Andrzej Sapkowski

Soon to be a major Netflix original series! 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. 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. Andrzej Sapkowski, winner of the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement award, started an international phenomenon with his Witcher series. The Last Wish short story collection is the perfect introduction to this one of a kind fantasy world. Witcher collectionsThe Last WishSword of Destiny Witcher novelsBlood of Elves The Time of Contempt Baptism of Fire The Tower of SwallowsLady of the LakeSeason of Storms The Malady and Other Stories: An Andrzej Sapkowski Sampler (e-only) Translated from original Polish by Danusia Stok

Introducing the Witcher

The Last Wish

Ostatnie życzenie

Vanja Lovre

Victoria Justice

“[...] or I throw you into prison, pre—How do you say it, Geralt?”

“With the usual question, I take it,” interrupted Geralt. “’Who is the fairest of them all?”

“Evil is evil, Stregobor,” said the witcher seriously as he got up. “Lesser, greater, middling, it's all the same. Proportions are negotiated, boundaries blurred. I’m not a pious hermit. I haven't done only good in my life. But if I’m to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all.”

She leant over him, touched him. He felt her hair, smelling of lilac and gooseberries, brush his face and he suddenly knew that he’d never forget that scent, that soft touch, knew that he’d never be able to compare it to any other scent or touch. Yennefer kissed him and he understood that he’d never desire any lips other than hers, so soft and moist, sweet with lipstick. He knew that, from that moment, only she would exist, her neck, shoulders and breasts freed from her black dress, her delicate, cool skin, which couldn’t be compared to any other he had ever touched. He gazed into her violet eyes, the most beautiful eyes in the world, eyes which he feared would become . . . Everything. He knew.

gill

The Rivian straightened. He quickly pinned his blade under his left arm and with his right hand raised toward the guards, swiftly drew a conmplicated sign in the air. The clout-nails which studded his tunic from his wrists to elbows flashed.

"You inspire trust," he said, "although I know what a rogue you are. I was told what happened at the tavern. I'm sure you killed those thugs solely for word to spread, to shock people, to shock me. It's obvious that you could have dealt with them without killing. I'm afraid I’ll never know whether you are going there to save my daughter, or to kill her. But I agree to it. I have to agree. Do you know why?" 

"Because I think," said the king, "I think that she is suffering. Am I not right?"

The witcher fixed his penetrating eyes on the king. He didn't confirm it, didn't nod, didn't make the slightest gesture, but Foltest knew. He knew the answer.

It was still light enough in the courtyard for the approaching man to see the witcher's face. The man, Ostrit, backed away abruptly; an involuntary grimace of terror and repulsion contorted his lips. The witcher smiled wryly—he knew wha he looked like. After drinking a mixture of banewart, monk’s hood and eyebright the face takes on the color of chalk, and the pupils fill the entire iris. But the mixture enables one to see in the deepest darkness, and this is what Geralt wanted. 

The witcher did not move. He did not want the magnate to realize how fast his movements and reactions now were. It was quickly growing dark. A relief, as even the semi-darkness of dusk was too bright for his dilated pupils.

He raised his head, torn from sleep. The sun was already high and forced blinding golden rays through the shuters penetrating the chamber with tentacles of light. The witcher shaded his eyes with his hand in an unnecessary, instinctive reflex which he had never managed to shake off. All he needed to do, after all, was narrow his pupils into vertical slits.

Geralt jumped. Every move he made, every step, was part of his nature: hard-learned, automatic and lethally sure. Three quick steps, and the third, like a hundred such steps before, finished on the left leg with a strong, firm stamp. A twist of his torso and a sharp, forceful cut. He saw her eyes. Nothing could change now. He heard the voice. Nothing. He yelled, to drown the word which she was repeating. Nothing could change. He cut.

He struck decisively, like hundreds of times before, with the center of the blade, and immediately, following the rhythm of the movement, took a fourth step and half a turn. The blade, freed by the half-turn, floated after him, shining, drawing a fan of red droplets in its wake.

