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    Baptism of Fire
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    Baptism of Fire
    Unavailable
    Baptism of Fire
    Audiobook11 hours

    Baptism of Fire

    Written by Andrzej Sapkowski

    Narrated by Peter Kenny

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The New York Times bestselling series that inspired the international hit video game: The Witcher

    The Wizards Guild has been shattered by a coup and, in the uproar, Geralt was seriously injured. The Witcher is supposed to be a guardian of the innocent, a protector of those in need, a defender against powerful and dangerous monsters that prey on men in dark times.

    But now that dark times have fallen upon the world, Geralt is helpless until he has recovered from his injuries.

    While war rages across all of the lands, the future of magic is under threat and those sorcerers who survive are determined to protect it. It's an impossible situation in which to find one girl—Ciri, the heiress to the throne of Cintra, has vanished—until a rumor places her in the Niflgaard court, preparing to marry the Emperor.

    Injured or not, Geralt has a rescue mission on his hands.

    The Witcher returns in this action-packed sequel to The Time of Contempt.

    Witcher novels
    Blood of Elves
    The Time of Contempt
    Baptism of Fire
    The Tower of Swallows
    Lady of the Lake

    Witcher collections
    The Last Wish
    Sword of Destiny

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateAug 4, 2015
    ISBN9781478904748
    Unavailable
    Baptism of Fire

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    Reviews for Baptism of Fire

    4/5

    436 ratings9 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Very uneven again, a lot of jumping about between characters, and then a weird ending, written in a very different tense and retrospective style.The focus is mostly between the secretive Sorceresses Lodge, and Geralt et al trekking through the bogs. Thanks to the Druids, Geralt's recovered from the injuries inflicted upon him by the Wizards, and departs in the company of an archeress looking to rescue Ciri. He doesn't know that it isn't Ciri holed up in the Nilforgardean Court, and so is heading in the wrong direction. Ciri remains happy playing at being a bandit in the countryside. Geralt treks. The sorceresses debate policy and the ethics of interference. Geralt treks. Next book please.I want to know what happens. But I could do with less distraction, and more getting on with it. Geralt remains the central character, even more dour than ever, but somehow also more chivalrous as well. Neither sits well with him. The countryside is great, the people and creatures inventive, but really the plot just needs moving on a bit.
    • 3/5
      Though I’m not so taken with the tell rather than show sections of this series, I’m still absorbed in the world of The Witcher. This book reveals a new take on a classic monster and an ironic surprise at the end. On to the next…
    • 2/5
      I didn't really like it all that much. Geralt was featured in maybe 10 pages only, and in those he was largely useless. Ciri makes for an interesting heroine, and that is the books only saving grace.
    • 4/5
      The book is not bad, far from it, only..... only to be honest nothing REALLY happening in it. Gerald and his company are marching, Ciri and Yennefer are in the book only because one can’t leave them out. The whole book is a 350 pages long intermission which is somehow is still able to be entertaining.
    • 4/5
      Holy shit! This was really good!
      It might actually be my favorite in the series so far.

      Even though the story expanded a lot more than in the previous books, it feels a lot more intimate, probably because as a reader I'm more familiar with the characters and their journeys.

      I loved Ciri's arc the most if I'm being honest, her struggle to fit in with a band of misfits was very interesting!

      Overall this was a delight to go through and I'm excited to continue with the series.
    • 3/5
      Hm. This is my least favourite of the Witcher books so far. Geralt really is nothing short of an asshole the whole story (though I can sympathise with that given his predicament), and I really detested what has become of Ciri. And there I can sympathise less, since we hardly get to see her POV.

      Moreover, I could really do with a world map and some list of dynasties and sorceresses of some sort. I bet I can find it online somewhere, but I kept getting lost in between all the wars and intrigues and stopped caring a bit about who was killing who and why.

      However, Sapkowski remains a master storyteller, and keeps on applying different devices all the time to relate this tale. Except for perhaps a few pages which I deemed unnecessary, this was a very pleasurable read still.

