The Tower of Fools by Andrzej Sapkowski
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Okay now. This is something huge. But I need to properly put this book (and the prospective trilogy) in context.

If you know the Witcher series you know he writes wonderful and complex characters, enjoys a vast and subtle world-building system, and sneaks you up to immense complications.

This NEW series is entirely historical, revolving around Europe and especially Poland during the 15th Century and it is RICH with history. (When I say it's rich, what I mean is that you can get a Masters in history with a focus on this time period and you'll be pointing your finger on every page, going, OH! THAT!)

And it doesn't just show off its knowledge. The story is as great as the main character, and UNLIKE history (depending on who you ask), there is magic everywhere. Wanna have a run-in with diabolists and the Guttenberg press? Real witches among the witch trials? Cathar-like crusaders with actual Templars versus woodland nymphs and the very spirit of Catholic Heresy and all the F**ed up wars of this period all wrapped into one huge RICH mess?

You've got it. Right here.

Make no mistake. It's absolutely a historical novel in all the big senses. But it is ALSO the start of a new epic fantasy that's boiling over with magic. Even if the main character is only characterized as an apprentice. :)

Be prepared for the madhouse/inquisition, you grimdark fans.

I want to thank Orbit and Netgalley for the ARC but this just wasn't the book for me, despite being a lover of history.

DNF @ 33%

Reynevan continues to make terrible decisions re: pretty women and by a third of the way through the book, I didn't see where the story was headed.

There are a LOT of Polish and Czech names.of towns and people, some real and some fiction and, while I normally love historical backdrops, this 15th century religious war just was too far in the background and the pace just too slow for me to continue. I hope I can finish it in the future.

For more of my thoughts, this is the first book I discuss on the video below.
https://youtu.be/kwCI-OH05bQ

Sapkowski, who of course is best known for the *Witcher* books, has in fact written other things. This first came out in 2002, but wasn’t translated into English until now - the English translation comes out at the end of the month, courtesy of the same translator who did most of the *Witcher* books. Thanks to Orbit for this kinda-advanced review copy.

This book kicks off the Sapkowski’s *Hussite Trilogy*, and it’s got a lot about it that interests me. It is a historical fantasy, set in 14th Century Silesia at the time of the Bohemian Reformation. I’m always interested in books drawing on things I’m unfamiliar with, and the Bohemian Reformation certainly qualifies. I kept flipping back and forth between the book and Wikipedia, and along the way learned a good deal about the Hussite Wars.

The protagonist is Reinmar of Bielawa, physician and magician, and the book begins with him being run out of town after being caught *in flagrante delicto* with the wife of a local knight off on pilgrimage. A clergyman friend of his urges him to flee to Hungary before the knight’s brothers get their hands on him. But Reinmar is convinced that he loves his Adele, and that she loves him, they’re destined to be together, blah blah blah, and so that never happens. Instead he finds himself in the company of a man called Scharley, newly released from a prison/monastery and of a simpleminded giant named Samson, possessed by some kind of a demon that Reinmar and Scharley accidentally summoned (these things happen) and stuck there. It begins with them trying to evade the brothers after Reinmar, who is determined to get back to Adele, but things snowball as the Inquisition, the Hussites, robber knights, assorted supernatural forces, and others get involved as well.

It sounds complicated, and it is. Which leads to my first complaint: every time I found myself getting interested in something, the plot would veer off in a new direction. It was honestly maddeningly frustrating how predictable this was. I could have happily read a series of short stories about the escapades Reinmar, Scharley, and Samson got up to, but that’s not what I got. This is a hefty book (432 page, per Goodreads) and there isn’t any central plot that’s given enough weight to really carry it through.

The other thing that really bothered me was the way sexism and antisemitism were presented uncritically. I’m not bothered by them being there - 15th century Poland was presented as an egalitarian place of religious tolerance, that would have bothered me as well. By showing accurate 15th century antisemitism but not showing any Jewish characters of significance, one could easily come away from this with the impression that Jews really did use the blood of kidnapped Christian children to make matzo. To put this in a context possibly more familiar to American readers, it’s like having a book that doesn’t have any Black characters, but where the white protagonists frequently talk about Black rapists and drug dealers.

There are women in the book, but every one of them is shallow, and most of them were very sexualized. It started as eye roll inducing, but by the end it was just plain grating. If you’re looking for a book for the feminism Bingo square, this ain’t it.