Emiley Jones

"Don't you think"—he smiled—"that my lack of faith makes such a trance pointless?"

"No, I don't. And do you know why? [...] Because it would be the first proof I've ever heard of that a lack of faith has any kind of power at all." 

The witcher nimbly slipped the weapon into its scabbard and, without lowering his arm, stroked the hilt which rose above his shoulder.

"I’d prefer you," he said, "not to make any sudden moves. This sword can always be drawn again, faster than you imagine."

“Willingly. But what will Libushe have to say about it? It was quite obvious last time that she's not very keen on me." 

"Women don't have a say in my house. But, just between us, don't do what you did during supper last time in front of her again.”

"You mean when I threw my fork at that rat?" 

"No. I mean when you hit it, even in the dark."

"Geralt," said Stregobor, “when we were listening to Eltibald, many of us had doubts. But we decided to accept the lesser evil. Now I ask you to make a similar choice" 

"Evil is evil, Stregobor," said the witcher seriously as he got up. "Lesser, greater, middling, it's all the same. Proportions are negotiated, boundaries blurred. I'm not a pious hermit. I haven't done only good in my life. But if I'm to choose betwen one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all.

Vojtech

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. He roams the country seeking assignments, but gradually comes to realise that while some of his quarry are unremittingly vile, vicious grotesques, others are the victims of sin, evil or simple na�vety. One reviewer said: 'This book is a sheer delight. It is beautifully written, full of vitality and endlessly inventive: its format, with half a dozen episodes and intervening rest periods for both the hero and the reader, allows for a huge range of characters, scenarios and action. It's thought-provoking without being in the least dogmatic, witty without descending to farce and packed with swordfights without being derivative. The dialogue sparkles; characters morph almost imperceptibly from semi-clich� to completely original; nothing is as it first seems. Sapkowski succeeds in seamlessly welding familiar ideas, unique settings and delicious twists of originality: his Beauty wants to rip the throat out of a sensitive Beast; his Snow White seeks vengeance on all and sundry, his elves are embittered and vindictive. It's easily one of the best things I've read in ages.'

classic. had to get the new hardcover and re-read

Bo Heroman

Geralt the Witcher -- revered and hated -- holds the line against the monsters plaguing humanity in this collection of adventures in the New York Times bestselling series that inspired the Netflix show and the hit video games. 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. The Last Wish story collection is the perfect introduction to a one of a kind fantasy world. And look out for The Tower of Fools, book one of Andrzej Sapkowski's Hussite Trilogy, coming in October 2020!

There is something so cool about the principle of Slavic fantasy becoming so big. But also I did not care reading this, I am sorry. (I have never played the game, though I saw the first two seasons of the show and I enjoyed that).

Andrzej Sapkowski’ groundbreaking fantasy series The Witcher has become a global phenomenon, selling millions of copies worldwide and inspiring the hit Netflix show and multiple blockbuster video games.

Gerald is a witcher — a man whose magical powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant and merciless fighter. Yet he is no ordinary hunter. His sole purpose: to destroy the monsters that plague the world.

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

The Last Wish is the New York Times bestselling story collection that introduces readers to Gerald of Rivia, the powerful sorceress Yennefer, the poet and bard Dandelion, and their epic, unforgettable world of magic and adventure.

Translated by Danusia Stok

I've played the game first, and then I watched the series, so I read the book with some preconceptions about characters. But, as almost everytime, the book was so fun to read. I loved the personality of the characters and every single one "sounds" differently. I'm excited to continue to read Geralds and Ciri journey!

Alexandra

Doan Tran Minh Thanh

"People like to invent monsters and monstrosities. Then they seem less monstrous themselves. When they get blind-drunk, cheat, steal, beat their wives, starve an old woman, when they kill a trapped fox with an axe or riddle the last existing unicorn with arrows, they like to think that the Bane entering cottages at daybreak is more monstrous than they are. They feel better then. They find it easier to live."

