The Tower of Swallows is the fourth installment of the main Witcher series. In this volume, we get more mixed narratives from a few characters, notably Ciri and Dandelion. Ciri has made her unlikely way to a hut in the middle of a swamp. Here she tells her story to a hermit named Vysogota. He advises against her leaving during the winter months but eventually she does just that.

Ciri’s story arc has finally been redeemed. She realizes she has great power and is a true witcher. Where Geralt has essentially disowned his “witcherness”, Ciri has become an unstoppable force and harbinger of death.

In The Tower of Swallows we don’t get as much from the main party of book 3, although we get to hear Dandelion’s memoirs about what has happened. This was a tad confusing, because it is unclear how long after all this has happened that Dandelion is telling his story. I’m unsure if I like this hopping around. In some places it works, but at other moments the timeline seems mixed up.

Geralt and Yennefer get smaller bits in this volume as well as Regis, a character I really grew to like a lot.

The final chapter makes this one of the best in the series. It involves Ciri, an iced-over, foggy lake, and a lot of retribution. This is what I want from each chapter of every book!