[Puck]

The Scoia'tael are more or less background stuff in the books (it's been a while since I've read them, though). What I meant was that the short stories introduce characters like Yennefer (of whom you have already heard if you've played the games) and how Geralt met her (happens in The Last Wish) as well as Ciri (Sword of Destiny), and the series as a whole is, for all intents and purposes, the story of Geralt AND Ciri. Hence the displeasure of fans when the book in which the latter gets introduced didn't get an official translation.

It is, I guess, possible to skip the short stories and jump straight into Blood of Elves, as some of the stuff from the short stories made it into the games, but I would advise against that. The games are set after the books and Blood of Elves takes for granted that you know things from the stories that did not get included into the games.

It's basically less about getting to know Geralt, and more about getting to know other important characters. The two most important ones they left out of the games. So far. Looking at the trailers for Witcher 3 they're going to be back with a vengeance.

The games kind of complicate things. It looks safe to just jump into the main series of books after the games, but they are actually considered alternate continuities and while it may seem like a chore to read the short stories after playing the games, because, meh, you kind of know the setting already.. well, personally, I enjoyed the short stories in their own right, soooo.. I think the're worth the read.

This post has been edited by Puck: 27 January 2015 - 07:04 PM

[Dadding]

Maark, on 27 January 2015 - 05:57 PM, said:

Puck, on 27 January 2015 - 03:39 PM, said:

I'm not entirely sure about what you mean, Maark, as all the books deal with Geralt, except after the short story collections other point of views are added. If you're looking to start the series, you ideally should start with the short stories in The Last Wish, and preferably also read Sword of Destiny (fan translation or wait for the official release) before moving on to the main series, as they introduce the main cast of characters and the background story.

I'm already pretty aware of Gerald via the game adaptations, so introductions would seem perhaps a little superfluous. Without going too deep into spoilerland, is the story based on the mishaps caused by the Scoia'Tael?

Also I have to call him Gerald because of that Zero Punctuation review from way back when.

Start the series at the beginning with The Last Wish all the books happen before he loses his memory in the game, so there's not much rehashing of information that takes place. Scoia'Tael are involved in the series but they're just one of the many factions, conflicts, etc.

[Gothos]

Without going too far into spoilerland, let's say that:
the short stories start out as Geralt's various, cough, adventures as a witcher. We gradually meet characters that stuck, like Dandellion, Yennefer, Yarpen adn eventully Ciri. You can really see a publishing history in them as things get gradually larger in scale and scope.
The saga is, at its core, about Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri. This is also where the doomsday stuff starts coming up. Oh and there's also a war. And some banditism. And lots upon lots of traveling.

[Maark Abbott]

Puck, on 27 January 2015 - 07:02 PM, said:

The Scoia'tael are more or less background stuff in the books (it's been a while since I've read them, though). What I meant was that the short stories introduce characters like Yennefer (of whom you have already heard if you've played the games) and how Geralt met her (happens in The Last Wish) as well as Ciri (Sword of Destiny), and the series as a whole is, for all intents and purposes, the story of Geralt AND Ciri. Hence the displeasure of fans when the book in which the latter gets introduced didn't get an official translation.

It is, I guess, possible to skip the short stories and jump straight into Blood of Elves, as some of the stuff from the short stories made it into the games, but I would advise against that. The games are set after the books and Blood of Elves takes for granted that you know things from the stories that did not get included into the games.

It's basically less about getting to know Geralt, and more about getting to know other important characters. The two most important ones they left out of the games. So far. Looking at the trailers for Witcher 3 they're going to be back with a vengeance.

The games kind of complicate things. It looks safe to just jump into the main series of books after the games, but they are actually considered alternate continuities and while it may seem like a chore to read the short stories after playing the games, because, meh, you kind of know the setting already.. well, personally, I enjoyed the short stories in their own right, soooo.. I think the're worth the read.

All fair points. I'll see if I can find a copy at some stage once my current to-read pile goes down a bit.

[Mentalist]

How the games relate to the books for dummies (relevant prior to the new novels coming out, dunno about now)
Books happen in publishing order (Last Wish, Sword of Destiny, Blood of the Elves, and so on).
At the end of last book (Tower of the Swallow, iirc EDIT: no, it was actually "Lady of the Lake"), that thing happens, about which there's a flashback in the second game when you're done the memories prologue and start talking to Roche in the dungeon.

Then the games are a kind of a sequel, featuring an amnesiac Geralt, in a world where everyone else knows him, but he doesn't remember much.
And the million-oren question in the games is alway "how did Geralt end up there, after what happened at the end of the books?" and we slowly piece that together by the end of game 2.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 31 January 2015 - 01:21 AM

[Maark Abbott]

Righto, gotcha.

Tried to put an order down on a 2nd hand copy but the order fell through and I don't think the website have re-added the item yet. If it's not back on there before lunchtime on Monday I'll try a different site to buy it from.

[Minttunator]

I'm a huge fan of the Witcher video games, so I recently picked up the books. I'm currently reading Sword of Destiny (in Finnish, as the Finns have been quicker with the translations) and I've been enjoying the series thus far!

