Blood of Elves

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blood of Elves
Cover of the UK edition of Blood of Elves
Author	Andrzej Sapkowski
Original title	Krew Elfów
Country	Poland
Language	Polish
Genre(s)	Fantasy
Publisher	superNOWA
Publication date	1994
Published in English	2008
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Preceded by	Miecz przeznaczenia (Sword of Destiny)
Followed by	Czas pogardy (Time of Anger)

Blood of Elves (Polish original title: Blood of Elves) is the first novel in the Witcher Saga written by Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski, first published in Poland in 1994 (an upcoming English translation will be published in 2008). It's a sequel to the Witcher short stories collected in the books The Last Wish and Miecz przeznaczenia (A sword of fate) and is followed by Czas pogardy (The Time of Disdain). Krew elfów was the winner of the Janusz A. Zajdel Award for best novel in 1994. It was published in Czech Republic (Leonardo, 1995), Russia (AST, 1996) and Spain (Bibliopolis, 2003). Krew elfów is going to be released in United Kingdom by Gollancz (as Blood of Elves) in 2008 and in Germany in the unknown future by Heyne Verlag.

[edit] Plot summary

The Empire of Nilfgaard attacks and overwhelms the Kingdom of Cintra. Queen Calanthe of Cintra commits suicide and her granddaughter, Cirilla, called Ciri, or "Lion Cub of Cintra" somehow flees from the burning capital city. Emhyr var Emreis, Emperor of Nilfgaard, sends his spies to find her. He knows that this young girl has great importance, not only because of her royal blood, but also because of her magical potential and elven blood in her veins.

The girl is being protected by Geralt of Rivia, a witcher - a magically and genetically mutated monster slayer for hire, who takes her to the witchers' keep - Kaer Morhen. There Ciri is being taught by other witchers, including old Vesemir, Coen, Eskel and Lambert. She learns a lot about monsters and how to fight with a sword. But during her "education", sorceress Triss Merigold comes to Kaer Morhen. She is called by Geralt to help with strange, abnormal behavior of the child. They reveal that Ciri is one of the people with powerful magical abilities, known as the Sources. At the same time, a mysterious wizard called Rience is looking for the girl. He is a servant of some more powerful mage. He catches Geralt's friend, Dandelion the bard, to get informations about Ciri, but another sorceress - Yennefer - helps Dandelion and injures Rience.