Publisher: Gollancz (Trade Paperback – 30 September 2025)
English Translator: David French
Series: The Witcher – 0.1
Length: 310 pages
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Legendary fantasy author Andrzej Sapkowski returns to the epic world of The Witcher with the outstanding and awesome prequel novel, Crossroads of Ravens.
I doubt anyone familiar with fantasy fiction is unaware of the cultural juggernaut that is The Witcher franchise. An exciting and intense fantasy series revolving around Geralt of Rivia, a wandering, monster hunting witcher who finds himself drawn into chaotic events that threaten the entire world. The initial series birthed seven original novels that were released in Poland the 1990s (later released in English), as well as a series of short stories. However, The Witcher novels would gain prominence around the world after they were used as the inspiration for an incredible video game series, as well as a later Netflix television show. I personally have enjoyed several excellent pieces of The Witcher fiction over the years, including the previous novel Season of Storms. As such, I was very happy when I received an early copy of the new prequel novel from the series, Crossroads of Ravens, which proved to be a gripping read.
Long before the events that would make him a legend, grant him the sobriquets of the White Wolf or the Butcher of Blaviken, or even before he claimed to be from Rivia, Geralt was a young, recently graduated witcher. Descending from the witcher stronghold of Kaer Morhen for the first time, Geralt soon discovers that the world is a harsh place where ideals of heroism only get you into trouble, and that the entire continent holds nothing but disdain for his kind.
Swiftly finding himself on the wrong side of the law and a noose, Geralt is only saved by the intervention of grizzled veteran witcher Preston Holt. An enigmatic and damaged figure with his own agenda, Holt takes the young Geralt under his wing, teaching him the true reality of being a witcher and honing the important skills that the future White Wolf needs to survive.
Emboldened by this training, Geralt soon begins to gain fame as a witcher, serving the people previously protected by the ailing Holt. However, as Geralt wanders the land, he finds many eyes on him, including those who hold a grudge against his order. As new adversaries and dangerous secrets from the past are uncovered, Geralt will have to decide whether to become the noble hero he always envisioned himself to be, or the monster the world believes all witchers are.
Andrzej Sapkowski continues to expertly expand the lore of The Witcher universe with this exciting and action-packed prequel. Crossroads of Ravens was an amazing novel that takes the readers on a series of intense adventures, loaded with intrigue, conspiracy and death that all fans of the franchise are going to have an outstanding time with. I ended up powering through this novel in less than a day, and it proved to be a very impressive read.
Crossroads of Ravens was an outstanding and very exciting novel that piled on the action, intrigue and adventure in its fantastic story. Starting off with an effective bang that sees a young Geralt in trouble during his first foray out as a witcher, Sapkowski does an excellent job of quickly setting up the scenario and introducing Geralt, and the reader, to a new mentor figure with the entertaining Preston Holt. What follows is a series of compelling adventures, as Geralt initially learns from Preston, before journeying off into the wilds, facing off against various monsters and the even more troublesome human population of the land. Sapkowski has fun placing Geralt into a new, mostly self-contained adventure each chapter of Crossroads of Ravens, the events and characters of which may reappear later in the book. This allowed for a quick-paced and very interesting overall narrative, and it was entertaining to see the young Geralt in action.
While there is a good focus on Geralt’s independent adventures, Crossroads of Ravens has a larger, overarching narrative, that sees Geralt seeking knowledge of a historical attack on Kaer Morhen many years earlier. Thanks to hints revealed in some of the earlier adventures, a run-in with a complex secondary antagonist, and in-universe notes from intelligence officers keeping watch on Geralt and Preston, readers get the general shape of this matter in the first half of the book, and it lies like a dark shadow over Geralt’s main adventures. Everything comes to a head perfectly towards the last quarter of the book, as Geralt fully understands the threat towards him and those he cares about, and decides to act. This leads to a tragic series of events, especially as Geralt faces the consequences of his action and his order’s history, while also trying to determine whether he should stay as a selfless witcher or become something far more vengeful. Sapkowski makes sure that several open story threads from the protagonist’s previous adventures are also tied together by the end of the book, and it was interesting to see how certain plot elements from these earlier chapters came into play in the conclusion. The result was an excellent and highly enjoyable story that serves well as both a standalone adventure and a prequel to the rest of The Witcher series.
I rather enjoyed how this great prequel Witcher novel came together, as Sapkowski imbues Crossroads of Ravens with his usual flair and wry humour. Loaded with action, quick-paced stories and an array of unique monsters, Crossroads of Ravens was very reminiscent of early Witcher novels, especially as containing certain adventures to a specific chapter is very similar to the series’ original short-story format. Naturally, this novel will be best enjoyed by those established fans of The Witcher franchise, especially readers of Sapkowski original novel series. Crossroads of Ravens features various references to future events or characters in its pages, which long-running readers of the series will enjoy, and there is some great early characterization of the protagonist as well. There are also interesting alternate versions of events readers might have seen in other media, including the historical attack on Kaer Morhen, which was featured in the Nightmare of the Wolf anime film. While older fans will get the most of this book, anyone with any knowledge of the franchise will be able to enjoy Crossroads of Ravens to a great degree, especially as it is the earliest book in the current canon of The Witcher series. As such, this novel will have a lot of appeal to wide array of readers, who will be in for a great time with the action and adventure.
As with all The Witcher books, Crossroads of Ravens features an excellent array of characters, including a great supporting cast around protagonist Geralt. I very much enjoyed Geralt in this novel as Sapkowski features a young and inexperienced version of his iconic protagonist. It was fascinating to see Geralt’s initial forays into both the world of ignorant humans, and monster hunting, especially as his reactions to both are different at a young age. A great example of this can be seen in one adventure where Geralt attempts to save a girl turned into a striga, which parallels The Witcher short story, which is the first entry in Sapkowski’s original novel/short story collection, The Last Wish. This adventure in Crossroads of Ravens goes very differently from the author’s original story, and it was fascinating to see how a younger, less confident Geralt dealt with the same situation. I also quite enjoyed seeing Geralt, upon experiencing loss, go on a mission of vengeance, which threatens his previous attempts to be a respected hero rather than a monster. I felt that Sapkowski cleverly balanced Geralt’s conflicting emotions in these sequences, and the end scene where he makes a choice about what sort of witcher he is, was a great finish to his story. Throw in an array of excellent additional characters, including a wise, vengeful mentor, a dedicated investigator, a kind healer and many other fun figures, and Crossroads of Ravens proves to be an awesome book for fans of Sapkowski’s entertaining characters.
With another fun and captivating adventure, Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher series continues in all its monster-hunting glory with Crossroads of Ravens. An outstanding prequel novel that features an array of fantastic storylines and characters, Crossroads of Ravens serves as a highly entertaining entry in this acclaimed series that will appeal to a wide audience of fantasy fans. I had a great time reading Crossroads of Ravens, and it’s worth checking out for anyone in the mood for fun action and an interesting narrative from an excellent established series.
The Unseen Library 