The Last Wish

Title: The Last Wish

Author: Andrzej Sapkowski

Genre: Fantasy

Series: The Witcher #1

Pages: 359

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.

(from Goodreads)

My Thoughts:

So I recently got into The Witcher franchise. I recently got both The Witcher 2 and Witcher 3 Games. I have been having a blast playing the games and when I found out that it was an actual book series for this, I decided to give the first book in the Witcher Series a read!

As for the format of the book, it’s done in short stories. Which I think is a good way to introduce us to The Witcher Universe. All the stories involve our main character Geralt of Rivia having flashbacks of his recent life while he’s recovering from his injuries from a previous adventure. Geralt of Rivia is a very mysterious character. He is a Witcher, a person who goes after Monsters in exchange for money. He is shrouded in mystery as we get a vague origin story, we don’t know for sure his age or what his intentions always are. However, he is a very quiet but competent figure with some attitude. In the short stories, Geralt often goes traveling through this world, enters towns to solve problems.

The main character growth that we see with Geralt in this book is learning that things aren’t always so black and white in the situations that he encounters.

I also just love the diversity of Fantasy Creatures in this world. I love Fantasy Creatures and this story is full of them: Vampires, Dragons, Dwarves, Elves and Wizards, etc.

I find the world-building a little lacking here and leaves something to be desired. For example: the nations and the languages weren’t explained very well. I had so many questions: Can you tell me more about this nation? What’s the culture of these nations? What’s the history of these nations? How is each of these nations differ from one another? What’s the history of this language? etc.

There was this faction called the Order of the White Rose, and I still don’t know what this group is. I know it’s a group of knights, but what’s their mission or goals? What’s their structure like? How do you become a member of this order? What’s its history? One of the things I liked about the Children of the Light from the first book of The Wheel of Time is that it has a clear identity and purpose. The Order of the White Rose I know next to nothing about them except their Knights and have a very vague code.

I also just found the Magic System in the Witcher very vague. I personally feel like it’s going for a Soft Magic system. But even then I have questions. There are some complicated spells and I’m wondering: How do these complicated spells work? Where is the source of magic? How does the Magic system even work in this universe?

I also don’t like the casual misogyny that goes on in this book.

The Last Wish while it has a good story format being a compilation of short stories, good characters (Geralt, Dandelion and, Yennifer) and, decent dialogue. I think the Worldbuilding and the Magic System are lacking, and the thing is I really want to learn more about this world and its magic. I just wished they would give us just a little more information about this world and its magic. And makes me not likely to rush out to read the next book in the series. I think I’ll just stick with the games personally.

Rating:

Wow, I think this is the last book review for 2021! I look forward to posting more book reviews for 2022! See you all next time!