Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
Maybe if you've read the books (or have someone sitting next to you who has read the books keeping you up to speed). Otherwise it's a hot mess of jumbled, unintelligible timelines and a merry-do-round of confusing characters that leaves one wondering WTH they just witnessed (and why people are raving about it). 
Don't get me wrong. I wanted to like the show, and I get what what they were trying to pull off RE the timeline-complexity, but not having any forehand knowledge of the books, the games, or the Witcher universe in general, the wheels still just completely fell off the bus for me.
It's great that pre-existing Witcher fans have something new to love, but great adaptations don't rely so heavily on viewers having already read the books (or played the games) just to keep up.
Sorry for the slight derail... carry on.  |
Actually, the (first) books *are* a merry-go-round of confusing characters and scrambled timelines.
The first two books are anthologies and the "saga" really gets going with the third book. The first season actually linearizes the stories. Plus, title aside, Geralt isn't even the main character of the series.
If you want to try again:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List...Witcher_series
Tastes vary but I found the triple storylines a good reflection of the three characters' importance and the final twist aligning the timelines clever. A purely linear timeline would mean Geralt doesn't show up for at least two episodes (Yen is over a hundred years old) and Ciri (who is younger in the books) until the penultimate episode. The other alternative would've been to start near the end and run most of the series as flashbacks.
The way they did it featured most of the short stories and set the stage nicely for the triad to assemble.
My main complaints are two much Jaskier and having to wait two years for the next season. Loved the cliffhanger, though. "Who is Yennefer?"
Adapting books is always complicated and adapting an anthology more so.
That is why I'm skeptical about the announced adaptation of Foundation, which isn't a trilogy of novels but a three anthology collection of standalone stories set in a common framework.