“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.” ― Andrzej Sapkowski, The Last Wish I’m going to preface this review by saying that I may be slightly biased in my judgement of this book. I’m 80 hours into the Witcher 3 and have binged the show twice now. But I’m going to be as fair as I possibly can be while still being a Dandelion fangirl. The Last Wish is widely accepted as the first book in The Witcher series, despite a name that might suggest otherwise. It is a collection of short stories that follows our protagonist, Geralt of Rivia, on his adventures throughout the Northern Kingdoms. Geralt is a Witcher, which is essentially a monster hunter who has mutated themselves to better survive in their line of work. He travels all over helping people solve their struggles- as long as coin is involved. Each story focuses on a different event in Geralt’s adventures and introducing the friends and allies he has met along the way. I think it is a fantastic way to introduce the series and give the reader a feel for this world without overloading them with an info dump. ~Pros~ ☠ The characters are beautifully written and full of life. All of the main characters just leapt off the page for me, especially Dandelion. His charm and wit made some of the slower bits a lot more bearable. ☠ Most of the stories are twisted retellings of famous fairy tales and folklore. Usually I can nitpick the hell out of a retelling but I absolutely adored these. They were well written and kept just enough of the elements from the original story to make them recognizable. I think the author is an awesome job of working these famous stories into the world and magic system that he created. ☠ The author really makes you feel for the decisions that Geralt has to make. The world sees him as just an emotionless warrior who’s only goal in life is gathering coin, but the readers see how hard he is struggling to maintain his morality. The Renfri story is a wonderful representation of how actions he sees as moral can have dire consequences. ~Cons~ ☠ The language the Sylvans and Elves spoke with drove me up a wall. I should be used to odd word placement and dialects being a fan of Fae books but I just found this one hard to read. ☠ I’m not sure it says anywhere on the book that it is a collection of short stories. That could be a problem for some readers who are going in blind. ☠ The world and magic systems could have been fleshed out just a little more. I had no problems having been introduced to the series in other ways but for a someone coming in with no knowledge of the series, it may get a little confusing. Like, in one passage in passing it mentions that Geralt is sterile but then it is never brought up again or explained. This is me just nitpicking small things though. All in all, this was a fantastic entry to the world of The Witcher and I cant wait to start the second book of shorts. |
Lee's Literary Loves and Losses 