Title: The Last Wish

Author: Andrzej Sapkowski

Review by: Dani Hoots

Rating: 5/5

Read the Series

Back cover:

Geralt the Witcher — revered and hated — holds the line against the monsters plaguing humanity in this collection of adventures in the NYT bestselling series that inspired the blockbuster video games and Netflix adaptation.

Geralt is a Witcher, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary murderer: his targets are the multifarious monsters and vile fiends that ravage the land and attack the innocent.

But not everything monstrous-looking is evil and not everything fair is good…and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth.

Included in this collection are the short stories which inspired episodes 1-5 of The Witcher.

I haven’t had a chance to watch the Witcher on Netflix all the way through for a few reasons I won’t get into, but I really liked the idea and wanted to read the books before preparing myself to watch the show. I decided to read them in the order given by Orbit instead of the publishing order.

The first book in the series is definitely top notch and I can see why it has been given so much attention. I love how the Witcher is portrayed, how well the description is given without going into big drawn out info-dumps (but if that is your thing, good for you, but I don’t enjoy that). I loved the battles he faces in this and wished that one of them, with the vampire of course, was drawn out more. I wanted to know her story but alas, it wasn’t the point of the story.

This book really captured my attention and I read it a lot quicker than I thought it would take me. I’m excited to read the other books in the series as well and make some time to watch the show. I definitely recommend this to anyone who loves the fantasy genre, whether they have seen the show or not.

Also, Dandelion is annoying and I can see why people mash him with John-Ralphio…

~Dani