I've read all books and played all games, including both Gwent games and I've seen the polish movie and TV series too. When it was announced that Henry Cavill will be playing Geralt I was sceptical to say the least, but he is the best cast actor on this show, a perfect fit. His voice is en par with the game version of Geralt and he moves and behaves exactly as I'd imagine the Witcher to be. The second best cast is Jaskier, I really liked that character.

Unfortunately that can not be said for the remainer of the cast. Yennefer is way too young and does not radiate any authority at all, she's too fragile compared to the books. There was no chemistry what so ever between Triss and Geralt and the actress does not fit how I imagined Triss at all (and she does not have red hair), Vilgefortz is a Joke compared to the books, hard to believe he should evolve into the mean mage he's supposed to become. Ciri is okayish for the beginning of the series but it's hard to imagine that she will become the tough girl into which she evolves in the books. The monster CGI is too CGI-ish and could be better, but could also be worse.

I find the pacing of the series also very confusing and I don't know if anyone who hasn't read the books could follow the different timelines. Some subtitles like "30 years ago" or "present time" or any other clear indication to what is a flashback and what is actually happening would've helped. But I really liked that all stories from The Last Wish made it into the first season and also the story of Villentretenmerth from The Sword of Destiny, which is my all time favorite Short Story.

But all casting mistakes aside, I still liked the series, mainly because of a very believable Geralt and that it stays true to the books for most of the parts. I am looking forward to the next season and I hope it won't indeed take two years for it to be released.