I’ve read the "Witcher" series by the Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. They’re quite well-known books among fans of science fiction and fantasy, I should note. Andrzej is the Polish equivalent of Andrei, in case anyone hadn’t guessed.
I liked the books quite a lot, despite them being fantasy.
Here are some assorted thoughts, briefly.
First. Like the only other Pole I’ve read, aka Lem, the author has a terrific command of language and plays with it masterfully. All his characters speak distinctively, their style precisely suited to their place in the universe. And they behave accordingly. It feels as though the author studied a gigantic number of historical and philological reference books in search of words both little and grand, and didn’t forget to add several thousand neologisms of his own.
Second. Although formally it is fantasy, in practice it is closer to science fiction. There is very little mysticism, and the main characters resist it more often than they use it. Magic is a science, while the world operates according to strict laws and chains of cause and effect. Besides, the main characters are mostly nonbelievers.
Third. The first book is a collection of stories about a witcher, that is, a specialist in destroying dangerous supernatural creatures. The witcher’s character and habits are revealed indirectly enough, which is pleasing. Clumsy authors lacking skill like to have their hero explicitly ponder and philosophize, which is dull and vulgar. It’s good that Andrzej doesn’t stoop to that; moreover, he likes abrupt shifts in the narrative through space and time. The story is periodically interspersed with the characters’ memories or accounts of future and past events by complete outsiders, who distort and interpret everything that happens.
Fourth. Curiously, the subsequent books suddenly became more complex and global in scope, much as happened with "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings", in case anyone happens to know. At the same time, they sometimes lost their subtlety—the characters became much more transparent, and therefore more boring. The books contain plenty of naturalism and cruelty, and the narrative is fragmented, as mentioned above. So in places they aren’t all that easy to read for works of fiction. But I personally had no trouble with them, because the books are still entertainment. And the humor is so savage in places that I fell out of bed laughing.
Conclusions. I recommend them to everyone. If you like the first book, read the rest.
All the books can be downloaded from Aldebaran.