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+title = "Lady of the Lake (1999)"
+author = ["Michał Sapka"]
+date = 2024-06-15T22:06:00+02:00
+categories = ["brainrot"]
+draft = false
+weight = 3004
+primary_menu = "brain-rot-wicher"
+abstract = "My review of the last book in the Witcher saga"
+image = "brain-rot/covers/sapkowski-lady-of-the-lake.jpg"
+[menu]
+  [menu.brain-rot-wicher]
+    weight = 3004
+    identifier = "lady-of-the-lake-1999"
++++
+
+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:1], 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:2].
+
+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.
+
+{{< rating 3.75 "sapkowski-lady-of-the-lake.jpg" >}}
+Cover
+{{< /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:1]: Yes, I said it.
+    No Nobel, but it's the most known piece of Polish culture.
+    Fight me.
+[^fn:2]: I blame witch-hunt after the Netflix series dropped.
+    Seems most of the die hard fans never read the saga.