Overall I would call this just good enough that it annoyed me it wasn’t better. It’s got a super interesting historical setting, and a very well-done low-magic feel. There’s a good story in there, though it’s buried. An editor willing to take an axe to a few of the sequences would have made this much better. But it also might have highlighted the misogyny more than it already was. If you’re a fan of the Witcher books/games/show, I’m willing to bet you’d appreciate this. I liked it about as well as I liked *The Last Wish*, the only Witcher book I’ve read.

Thank you Netgalley for this Advanced Readers Copy! I knew I would enjoy this because I loved The Witcher series by this author. Andrzej Sapkowski, in this first book of The Hussite Trilogy, tackles this insane time period with historical references and fantasy references all mixed together. There are times that I felt like I was reading ideas on religion and politics, especially concerning this period (1425), but I would be brought back to a fantasy based series involving witches and magic. Also, yes, there is prophecy in this book, too! Although, I have to say, I definitely do not find myself agreeing with all the thoughts in this book... particularly the way men thought about and interacted with women. As a woman, I felt weird reading some general thoughts and actions taken by the characters. Just had to say that... honestly. I looked past that and really did love the majority of this book. So I do recommend this to fans.

I loved The Witcher series so when I saw this author has a new series starting, I was so excited about it.

This book didn't disappoint me. The characters were so interesting and the story held my interest. It has elements of what made me love The Witcher series but it is also so different that it doesn't feel like the same story all over again. I really enjoyed it.

Highly recommended.

this was a really good read, it had what I enjoyed in the Witcher series, I enjoyed the characters and getting into the plot. I think I enjoyed this a little more than the Witcher series.

This is a spectacular book for medieval lit fans and historical fiction readers alike. It's the most accurate-sounding medieval imitation I've seen, down to its off-color jokes and Catholic fervor. The Tower of Fools is a love story to medieval writing.

DNF @ 12% - My first real proper DNF. I just wasn’t registering a word of what I was reading. I had absolutely no clue what was going on, who was who, etc. I just don’t think Andrzej Sapkowski is for me and that’s totally fine. I do feel terrible for DNF’ing a galley I got but I don’t think if I would have gone through with this book that my review woud have been of any worth.

I could not finish this book. It was well written, but I thought it was going to be more of a fantasy novel and it is really a historical fiction book with some elements of fantasy.
The story is good, the characters are interesting, but it is simply the wrong book at the wrong time for me. I suspect at some point in the future I will go back to it, especially because one of my favorite writers loved it.

I would like to thank Net Galley for the ARC, but it is not the title for me.

I would recommend it for die hard historical fiction lovers.

I may come back to this book in time.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Orbit, for allowing me an early copy.

This book started out fun but then got bogged down with history talk. Talk that didn't seem to lend itself to what was going on in the story. Characters would have debates/squabbles over religion or belief of their hierarchy. Yet, did it go anywhere? No.

Wonder if an adaptation will be made of this? Maybe it would make more sense. There was also a chapter where a guy ate a lot of cabbages and he spent his entire time with the main character farting on his horse.

The Tower of Fools is a new trilogy based on the Hussite Wars of Central Europe(Bohemia) from 1419-1436. The story follows Reynevan, a young magician/healer on the run after an affair with the wife of a knight. Once on the run he finds he is dealing with powerful people and forces beyond what he expected, including dark mystical forces. He crosses paths with a wide variety of characters, both fictional and historical, as well as fantastical creatures and events. In one sense this is a rollicking medieval buddy trip, with Reynevan and his companions making narrow escapes across the countryside from unexpected situations. It is also an exploration of the political and religious conflicts throughout Bohemia, and how these power plays between the Hussites and the Pope had a devastating effect on the average person. So it is an absolutely enjoyable read from a pure adventure standpoint. I also loved the addition of all the fantastical elements from the magic to the creatures and the dark forces chasing Reynevan. The deeper dive into the religious strife and brutality of both sides brings so much depth to what the characters are facing. I did not know anything about the Hussite Wars prior to reading this but have made a point to do more research into this remarkable time period. The only difficulty I had at the beginning was the sheer volume of names and it did feel a bit overwhelming, but as the story moves along and you get more familiar with the characters it becomes much easier to manage. Sapkowski certainly knows how to move a story along as you can hardly catch your breath from one adventure to another. This is a wonderful piece of historical fiction with the added elements of the fantastical, as to be expected from Sapkowski. I will certainly be looking forward to following Reynevan's journey in the remaining books.

I was initially excited to read this novel as it is by the same author as the very popular The Witcher series. Unfortunately, that initial excitement quickly dimmed and was replaced by a soul-shattering internal groan as this is probably THE worst-written fantasy novel I have ever read in my life. I find the 5 star reviews for this novel shocking as I honestly cannot imagine someone enjoying reading this. Sure, there may be a reader out there that would enjoy this- but it’s not me or anyone I know.

