Like many people, I think, I first found out about The Witcher from a computer game. I'd just finished one of the Dragon Age games and was on a bit of an Epic Fantasy high, so I spotted this one in my local computer store's bargain bin and picked it up. But I never really got into it, because I could never quite figure out what it was I was supposed to be doing. It was only much later that I discovered the books.

After reading this book, I can tell you that I understand now.

This book is a collection of seemingly unrelated "episodes", in which the titular character travels from town to town eradicating monsters and other supernatural threats for financial gain. In between each of these episodes is an ongoing series called "The Voice of Reason", which sees the Witcher resting at his "home base" (if you will), a temple to a religion he doesn't believe in, being tended by the priestesses there. It's a cool concept, and I could definitely see this working as a TV series.

There are copious references to, and loose retellings of, fairy tales, but these are the dark, gruesome, twisted fairy tales, in the style which they were originally told; not the dumbed down, "Happily Ever After" fare that we feed to our children!

Look, like most short story collections (which this effectively is), it's a mixed bag. Some of them had me sitting on the edge of my seat, biting my nails, while others just... couldn't hold my attention, and I skimmed through them as quickly as possible.

There are also some formatting issues in the Kindle edition, which I did find jarring, notably how, sometimes, there's a space between the last word of a sentence, and the punctuation mark at the end. I couldn't help noticing, every time that happened.

But it's a fine world this author has crafted, with a great premise, and I'll be reading the next in series, just to see where he goes with it next.

To find out where you can pick up a copy of the ebook, click here: books2read.com/u/3Rxvqp