Blood of Elves

Blood of Elves (Polish: Krew elfów) is the first novel in the Witcher saga written by Andrzej Sapkowski. It is a sequel to the Witcher short story collections and, and is continued by.

The UK edition was released on 16 October 2008 by Gollancz, and a 2nd edition was released the following year on 21 May 2009. The U.S. edition was released on 1 May 2009 by Orbit.

Plot summary
The Empire of Nilfgaard attacks the Kingdom of Cintra. Queen Calanthe commits suicide and her granddaughter, Cirilla, called Ciri and nicknamed the "Lion Cub of Cintra" manages to flee from the burning capital city. Emhyr var Emreis, Emperor of Nilfgaard, sends his spies to find her. He knows that this young girl has great importance, not only because of her royal blood, but also because of her magical potential and elven blood in her veins.

The girl is being protected by Geralt of Rivia, a witcher - a magically and genetically mutated monster slayer for hire, who takes her to the witchers' keep - Kaer Morhen. There, Ciri is being taught by the other witchers, including old Vesemir, Coën, Eskel and Lambert. She learns about monsters and how to fight them. She is taught to fight with a sword in the witcher style. But during her "education", the sorceress Triss Merigold comes to Kaer Morhen. She is called by Geralt to help with occasional strange and abnormal behavior he has seen in Ciri. Triss realises that Ciri is a Source. She acknowledges that she does not have the power to control Ciri's talent, and advises Geralt to swallow his pride and seek help with Yennefer, a more experienced sorceress and his former lover.

At the same time, a mysterious wizard called Rience is looking for the girl. He is a servant of a more powerful mage, who remains unknown. He captures Geralt's friend, Dandelion the bard, and tortures him for information about Ciri. Dandelion is saved by the timely arrival of Yennefer, who engages in a short magic combat with Rience. Rience manages to escape through a portal opened by his master, but left with a prominent facial scar from Yennefer's spell.

In the spring, Geralt leaves Kaer Morhen with Triss and Ciri, intending to deliver Ciri to the Temple School in Ellander where she would receive a "normal" education from Nenneke. On the way, Triss falls ill, and they join Yarpen Zigrin's dwarven company who is guarding a caravan for King Henselt. Geralt tells Ciri about the roses of Aelirenn, an elf who died leading the elven youths to fight the humans. The caravan is attacked by the Scoia'tael, and it is revealed that the escort mission was a trap set by the kings who doubted Yarpen's loyalty.

Ciri's stay in Ellander is still haunted by disturbing dreams until the arrival of Yennefer, who starts educating her in the ways of magic. From an initial antagonism, their relationship develops into a strong and deep bond, like that of a mother and daughter.

Meanwhile, Geralt does his best to track Rience and his mysterious employer. With the help of Dandelion and Shani, he forces a confrontation with Rience, during which both are injured. Rience's master intervenes again, opening a portal for him, and Geralt is prevented from pursuing the mage by Philippa Eilhart, who also kills the last surviving of the Michelet brothers so as not to provide Geralt any source of information which might eventually reveal the mysterious mage. Eilhart then leaves behind a wounded Geralt.

Yennefer became Ciri's mentor and teacher. As they are about to leave the Temple School in Ellander, Yennefer asks Ciri whether she didn't like her at first, leading to a series of flashbacks detailing Ciri's studies with Yennefer from the day they were introduced and back to the present as they are about to leave the Temple. And Ciri responds by admitting the she didn't like her at first, but it quickly changed, they both bonded together, afterwards they leave.

Characters

 * Geralt of Rivia
 * Ciri
 * Calanthe
 * Coën
 * Dandelion
 * Emhyr var Emreis
 * Eskel
 * Lambert
 * the Michelet brothers
 * Nenneke
 * Philippa Eilhart
 * Rience
 * Sigismund Dijkstra
 * Triss Merigold
 * Vesemir
 * Yarpen Zigrin
 * Yennefer

Translations

 * Czech: Zaklínač III. Krev elfů, (Leonardo, Ostrava 1995)
 * Russian: Кровь эльфов, translated by Yevgeny Vaysbrot (АСТ, 2000)
 * Lithuanian: Elfų Kraujas, (Eridanas, 2006)
 * French: Le Sang des Elfes, translated by Lydia Waleryszak (Bragelonne, 2008)
 * Spanish: La Sangre de los Elfos, (Alamut, 2008)
 * English: Blood of Elves, translated by Danusia Stok (UK – Gollancz, 2008, US – Orbit, 2009)
 * Bulgarian: Вещерът: Кръвта на елфите, translated by Vasil Velchev (ИнфоДар, 2009)
 * German: Das Erbe der Elfen, translated by Erik Simon (dtv, 2009)
 * Italian: Il Sangue degli Elfi, (Nord, 2010)
 * Finnish: Haltiain verta, translated by Tapani Kärkkäinen (WSOY, 2011)
 * Swedish: Ödets svärd, (Coltso, 2011)
 * Dutch: Het bloed van elfen, (Dutch Media Uitgevers, 2012)
 * Serbian: Krv vilenjaka - Saga o vešcu 3, translated by Milica Markić (Čarobna knjiga, 2012)
 * Slovak: Zaklínač III.: Krv elfov translated by Karol Chmel (Plus, 2016)
 * Hungarian: Tündevér, (PlayOn, 2013)
 * Brazilian Portuguese: O Sangue dos Elfos, translated by Tomasz Barcinsky (WMF Martins Fontes, 2013)
 * Turkish: Elflerin Kanı, translated by Regaip Minareci (Pegasus Yayınları, 2017)

Trivia

 * The UK edition cover features J.R.R. Tolkien's tengwar alphabet, even though Sapkowski's elves use runes not in any way similar to the tengwar.

Book covers
Krev elfů Das Erbe der Elfen Das Erbe der Elfen (Inhalt) Το Αίμα των Ξωτικών La Sangre de los Elfos Le Sang des Elfes Il Sangue degli Elfi Elfų Kraujas Blood of Elves Krew elfów pt-br:O Sangue dos Elfos Кровь эльфов (книга) Кров ельфів