Skip to content

Book Review: Blend of history and fantasy in Tower of Fools

Andzrej Sapkowski mixes Central European history.
TowerOfFools
Tower of Fools by Andzrej Sapkowski

I admit to knowing nothing about the Hussite War of the early 15th century in Bohemia.  I imagine they probably aren’t widely taught in many schools. I don’t know what impact they had on European or world history.  I’d never even heard of any of this until I read Andzrej Sapkowski’s historical fantasy Tower of Fools.

Reinmar of Bielawa, also called Reynevan von Bielau, is prone to dalliances with the wives of other nobles. Caught in flagrante by the brothers of the husband of one such woman, he escapes, only for one of his pursuers to be killed.  This sets up a series of misadventures of Reinmar trying to avoid capture and extra-judicial revenge.  Along the way he meets plenty of odd and fantastical companions, including a demon, a warrior-priest imprisoned for unknown reasons, and a few women Reinmar can’t help but try to pursue.

Given the rather history-heavy nature of the story (the historical names being dropped could sink a ship), I would have expected the story to drag.  It seems like every knight, every priest and bishop, every nobleman and royal of Bohemia are all mentioned here.  All of this, plus the little nuances of which branch of Christianity is accusing which other sect of being heretical, seems like it would all be very confusing if you haven’t studied it.  But ultimately none of it really matters.  Despite history being the backbone of the setting, this is a story of the young nobleman-slash-doctor-slash-magician.  While this looks like historical fiction, this is also fantasy.  Demons and magic do exist in this world, though they only occasionally appear.  It’s a well executed mix of history and fantasy.

Despite the seriousness of the events in the background, the story itself is surprisingly light, almost a comedy of manners. Though I definitely don’t know anything about Central European history, it’s clear that Sapkowski is commenting on the social classes and expectations of the time.

Sapkowski is the also author of The Witcher series.  He writes primarily in Polish. In both Tower of Fools and The Witcher, his real expertise is his dialogue. The writing is clever enough that even conversations appear to go nowhere are compelling. 

I still couldn’t tell you anything about exactly who the Hussites were or why they were heretical, but I’m looking forward to reading more about them as the rest of the series is released in English.

Steven McCreedy is a library technician at the Cambie Branch of the Richmond Public Library