Title: The Witcher – The Tower of the Swallow (#7 – Witcher Series)

Author: Andrzej Sapkowski

Pages: 436

Hi all,

If you haven’t read my review of the previous book (006-2022) then I would suggest you go back to that one first before you take on this book. The story has developed so well and we’re reaching the climax of the Witcher series that you don’t want to start being lost where every character has ended up in the prior book.

Although the previous book was a little dull (compared to the previous books) and at times it was tricky to find out which characters’ story we were actually busy following, they were slowly building towards something big. And that something big is what unravels in this book. In the previous book I speculated that Ciri could sport three careers, but in this book it becomes quite clear which one she will pursue. Not because she has made a decision based on a flip of a coin, but rather because it is destiny that is pulling her towards it.

Better yet, the book is much better written to make it clear whose character’s story we are currently focusing on. That is very important here because many things happen simultaneously for the different characters wherever they currently are, but in the end we somehow see how it all links together. However, the story starts off with Ciri evading capture and ending in the moors, being helped by a stranger, a hermit, and she lives with him for a while, recovering from her wounds, and in the meantime tells him her story.

The book is broken down into eleven chapters. As I noted, there is much happening simultaneously, therefore even though I might only elaborate on one piece of the story under each chapter below, it is a significant leg to Ciri being called to fulfil her destiny:

