Tag: Fantasy

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The Bookish Owl – The Lady of the Lake by Andrzej Sapkowski

The Lady of the Lake Andrzej Sapkowski

So, I’ll be starting on The Lady of the Lake by Andrzej Sapkowski.

This is, of course, because I will be leaving for Poland tomorrow where I’ll be attending my second round of Witcher School, and the 7th book in the Witcher series seems like the ideal entertainment for my flight to Wroclaw.

(And for when I’m in so much physical pain that I have to hide out in my room during the LARP…)

It’s been a while since I read the previous book, The Tower of the Swallow, and all I really recall is Geralt and Regis arriving in Toussaint, and Yennifer getting hit with an oar by some Skelliger fishwife. And there was something with Ciri and some fight pit…?

Hopefully it’ll come back to me.

On another note, I’ll be leaving early tomorrow and I have yet to pack anything beside this book, so I better cut this short and get off my ass. Onwards to the owl photo!

The Lady of the Lake
by Andrzej Sapkowski

After walking through a portal in the Tower of the Swallow, thus narrowly escaping death, the Witcher girl, Ciri, finds herself in a completely different world… a world of the Elves. She is trapped with no way out. Time does not seem to exist and there are no obvious borders or portals to cross back into her home world.

But this is Ciri, the child of prophecy, and she will not be defeated. She knows she must escape to finally rejoin the Witcher, Geralt, and his companions – and also to try to conquer her worst nightmare. Leo Bonhart, the man who chased, wounded and tortured Ciri, is still on her trail. And the world is still at war.

The Lady of the Lake Andrzej Sapkowski

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Getting Ready to Enroll in Witcher School Again

Witcher School makeup

You might remember reading about how I went to a castle in Poland to get my ass kicked back in April.

Well, I will be going back next week, so lots of preparations are underway.

To the fortunate ones who haven’t been forced to listen to me gush endlessly about this: Witcher School is a three-day LARP held in Poland with participants from all over the world. It’s held at Moszna Castle and, as the name might suggest, it’s based on the Witcher games and books. It’s also quite unlike anything I have ever experienced before, which is why I’m going back to hunt monsters in the forest in the middle of goddamn night and get yelled at by men with swords around dawn.

This is an entirely new storyline, meaning I will also be playing an entirely new character.

Last time, I got in a little over my head when I played a hot-headed Skellige warrior and Witcher adept, because, while I might have the attitude, you’re unlikely to find anyone less “warrior”-like than me.

(Seriously, I kept trying to pick fights, but no grown man can bring himself to even yell at a petite 5’6″ baby-faced woman. They kept being all diplomatic and patient, and it was infuriating.)

Which is why I was thrilled when I received my new character.

This time I will be playing Stella, a Nilfgaardian woman who ran away from home, because all she could expect from life was to be married off to some man her parents chose for her. She was eventually kidnapped by bandits who were going to sell her as a slave, but ended up losing her in a game of Gwent to the Grand Master of the School of Cat.

Since I went through the whole adept-thing last time, I decided to play a full-fledged Witcher this time around, which means that my character has already gone through the Trial of the Grasses. And here’s where it gets good: My character survived the Trial, but is suffering from far more after effects than normal.

(Apparently, the School of the Cat isn’t too good at doing genetic experiments.)

Yes yes, I know it’s weird to be excited about playing a sick character, but I was no good as a Viking princess, so I’m totally embracing this. Which is also why I’m going to take things a bit further.

My character sheet doesn’t mention any visible signs of the after effects of the mutagens, but I thought it would be much more interesting if everyone immediately can see that Stella isn’t well. So I went makeup shopping (a horror in itself) and tried out a new look based on how Geralt looks in Witcher 3 when he overdoses on toxic potions.

Witcher School makeup

The bonus is that if I perfect the look, I’ll be all set for Halloween as well!

 

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The Bookish Owl – Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett

Wyrd Sisters Terry Pratchett

New book, and it’s Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett.

I ran out of City Watch books, so my Discworld reread is moving to the Witches subseries now. I remember not liking this book as much as the other Discworld books when I first read it, but I think it might be because I didn’t yet have the deep appreciation of Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg that I developed later. Not sure why it took me so long to get into the Witches books, but it wasn’t until about “Maskerade” that I really started liking them as much as the rest of the series.

I think it might be because, in the beginning, they weren’t as funny as the others, though they had better plots. Or, maybe, it was just because Esme Weatherwax and I can be a bit too similar for comfort…

Either way, I’m hoping to enjoy my reread of the earlier books more!

(Also, don’t worry about Artemis being creepy – I told him it was October, so he’s just getting into the Halloween spirit)

Wyrd Sisters
by Terry Pratchett

Three witches – Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick – have gathered on a lonely heath. A king has been cruelly murdered, his throne usurped by his ambitious cousin. An infant heir and the crown of the kingdom, both missing . . .

Witches don’t have these kind of dynastic problems themselves – in fact, they don’t have leaders.

Granny Weatherwax was the most highly-regarded of the leaders the witches don’t have. But even she found that meddling in royal politics was a lot more complicated than certain playwrights would have you believe . . .

Wyrd Sisters Terry Pratchett

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Ghostly Scream – Excerpt (Chapter 48)

Excerpt Ghostly Scream

“Maiya was an archangel,” Selissa reminded him.

The Nephilim shot her a look. “So is Cadeyrn.”

“I’m a little fuzzy on the details, but I get the impression that being trapped inside a human body severely hampers your ability to zap demons off the face of the earth,” she said dryly.

Seymour blinked. “‘Zap’?”

Selissa rolled her eyes. “I don’t actually know how demons are banished. I imagine a big bolt of lightning to be involved, for dramatic effect.”

‘Nothing quite that flashy. A bit of smoke and fire, but no wrath from above.’

‘No one asked you,’ Selissa shot back.

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The Bookish Owl – We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

This time it’s We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal!

I have been looking forward to this post, simply because the cover of this book is so gorgeous. I actually started following the author on Twitter long before the book was even released, because I had seen people sharing the cover and I couldn’t get enough of it.

Yes, I have a thing for pretty covers. Sue me.

In my defense, I did actually read the description of the book to make sure it sounded interesting before I bought the book. I’m over that phase where I would buy books simply because they were pretty, because there’s some really bad books with some really great covers out there.

Hopefully this is not one of them, because it really does sound good!

We Hunt the Flame
by Hafsah Faizal

People lived because she killed. People died because he lived.

Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the sultan. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways.

Both Zafira and Nasir are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya―but neither wants to be.

War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the sultan on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds―and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal