We need to talk about The Witcher: The Last Wish book (Chatty book review)

Today I'm chatting about The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski. What are your thoughts on it?
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The Last Wish (Polish: Ostatnie życzenie) is the third published short story collection in Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher series. Published by SuperNowa in 1993, it was preceded by 1992's Sword of Destiny, but is officially considered the first entry in the series and Sword of Destiny the second. The collection contains seven short stories interspersed with a continuing frame story: Geralt of Rivia, after having been injured in battle, rests in a temple. During that time he has flashbacks to recent events in his life, with each flashback forming a short story.

The Last Wish was first published in English on 7 June 2007 by Gollancz, and has also been translated into several other languages. In 2003, it won the Premio Ignotus for Best Anthology.

[andrzejpienczykowski]

Dandelion is not really a translation of the name but an editorial choice for the English name for the bard's character. In Polish the name is Jaskier which for Polish speakers rings bells of being bright both visually and intellectually. Unfortunately, it translates to buttercup in English which evokes entirely different associations for English speakers.

[QuinlanLJ]

I know I'm late to the party, but the books give no spoilers to the games. It should only enhance the experience. I read the books prior to playing the Witcher 3 and it was one of the best reading/playing experiences of my life, especially since knowing the relationship between Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer. That's why I was in no shape or form interested in Triss (her terrible VO helped a lot as well).

Anyway, The Last Wish is one if my favourite books. The short stories made me feel like reading video game quests and The Last Wish in particular made me realize how Geralt is actually bound to Yennefer (and vice versa). I absolutely love it.

[Enoxix.]

I was looking at the books and I might just buy the complete set of 8 books. Bit expensive, but I think it's worth it!

[Wiedzminjohnny]

Good evening, Liddles, it's great that you read Andrzej Sapkowski's books. Have fun with the stories

[twotheabyss]

Yeah a lot of fairy tales and nursery rhymes were made up as ways to comfort and help children cope with traumatic events

[bobbuilder]

Ik its probably not on purpose but those black flashes might just trigger an epilepsy attack for some people

[juliusxCesar]

My order of experience with the witcher is first and second game, The last wish, Witcher 3, and then the rest of the books.

In my opinion there is no wrong way, or order of experiencing ( like books first or games first or whatever). To me every time a character came up in the book, it felt like seeing them in a new light.

Like "Hey I read about you in this chapter in the book and now we are going on a quest together" or "We just did this whole quest line in the game together and now I get to read some background on your personality and why you did the things you did" both directions worked out positively, at least to me.

Tl;dr just have fun with the series, there is no wrong way.

[arttuluttinen]

I started with the game (Witcher 3), went to the books, and then the show. I think the early books (particularly the two short story collections) are excellent, but the five novels that follow aren't at that standard. The show was, other than Henry Cavill, awful, but your mileage may vary. In terms of how the books & the game experience, just keep in mind that there are differences between book-Geralt and game-Geralt (& all the other characters), even if CDPR sticks to the spirit of most of them. Generally I like the game-iterations more (particularly for Yennefer and Ciri), but reactions vary considerably in the fandom.

[LandoSully]

Disney really Disneyfied the stories too. Fairytales are DARK lol.

Congratulations! You are starting with a very enjoyable voyage by reading Sapkowski master piece. As you progress, the short stories will become chapters and the storyline will focus on the main characters. Enjoy yourself!

[thomasfranz]

Have fun with the books! And if you worry about spoilers, if anything, Witcher 3 already spoiled some major things and surprises from the books. I am one of the few people who read the books before playing the games (I haven't seen the show after only hearing terrible things about it and seeing a few trailers which seemed to reinforce that), and I couldn't imagine doing it the other way around, but most people do that and they seem to be fine. The short stories are all just Sapkowski's interpretations of classical fairy tales, and I agree, sometimes they're just really funny.

I do think however, that the short stories are the best part of the books. While I still liked the later novels, they're not bad or anything, I just felt they couldn't completely keep up with the short story format; with the earlier ones still being on a similar level and the last two books being my least favourite (still a good read though). The prequel is also great though! And about the characters, most characters from the short stories you don't really need to remember, they will not play major roles later on, with the exceptions of Dandelion and Yennefer (and Mother Nenneke I guess). The dialogue is always the strongest part of these books, I really enjoy any conversations in the books.

Anyway, I wish you all the best and enjoy your reading!

[PLAYERUNOWNED]

Top tier!! defo a great read and into if it's the first thing you get into! smashing it @liddles !

[Shadow_Child_Of_Nox_]

The Witcher books are so good. Yesterday I finished the last one and soon I'm going to play Witcher 3. I'm so excited, bc the books are so amazing ✨

[voldren]

to be honest, i never understood why Jaskier's name was translated to Dandelion in english version of books/games, i think tv show kept his original "polish" name
i mean, is his name so hard to pronounce for native English speakers (it would go something like "Yaskyer", and Polish word for it means a type of flower, it's called buttercup in english i think)? i've read the books really long time ago, but i don't remember, if the fact, he has a name after some flower is even important for his character at all

[jeffreymjanik]

Your trepidation on getting into long fantasy is understandable, however unwarranted. All the greatest fantasy books don't fizzle out like their TV show counterparts.

[KoffinTV]

Yoooo love the books. Good luck on the journey and it is a good idea to do them both along side each other. They enhance each other for sure