• Chapter 1
  • Vysogota, a hermit living in the marshes, is out to look at his traps. He doesn’t find any animals that sprung his traps but stumbles upon a riderless horse, black and silk-like. Not far away is a rider, lying on the ground. He moves over to try and help the rider and takes the unconscious rider with him to his home. For a few days he takes careful note of the state of the body to detect any symptoms and progress of health thanks to the medication he has administered.
  • The rider wakes up and she gets to know the hermit, and introduces herself as Ciri. Over the coming days she continues to recover her strength. As she starts to trust this old man more and more she starts to tell him her story, who she is, where she is from, where she ended up and how she has come to be here.
• Chapter 2
  • In this chapter we return to the Rats. Ciri and the other six members are held up at a town for a few days. A friend to the group meets them there to warn them that a bounty has been set upon their head, and a bounty hunter called Bonhart is on their trail. The friend, Hotspurn, tells the group that the Emperor of Nilfgaard has issued a decree that a pardon will be issued to all criminals who will come forward and admit to their crimes. This is because he will marry the heiress to Cintra, princess Cirilla, and wishes to have a fresh start and good terms with his people.
  • None of the members want to take the offer, but rather wish to take on this bounty hunter. He is ruthless and has never failed in any assignment placed before him. They believe their group will receive a tremendous reputation when they manage to kill him, where others have only failed in the past.
  • Ciri decides to take another path and leave the group in the early hours of the morning. Thus, she leaves and follows the trail of Hotspurn in the hopes to secure the kingly pardon and so she can reclaim her title for her kingdom. Whether she will marry the Emperor of Nilfgaard or only retreat back to Cintra, that is uncertain, but on their way they are pursued by troublemakers, with the result of Hotspurns death.
  • She decides to follow her Rat members to warn them, but comes too late as they are already entangled in a fight with him and all members perish in the end. Bonharts contract was to kill all members and provide proof to his contractor. After fighting Ciri he decides against killing her, and keeps her alive for the present moment. Why? That is not revealed in this chapter.
• Chapter 3
  • The Witcher, Dandelion, Milva, Regis and Cahir were with the camp of the Queen of Rivia/Lydia in the previous book. However, they had a different task they wanted to achieve and only by chance ended up fighting the battle on the bridge for this queen. They want to continue on their way to the druids in a forest because they believe these have the best chance of telling them where to find Ciri. However, since Gerald has been knighted, he cannot leave as he pleases, but is bound to serve the queen. Thus, he and his group break camp in early hours of dawn and leave the camp in secret. Knowing full well that he will lose all the priviledges bestowed upon him only a few days ago, he is set on finding Ciri.
  • They evade some enemy troops on the way and end up in a town where the inhabitants tell them where they might find the druids because the druids possibly left their previous place of stay. Thus, Gerald’s group alter their course and head another way, and the townspeople join them for they wanted to move away from their homes due to the continuing conflicts.
  • Yennefer has escaped the sorceresses hide-out in the previous book via a teleportation spell and has ended up in the sea. Some fishermen have caught her in their nets and bring her to their king on Skellige Island, one of the allies of the Cintran kingdom.
  • Emperor of Nilfgaard and Vattier de Rideaux exchange harsh words because the head of the secret service (Vattier) is unable to find Cahir and Ciri, even though he has at his disposal a significant amount of money from the crown. Vattier also makes contact with Rience to hear if he has managed to find Ciri’s trail since it was promised to him that they would deliver Ciri to him themselves, but only thusfar provided a decoy.
• Chapter 4
  • Stefan Skellen hires some mercenaries who will accompany him to confront Bonhart. Bonhart had initially been contracted to kill all members of the Rats, but has not killed the last member, known as Falka. Skellen’s employer has thus engaged him to enforce his contractual responsibilities.
  • Bonhart is heading for another town called Claremont where he will enter Ciri into the pits to fight against other opponents, and other people can wager on the outcome. Bonhart wants to retire not far along and wishes to collect some additional coin while he can and has found an able fighter in Ciri who could just grow his purse a little bigger.
  • Skellen’s men reach him and find him at the pits. Bonhart gives them free way to get her from the pits, but those that enter only end up in a fight with Ciri. First, one tries to take her on his own, then three, but she manages to severely injure them so much that they retreat instead.
  • Bonhart believes that she is too good for the pit. She holds another secret and she is thus far more valuable than he was initially led to believe.
• Chapter 5
  • In the town Riedbrune Gerald is held up by the prefect, Fulko Artevelde, not as a prisoner, but for enquiry purposes. He wants to learn of their purpose in town and where they are heading. Since they are not held as captives they wish to leave freely, when another prisoner is brought out to them, a young girl called Angouleme. She had run away from her gang and confessed to the prefect that their gang had been instructed to ambush Gerald and their group.
  • She wanted to lead a better life and thus came forward to confess in the hopes of receiving a pardon.
