Jonathan Sarkos
Member
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2006
- Messages
- 11
Hi everybody.
This is my first thread here and I'm fully prepared that it may be controversial for some of you.
As we know the entire world believes JRR Tolkien as greatest fantasy writer ever. It will remain like this forever. Not only because udeniable class and value of his work. It will also stay like this because JRR was first writer ever to introduce big, epic, and excellent fantasy story. Flawless, although not for everyone. Nevermind cause I don't want to write about JRR and things I regard faulty in "Lord of The Rings"
I want to write about new fantasy king and the king comes from...no, not from USA, Australia, UK, or France. He comes from Poland.
In fact he already came at the beginning of the 90's but obviously he's not been famous in UK, USA, or Western Europe since then. It's rather clear because it's much easier to gain worldwide popularity wtiting in English. Mc Killip, Gemell, Brooks, Williams, Eddings, Gavriel, George R. Martin, Robert Jordan and few others are very good writers beyond any doubt. But none of their books are real rival to "The Withcher" by Andrzej Sapkowski. Witcher is the most outstanding series written in fantasy after "Lord of The Rings". Witcher breaks almost all fantasy conventions, has more humour than all fantasy books gathered togehter, contains great characters (including supporting and background ones of course) tells great and unconventional story, it's written in exceptionally intelligent manner. Witcher is fresh, colourful, full of action, and full of life. You can expect everything from it and every surprise of many included will be positive.
How many times did you read reviews in newspapers or magazines hailing almost every new release as words I used: brilliant, outstanding, marvellous, exceptional, heartbreaking and so on ? How many times they all turned out to be completely wrong and written only to attract customer's attention ? This time situation is completely different...
You may think now that I'm posessed, drunk, silly, naive, ridiculous, on drugs or something like this. I swear nothing like this takes place. If you see Sapkowski's name on cover of a book in your local bookshop don't hesitate even a second and buy it. It may be the greatest day for you as fantasy fan. On one condition - if books and stories are translated well cause Sapkowski uses plenty of old fashioned and sophisticated vocabulary from various domains of life. ic can be very hard work for translator.
And does Witcher challenges "Lord Of The Rings" ? It may sound like a heresy for you but in my opinion definitely yes.
Witcher consists of several short stories and 5 books from series: 1) Blood of Elves 2) Time of Scorn 3) Baptism of Fire 4) Tower of the Swallow 5) Mistress of the Lake.
Witcher is not only a book. It's also a movie made in Poland about 5 years ago. In common opinion the movie is complete misunderstanding mainly (but not only) due to low budget. Both Sapkowski and screenplay writer backed off from it. There is also a computer game being created due to be released in March. You can see on youtobe.com
You can also read about Andrzej Sapkowski in British edition of Wikipedia. it's completely not truth that Witcher is influenced by Polish history and Slavic mythology. Anyway "Last Wish" should be already released in English. And it's just the beginning...
This is my first thread here and I'm fully prepared that it may be controversial for some of you.
As we know the entire world believes JRR Tolkien as greatest fantasy writer ever. It will remain like this forever. Not only because udeniable class and value of his work. It will also stay like this because JRR was first writer ever to introduce big, epic, and excellent fantasy story. Flawless, although not for everyone. Nevermind cause I don't want to write about JRR and things I regard faulty in "Lord of The Rings"
I want to write about new fantasy king and the king comes from...no, not from USA, Australia, UK, or France. He comes from Poland.
In fact he already came at the beginning of the 90's but obviously he's not been famous in UK, USA, or Western Europe since then. It's rather clear because it's much easier to gain worldwide popularity wtiting in English. Mc Killip, Gemell, Brooks, Williams, Eddings, Gavriel, George R. Martin, Robert Jordan and few others are very good writers beyond any doubt. But none of their books are real rival to "The Withcher" by Andrzej Sapkowski. Witcher is the most outstanding series written in fantasy after "Lord of The Rings". Witcher breaks almost all fantasy conventions, has more humour than all fantasy books gathered togehter, contains great characters (including supporting and background ones of course) tells great and unconventional story, it's written in exceptionally intelligent manner. Witcher is fresh, colourful, full of action, and full of life. You can expect everything from it and every surprise of many included will be positive.
How many times did you read reviews in newspapers or magazines hailing almost every new release as words I used: brilliant, outstanding, marvellous, exceptional, heartbreaking and so on ? How many times they all turned out to be completely wrong and written only to attract customer's attention ? This time situation is completely different...
You may think now that I'm posessed, drunk, silly, naive, ridiculous, on drugs or something like this. I swear nothing like this takes place. If you see Sapkowski's name on cover of a book in your local bookshop don't hesitate even a second and buy it. It may be the greatest day for you as fantasy fan. On one condition - if books and stories are translated well cause Sapkowski uses plenty of old fashioned and sophisticated vocabulary from various domains of life. ic can be very hard work for translator.
And does Witcher challenges "Lord Of The Rings" ? It may sound like a heresy for you but in my opinion definitely yes.
Witcher consists of several short stories and 5 books from series: 1) Blood of Elves 2) Time of Scorn 3) Baptism of Fire 4) Tower of the Swallow 5) Mistress of the Lake.
Witcher is not only a book. It's also a movie made in Poland about 5 years ago. In common opinion the movie is complete misunderstanding mainly (but not only) due to low budget. Both Sapkowski and screenplay writer backed off from it. There is also a computer game being created due to be released in March. You can see on youtobe.com
You can also read about Andrzej Sapkowski in British edition of Wikipedia. it's completely not truth that Witcher is influenced by Polish history and Slavic mythology. Anyway "Last Wish" should be already released in English. And it's just the beginning...