Review: The Last Wish (The Witcher #0.5) by Andrzej Sapkowski

Title: The Last Wish

Series: The Witcher #0.5
Author: Andrzej Sapkowski
Publisher: Orbit
Published: January 31, 1993
Pages: 360
Genres: Fantasy
Source: Ebook

Geralt of Rivia is a witcher. A cunning sorcerer. A merciless assassin. And a cold-blooded killer. 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.

A collection of short stories introducing Geralt of Rivia, to be followed by the first novel in the actual series, The Blood of Elves. Note that, while The Last Wish was published after The Sword of Destiny, the stories contained in The Last Wish take place first chronologically, and many of the individual stories were published before The Sword of Destiny.

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MY REVIEW

This book really surprised me in such a positive way. I honestly didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. I was a little leery to start this book at first because I didn't know how well the translation from its original Polish would fare. It turns out that my apprehensions were unfounded because I absolutely fell right into this story.

Once I started reading this it was hard to stop. I found myself flying through the pages not even noticing the time slipping by. I really enjoyed the storytelling. The flow was just perfect and I really loved the writing style. It was very fluid and comfortable. I felt like I could read these stories forever.

This book is a collection of short stories that take place prior to the first main book of this series. In these stories, the reader really gets to know the main character, Geralt. I really loved the way that his character was portrayed and I loved the growth of his character throughout the pages of these stories. I also really enjoyed the recurring side characters that graced the pages as well. They really added something special to the stories. 

The stories themselves were delightful. I am honestly not a short story person generally. I much prefer full novels and even series because I love the depth that they provide the story and characters. The stories contained in this book may be short but they still convey so much about the characters. I also noticed that many of the stories mention or reimagine popular fairytales. I thought that this was quite clever and I loved seeing the touches they left upon the stories. Each individual story added so much to the overall world-building.

The world-building was magnificent. I was mesmerized by everything. The creatures and monsters mentioned or featured in the stories, the history and mythology, and even all of the small tidbits gained from the dialogues and story. The author really builds such an elaborate picture in the reader's mind. 

Overall, this was a very thrilling and satisfying collection of stories that really set the tone for the Witcher series. The premise is very creative and this is a world that you will want to devour. I am very much looking forward to the next Witcher book and I highly recommend this one!

THIS BOOK CONTRIBUTED TO THESE 2020 READING CHALLENGES

- Beat the Backlist Challenge

Check out my 2020 Challenge Page to see my progress!

This is a book that obliterated my expectations. What was the last book that surprised you?