Lou C

~ Finished January 22nd 2020 ~

This book is a collection of short stories about Geralt of Rivia, a famous Witcher, a mutant man that seems to be skillful in many things. He knows how to fight with two swords that he keeps on his back like a bow and arrow, he can cast spells and he can also see in the dark. He travels in these stories from place to place, meeting new people along the way.

So I really got hooked on the Witcher Netflix adaptation a couple of weeks ago and decided to pick up the first book which it was based on and I'm not disappointed. I read through this book fast as I expected of a fantasy book of this length. There are also tons of references to classic tellings of fairytales or the whole story was loosely based around one which I loved.

Geralt is a very interesting character because he has so many sides. I love how he is not always the very serious edgy main character which I would've expected him to be if I went into this book blind. He makes jokes from time to time, has fun and also definitely make mistakes which gives him depth.

Only thing that I found less is that you can tell that it's a translated book because the dialogue can be a bit off-tone or just very weirdly written. Translating is a difficult job, people! It happens, but it can still get me to re-read a line twice sometimes.

I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoyed The Witcher netflix adaptation or the Witcher games, or if enjoy high fantasy with dwarves and elves and all that good stuff.

I rate this book an 8/10

Hanna Rybchynska

Depois de ver a série e toda a gente falar bem do livro, acabei por compra-lo e ler. Para ser sincera, a minha espetativa não era propriamente alta porque já sabia o que vinha por causa da série. MAS... como estava eu enganada! O livro conta algumas histórias do Gerald e como ele conheceu o Jaskiel e a Yenifer. Em teoria, isto ainda não é a "história principal" e tal como disse, são ainda histórias para perceber melhor as personagens e o seu caminho. As personagens são muito vivas e dinâmicas! A narrativa é simples e envolvolvente. Adoro o Gerald e imagino-o totalmente como o Henri Cavill.

Para quem viu a série e gostou, sem dúvida deveria espreitar o livro! Eu vou continuar esta saga, sem dúvida!

Clay Carey

Luke Harkness

A truly enchanting book full of wit and charisma

As with the games (where I learnt of the Witches) these stories have an incredible amount of detail and intrigue. You can see why the games are so highly regarded when coming from material such as this.

You'll love all the characters, good and bad. You'll love the witty humour and how quickly it can get dark. You'll love the clever monsters and myths. Its truly a book that any fan of fantasy should read. And being so short but filled with so many stories, it truly feels like I've lived Geralt's stories with him. A truly rare phenomenon is this series and I am thoroughly looking forward to reading a the sequels.

Geralt de Riv, a witcher, uses his vast sorcerous powers to hunt down the monsters that threaten the world, but he soon discovers that not every monstrous-looking creature is evil, and not everything beautiful is good.

Would be a 2.5 if I didn’t already have some existing affection for the characters. That was kinda bad. 

sarah

Date read:
 December 13-December 21, 2019 

 Actual Rating: 3.50 STARS 

I've started this solely because of the upcoming Netflix adaptation. I was not even sure if I was going to like this. This is my first time reading something of high fantasy, you see. But there is something in the Netflix trailer I can't quite pinpoint that made me want to dive into this series. Though it was just a collection of short stories with quite loose events of Geralt's journeys, I definitely enjoyed every bit of it. I am still intimidated by this kind of genre, that's why I've given it a lower rating, and it was not a very quick read for me as I've been reading this for more than a week, but I'm pretty sure I'll be going deeper into this.

Mel 

I watched the Netflix Adaptation before reading this and I have to say that I really love what Netflix did with the source material and the changes that they made. 
This was an introduction to The Witcher with alternating timelines between past and present which I was mentally prepared for. I felt like I got a deeper understanding of some of the events from the show and I enjoyed seeing Geralt’s adventures prior to what happens in Cintra. 
The connection between Geralt and Yennefer was very insta-lovey. I like Yennefer more in the show than I do in the book. I also have similar feelings about Queen Calanthe.
This is one of the rare occasions were the adaptation outdoes the book.

Marie

This was just a s incoherent as the TV show.

i really loved reading these stories, even though i knew most of the plots already from other sources (tv show and reading up on the games). i especially enjoyed how the framing narrative manages to tie all of the together so nicely.

