Book Review of The Tower of fools by Andrzej Sapkowski

Name of Book: The Tower of fools

Author: Andrzej Sapkowski 

ISBN: 9780316423694

Publisher: Orbit 

Part of a Series: the hussite trilogy  

Type of book: Poland, 1420s, fantasy, foiled love, family, reputation, religion, Latin tongue, church, anachronistic women, wealth, middle class 

Year it was published: 2020 ( original 2002) 

Summary:

Reinmar of Bielawa, sometimes known as Reynevan, is a doctor, a magician and, according to some, a charlatan. And when a thoughtless indiscretion finds him caught in the crosshairs of powerful noble family, he is forced to flee his home.

But once he passes beyond the city borders, he finds that there are dangers ahead as well as behind. Strange mystical forces are gathering in the shadows. And pursued not only by the affronted Stercza brothers, bent on vengeance, but also by the Holy Inquisition, Reynevan finds himself in the Narrenturm, the Tower of Fools.

The Tower is an asylum for the mad, or for those who dare to think differently and challenge the prevailing order. And escaping the Tower, avoiding the conflict around him, and keeping his own sanity might prove a greater challenge than Reynevan ever imagined.

Characters:

The three main characters are Reynavan, Scharlie and Samson. Reynavan is a healer who does witch type magic. He is also a philanderer who often thinks more with his heart and passion rather than logic. Scharlie is definitely a favorite character. He is creative, intelligent and loyal. He is full of surprises. Samson Hineypot is also a fascinating and lovable character who is otherworldly and who is best known for strength and religious knowledge, although all three have that in spades and more. 

Theme:

I read it from cover to cover, but no idea what lesson i should have gathsred from it

 
Plot:

The story is in third person narrative from what seems to be everyone's point of view. There is a lot going on, from religion to personal quests to politics to the world as well as foiled romance. What I would guess is important is the quest for Reynavans lady love and rumblings of religion. The positive parts for me are the characters of Scharlie the Penintent and Samson Honeypott. The female characters, in particular in roles of anachronistic women were also fun. To me the story seemed all over the place, and it made it hard to focus and enjoy on a central plot. Also, I couldnt understand most of the Latin language used. And Latin was used in majority of the story. The magic parts were also cool as well. 

Author Information:
(From goodreads)

Andrzej Sapkowski, born June 21, 1948 in Łódź, is a Polish fantasy and science fiction writer. Sapkowski studied economics, and before turning to writing, he had worked as a senior sales representative for a foreign trade company. His first short story, The Witcher (Wiedźmin), was published in Fantastyka, Poland's leading fantasy literary magazine, in 1986 and was enormously successful both with readers and critics. Sapkowski has created a cycle of tales based on the world of The Witcher, comprising three collections of short stories and five novels. This cycle and his many other works have made him one of the best-known fantasy authors in Poland in the 1990s.

The main character of The Witcher (alternative translation: The Hexer) is Geralt, a mutant assassin who has been trained since childhood to hunt down and destroy monsters. Geralt exists in an ambiguous moral universe, yet manages to maintain his own coherent code of ethics. At the same time cynical and noble, Geralt has been compared to Raymond Chandler's signature character Philip Marlowe. The world in which these adventures take place is heavily influenced by Slavic mythology.

Sapkowski has won five Zajdel Awards, including three for short stories "Mniejsze zło" (Lesser Evil) (1990), "Miecz przeznaczenia" (Sword of Destiny) (1992) and "W leju po bombie" (In a Bomb Crater) (1993), and two for the novels "Krew elfów" (Blood of Elves) (1994) and "Narrenturm" (2002). He also won the Spanish Ignotus Award, best anthology, for The Last Wish in 2003, and for "Muzykanci" (The Musicians), best foreign short story, same year.

In 1997, Sapkowski won the prestigious Polityka's Passport award, which is awarded annually to artists who have strong prospects for international success.

In 1997, Sapkowski won the prestigious Polityka's Passport award, which is awarded annually to artists who have strong prospects for international success.

In 2001, a Television Series based on the Witcher cycle was released in Poland and internationally, entitled Wiedźmin (The Hexer). A film by the same title was compiled from excerpts of the television series but both have been critical and box office failures.

Sapkowski's books have been translated into Czech, Russian, Lithuanian, German, Spanish, French, Ukrainian, and Portuguese. An English translation of The Last Wish short story collection was published by Gollancz in 2007.

The Polish game publisher, CD Projekt, created a role-playing PC game based on this universe, called The Witcher, which was released in October 2007. There is also a mobile version of the game which has been created by Breakpoint Games and is being published by Hands-On Mobile in Western Europe,Latin America and Asia Pacific.

The English translation of Sapkowski's novel Blood of Elves won the David Gemmell Legends Award in 2009.

Opinion:

I really liked the third book, Light Perpetual, a sequel, so I decided to go back and read the prequels, namely The Tower of Fools in this instance, and most unfortunately, it was not a book for me. My main complaint is that it messed up with my ADHD because I had no idea what was important and what was going on! There was a whole lot going on. I also would have appreciated a character list because there are too many characters to be able to keep track in ones head, and I had issues figuring out who's who. Also, much to realism, there is anti-Judaism ( 1420s?) And I loved the chapter headings which gave us some comedy. My other complaint? Way too much Latin, and it's not a translated Latin either. There are also plot lines that in this book have little to no connection. 

This was given for review 

1 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)