The Last Wish (The Witcher, #0.5) in Fantasy-Faction.com

Jan 21, 2011 Mogsy rated it really liked it

Shelves: magic, short-stories, fantasy, fairy-tales-and-folklore

At present, I'm working my way through The Witcher 2 video game which is probably the main reason why I've finally decided to tackle The Last Wish, which has been sitting in my to-read list for almost two years. I am in love with the game so far, and curiosity naturally led me to the books that inspired it.

The book collects seven short stories in a "frame" format, so we have an overarching frame story and six more that are told in a flashback or a memory, each forming a story of its own. Not sur ...more

71 likes · Like · see review

Jun 09, 2010 Althea Ann rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is the book the popular videogame "The Witcher" was based on. I haven't played the videogame, so I can't say how similar the game might be to the book, but my guess is 'not so much.' However, I can see how the book would lend itself to such a conversion, because it's written in an episodic format - different adventures loosely tied together. The Witcher Geralt is a man, but one trained and treated from youth for his profession of catching and killing supernatural monsters, until he may have ...more

25 likes · Like · see review

May 24, 2015 David rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, all-time-favorites

A platinum-bound gemstone of the highest order. Easily a new addition to my ALL TIME FAVORITES.

Coming across a true treasure as this is what reading is all about. Part Italo Calvino, a sprinkle of Tolkein, and a touch of Clint Eastwood in A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS or Karl Edward Wagner's KANE, THE LAST WISH is the best book I've read all year. I read it slowly. I savored it. I picked it up when I was down and it picked me up again and left me buzzing. That wonderful buzz you get from reading a deligh ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Dec 07, 2016 James Schmidt rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Today I will be reviewing The Last Wish: Introducing the Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski

I want to start off by saying I am NOT a gamer and know nothing of the video games. Nothing against gamers, its just not my thing. I know the games were based on these books, and are very popular.

I have seen many people say how great these books are, and that they are very Sword and Sorcery, Conan Esq pulpy fantasy, which is totally me! So yes I had to check them out!

I was not disappointed! Everything I had seen ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Jul 29, 2018 Scott Marlowe rated it liked it · review of another edition

Rating

Review

*** This review originally appeared on Out of this World Reviews. ***

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski is a book I went into with mixed expectations. On the one hand, I am somewhat familiar with the Witcher from the video games (I’ve never played the games, but it’s hard to miss the advertising and I do like watching the game trailers). On the other, even though the books came before the games, there’s still a negative preconception that books having anything to do with a video game Rating

Review

*** This review originally appeared on Out of this World Reviews. ***

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski is a book I went into with mixed expectations. On the one hand, I am somewhat familiar with the Witcher from the video games (I’ve never played the games, but it’s hard to miss the advertising and I do like watching the game trailers). On the other, even though the books came before the games, there’s still a negative preconception that books having anything to do with a video game are of lesser quality than a book that is not. This is not fair in all cases, of course, but it certainly is in some. Regardless, after Gollancz Press sent me the entire series of Witcher novels after winning them via a Twitter drawing, I felt obligated (and, quite frankly, intrigued, because I love the premise of a supernatural hunting badass tracking down and killing monsters) to give this book and the rest in the series a fair shake.

The Last Wish is novel length, though it is not a novel per se but rather a collection of varying length stories that more or less follow a chronological order. From what I could gather from the Witcher Wiki, the stories contained in The Last Wish were first published in now out of print magazines and later gathered together into this collection. Also, The Last Wish is a prequel in that the stories take place before the main series of books. That being said, the editions I received from Gollancz are part of a reprinted series, so they conveniently designated The Last Wish as book one. It’s all a bit confusing, truth be told, with there being so many editions and instances where the series has been rebranded.

All of that aside, I enjoyed The Last Wish. I’m not going to say it blew me away, because it didn’t. But it did surprise me with the depth of some of the stories. On the surface, the Witcher, Geralt, hunts monsters. But the monsters are not always what they seem. They’re not just simply monsters, in other words. Some other witchers might ignore this and go ahead with their duty regardless. But Geralt has a streak of kindness or mercy in him that makes him want to understand the plight of the monsters he hunts. If he has to kill his prey, he will. He has the magic, the silver, and the steel to do so quite efficiently. But if there’s another way, he isn’t afraid to explore it.

Nowhere is this demonstrated better than in the story “A Grain of Truth,” where Geralt finds himself facing off against a powerful creature that is more beast than man. Yet once the tension of their initial confrontation is defused, Geralt discovers that not only can the creature talk, but that he has a name. Nevellen soon tells him a tale of a curse and a lonely existence that, in the end, turns out to not be the entire truth but enough that Geralt must make a hard choice. It’s an excellent demonstration of just what the Witcher stories are really all about in that there’s more to some of these monsters than what’s on the surface.

Other stories follow a similar thread or even present opportunities for Geralt to form real relationships, including friendship and love interests. The final story, which bears the same name as the title of the book, is the grandest of all. In it we are introduced to Yennefer of Vengerberg, who must choose between ambition and love when the opportunity to capture a genie presents itself.

I liked The Last Wish enough to give it a three rocket rating. None of the stories knocked me off my feet, but they each drew me in and kept me reading. I would have liked to have seen a grander demonstration of the Witcher’s magic or ability with a sword, both of which we do see, but just not in any great detail. Also, even though The Last Wish is the beginning of the Witcher series, Geralt is already accomplished at his trade. While I wasn’t expecting (or desiring) a full origin story, I think the series as a a whole would have benefitted from picking up earlier in Geralt’s career so we as readers could experience some of his early struggles and wins. In any case, The Last Wish fulfills the promise of introducing us to the Witcher and his way of life, enough so that I recommend reading this one and picking up the next book, Blood of Elves, to see what other adventures Geralt may find himself on. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 31, 2012 Blodeuedd Finland rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

I liked this one cos it was different from fantasy that I usually read. it was all about Geralt's different adventures. So there were a bunch of loosely attached stories and it worked well.

So what to we have then? Geralt, a witcher who hunts vampires, dragons and every evil thing there is. He does his job and that's it. In between stories we see him at a temple where he talks to a priestess as they are friends. On two trips he also has a troubadour with him, but other than that it's a very lonel ...more

Like · see review

May 07, 2014 Maryam rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, fiction

Actual Rating 3.5

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 14, 2012 Patrick rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy

An odd little book, that likely needs a better translation. The sentences are choppy, the cadence odd, but the visuals the author conjurers are epic in scope. I want to see a different translation of this work.

Like · see review