Jiji

This is such an amazing world and the Witcher is such a great character. I really appreciate how good of a job the show does at following the story. 

Megan BV

Aubrey Hicks

Amazing! Loved everything about this. It's an epic fantasy novel which is also a collection of re-tellings of fairy tales. An fascinating main character in a world that is both familiar and completely new and original. Well done, can't wait until more of this author's works are translated.

Dimitris Papastergiou

While I was reading this one, it was fun, and I was thinking that I like this, halfway through I was sure about rating it with 3 stars tops. Interesting stories, short ones, about the adventures of Geralt. But what got me adding one more star is the fact that after finishing the book, even though the stories are fun to read and nothing to get too excited about, they stay with you and that's a plus on my book.

On to the next one!


PS. If half of those stories I read are in the show (which I haven't watched yet) then I'll be happy! (hopefully there's a good adaptation too)

Nessa Luna

Lately, there has been a huge hype surrounding the Witcher books. Netflix made a series, there have been games and honestly, everyone’s been raving about the Witcher for the past year or so. I never played the games and I have yet to watch the series, but I did decide to pick up this book when it got the most votes for G’s Patreon book club. I loved the first couple of stories, especially when I realised they were based on fairytales I knew (Beauty and the Beast, Snow White). But halfway through the book, I started to get a little bit bored. I think it was the fourth story that made me kind of reluctant to read on and after that, I kind of just skimmed the rest of the book. I loved Dandilion as a character, but that was kind of the best thing about the latter part of the book. Not sure if I’m going to continue reading the series, but I think I will definitely check out the Netflix show!

CAWPILE: 7 | 6 | 6.5 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 (Avg: 6.50)

There were aspects that I didn't enjoy, and some of the world-building seemed unnecessary, but overall pretty good.

Sean McPherson

nienke

4 / 5 stars
Book 1 of 2022

'Evil is evil. Lesser, greater, middeling... Makes no difference. The degree is arbitrary. The definition's blurred. If I'm to choose between one evil and another... I'd rather not choose at all.'

After watching the Witcher season 1 on Netflix. I wanted to read the book quite badly (just like everyone else, gosh those books sold out fast). Only I started the first one eventually in December 2021. 

I went into this book with little to no expectations and I am happy I did. If I had expected it to just go like the Witcher on Netflix, then I was quite wrong. There are some parts that overlap, but in the book, the story goes way deeper. Loved it.

C. J. Daley 

I feel like it took me a long time to read these, when in actuality, I started the first one in January so that isn't really all that long. Some of the way I'm feeling may be based off a lapse in memory though because I read around 95 books around the reading of these so I may be hazy. 

For starters, I think Andrzej Sapkowski is a phenomenal writer. Secondly, I think David French did an absolutely wonderful job translating these to English. And thirdly, I think the Gollancz paperbacks were amazing--great cover art, nice quality--I actually managed to read them all without breaking the spines! 

Sapkowski has such a way about his writing that the dialogue in the novels can be truly captivating. He wields it so well that he has honestly created such a wonderful lush lore within his world that really carried the hundreds of pages he wrote. 

The short stories collected into The Last Wish were my favorite out of all of the stories/books. I loved the surfacing and the creation of the Witcher as a whole. Geralt of Rivia, to me, is a wonderful character. I think the addition of the overarching Melitele flashes really helped glue everything together. I think that this collection more than any other is really the basis for the games and their success. Monster hunting for life. 
Not to mention some of these stories made for incredible episodes in the Netflix adaptation.

Colleen

3 Stars

*A creative but fragmented set of stories that needed a bit more cohesion*


I've been aware of The Witcher series (books and games) for a long time, but I never felt the inclination to delve into them. They were just kind of there floating just outside my sphere of interest. When I heard they were making it into a tv series, I decided to give the book a try. However, the library waiting time was a few months, and I wasn’t interested enough to actually buy the book. So I ended up watching the series first. Usually I make a concerted effort not to do that, but I’m kind of glad I did in this case.