I will admit that after the first few chapters, I mostly just skimmed the rest as I found the book to be unbearable. As I don’t have any positive points to list for the book, I will detail my issues with it in no particular order:

-The writing is actually awful. The author refers to a woman’s genitals as an “orchard of pomegranates” during a SUPER LAME sex scene not once, but twice. Later within the same chapter, there is another passage which actually left me in disbelief of how awkwardly written it was.

-There are far too many characters, almost all of which are inconsequential with impossible names (some having more than 1 name) who are incredibly difficult to remember.

-It is BORING. Incredibly boring. Unbearably boring. Unflinchingly boring. Unceasingly boring.

-The dialogue is horrendous. It is so banal and if you skip 3 paragraphs it doesn’t even seem like you missed anything.

-There are entire dialogue exchanges in languages other than English. Not just a few words as an Elvish incantation with a translation after or something- NO, this is entire conversations in languages the reader may not know. Is it Italian, is it Latin? I don’t know, I don’t know those languages. It is honestly insulting to the reader to not even translate these. The frequency with which other languages are peppered in with no translations is appalling. This is coming from someone who has read novels in both Vietnamese and Spanish, but that doesn’t mean I know or can guess the meaning of every random European language tucked in here.

-The characters have no depth whatsoever.

-I think the author attempted humor here with an entire chapter about the main character curing the flatulence of a knight. It was not funny.

Perhaps The Witcher books are better than this and there may be someone who would absolutely love this novel, but as I said earlier- that person is definitely not me or even anyone I know.

This is an historical fantasy set in central Europe circa 15th century where the magic and myth unfold against a backdrop of a Church struggling to suppress growing heresies. The majority of people and place names are transliterated from Polish, so they tend to have an over abundance of consonants that make it a little difficult for this native English speaker to read quickly. Hidden within this forest of letters are quite a few obscure [archaic] English words that I had never encountered before ... and which reading on the Kindle app made them fun little Easter Eggs that I could easily look them up. All of this reinforces the 'Twilight Zone' feeling that the world where all of this happens is in another time and place, vaguely familiar and at the same time weirdly different. The dialog was also held nuance and euphemisms to beat the band and the verbal sparring just as amusing as the rest. I don't think that I have had as much fun with the English language in quite sometime.

The MC is one Reinmar of Bielawa, a young physician caught in a rather indelicate position and force to flee for his life. Being a well educated man, he quickly comes to the attention of the wrong people (aka inquisition) as such are know to cavort with heretics and sorcerers (There are so few of them and they must stick together). Perhaps even he dabbles in the forbidden arts. As the cast of characters quickly expands, it becomes ever more difficult to figure out who the good guys are ... and Andrzej skillfully weaves in references to historical events that would make a punmeister blush (and had me laughing out loud) ... because Gutenberg's innovation would never be allowed to succeed and Luther is the name of 'cheeky cat' who likes to spread out on tables. Of course Reynevan is a young fool ... worthy of the Tower of Fools if not for his companions. It is precisely because of his brash naivete that gives the reader one misadventure after another, slowing introducing more of the hidden mystery of the world (where maybe there are not so few of them after all). Alas ... at the end we have not resolved much else out three main characters are still living and ready for part 2. I would have preferred some closure on something; but it was not to be.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#TheTowerOfFools #NetGalley

Thanks to Netgalley and Orbit, who gave me access to the ebook in exchange for a fair and honest review. This book is a newly translated novel by the author of the witcher series. It is more of a historical based fiction, in the tradition of a Guy Gavriel Kay, but with a bit more sarcasm involved, in the style Sapkowski fans will appreciate. This particular book did not click with me, but was well constructed. People who like history as well as fantasy fans will appreciate the settings in central Europe, the political maneuverings and action therein. Because there will be people who will really love this novel, I am giving it 3 stars, but, as I said, I had a very hard time getting sucked into this world, and cannot put my finger on why. I would say that people who like history based fantasy should buy or request this book, people who liked the Witcher and are expecting more of the same may be wanting a bit more in the way of fantasy.

This series would obviously be for muture audiences and it reads to me better than The Witcher series. It is easy to follow, yet so in depth that it sucks you in. Get it now.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC. I was immediately attracted to this book as I love the Witcher Series books. I liked this book well enough. I found it to be more historical than fantasy. I liked all the info about Poland and history. It was heavy at times making it a little hard to stay with.

This book is well written, and I'm sure the right reader would enjoy it. I didn't know it was historical fiction when I started reading it. It wasn't my kind of book, but still well written.