The Last Wish ~ Andrzej Sapkowski
I will be honest and say my introduction to The Witcher was a little bit backwards. As with a lot of newer fans, my introduction was through the Netflix series which I adored and have watched several times. I then completed the first game on pc (and have plans to play the next two when I get a laptop that can cope with gaming) before reading the first book. I had high expectations going into The Last Wish and whilst it didn’t meet all of them, it surpassed most.
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski is a collection of short stories set in the Witcher narrative and is considered the first book in the series. The Witcher (for those living under a rock) is the story of a monster killer. The Last Wish, in particular, tells the story of Geralt recovering from an injury and explaining how he got the injury and how he met certain characters.
Normally, fantasy similar to that of Tolkien’s Middle Earth is quite long-winded stories, but being short stories these were lovely to pick up and put down when I had the time. Each of the short stories had chapters which for someone who took this book away and had very few moments to sit and read it was perfect.
The imagery in the writing is vivid and it was really easy to picture the characters that I haven’t met through the series or the game. I was enchanted by the storytelling and loved that women aren’t just used as things to rape of degrade like in Game of Thrones.
It was very hard not to read this and compare it to the game or the show, but for once I wasn’t really thinking ‘oh they did this better’ or ‘the [show/game] did this better’. All variations of this just add to the world. I found myself understanding things that aren’t yet explained in the book such as the potions and the ingredients that are briefly mentioned.
The character of Jaskier/Dandelion is my favourite in the series and also my favourite in the book. Being that they have different names, it was hard to see them as the same character, especially as the relationship with Geralt is very different on screen and in the book. On-screen, Geralt barely tolerates Jaskier but in the book, they are the very best of friends. I loved that they were best friends in the book but don’t know if I would change that in the series (at the moment, I very much want them to end up bffs at some point). Another thing that was slightly different regarding Jaskier/Dandelion was that in one of the stories Dandelion does not have a role to play where Jaskier does in the series’ adaptation of the same story. I loved both, but just wish I had more Dandelion content in the book.
I loved this book and can’t wait to read the next instalment and then subsequently the rest of the series. However, I am debating whether or not to draw it out so that I won’t have to wait too long for the next series after I finish the books. I think this review may have been the hardest I’ve ever written, as I kept finding myself reviewing the world of The Witcher, rather than the book as I’ve been consuming so much Witcher content. However, I give the book 4.5 stars and cannot wait to continue learning about the world.
C🌙
