The World of the Witcher: Video Game Compendium

Here's the wonderful video game companion to The Witcher's universe. It's a nicely bound 184-page hardcover published by Dark Horse. The book was released to coincide with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt which was out on 18 May 2015 so you can expect a lot of spoilers within. It's best to go through the book after you've finished the game. By the way, there's actually a dedicated artbook just for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt but that's only available in the collector's edition of the game. The difference is The World of the Witcher covers the game world as a whole. The text is written from the perspective of Dandelion, friend of witcher Geralt of Rivia. Included are the histories of the wars, empires, people, creatures, religion, cultures and other folklore, and snippets of text supposedly extracted from tomes and diaries of the inhabitants. There is a lot to read, probably half the book is text. The interior pages are nicely laid out with beautiful artworks and text. There will be at least two pieces of art for every two pages. The artworks are a mixture of concept art and also the high resolution rendered stills of scenes and characters from the game. The environment paintings are really beautiful but most are printed at half page size, which is not too bad. There are also full page and double page art. Highlight of the book is the folklore and history of the Witcher's world. The beautiful artworks complements the book well. This book will no doubt be a very satisfying compendium for the fans. And for the price it's selling at, it's a good deal. Highly recommended to fans of The Witcher. (See more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

Never have I been so fascinated with a video game series (exceeding even Mass Effect) than I am with the Witcher series. I purchased this book to gain greater insights into the world of the game, and it was more than I bargained for - in a good way. The book is presented under the pretext of a compendium providing information about the witcher, Geralt, his adventures, and peripheral information. The compendium is composed by Dandelion, poet and long-time friend of Geralt. He collects works of other authors and statements from main characters to compile an extensive and entertaining historical, biographical, scholarly piece of literature. His voice and character, wit and pomp, are heard throughout the work. The first chapter is a very broad history of the world, from times before humans inhabited it to the times when humans ruled over it. It provides information about the Northern kingdoms, the empire of Nilfgaard. and other places, as well as political factions and relations. It's apparently from the scholarship of a golden dragon named Villentretenmerth. It's a bit of an annoying and bizarre read because the dragon speaks in first, second, and third person; and has a great disdain or at least cynicism toward humans. Nevertheless, it's a fascinating look at the history of the world and how it came to be as it is at the time of the Wild Hunt. The second chapter provides information about witchers, their origin, their creation, and the tools of their trade (medallion, blades, signs, etc.). It was narrated by Vesemir, Geralt's mentor and, according to this book, probably the oldest living witcher. This was definitely my favorite chapter: a pleasant and enthralling read. I actually felt as if Vesemir really wrote, hearing his age old wisdom and world weariness. The third chapter concerns magic and religion.The magic section is perhaps the most intriguing information from the book because it is so well-composed and critically analyzed. The religion section is, well, about religion: the cult of Melitele, the Order of the Flaming Rose, Druids, etc. This chapter is narrated by powerful sorceress and Geralt's long-time lover, Yennefer of Vengerberg. Even more so than Vesemir, I thought a brilliant job was done in convincing the reader that it was her authentic voice - her stern attitude, dry wit, intellect, and intuition. Personally, I don't really like her character as a "person," but I respect her; this chapter smartly captures the essence of the characteristics I respect in her. Then we arrive at the fourth chapter, a bestiary and brief description of the monsters of the witcher (you know, drowners, wraiths, dragons, trolls, etc.). The guide is pretty good, yes. But my problem is its narrator, none other than the man himself, Geralt of Rivia. This chapter hardly felt as though it were in the voice of Geralt, save for a few references to his adventures and misadventures. To be fair though, it is what Dandelion recorded from conversations with Geralt, so not exactly his writings. But his character is utterly vacant from this chapter, which is a tad disappointing, as he is, you know, the main character. Nevertheless, this does not detract from the chapter as a whole - it's a very interesting read. The fifth and final chapter is a rapid overview of Geralt's story. It mostly concerns his destiny with that of Ciri, the fabled Child of Destiny and his adoptive daughter. The information seems to be taken from the books as well as all three games in the series. On that note, reading the entirety of this chapter will spoil the ending of the third installment; I myself stopped short of the last page because I've yet to finish the game. The fast-paced nature of this chapter can be confusing to one not oriented with the story, but if you want a broad picture and some colorful detail, this will satiate you. Speaking of colorful, this chapter, most of all, and naturally, captures the voice of its narrator, Dandelion himself: a tender recount of the history of his friends, and an inflated sense of his own importance in the events of the story. The art throughout the work is beautiful and, more often than not, relevant. However it is clearly not the focus of this book, as a great deal of it is used and reused, pasted here and there. Much of it is stuff you've perhaps seen before from promotional material. Nonetheless, it enhances the narrative and the aesthetics of the guide. In summary, The World of the Witcher is a fun, fascinating, and informative read. The inclusion of characters as narrators is a treat, but not as well done as it could have been. The art is nice, but not impressive and certainly on-the-budget. If you're interested in Geralt, his story, and his world, I would highly recommend this compendium.

