Good day everyone,
I hope you are all having a good day, welcome to CryptoGod-1's blog on all things gaming and literature. Today I will be doing an analysis and review of the sixth book from The Witcher series, and the fourth book of The Witcher Saga, by Andrzej Sapkowski, entitled The Tower of the Swallow. Within I will break down the chapters and give an overview of what happens within the story, with a conclusion on the overall book at the end. This will be done in a six part series for this book due to the number of chapter, so keep an eye out for the remaining parts to follow.
The Tower of the Swallow
The book, published in Polish 1997 and into English in 2016. It a continuation from the third book in the Witcher Saga, Baptism of Fire. The hunt for Ciri continues, as Geralt amongst his new group will go to the ends of the earth to find her. The book is narrated in parts by Dandelion and Ciri, both sharing their memories and versions of events which happened. It all relates around the Equinox in September, where the fate of Ciri and Geralt are in the air. War has spread far and wide and Geralt and co are in the heart of Nilfgaard. New allies and new enemies are met, old grudges are laid aside, and someone Geralt once loved has become the enemy, in his mind at least. Alliances are broken and formed, creatures once seen as evil become allies. Geralt must face his fate as a Witcher and question the very brotherhood he has been associated with. He will travel till the ends of the world to find Ciri. Who and what he encounters and learns along the way will be the shaping of him, and of Ciri.
There is an overall page count of 436 pages within the English version of the book which was translated by David French.
Chapter 1
Both men and elves make use of their own calendars, with humans made up of twelve months, and the elves with eight. The elven one was split into specific moments, all opposite each other, with the autumn Equinox where the world was currently at. This night, late September, the Wild Hunt was flying through the dark sky at an almighty cost of life while gathering for their Harvest. Those on the island of Skellige blamed the witch Yennifer. In the temple of the goddess Melitele in Ellandee, Triss, Jarre, and Nenneke all had the same dream. Ciri was in trouble, with blood splattered all over her face. Eight hundred miles away an old hermit named Vysogota was awoken by a strange dream. Vysogota wandered through the swamp lands and he searched through his traps, but it was to no avail as he had caught nothing. He heard the sound of a horse to his great surprise, as the swamps of Pereplut were a hazardous and difficult area to traverse. He had to investigate, and on doing so found a black mare. Laying on the ground nearby was a teenagers body, and as Vysogota checked on it he was horrified by the bloodied mess of the young girls face. Vysogota brought the girl to his secluded cabin, shrouded in the mist and will hidden. Here he tended to her wound, a long slash on the left of her face, most likely from a curved blade. He cleaned it as best he could. He made use of leaves and a quill to take notes of what he discovered about her. The many wounds, the interesting tone of her mumblings as she rested, the red rose tattoo on her loins, and the names she mumbled. As the hours passed he condition worsened, and surely she would perish from infection. Vysogota had only one choice, to give her his strongest elixirs in the hope they don't kill her. Four days after he found her, Ciri woke, if only briefly. The following day she woke again and regained some of her strength. Her wound was bad, but it was healing. Vysogota had soup and Ciri ate as he was brimming with questions. When Ciri finished eating she exclaimed she needed to leave, she was being hunted. Vysogota reassured her that she was safe in his hermitage. She would not be found there. In her sleeping mumblings she had mentioned Bonhart, but it was not he who slashed her face. It was Tawny Owl. All her comrades were dead, killed by them. No longer was she Falka, and introduced herself as Ciri. She demanded a looking glass, and reluctantly Vysogota agreed. Ciri cried to herself after seeing the damage which had been done to her face. Vysogota explained to Ciri that horsemen had been looking for her at a nearby village where he traded with the locals. She was safe with him, and should stay to regain her health and strength while allowing enough time for her pursuers to give up searching for her, or her corpse. Ciri was adamant her wounds were inflicted on the day of the Equinox. Vysogota, once a doctor, was adamant it was four days after it, mere hours before he found her. Ciri was mistrustful of Vysogota and he the same of her, and they quarrelled some more. He took her for a mere bandit, and feigned being an uneducated old man. Between them their worldly knowledge creeped out, bit by bit. Vysogota had tended to Ciri and she was grateful, but without really knowing who each other was they were in unfamiliar waters. Vysogota began. He was Vysogota of Corvo, once a professor at Oxenfurt having been a doctor, surgeon, alchemist, scholar, historian, philosopher and ethicist. He had been forced to flee after publishing a godless paper, and his wife left him. Ending up in Nilfgaard, he lectured in the Imperial Academy for almost ten years before once again he had to flee because of a godless paper he published regarding totalitarian power and criminal character of imperial wars. He was bitter at what happened and joined a group of dissidents, before being captured and banished into exile. His second wife, and daughter, disowned him. He was alone, under punishment of death if he returned to Nilfgaard. That is until the empire annexed Ebbing, and now in imperial lands, he hinds knowing if he is found his head is for the noose. Ciri’s turn. She explained how promises were made to her which were not kept. Destiny she was forced to believe in had betrayed her. How whenever she believed in her destiny she was forced to suffer. How she found help amongst a group who she never should have found help amongst, let alone love. Vysogota and Ciri had a lot more in common than either could have imagined.
