feat: lady of the lake

1 files changed, 49 insertions, 4 deletions

diff --git a/content-org/brain-rot.org b/content-org/brain-rot.org
index 5669a91..a5404ff 100644
--- a/content-org/brain-rot.org
+++ b/content-org/brain-rot.org
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ Latest:
 All Titles
 #+end_all-content
 
+
 ** Dune
 :PROPERTIES:
 :EXPORT_HUGO_SECTION: brain-rot/american-scifi/dune
@@ -853,29 +854,73 @@ But even if this makes the entire series a bit pointless, it is still a pleasure
 [fn:nerds] at least amongst us, nerds.
 
 
-*** TODO Lady of the Lake (1999)
+*** DONE Lady of the Lake (1999)
+CLOSED: [2024-06-15 Sat 22:06]
 :PROPERTIES:
 :EXPORT_FILE_NAME: andrzej-sapkowskis-lady-of-the-lake
 :EXPORT_HUGO_CUSTOM_FRONT_MATTER+: :abstract My review of the last book in the Witcher saga
+:EXPORT_HUGO_CUSTOM_FRONT_MATTER+: :image brain-rot/covers/sapkowski-lady-of-the-lake.jpg
 :EXPORT_HUGO_PAIRED_SHORTCODES: rating
 :END:
 
 I had a /blast/ with the Witcher saga.
 There were ups, there were downs.
 But all in all, it was great.
-I have now finished the *most important* Polish series of books[fn:fight] and therefore I no longet feel like a bad pole.
-Unfortunatelly, I did not liked the last volume.
-My biggest gripe with /Lady of the Lake/ is that it's an ending, but rather loosely-connected series of engings.
+I have now finished the *most important* Polish series of books[fn:fight], and therefore I no longer feel like a bad pole.
+Unfortunately, I did not like the last volume.
+My biggest gripe with /Lady of the Lake/ is that it's not an ending, but rather loosely-connected series of endings.
 
 It starts with Ciri talking with Galahad from King's Arthur court, so yeah.
 There's a wild ride in front of us.
 
+The first significant chunk of the book is a continuation of Ciri's torment.
+Everybody wants to either impregnate, take body parts, or simply kill her.
+I know life was terrible for her since she got disconnected with Geralt.
+I get that it's kind of /the point/ - she is not treated as a person but rather as a (depending on who is on the other site) force or part of a bigger plan.
+But come one, give her /some/ break!
+At this point I just wanted her to get a break, sit back, and relax.
+
+This happens (because it needs to), but only in one of the 25 endings that follow.
+We've getting an ending of the war plot, a dedicated subplot dedicated to love affair's of Dandelion, yet another plan to get Ciri's DNA, and so on.
+It doesn't feel like Sapkowski had a plan to finish every plot he opened, so he just makes a series of endings.
+If I hadn't been reading a dead-tree version, I would have assumed that the story will end in a few pages after /every freaking such semi-ending/.
+
+But at the same time I enjoyed every story from /Lady of the Lake/.
+Sapkowski is at top of his game.
+He may go overboard with non-linear story telling, but once I /yet again/ understood when I was, I was having a blast.
+It's all here: the story, the characters, the style.
 
+Taking look at the saga as whole, I was expecting something completely different.
+It started as a series of funny stories, but most of the saga is dead serious.
+I was expecting a lot of the Witcher's huntsm, however through most of the saga, Geralt is solely focused on finding Ciri and has no time for monsters.
+I was expecting a lot of nods to Polish reader, and while there were /some/, the books take place in their own world[fn:netflix].
+
+Every book is different, author changes the dynamic and puts focus on a different place.
+Sapkowski learns from each book and tries (and then mostly succeeds) to correct mistakes with the next one.
+
+#+attr_shortcode: 3.75 "sapkowski-lady-of-the-lake.jpg" 
+#+begin_rating
+Cover
+#+end_rating
+But, like with the previous one, tension is removed by the knowledge that the games take place /after/ the saga.
+We know that main characters will live, because we meet them in the game.
+And even if we don't care about computer games, it's impossible to not see some random picture and as a result spoil the book.
+We know that Ciri will not reign fire and destruction upon the world.
+Sapkowski may never approve of the story CD Projekt came out with and not treat is a /part/of the cannon, but the fact stands: we know that the world still exist.
+
+It's a strange situation, where the world knows the books from the games, but the saga is lessened by their very existence.
+However, even with knowing that the story is, ultimately, pointless, the saga is well worth a read.
+I'd say it's great.
+And the last volume I am attacking here is still /good fun/, just not good as an ending of such great saga.
 
 [fn:fight] Yes, I said it.
 No Nobel, but it's the most known piece of Polish culture.
 Fight me.
 
+[fn:netflix] I blame witch-hunt after the Netflix series dropped.
+Seems most of the die hard fans never read the saga.
+
+
 ** Persona
 :PROPERTIES:
 :EXPORT_HUGO_SECTION: brain-rot/modern-games/persona