      On the the next one! :-)
    • 5/5
      Enjoyed most of this although the rigid ‘I must do this’ by Geralt got a bit trying.
    • 4/5
      Once again Geralt and Ciri have been separated by war and circumstances. Recovering from brutal injuries, Geralt is trekking across a war zone with Dandelion and a ragtag group of misfits and refugees. Although the rumor is that Ciri has been kidnapped and forced into a political marriage, Geralt's dreams tell him that she is riding with a group of bandits. That she's happy enough, but won't be safe until he's with her again. Joining forces with dwarves, vampires, and whoever else they come across, they make their way towards Ciri as best they can.Although I'm getting a little tired of this plot device of separation, I do very much enjoy these books. The author has such commitment to the characters he introduces and such devotion to his themes that I cannot help but be entranced.
    • 5/5
      Over the last two months, I’ve been working my way through all the available Witcher Saga novels in audiobook format. The series is surprisingly addictive, so much so that it feels like I was just listening to the first book Blood of Elves yesterday. And now that I’ve come to the end of book three, I find myself a bit lost and drifting. After all, the print version of the next book (The Swallow’s Tower) hasn’t even been translated in English yet, with the release date planned for 2016. So yep, unless I learn Polish in the next year (highly unlikely!), it’s going to be a looooong wait.The fact that Baptism of Fire was perhaps my favorite book in the series so far isn’t helping my patience either. At first, I wasn’t sure that I liked where the story was going. This installment feels different from the others, shifting to a more traditional quest narrative while downplaying the political intrigue. We start the book off with an introduction to a new character, an expert archer and hunter named Milva. She meets Geralt in the forest, finding him badly injured from the events of the Thanedd coup. However, the Witcher only has his mind on recovering so that he can continue on to Nilfgaard to find Ciri, the young princess-turned-sorceress whom unbeknownst to everyone has settled into a life with a gang of rebels.Despite his misgivings, Geralt gives in to Milva’s request to tag along. They are accompanied by Dandelion, the poet. And on their way, they also meet a dwarf named Zoltan. Further along their journey, they join up with a Nilggaardian named Cahir. Eventually, the party even gets a vampire named Regis. Far from the monster the group expected him to be, Regis actually proves quite invaluable thanks to his medical knowledge and skills.I know what you’re thinking. Geralt and his fellow adventurers sound like they stepped straight out of a role-playing game. You even have your different races and classes. Not that I don’t enjoy this particular classic trope, but for a series that has thus far been all about the complexity and plot depth, I was surprised because this seemed like a step back. And indeed, I felt that the story in Baptism of Fire was much simpler when compared to the other books, and not a lot happened at the beginning while Sapkowski worked to introduce all the new faces and names. I also noticed a lot less of characters like Ciri, Yennefer, and Triss Merigold, given that most of the attention was on Geralt and his group. Don’t get me wrong; I always want more Geralt, but I can’t deny I was expecting more Ciri, especially in light of her prominent role in The Time of Contempt.Around the halfway through the book though, something happened. Maybe the story finds its stride at this point, or maybe I finally got to appreciate the personalities of all the different characters, but I started really enjoying myself. Our adventurers make their way east, eventually running afoul of trouble caused by the ongoing war. Battling enemies and working together towards a singular goal – that’s my favorite part of these kinds of stories, after all. The dynamics between everyone in the group started to get a lot more interesting too, with Regis emerging as one of my favorites. Dandelion was a riot as always, and I got such a kick out of his conversations with the old vampire. Near the end, there was also a very good example of how far the characters have come as a group, when everyone got together to discuss what to do about a situation that would affect one of their members. A ragtag bunch of strangers become a family of sorts, which is what I love to see.Something else to keep in mind: the original Baptism of Fire was published in 1996. And for a story that’s almost twenty years old, I think it has aged exceedingly well. Classic quest narrative or not, it still feels fresh, probably a testament to Sapkowski’s storytelling as well as the skills of the translator.And don’t dismiss the audiobook and what it brings to the table. I maintain this is the best format to experience The Witcher Saga. Peter Kenny once again proves what a versatile narrator he is, delivering a superb performance as always. In fact, I feel this is probably his best work on this series so far. Kenny really knocked it out of the park, bringing the whole gang to life in this one, giving each group member a unique voice. He was absolutely fantastic.So now I settle in for the wait. Heck, it may be even longer for the audio version. But it doesn’t matter; something tells me it will be worth it.