The Last Wish: Book Review

The Witcher series on Netflix inspired me to read the books and the first book I read was The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski and translator Danusia Stok. Like most books, this one was better than the show and explained a bunch of things the show does not.

The Last Wish: Summary

First off, if you do not want any spoilers, do not read any of the books. The show starts off on a different part than the books and the narration is all over the place. With that said, let’s get into The Last Wish. The novel focuses on The Witcher Geralt traveling around towns hunting monsters and getting involved with destiny.

We see a lot of Geralt’s morals displayed and they last for the rest of the novel. Sapkowski uses Geralt to showcase humanity’s cruelty and how Geralt, a monster himself seems more human in comparison. Speaking of Geralt, he is a great protagonist because of the fact he doesn’t want to be. Witchers are supposedly without emotions and even then, he still seems more human than most humans.

The world of the Witcher series is intricate and very complicated. We see some of it in this novel but there isn’t too much of a focus here. That happens more in the next novel Blood of the Elves. For now, we see Geralt accomplish great feats that are exaggerated when retold by poets. And they are wonderful adventures indeed.

Conclusion

Sapkowski’s novel is built with a bunch of short stories about the Witcher. He knows that Geralt and the Witcher are unique and showcases them to make a point. Geralt is a hero whether or not he is treated like one. Or act like one. He does his job, gets paid for it and keeps it moving. But destiny and love has other things in store for him.

If you love fantasy novels, than I do recommend this book and the series as a whole. The show is still ongoing and has only covered what happens in this book. But you will most defiantly want to read the rest of the series. There is a lot that will have you reading all night and picking up the next book in the series!