First off, I ran into difficulty getting an answer about where to start with the books. Because it turns out the series was not written chronologically. There are novels. There are a couple of collections of short stories. There are prequels. And as I mentioned, none of these are in order. But there is not a consensus on what order to read them. I could tell you that I selected The Last Wish after reaching some informed decision, but the truth is that after some frustrating and non-conclusive research I simply put the three most likely books on hold and read the one that came in first. Which ended up being The Last Wish.

The Last Wish is really a set of loosely connected short stories introducing Geralt of Rivia. I had mixed feelings about it. On the plus side, Sapkowski created an interesting world with memorable characters. I liked how he adapted European folklore and fairytales. The stories explore the tropes of many well-known tales but also add in lessen known creatures and legends. I do appreciate anything that ventures off the well-worn path of standard fairytale creatures. The writing also had some great moments, some humorous, some insightful. 


  “People," Geralt turned his head, "like to invent monsters and monstrosities. Then they seem less monstrous themselves. When they get blind-drunk, cheat, steal, beat their wives, starve an old woman, when they kill a trapped fox with an axe or riddle the last existing unicorn with arrows, they like to think that the Bane entering cottages at daybreak is more monstrous than they are. They feel better then. They find it easier to live.”

On the downside, the stories have a noticeable lack of cohesion. This is where I am glad I watched the show first. Because even though that also jumps around and leaves information out, the book gives you even less information. I know that if I had read this blind, I absolutely would have ended up extremely frustrated and disconnected. Even with this being a set of short stories, there still should have been more cohesion. It felt like being given several pieces of a much larger puzzle. You could see that they were part of the same whole, but none of the pieces fit together. So even though there was a lot of creativity in The Last Wish, the end result was patchy. 

Normally with translations, I would wonder how much of that was due to the translation versus the original writing. But given that this involves huge gaps in both the storytelling and worldbuilding, it seems likely that this is simply how it was written. That didn’t make it any less annoying for characters to reference people, events, and world aspects that were never explained in this book. There wasn’t even a map!

Despite being full of holes, I did enjoy most of the book. Not that random, gratuitous sex scene that the book opens with. But most of it, particularly the characters and the mythological/folklore aspects.


  “I manage because I have to. Because I've no other way out. Because I’ve overcome the vanity and pride of being different. I’ve understood that they are a pitiful defense against being different. Because I’ve understood that the sun shines differently when something changes, but I’m not the axis of those changes.”

I strongly hope that the next book (which is actually a novel instead of short stories) will show improvement. So I’m continuing on with the series – though not in any rush.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 4 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

Geralt was always going to stand out, with his white hair and piercing eyes, his cynicism and lack of respect for authority... but he is far more than his striking appearance. He is a witcher, with powers that make him a brilliant fighter and merciless assassin - and his targets are the vile fiends that ravage the land.

As guardian of the innocent, Geralt meets incestuous kings with undead daughters, vengeful djinns, shrieking harpies, lovelorn vampires and despondent ghouls. Many are pernicious, some are wicked, and none are quite as they appear.

It is good, just the time skipping backwards and forwards is a bit to hard on my head

Hilde 

Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher has become a global phenomenon, inspiring the hit Netflix series and the blockbuster video games. Now you can experience the world of the Witcher like never before with this stunning deluxe hardcover edition of The Last Wish. Featuring seven gorgeous illustrations from seven award-winning artists-one for each story in the collection of adventures-it celebrates the first chapter of the bestselling, groundbreaking "series you can sink your teeth into" (BuzzFeed News).

Illustrated Edition

It was certainly fun to recognize scenes from the show and how they interpreted it. The Law of Surprise chapter in particular was a lot of fun. However, be forewarned that this book — as is common in a lot of grimdark adult fantasy — contains a lot of misogyny & violence against women (usually not on-page, but retold by men as either a joke or a way to explain the monster haunting their town). And because of that, I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I’d hoped.

The Last Wish Introducing the Witcher

Join the club