A great book, fantastic to get a deep insight and a complete orientation in the Witcher world. Having read the books and played the games, still this book gave me (finally) the clear background of the whole story. The book contains a section on the history of the world and the origin of the races, a section on geography, on witchers (story, lore, carachteristics...), on monsters, on magic and religion... and finally "The story of Geralt of Rivia", a complete recap of all the events on the Witcher novels and videogames, all in one place! And more... lots and lots of art. It's a really wonderful book, highly recommended for the fans and for who wants to enter in the Witcher world.

This book is full of interesting facts and tidbits from the Witcher. The illustrations are so cool, and it really just helps you immerse yourself into the world.

My wife loved it, she is a fan of the witcher and this book is awesome

As promised by the seller the book is in excellent condition, there is a minor detail in one of the corners but hey is almost unnoticeable, all the pages are in mind condition and this book contains lots of images , they just look AMAZING. I definitively will buy again from this company (actually I am thinking to get another copy of this book as a present). About the book, this book not only contains that marvelous art from the game but also uses the narrative to tell you the history of the characters, beasts, world, etc. This is indeed a book made thinking on the W3 fans.

I bought this book expecting something more akin to The World of Ice and Fire (which I bought at the same time) - a huge book that goes into great detail about the world of the Witcher. It does go into good detail, but not nearly as much as I hoped for. It's largely a basic overview of the world the Witcher takes place in, giving only general descriptions in place of more specifics. Those general descriptions, however, are still quite excellent for the most part, and the artwork in this book is fantastic. The book breaks down into five parts, each with a different narrator: 1 - The World and Its Inhabitants (3.5/5): narrated by Three Jackdaws/Villentretenmerth, it provides a pretty good overview of the world and its history, though it's still pretty barebones. I'd rate this section higher if it at least provided a map of the Northern Kingdoms, but alas, no such luck. 2 - The Witchers (4/5): narrated by Vesemir. One of the better parts of the book, as it gives a brief history of the witcher trade, their training and techniques, and the origins of the enmity they face from the common folk. It doesn't go into detail about the different Witcher Schools, which is the only real weak point of the chapter. 3 - The Magic and Religion of the Continent (3.5/5): narrated by Yennefer. Pretty simple overview of how magic works and the different religions, though it's not the most interesting read. 4 - The Beasts of the Northern Kingdoms (1/5): narrated by Geralt. This is the weakest part of the book by far; it only talks about a few monsters (about two or three per category), and barely gives any details on them. You'll learn far more about their strengths and weaknesses by playing the games. 5 - The Story of Geralt of Rivia (5/5): narrated by Dandelion. Exactly what the chapter title says; it covers Geralt's story from The Last Wish all the way up through The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. THIS is what you buy the book for; it gives you the full story of Geralt of Rivia without having to read the books (though I recommend the books, as they're quite good). Artwork (5/5): as I said above, the artwork in this book is fantastic. Admittedly, some of it is basically promotional images from the video games, but even that is well done. Overall, it's a solid book if you're a fan of the Witcher series; just don't expect a full bestiary or great detail on the kingdoms.

When I started playing Witcher 3, I was already familiarized with the books the game is - loosely - based upon. This book does an excellent job of serving as both a companion to the games, bur for the whole Witcher universe as well, recommended for both hardcore gamers or for those who appreciate a rich mithology and are looking for a new world to explore and fall in love, regardless of the medium. Besides packing usful and entertaining info on the Witcher universe, the illustrations bring monsters, relevant characters and maps to life, with stunning quality. CD Projekt Red shows why they are ahead of their game, with a concern for its products that transcends the mere game develpoment aspects of them.