Chapter 2
The Rats are holding up at an old postal station, where they are robbing anyone of their possessions whenever someone may think it wise to stop and rest there. Currently they have a tattoo artist, Master Almavera, who has no valuables, so instead they are getting tattoos off of him. It’s where Ciri gets her rose tattoo, the same one as Mistle got. A wanderer and familiar to the group, Hotspurn, who considered himself a merchant but merely stole from real ones, has found them. He informs them the man they have is bearing a purple split arrow, a sign he should not be robbed. Hotspurn warns the Rats that they should be careful as many people are coming for them. The gang merely laugh it off, as brash and bravado as they always were. Hotspurn explained how their act of robbing from the Baron of Casadei when Falka took his daughters broach had left the girl in poor health. The Baron wanted them all dead, to flay Falka alive.
Venomously they scorned at the supposed threats, with Falka even forgetting the terror she felt as the rode through a village fleeing their pursuers. Hotspurn informed them Bonhart is trailing them. The group fell silent, with Giselher eventually explaining he is a bounty hunter. A professional killer with plenty of experience. Hotspurn was a friend of Giselher, as Mistle had explained to Falka long ago. They conspired to ambush merchants, but never ones with the agreed upon symbol. Hotspurn went on to inform them that Emhyr has offered a pardon if they turn themselves in, because he is to marry Ciri of Cintra and as a matter of politics it is in the best interest to pardon the outlaws. Lies yelled Ciri. She was hushed so Hotspurn could continue his tale. Apparently this Ciri had been imprisoned in a tower by an evil witch but had somehow managed to escape. The amnesty is balderdash according to the Rats, but Hotspurn adds one final detail. If they do agree, the merchant guild he works for will take them in and offer them all protection, for a price of course. They will think it over replies Giselher, and Hotspurn warns them Bonhart is hot on their tails. He bids them farewell and leaves. The gang makes their plan, to ride to Jealousy and kill Bonhart, before taking the amnesty. For the winter at least. In the spring, the Rats would rise once again.
Early in the dawn Falka snuck out, saddled her horse, and prepared for her grand plan. She had possibilities once again. She was planning on reclaiming her throne. Mistle caught her as she was leaving. Falka promised she would return for her one day, in a golden carriage. They kissed one last time and told each other they loved one another.
It had all come back to Ciri. What she had been told in Kaer Morhen was forever lost, suddenly felt abtainable again. She wanted her throne. So much so that she nearly went to the nearest Nilfgaardian fort to pronounce that she was the real Ciri. She calmed down and realised that would only bring her death. She rode onwards and managed to catch up with Hotspurn. He was not too surprised to see her, expecting someone to want the amnesty he had offered. She refused it, instead asking him where Cintra lay. He was curious as to why, but when Ciri explained calmly it was to ascend the throne, he shrugged it off. Hotspurn gave her directions, and informed her it would take roughly thirty days to ride there. She was lost from the directions, but he was heading to Forgeham and then to Metinna, and asked her to ride with him. Pondering briefly, she accepted his company.