  • The prefect allows Gerald and his group to leave, and not dig further into who they are or where they are going so long as they will do something for him. They need to kill the gang leader called Nightingale. The one who was contracted to dispose of Gerald and his members. They have been a nuisance to Fulko and sees an opportunity to rid himself of them through Gerald. They agree on those terms and Gerald is on his way. They continue with their travels, this time with another member added to their retinue.
  • Instead of wanting to kill the leader, Gerald wants to capture their leader so they can find out how it was possible to learn of their whereabouts and who was it that gave them the order.
  • Since this is an ambush, Gerald decides that only Cahir and Angouleme will accompany him. Regis, Dandelion and Milva will continue their way towards Toussaint, which is close to where the druids apparently are held up.
• Chapter 6
  • The three of them head into the next town where the ambush was planned to take place but only find the locals of the mining town. They get around and then find some of the gang members who are on their way to the town. They fight them off and then are arrested by other members of the gang. They are led to the second-in-command half-elf called Schirru. They hope to convince him that they managed to kill the Witcher themselves and now want to collect the bounty.
  • Thinking that they might manage to get more information about their pursuers, only then to be taken captive. The gang leader Nightingale comes into town and meets up with his second-in-command and is pleased to find the Witcher in their custody.
  • This could be their end for they are vastly outnumbered and in enemy territory. As luck will have it, the camp is then attacked by Nilfgaardian soldiers, temporarily distracting the gang. Gerald, Cahir and Angouleme fight their way free from their captors, get provisions and horses and flee. However, in the process Cahir gets severely injured. Regardless, they manage to flee.
  • Gerald sends Angouleme ahead to warn the others and provide a distraction to their pursuers whilst he and Cahir hide away so Cahir might be stitched up and recover before they head out once again. After some time Cahir is once again capable of taking on travel and they head towards Toussaint, to meet up with Regis first.
• Chapter 7
  • Regis tells Gerald that they cannot continue their journey just yet because a higher being wishes to meet with him first. There is an opening to a cave close-by where that being is waiting for him. Though he cannot enter with weapons makes him feel unease since such caves notoriously hold all kinds of possible monsters in them. He walks in and starts feeling the presence of some monsters inside. Though, they make their presence known to him they do not make any sign they wish to enter into conflict with him.
  • He continues on his path and finally encounters the being he was supposed to meet. It is an elf. He is busying himself with a piece of art on the rockwall, similar to something that bushmen would have drawn. Though this elf does this with a hidden purpose.
  • He tells Gerald of the history of the land and of the elves history especially, including that of the Elder Blood. Gerald learns that Ciri holds the blood of the Elder Blood, is a direct descendant of one of them and is the chosen one who will rule the world, and fulfil the prophecy of Ithlinne. Avallac’h asks him whether he would still continue on his path to find and save Ciri even if it meant he would lose everyone else that he knows.
    • Only those who follow the Swallow will survive. The Swallow, the symbol of spring, is the saviour, the one who will open the Forbidden Door, signal the way of salvation. And make possible the world’s rebirth. The Swallow, the Child of the Elder Blood.
  • Avallac’h also reveals to him that his friends that left to Toussaint are currently entangled in a fight by invaders. Gerald asks him whether he can leave and save them, to which the elf agrees. Before he leaves Gerald sees that the wall painting was only a cover to an ancient place/temple of the old elves. The painting will stop the humans from digging deeper, and potentially destroying the remains of the ancient civilization.
  • Gerald is allowed to speed towards his friends where the conflict is actively being fought. The fight is between the gang that pursued Gerald and the knights of Toussaint. They manage to kill a great many, and the rest run into the forests, where the druids are told to be. Dandelion, Milva and Angouleme are safe, and they are on the soles of the escapees, hoping they will catch them and learn who it was that found them and was spying them out. There, they are caught themselves by the druids and their monsters.
  • Only by chance Gerald remembers that Regis had an acquaintance amongst the druids, Flaminka, who he calls out to and they are released. Unfortunately, Nightingale and Schirru, together with the other gang members are set to fire so that a message is sent to the people that the forests of the druids are not to be entered by outsiders as the sites are ancient, not to be tarnished by the people.
• Chapter 8
  • Dijkstra, from Redania, is on his way to the kingdom of Kovir, far to the north and yet unaffected by the wars of Nilfgaard. It has decreed to be a neutral kingdom and won’t interfere by supporting any one over the other. Dijkstra meets with King Esterad Thyssen and Queen Zuleyka to obtain a loan so they may be able to continue with their war efforts.
  • He informs Dijkstra that he is neutral party and cannot offer him the amount requested since he would then be in breach of neutral status. However, after some consideration he finds a loophole. He finds out that Nilfgaard has some trading activity in a kingdom that is allied to Redania and the other northern kingdoms. He reasons that if Nilfgaard is allowed to engage in this trade, he would not be prohibited to enter trade as well. Thus, he acquires some shareholdings, which then are shuffled into the war efforts indirectly by that allied kingdom. This would allow them to continue with their resistance to the Nilfgaardian advances.
• Chapter 9
