RATING: 3.5/5
SYNOPSIS
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.
REVIEW
I picked up this book with high expectations as there will be a TV series by Netflix based on this fantasy series (which was also highly recommended by other book reviewers). To be honest, I did not like this book. I understand that this series was published in Polish and translated into English. I think the translation created some problems here as I felt that the sentences and language to be not engaging to the audience at all. This is not the only problem I feel in this book.
We followed Geralt, a witcher, who was trained to hunt monsters for a living throughout the book. This book is, as the cover reveals, an “introduction” to the witcher. In other words, an introduction to Geralt as a character as well as the world building for the main series later on. But, I think Geralt’s character fell flat to me. There is also not much world building here. I understand that the author is trying to bring out the inner conflicts that Geralt is facing but it really fell flat and so bland.
I enjoyed reading the adventures of Geralt though it was portrayed in bits and pieces. These adventures were intended to be the flashbacks of Geralt and to introduce Geralt’s acquaintances. However, there is one part of the story which I felt illogical i.e. Geralt using his last wish to make Yennefer (a sorceress) to fall in love with him (and maybe have sex with him) during their battle with the djinn? I really don’t get it.
The only reason that I moved my initial rating of maybe 2.5 or 3 star to a 3.5 star is the major cliffhanger at the last chapter of the book. Overall, I would still want to continue with this series as this book is merely an introductory book and not the main series.
Ok, so I read somewhere that book #1 is really book zero. The next book in the series is the actual book 1 and that it makes a lot more sense. I have The Last Wish in my TBR list. I’m looking forward to reading it because I play the game.
Ya they said this is like the start only and not the main series. I initially wanted to start off with the 1st book but then I read somewhere that we should start off with the Last Wish first. But I think I beg to differ. Hahaha.