Tower of the Swallow

The sixth book in The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski, originally in Polish (original title: Wieża Jaskółki). An English translation is still pending.

While Geralt and company head deeper into the Nilfgaard territory, things turn for the worse for the Rats. Aristocrat father of one of their victims hires a bounty hunter, Leo Bonhart, to take them out. He proves too much for the Rats, who are slaughtered wholesale -- except for Ciri. She is spared, but taken prisoner; realising she is not a mere robber, Bonhart opted to find out the truth. Meanwhile the war rages on, and the sorceresses of the Lodge weave their plots. It turns out they have plans for Yennefer, but she has plans of her own.

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Tropes found in the book:

• Anachronic Order: Parts of the story are told in retrospect, in alternating narrations of Ciri herself, Dandelion's diaries, and an eyewitness account at a Nilfgaard tribunal.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Generally averted in the series but most notably, in this book, Ciri ends up with an extremely messy scar after catching Stefan Skellen's orion/shuriken with her face. Said scar plagues her well-being for the rest of the series, and she starts wearing Peek-a-Bangs to conceal it.
• Because Destiny Says So: Esterhazy the sword-merchant, who parted with the best sword in his shop, for free, because he realised something bigger is going on.
• Bury Your Gays: Mistle is disfigured and killed by Bonhart, slowly expires in front of Ciri, and then Bonhart saws off her head while Ciri is forced to watch.
• Cool Sword: the Gnomish gwyhyr. Original gwyhyr blade -- the best sword in the world, sharp as a razor and perforated to lower the weight, not produced anymore -- given the traditional decoration and carving, and an anti-slippery handle of ray's skin.
• Everybody's Dead, Dave: The Rats at the beginning of the book, with Ciri as the Sole Survivor.
• Fantastic Drug: Fisstech (effectively, cocaine) is first introduced in this book and then retroactively spread across the world.
• Fingore: Whatever Rience and Vilgefortz do to Yennefer's fingers, Ciri later describes her hands as a formless mass of clotted blood. She can use them again in book seven but only thanks to her sheer stubbornness.
  • And no, Ciri most definitely didn't cut off all of Rience's fingers in revenge for the above.
• Forced to Watch: Bonhart does that to Ciri, prompting a No Dead Body Poops moment.
• Gladiator Games: Bonhart -- implicitly a fan and occasional participant -- forces Ciri to take part. Includes a protester who finds animal fights immoral, but human against human a fair game.
• Geo Effects: only natural if you fight your battle on a frozen lake.
• Hermit Guru: Vysogota of Corvo, a philosopher who was exiled for his views and had to settle down incognito on a swamp.
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: Ciri. Despite her fighting prowess, she lacks the sheer power of will to end her own life, much to Bonhart's amusement.
• Implacable Man: Leo Bonhart.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: if you are a descendant of long line of Elven eugenic experiments, it's only natural. In that nobody really knows what's goes on, and most interesting parties are willing to patch the holes in their understanding with a little wishful thinking.
• Punch Clock Villain: Boreas Mun, the tracker, who is a pretty decent guy hired by not-so-decent guys.
• Skilled but Naive: Ciri, kinda. Not so much naive as weak-willed, which Bonhart exploits: since the Witchers have drilled all their killing techniques into her, she kills others on pure reflex; however, when she has a chance of killing herself, she just can't. As Bonhart explains, killing oneself requires zero technique and a whole lot of willpower... which Ciri never had a reason to foster because she was already a perfect killing machine, thanks a bunch, Witchers.
• Spy Speak: Mocked. When the local spooks get their hands on Bonhart's letter, they look for hints and hidden meanings between the lines. And end up losing the track, because in their over-cleverness they fail to figure out that "circus" means "circus".