The Lady of the Lake, the climactic end to the Witcher series, takes the reader to the depths of Cir

A thrilling end to an enchanting saga

The Blood of Elves introduced an eager, yet inexperienced, and slightly lost Ciri. We’ve seen her grow into a more powerful Witcher who still showed signs of immaturity. The Lady of the Lake reveals how much she has learned, and how far she has come in her maturity. As usual, her development is written in an incredibly creative and sophisticated manner.

The story is framed around Condwiramurs, a young dream reader, who is being mentored by the more wise Nimue. Condwiramurs is given the task of dreaming about Geralt’s adventure to find Ciri: hopeful to fill in the gaps that historic texts and legend missed. This framing technique is not overused, but always serves as a reminder that it’s a historical tale with significance. Condwiramurs does play one intriguing role in the main plot, however. Unlike previous minor characters in the series, who’ve been introduced seemingly out of nowhere, Condwiramurs and Nimue are much more rounded, and their narrative is easy to follow.

Ciri’s adventure begins in an unknown area. A confused Ciri sought a way back to help Geralt and Yennefer. But a group of elves, most notably Avallac’h, want to have Ciri impregnated so as to continue the legacy of her bloodline. This is a recurring issue that Ciri faces with many antagonists, whom she flees. Through her journey, she does discover part of her prophecy, which allows her to travel through space and time. Ciri doesn’t yet have full control of this, which meant she arrived in a number of strange locations, including what seemed to be London during the Great Fire and plague epidemic. She does, however, finally find her way back Geralt and Yennefer.

Geralt, much like in previous books, was involved in an exciting journey, seeking Ciri. This led him to Vilgefortz's castle, where Yennefer was held captive. Thus ensued an exciting showdown between the protagonists and Vilgefortz. Sadly, some moments in the build up felt a little rushed, but the end fight was brilliant. Exciting and tense. A great end to a brilliant series.

But the story did’t end there. Like how you complete the main story of a game, but still have some side quests to do, the aftermath felt like it wasn't needed. It followed Ciri trying to right some wrongs, and the inclusion of the sorceresses. It didn’t add much to the story, and probably could have been cut out. But it did include a nice moment from Ciri, who matured throughout the series to become a powerful, engaging and well rounded character.