Hurt and furious, Geralt leaves Brokilon to find Ciri, and a company forms around him on the road south: Dandelion, the archer Milva, a Nilfgaardian knight named Cahir he'd rather not trust, the dwarf Zoltan Chivay, and an oddly well-mannered barber-surgeon called Regis. Ciri, meanwhile, rides with a gang of young outlaws, and a group of sorceresses meets in secret.
What this adds if you've played the games
This is the book to read before Blood and Wine. Regis joins Geralt here, and the friendship the expansion takes for granted is built on this road trip. Zoltan Chivay, whom you meet in the first and third games, gets his best material too. It's the warmest book in the saga, with less politics and more arguing around the campfire. The Lodge of Sorceresses also forms here, and that's the group Witcher 2 drops you in the middle of.
Where it fits
- Read afterThe Time of Contempt
Opens on the aftermath of The Time of Contempt and gives away how it ends, so read that one first.
- Comes beforeThe Tower of Swallows
The fourth novel follows Geralt's company and Ciri straight on from Baptism of Fire. Read them in sequence; this one reveals where the previous book left everyone.
- Ties intoThronebreaker: The Witcher Tales
Meve's campaign happens during the same Nilfgaardian invasion that Geralt's company crosses in Baptism of Fire, and the queen appears in both. Either can come first.
Editions
Gollancz paperback
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