Sapkowski, who of course is best known for the Witcher books, has in fact written other things. This first came out in 2002, but wasn’t translated into English until now - the English translation comes out at the end of the month, courtesy of the same translator who did most of the Witcher books. Thanks to Orbit for this kinda-advanced review copy.
This book kicks off the Sapkowski’s Hussite Trilogy, and it’s got a lot about it that interests me. It is a historical fantasy, set in 14th Century Silesia at the time of the Bohemian Reformation. I’m always interested in books drawing on things I’m unfamiliar with, and the Bohemian Reformation certainly qualifies. I kept flipping back and forth between the book and Wikipedia, and along the way learned a good deal about the Hussite Wars.
The protagonist is Reinmar of Bielawa, physician and magician, and the book begins with him being run out of town after being caught in flagrante delicto with the wife of a local knight off on pilgrimage. A clergyman friend of his urges him to flee to Hungary before the knight’s brothers get their hands on him. But Reinmar is convinced that he loves his Adele, and that she loves him, they’re destined to be together, blah blah blah, and so that never happens. Instead he finds himself in the company of a man called Scharley, newly released from a prison/monastery and of a simpleminded giant named Samson, possessed by some kind of a demon that Reinmar and Scharley accidentally summoned (these things happen) and stuck there. It begins with them trying to evade the brothers after Reinmar, who is determined to get back to Adele, but things snowball as the Inquisition, the Hussites, robber knights, assorted supernatural forces, and others get involved as well.
It sounds complicated, and it is. Which leads to my first complaint: every time I found myself getting interested in something, the plot would veer off in a new direction. It was honestly maddeningly frustrating how predictable this was. I could have happily read a series of short stories about the escapades Reinmar, Scharley, and Samson got up to, but that’s not what I got. This is a hefty book (432 page, per Goodreads) and there isn’t any central plot that’s given enough weight to really carry it through.
The other thing that really bothered me was the way sexism and antisemitism were presented uncritically. I’m not bothered by them being there - 15th century Poland was presented as an egalitarian place of religious tolerance, that would have bothered me as well. By showing accurate 15th century antisemitism but not showing any Jewish characters of significance, one could easily come away from this with the impression that Jews really did use the blood of kidnapped Christian children to make matzo. To put this in a context possibly more familiar to American readers, it’s like having a book that doesn’t have any Black characters, but where the white protagonists frequently talk about Black rapists and drug dealers.
There are women in the book, but every one of them is shallow, and most of them were very sexualized. It started as eye roll inducing, but by the end it was just plain grating. If you’re looking for a book for the feminism Bingo square, this ain’t it.
Overall I would call this just good enough that it annoyed me it wasn’t better. It’s got a super interesting historical setting, and a very well-done low-magic feel. There’s a good story in there, though it’s buried. An editor willing to take an axe to a few of the sequences would have made this much better. But it also might have highlighted the misogyny more than it already was. If you’re a fan of the Witcher books/games/show, I’m willing to bet you’d appreciate this. I liked it about as well as I liked The Last Wish, the only Witcher book I’ve read.
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