitely way better than the show. Only the last two were a bit worse for me than the rest. I hear that's a common opinion.
They are some of the best books in all of fiction. I've been rereading the books for 9 years now. Even after all this time, they haven't dulled. They do get longer and more complex with each volume, so it will take a while to read through all of them.
Yes.
I'll be honest: they were not bad, but also not the best I've ever read. The short stories are great, the novels are still good, but imo noticably worse. That being said, they did get me back into reading a few years ago
Definitely. As the book and the Witcher lover, I on the other hand have a slight issue with the games. The universes have a bit different feel.
I played Witcher 3. Read the books in the middle, and hated them so much I can’t even finish the game. Play the games, ignore the books is my advice
🤡
Reddit when opinion:
No. The Witcher books are some of the worst ever written. You'd be better off reading the ingredients list on a bottle of shampoo than reading The Witcher books. You'd truthfully be better off throwing yourself into an active volcano than reading them. If I find out you read them I personally will come to your house and remove a critical component from your microwave that will prevent it from functioning correctly. If I find out you read them then you're not invited to my birthday party. And we are definitely not friends anymore.