As the second Nilgaardian war continues, the search for a certain missing Princess from Cintra by various factions from both sides of the conflict including a newly dubbed knight from Rivia is getting more frantic. The Tower of Swallows is the fourth novel of Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher saga as Geralt and his cadre continue their search for Ciri while she suddenly finds herself drawn to the titular tower.

There is a myriad of storylines that are centered around Ciri, either from her point of view or from other people looking for her with mixed results for themselves. While the action and the storylines themselves were very good, the way they were framed is the major issue for me. Apart from Geralt’s arc and the climax of the novel, every storyline was seen in flashbacks and frankly I wasn’t in the mood for that style of storytelling for most of the book. Don’t get me wrong I have no problem with flashbacks as a storytelling device, but after the previous book this was not exactly what I was looking forward to especially since this book is the penultimate installment of the main saga. Given all of that I liked how Ciri’s character was given more depth throughout the book and frankly that was needed for me to care about what’s her fate be the end of the next book.

The Tower of Swallows is an alright novel in the Witcher saga, Andrzej Sapkowski’s decision to mostly do flashbacks for most of the book is why after finishing I didn’t feel satisfied. ( )

I felt like this book was missing the camaraderie and intrigue that the previous books had. The "found family" story at the center of the character's journies was mostly absent, and as such it lacked the usual warmth and adventure held by the previous books. ( )

A confusing, boring mess of a book that is almost entirely absent the series title character or what the name of the book is about. I mean if you want more of the last two books, I guess you have it here, just more confusing because of all the flashbacks and flashforwards. The one good thing I can say is that I liked Estarad Thyssen. And perhaps that speaks volumes, as well.

I have a theory that the reason the flashbacks and flashforwards are so bad in this book in particular is because Sapkwoski is far more comfortable with short stories, like how the series started, and writing one long novel for the same small group of characters is far more challenging. I can't actually say the short stories were necessarily better, but that's honestly the only reason I can fathom every book since the first novel got to bad with this set-up of constant flashbacks and flashforwards between characters we don't know, somewhere, doing something we probably don't understand and that doesn't actually matter to the plot other than very badly written foreshadowing.

There is more rape, more boring political maneuvering, more corruption, more sexism, even more brutality, and more of a question of why people tell me this is one of their favorite series. Is it because it's complex and therefore people take that as it being good? It is so boring. The flashbacks and forwards are confusing and uninteresting, and make an already nonsensical timeline harder to understand. Almost all the new characters are terrible. There is so much awful and so little joy, all because... why? Life is suffering, I guess?

Sapkowski has always had a weird obsession with using language about pogroms in these books. Pogroms are more than just things that were done to Jewish people, that I understand. What I do not understand is the inclusion of the line "The final solution to the witcher problem", which admittedly might be a translation fumble of some kind, but it's in line with other language and questionably themes in the series. Context-wise, it doesn't really work, and it just... At best, it's in very poor taste. Sometimes/most of the time, I am very tired of Sapkowski and/or his translator.

If you want a fantasy story about characters with destinies who fight them and time travel and portals and political maneuvering and corruption, read Steven Brust's "Dragaera" books. It'll take you a fraction of the time and it's actually funny and understandable. Don't read this. ( )

«Non voglio la ricchezza o la gloria, e neppure il potere o uno scettro», rispose la striga. «Voglio un cavallo, che sia nero e inafferrabile come l’impetuoso vento notturno. Voglio una spada, che sia lucente e affilata come un raggio di luna. Voglio percorrere il mondo nella nera notte in sella al mio cavallo nero, voglio colpire le forze del Male e dell’Oscurità con la mia spada luminosa. Questo è ciò che desidero.»
(pagina 6)

Zitti, zitti, bambini. Non sono demoni, non sono diavoli...

Peggio.

Sono uomini.

(pagina 36)

Una torre colpita da un fulmine, presso le Razze Antiche simbolo di caos e distruzione... E sopra la torre...»

«Una rondine», terminò Ciri. «Zireael. Il mio nome.

(pagina 144)

Ma qui, sopra la torre, vedi? Una rondine. Il simbolo della speranza. Prendi questa spada. Che si compia ciò che deve compiersi.

(pagina 145)

Non c’è verso di distruggere completamente né gli umani né gli scarafaggi, ne rimarrà sempre almeno una coppia. Quanto a noi elfi, Itlina è più categorica: si salveranno solo coloro che seguiranno la Rondine. La Rondine, simbolo della primavera, è la salvatrice, colei che aprirà le Porte Proibite e indicherà la strada della liberazione. E renderà possibile la rinascita del mondo. La Rondine, la Figlia del Sangue Antico.

(pagina 251) ( )

Abandoned after 150 pages.
A huuuuge letdown after an amazing series and a terrible, really bad book compared not only to the previous 5 Witcher books (5/5 all of them), but to itself or to the fantasy genre in general.
It is unoriginal. Uninteresting.
Sapkowski experiments with numerous POVs and it goes terribly. He experiments with some parallel worlds and somewhat scifi concepts and it goes terribly.
He gives up on Geralt as a character and develops only the uninteresting and annoying Ciri - not a real character, but only a lame image of what an old man imagines a teenage girl would be (a brat lacking anything except aggressiveness). And ”develops” is the wrong word - there is no character development for her, whatever the circumstances.
Furthermore, the world does not feel like the Witcher one anymore, but just another generic, very bland fantasy one; the new characters are too many, uninteresting, not credible and also unimaginative.
A really bad book, best avoided by the Witcher fans. Unfortunately, I see from other reviews the next is at least just as bad. Oh, well - so the series ends here for me. ( )