Cahir Aep Ceallach

Good news, folks. There's life after A Song of Ice and Fire, and it's called The Witcher saga, by the Polish author Andzrej Sapkowski.

If you read the synopsis on the cover and you were as picky and prejudiced against fantasy in general as I am, you'd turn it down. Because it has white-haired people and prophecies, and some of us are sick tired of that. But it'd be a mistake. A huge, terrible mistake. Because The Witcher is nothing you've read before. Honestly. I've never seen such a successful combination of politics, self-parody, eastern European folklore and social realism. Told in a way that it's humorous and tragically epic at the same time.

And more good news: it's finished. Seven books.

Bad news though: it's not translated to English yet. So far, only the first book, "The Last Wish" has been translated. It's a compilation of tales featuring the characters that will appear on the novel (which begins in the third book), but it's still very interesting.

Okay, but who's the guy on the portrait?

It's Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach, or just Cahir. A young officer of the Nilfgaardian army, determined and courageous, though for the most of it he's just a nameless nightmare for the rest of the characters.