YMMV / Lady of the Lake (Sapkowski)

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Just what were Avallac'h and Eredin's plans? Were they in cahoots the entire time, or did both of them have their own separate agendas? Did the former ever really care about Ciri, or was he planning to eventually take her to the lab like Eredin said he would? Did Eredin kill the king on purpose, or was it a complete accident? The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt offers more solid answers to these questions, but what Sapkowski really intended for the two elves remains a mystery to this day.
• Broken Base: Opinions are divided on the ending. Does it serve as a beautiful and poetic sendoff for the characters that is perfectly in-line with the series' deconstructive take on fantasy and fairly tale conventions? Or is it a confusing Gainax Ending that makes no sense, that runs on for too long, and is just cynical and mean-spirited all around?
• Ending Fatigue: The book's climax occurs around the 400 page mark with the Storming the Castle sequence where Geralt and his hanse take on Vilgefortz and his forces in order to rescue Ciri and Yennefer. After all that is said and done, there's still another 130 pages of epilogue to go that essentially deals with the aftermath of the saga, Geralt's decision to retire and the general Bittersweet Ending of the series.
• Like You Would Really Do It: Right after the book's publication, the fandom divided over the ending: are Geralt and Yennefer really dead, dying, on their way to The Underworld or even already there? Since it is incredibly vague in the original Polish, one of the most accepted interpretations from the start was that nope, everybody is fine, and if tragic, the ending at least has everyone alive. The eventual Word of God and then, of course, the video games further skewed the perception, making it almost common knowledge that the ending is just a cop-out.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The Aen Elle play a tremendous role in the series' backstory, being the ones responsible for spawning the genetic lineage that would give birth to Ciri and her distinct powers, and whose plans for her would make them an even greater threat to the Witcher world than any other antagonist seen in the saga. While the trilogy of video games would go on to make them the main villains, their presence in the books is pretty minor, and once Ciri escapes from them, they disappear from the story entirely.

---