  • Yennefer has held refuge in the kingdom of Skellige. When their king, Crach an Craite, returns from his journey he tells her that he cannot offer her refuge since she is accused of being a traitor to the northern kingdoms. An accomplice to the Nilfgaardian invasion. She manages to convince him that she is wrongly accused and that she wants to find Ciri. He agrees to this and they travel to the Melitele temples. There, she also convinces the priestesses that she needs to borrow their jewel from the goddess so she can use it and reach out to other sorceresses via telepathic communication. She does so and a few days later she and two ships are on their way to the location at sea (Sedna Abyss) where the Princess Pavetta (Ciri’s mother) had disappeared since Yennefer believes there is more to her disappearance that was formerly belived.
  • Ciri has told Vysogota most of her tale and he searches in his tomes one that talks of the ancient elven teleportals. One of them was located at Thanned, where Ciri had managed to escape the attack by Nilfgaard on the sorcerer’s castle. One was located elsewhere, but the other, the one he believes will help Ciri is the Tower of the Swallows. He gives it to her, she reads up and believes that this is where her destiny lies. This is where she needs to go to.
  • One of the ships that went with Yennefer returns and tells the king that once there, she asked for volunteers before they continued onwards. Once together, they sailed closed and closer to the Sedna Abyss, and then it happened. Powerful magic erupted from the sky. It looked as if it Yennefer was interacting with it. Was she initiating it? That is not known, but as a result the shift was lifted from the waters into the sky, people that tried to evade the magic were struck and died. Nothing remained.
• Chapter 10
  • Ciri had been hidden in the marshes with the hermit for a few weeks now, her health fully restored. She wanted to leave before the winter came because she wanted to reach the temple. Vysogota had heard from a trading partner of the local village that some men of Stefan Skellen had never stopped looking for Ciri in their woods. They had now split up and slept in the local taverns in villages, hoping that she would come out and reveal herself some time soon.
  • She decides to leave and then encounters a few of them in one village. She fights them off easily and then continues on her way. Bonhart and Skellen hear of this encounter and they take up the chase once again.
  • We make a leap back to a few weeks, to where Ciri was still held captive by Bonhart, Skellen and Rience. They had discovered that Falka was indeed the witcher girl and the princess Ciri. Thus, she is much more valuable to them. Bonhart wants to bring her to the Emperor since he would profit much greater than he would from his previous employer. Skellen wants to kill her now and conclude his current contract. Rience offers them an alternative. He reaches out to Vilgefortz, the wizzard that was in collusion with the Nilfgaardian during their invasion. Vilgefortz tells them that Ciri is much more valuable to him than they think.
  • He needs her, rather only a particular piece of her, so he can continue with his experiments and fulfil the prophecy of Ithlinne. If he can bring it under his control, then he can be the ruler of all the kingdoms and all of them would profit greatly. They agree to follow Vilgefortz instead.
  • At that moment, one Skellen’s followers had listened in. She was a spy for the Nilfgaardian Emperor, to spy on Skellen. She wants to find out whether what they said of Ciri is indeed true and walks over to Ciri, who is tied to a post. She uses he power and go into her mind, but Ciri manages to push her out. Not only that, this invasion has awoken something inside her mind. A power of the Elder Blood. She is able to flee them and ends up in the forest, where Vysogta found her those weeks prior.
  • Now, after those weeks of hiding, recovering her strength and finding her purpose, she is on her way to her destiny. To the Temple of the Swallow.
• Chapter 11
  • Yennefer wakes up and is a captive. This time she is captive to Vilgefortz and Rience. They want to find the location of Ciri and bring her under tremendous amounts of torture. In the end, they do not manage to find Ciri, but they manage to see where Gerald and his company are. They are heading to the druids. This was before Gerald was taken for inquisition why the Nightingale was looking for him. It turns out that Vilgefortz was the one that organized the ambush. This was in chapter 6 & 7.
  • Back to the present, Ciri is being pursued by the last few members of Skellens group, Bonhart and Rience. Frost has already reach them, but she has managed to stay ahead of them yet. They reach the location where the Tower is supposed to be located, the lake is frozen over with a second layer of ice. Stronger, but still fragile. A fog has set in but they are hot on her trail. She is close. They head out onto the ice until the trail suddenly stops. a fight ensues where she picks out one after the other. The only one that survives is Bonhart. The fog has lifted and he can see her. He is hot on her trail once again. She rushes off and sees a tower spring up amongst some ruins and rides for them. She heads in and the tower disappears. Nothing left but the ruins that were visible before. Bonhart has nothing left to pursue but heads back. The last of the company.

What Ciri finds in the Tower of the Swallows, which also apparently holds a teleportal, that is yet to be discovered in the next book, but as she walks through the Tower she sees things that she cannot explain. She sees lots of doors and behind each door she can spy on different people at different parts of the world.

What will she do there, and what is her destiny here?

Summary:

The story is quite enthralling, and you want to carry on reading the next page because you just cannot wait to see how Ciri ended up where she did and then again whether she manages to escape her captors and makes a pivotal leap towards her destiny. So much happens for all the different characters, but the book was well written that the reader doesn’t lose track, and in the end it becomes clearer how it all links up together. I won’t shy away from giving this book a top rating. I believe a rating of 4.8/5 is quite deserving.

I hope you will enjoy this as much as I did!