It's really nice to see that Sword of Destiny is finally getting an English translation - though it's already been translated into Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Russian, Finnish, Lithuanian, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Serbian, Bulgarian, and French, if Wikipedia tells it true, so if one understands any of those languages, one can pick it up right now.

[Mentalist]

Incidentally, anyone that buys Witcher 3 on GOG.com gets a free copy of the new Witcher novel. I recently discovered I have that available for download. Will have to check it out.

[Maark Abbott]

Just finished The Last Wish. I have to say, it was very good. I can see why the town Gerald comes from is called Riveting now.

Onward to Blood of Elves. Damn knife-ears.

[amphibian]

I finished the series.

I am going to buy the games at some point in the next couple months. I've to finish Dark Souls 2 first a few times and perhaps go to Nepal, but Sapkowski is a gooood writer.

[Mentalist]

amphibian, on 03 March 2015 - 02:15 PM, said:

I finished the series.

I am going to buy the games at some point in the next couple months. I've to finish Dark Souls 2 first a few times and perhaps go to Nepal, but Sapkowski is a gooood writer.

I have the translations of the first 2 books of his Hussite trilo sitting on my shelf. Considering giving them a go once i'm done with "the Dragon's Path".

Will let you guys know what I think.

[Maark Abbott]

amphibian, on 03 March 2015 - 02:15 PM, said:

I finished the series.

I am going to buy the games at some point in the next couple months. I've to finish Dark Souls 2 first a few times and perhaps go to Nepal, but Sapkowski is a gooood writer.

The first game isn't all that great. I stopped playing about six hours in (bastard plant in the swamp).

The second one is a lot better.

[Puck]

Mentalist, on 03 March 2015 - 05:06 PM, said:

amphibian, on 03 March 2015 - 02:15 PM, said:

I finished the series.

I am going to buy the games at some point in the next couple months. I've to finish Dark Souls 2 first a few times and perhaps go to Nepal, but Sapkowski is a gooood writer.

I have the translations of the first 2 books of his Hussite trilo sitting on my shelf. Considering giving them a go once i'm done with "the Dragon's Path".

Will let you guys know what I think.

The Hussite trilogy is just as good, but very different. I love it (they're all available in german, for some reason.. there was a bit of a Sapkowski boom here a while back and all the Witcher and Hussite books got translated). I would put them on the same level of great as Eco's The Name of the Rose.

This post has been edited by Puck: 04 March 2015 - 12:29 PM

[Nicodimas]

So bought the LAST wish, this is where I should start the series? then you jump over to Blood of Elves..or are some of the other stories mandatory reads.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[Dadding]

Nicodimas, on 04 March 2015 - 06:17 PM, said:

So bought the LAST wish, this is where I should start the series? then you jump over to Blood of Elves..or are some of the other stories mandatory reads.

Thanks for the suggestion.

We have another convert!

The Last Wish
Sword of Destiny
Blood of Elves
Time of Contempt
Baptism of Fire
Tower of the Swallow
Lady of the Lake

This post has been edited by Dadding: 04 March 2015 - 06:24 PM

[Mentalist]

Nicodimas, on 04 March 2015 - 06:17 PM, said:

So bought the LAST wish, this is where I should start the series? then you jump over to Blood of Elves..or are some of the other stories mandatory reads.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Sigh...

Once again:

1 "The Last Wish" (short story collection 1)

2. "The Sword of Destiny" (short story collection 2, Now available in ENG in hardback to pre-order for May 21st

AND ONLY THEN:

3. "Blood of the Elves" (novel 1)
And the rest of the novels in published order.

4. Witcher games

5. The post-game novels.

Reading Blood of the Elves after the Last Wish introduces you to a random war that just happened and a new character, whose significance makes no sense w/o several stories in the "Sword of Destiny". I mean, it's doable and all, but it's making appreciating the series more difficult.
Not to mention that "Sword of Density" is just an amazing book in its own right, and it's probably the best "set-up" to the various aspects of the Witcherverse © you could get, in terms of the underlying messages about morality and the like.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 06 March 2015 - 12:56 AM

[Nicodimas]

Mentalist, on 04 March 2015 - 06:29 PM, said:

Nicodimas, on 04 March 2015 - 06:17 PM, said:

So bought the LAST wish, this is where I should start the series? then you jump over to Blood of Elves..or are some of the other stories mandatory reads.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Sigh...

Well I didn't really want to research that much..I mean this is a long thread. And spoilers..could have run into those..!! /runsaway

I'll tell you all what I think the premise sounds cool.

[Puck]

Nico, this thread has three pages and the info you were looking for is on every single one of them, repeatedly. Not that we're not happy to provide anyone with a reading order, but seriously, it's faster to scan a page of this thread than post and wait for a reply

[Nicodimas]

Puck, on 04 March 2015 - 06:44 PM, said:

Nico, this thread has three pages and the info you were looking for is on every single one of them, repeatedly. Not that we're not happy to provide anyone with a reading order, but seriously, it's faster to scan a page of this thread than post and wait for a reply

I sense judgement's. . in my defense I probably didn't look.

[amphibian]

That Sword of Density flub makes me remember that there's a person on here with a signature quoting me being... very accidentally euphemistic talking about Dragnipur and Anomander.