As they rode Hotspurn made no secret of his desire for Ciri. He informed her if she was caught she should feign ignorance, break down crying, and claim it was Mistle who dominated her and made her into a criminal. She realised he wanted to bed her, and pondered it over in her mind. He was nearly thirty after all, and did not seem attractive to her, but there was something about him she just couldn’t figure out. Suddenly as they rode two horsemen appear from the thick overgrown and start firing crossbow bolts at them. They manage to ride into the bushes but Hotspurn got shot in the back by a bolt. He fell and they plunged into a ravine, and Ciri jumped after him. Their horses fled and eventually the pursuers did also. Hotspurn saw it as his final chance to be with Ciri, and reluctantly she agreed. He died before they had even really begun, and Ciri covered his corpse as best she could. She spent the night there, hiding, as the bandits were still about. Hotspurn had a magical bracelet which actually worked in calling his steed back, and Ciri took it to ride out at dawn.
Kelpie, Ciri named the majestic black horse she had just inherited from Hotspurn. She had to ride back to warn the Rats, or at least Mistle, not to go to Jealousy. Ciri had deduced that there was a trap waiting for them, a large force. In fact, the trap was just a single man.
The Rats rode up the Main Street of Jealousy, a shadow of the town that once stood there before, Birka. It had been burnt down by an enraged elf, and a haphazard bunch of shacks now adorned the new town. At the end of the street stood the inn where Bonhart was, The Chimera’s Head. The Rats stood in unison and called out the bounty hunter, all the while Falka was riding at such speed to try save her friends. Bonhart emerged, the giant of a man he was, and questioned where Falka was. He arrogantly made them an offer. There was a bounty for them dead, and a slightly larger one for them alive. Which way did they want it? The battle commenced, and one by one the Rats fell. Bonhart was too quick, too nimble, and too strong. He killed them all until just Mistle was left, bleeding badly but not dead. Just as Ciri arrived, she witnessed Bonhart murder Mistle. An anger swelled in her, and she engaged the bounty hunter in a fight, determined to kill him.
They clashed an almighty fight, parrying each other’s blows. Ciri was enraged but knew she would die unless she killed him. She thought back to her training at Kaer Morhen, and tried a move Lambert taught her. As she believed she had struck the winning blow, suddenly she was hit hard. By a fist. Bonhart had punched her to stop her after she evaded his sword. Dragging her by the hair, he showed her the dying scene of Mistle. Ciri then had her hands bound to the hitching post. Bonhart forced servants to hold Ciri by the head and eyelids, and he forced her to watch as Bonhart cut off her friends heads with a saw.
Vysogota did his best to console Ciri, as she had spent days retelling him of her tales. Her life. Her woes. And her sorrows.
To be continued.......
If you would like to check out my analysis on the World of the Witcher, please follow this link here: The Witcher
While if you wish to check out my review on the first book of short stories in the Witcher series, it is available here: The Witcher: The Last Wish
Finally if you want to see what I wrote about the second book of short stories from the Witcher, it is available here: The Witcher: The Sword of Destiny
The Witcher Saga
Book 1
The Witcher Saga - Blood of Elves - Part I
The Witcher Saga - Blood of Elves - Part II
The Witcher Saga - Blood of Elves - Part III
The Witcher Saga - Blood of Elves - Part IV
Book 2
The Witcher Saga - Time of Contempt - Part I
The Witcher Saga - Time of Contempt - Part II
The Witcher Saga - Time of Contempt - Part III
The Witcher Saga - Time of Contempt - Part IV
Book 3
The Witcher Saga - Baptism of Fire - Part I
The Witcher Saga - Baptism of Fire - Part II
The Witcher Saga - Baptism of Fire - Part III
The Witcher Saga - Baptism of Fire - Part IV
Have a great day.
Peace. CryptoGod-1.
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