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@@ -867,6 +867,119 @@ A true marvel you owe yourself to experience.
 
 ** TODO Monday Begins on Saturday (Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, 1965)
 
+What do you get when you combine folk tales and socialisitic analysis?
+
+/Monday Begins on Saturday/ is yet another Science Fiction novel by Strugatsky Brothers I've read this year.
+It is also the weirdest one of those!
+
+Aleksandr Ivanovich Privalov is a young programmer on his way to his new position.
+His car breaks down, he meets strange fellows who recruit him to a nearby "Scientific Research Institute of Sorcery and Wizardry".
+Yup - this is not run of the mill institute, as we're not dealing with boring stuf, like phisics.
+Instead we've got magic, magical beasts and the pursuit to find happiness.
+Nice combination, if you ask me.
+
+Strugaccy stray from western tropes.
+Their adventure as writers started deep into praising socialism.
+We'll go to space and show them all the nice things communism brings!
+With time, they've abandoned the hope.
+/Monday.../ was released right after /[[/reviews/books/hard-to-be-a-god-strugatsky-1964/][Hard to be God]]/ and they show striking similiarities.
+The latter was a grim tale about the terrible nature of man, where happines does not exist.
+This book is a funny novel about the terrible nature of the world, where happines is as real as a Baba Yaga.
+It's also a great critical analysis of soviet ideas, but for that /[[/reviews/books/moscow-2042-1986/][Moscow 2042]]/ seems better written.
+
+- magic in mundane
+- it is treated like any other science
+
+The idea is great, but it may be confusing for western audiences as it's rooted in Russian folklore.
+I have more gripes with how the novel is constructed, as we're seemingly without a plot.
+The Institute and Privalov (aka Sasha, don't ask me how) who is slowly learning about magic is the only element connecting pages.
+The actual story is presented as series of disjointed stories, each with it's own begging and end.
+Sure, some stories may conclude much later, but they don't build on each other.
+The novel oconsistes of three parts, and each following is less and less guilty of that, but it's never a /novel/ in a common sense.
+
+The Institute is ocupied by wonderfully mad characters, much like Invisible Instutute from Discworld.
+We've got a former grand inquisitor in chart of the Deparament of Meaning of Life; a director who has two personalities which have no idea what the other one is doing.
+Some ideas are also amazingly creative - have you ever heard of using a geenie as a a bomb?
+Each single part of the novel is great, but I had problrem with the complete set.
+It's a collection of short stories with overarching plot.
+
+Personally, I loved the last part the most as the final mystery is revealed and it's very intiguing concept.
+
+So, as I've praised and recomended all Strugasky Brothers novels up to this, I have a bit of problem here.
+As I've finished it a few months ago and had some time to digest it, I consider it another bullseye.
+But when I read it, I sad much more problems, as the story-based structure is much less gripping that a full-on novel.
+I'm glad I've read it, but I will never re-read it.
+
+** TODO The Courts of Chaos (Roger Zelazny, 1978)
+CLOSED: [2024-03-24 Sun 22:27]
+:PROPERTIES:
+:EXPORT_FILE_NAME: time-of-contempt
+:EXPORT_HUGO_CUSTOM_FRONT_MATTER+: :abstract My review of the second book in the Witcher saga
+:EXPORT_HUGO_CUSTOM_FRONT_MATTER+: :aliases '(/blog/2024/andrzej-sapkowskis-time-of-contempt /brain-rot/witcher/andrzej-sapkowskis-time-of-contempt/)
+:EXPORT_HUGO_CUSTOM_FRONT_MATTER+: :rating 3.5
+:EXPORT_HUGO_CUSTOM_FRONT_MATTER+: :image reviews/covers/sapkowski-time-of-contemt.jpg
+:EXPORT_HUGO_CUSTOM_FRONT_MATTER+: :related '("Witcher Saga")
+:EXPORT_HUGO_CUSTOM_FRONT_MATTER+: :relatedName Time of Contempt
+:END:
+
+It's a stain of my honor - I am a Pole, but I've never read The Saga.
+It's not that I've never read any of The Witcher, but somehow I always stopped after the short stories.
+Last year I've decided to finally fix this.
+I am a proud nerd for crying out loud!
+
+/Time of Contempt/ is the second part of The Witcher Saga, but it's also the 4th book about Geralt and his world.
+Let's ignore the short stories for a second and let's talk about this book in context of The Saga.
+Here it suffers from being the middle child: Andrzej is developing the characters and story, but it lacks a impactful begging and an end.
+I haven't felt like that after finishing the /Blood of Elves,/ as it had a /begging/ and the ending was emotional.
+Geralt reunited with Ciri.
+The story is clearly not over, but we have a kind of closure.
+We know she is safe and ready for what's coming next.
+
+Here?
+Here we have no beginning as it follows the last book.
+It was to be expected.
+But I fail to notice anything new created here.
+Yes, we've got /amazing/ development of Ciri (I can't wait what how her blood heritage will screw over everyone), but nothing more.
+It just moves from scene to scene[fn:st], not spending any meaningful time anywhere.
+After 300 pages of this, it ends with Ciri joining some random group.
+I guess I will get to know them in /Baptism of Fire/, but I am not yet there.
+Are they good?
+Are they cool?
+Who the hell they even are?
+For me it was a huge let down.
+
+But the biggest thing missing in The Saga is humour.
+Both, /Sword of Destiny/ and /Last Wish/ were hilarious.
+It was not on Pratchett's level of humor, but Geralt was amazing when it came to deadpan.
+Moreover, I have no idea how well it translated to other languages, as it was based on Polish humour, but:
+the books were written for Polish reader who was expected to know /Szewczyk Dratewka,/ and therefore the way Geralt dealt with dragon was a funny refernce.
+But this aspect is now completely missingm[fn:enemy-mine], but it was what made the short stories for me.
+
+The biggest problem for me however was the fact I saw two seasons of The Witcher TV Series[fn:netflix].
+It was terrible and had nothing to do with the book (luckily for me!), but the TV versions of Ciri and Yennefer were irritating at best.
+Their book counterparts are not like that - Ciri is extremely cool and Yen is, well, not so bad - but the visual image is etched in my brain.
+I finally start to have a separate personnas for them, but it was difficult.
+Yes, to some extent Netflix ruined the books for me.
+
+I was never a fan of /fantasy/, as I always preferred /SciFi/.
+Give me a blaster or give me death[fn:rand]!
+If I found /Time of Contempt/ as a random book, I would not care for the rest of the series.
+It was ok, but nothing to write home about.
+Sapkowski has a great style and I very much want more, but he has not told anything interesting here.
+I will continue reading The Witcher, but mostly because it *is* The Witcher.
+
+I liked reading /Blood of Elves/ much more.
+
+I give it 3.5/5.
+
+[fn:rand] If you get the refence know, that I am no longer that type of a person.
+[fn:enemy-mine] We've got *huge* reference to /Enemy Mine/ in the single best part of the book, but it's not funny at all.
+Sad, scary - sure; but not funny. Just like the movie.
+[fn:st] ... /No one had a chance to interrupt/.
+/It was really quite hypnotic/.
+[fn:netflix] And not an episode more.
+It was already too much.
+
 * Movies  [15/15]                                                  :@reviews:
 :PROPERTIES:
 :EXPORT_HUGO_SECTION: reviews/movies