Scan barcode
padme's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This book was a complicated one to review because I love TW3 and I've really enjoyed the Witcher on Netflix, despite its flaws. So many people have told me to check out the books, but I've always hesitated because I've also heard that the depictions of women in the books.... aren't great.
So I went in knowing what to expect. And I've got to admit, it was mostly a fun read! I liked getting more insights into Geralt and the other characters, and reading the original source material was really entertaining. But, unfortunately, the other side of it was also true. The female characters were not very well handled, which hampered my enjoyment as a female reader. I can see why guys (and plenty of girls) can read this series without any issue, but it took me aback after reading a lot of female-written fantasy novels over the past few years. There are sections of this book that are serious contenders for "she breasted boobily down the stairs" awards, not to mention the amount of unnecessary violence against women. Rape is mentioned in nearly every single one of the short stories, and that takes its toll on me mentally.
I have a lot more to say about each of the stories individually, but I think I'll leave it at this for now.
So I went in knowing what to expect. And I've got to admit, it was mostly a fun read! I liked getting more insights into Geralt and the other characters, and reading the original source material was really entertaining. But, unfortunately, the other side of it was also true. The female characters were not very well handled, which hampered my enjoyment as a female reader. I can see why guys (and plenty of girls) can read this series without any issue, but it took me aback after reading a lot of female-written fantasy novels over the past few years. There are sections of this book that are serious contenders for "she breasted boobily down the stairs" awards, not to mention the amount of unnecessary violence against women. Rape is mentioned in nearly every single one of the short stories, and that takes its toll on me mentally.
I have a lot more to say about each of the stories individually, but I think I'll leave it at this for now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence
Moderate: Incest, Sexism, and Rape
pvbobrien's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Misogyny
Moderate: Sexual content, Rape, Body horror, and Sexism
Minor: Infertility, Incest, and Injury/Injury detail
nichole_of_numenor's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
This is my second reading of this book and I like it SO MUCH MORE, espeically now that I know more about Geralt/Yennifer and Geralt/Dandelion. I took a quarter of a star off because I think some of the sentences were a little awkward, but that might be a translation issue. Hard to know since I don't speak or read Polish!
I'm a huge fan of the format of this book: short stories with interludes rooted in Geralt's stay at the Temple of Melitele, where is he is recovering from an injury that would have been lethal to anyone but a witcher.
This is a fantastic introduction to the world of Geralt: why and how he carries his two swords, what the swords are for, the societal conditions and introduction to the politics of the world, the varying degrees of magic present, and so much more!
I'm sure I'll read it again!
I'm a huge fan of the format of this book: short stories with interludes rooted in Geralt's stay at the Temple of Melitele, where is he is recovering from an injury that would have been lethal to anyone but a witcher.
This is a fantastic introduction to the world of Geralt: why and how he carries his two swords, what the swords are for, the societal conditions and introduction to the politics of the world, the varying degrees of magic present, and so much more!
I'm sure I'll read it again!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Incest and Racism
Minor: Infertility
lucecanon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
1.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Blood, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Incest and Torture
belladonnashrike's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
4.25
“yennefer…yen.”
“yen,” she repeated, giving in to him completely. “nobody’s ever called me that. say it again.”
“yen.”
“geralt.”
GOD.
“yen,” she repeated, giving in to him completely. “nobody’s ever called me that. say it again.”
“yen.”
“geralt.”
GOD.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, and Sexual content
Minor: Incest, Infertility, Rape, Vomit, and War
emilywasbored's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Misogyny
Moderate: Gore
Minor: Incest
words_and_dreams's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Really enjoyed this. I'd only ever seen the show so was excited to try the source material.
This is a collection of shorter stories with an overarching story. Its grim and dark but threaded with veins of hope.
It feels new and familiar with fairytales we know turned on their head. Geralt is a stoic character but we learn alot about him from his actions. Looking forward to reading more in the series.
This is a collection of shorter stories with an overarching story. Its grim and dark but threaded with veins of hope.
It feels new and familiar with fairytales we know turned on their head. Geralt is a stoic character but we learn alot about him from his actions. Looking forward to reading more in the series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Incest and Sexual assault
bluejayreads's review
3.0
This was a weird reading experience because I'm already fairly familiar with the Witcher settings, concepts, and characters from the video games (I've never played them myself, but I've watched my husband play through The Witcher III twice). I think if I didn't have that context, it would have been a lot harder to follow this book. (Although to be fair, a large part of that is audio is not a good format to read this and the audiobook narrator was not the greatest.) The internet recommended I read this short story collection before jumping into the first novel because chronologically they're set before the novels, but they seem to be written for people who already at least a little bit understand what's going on. I'm still going to give the first book a shot, but I'm not sure The Last Wish is really the best place to jump into the Witcher books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual content, Blood, and Sexism
Minor: Body horror and Incest
bookishchef's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
2.0
So, I just finished the Dutch version of The Last Wish audiobook: the first book in the Witcher series.
Was it badly written?
Yeah. It mostly consists of dialogue. And pretty weird, clunky dialogue at that.
Was the romance incredibly rushed?
Yeah. Kind of suddenly happened. One moment they're fighting, next moment they're fucking.
Was it incredibly sexist?
YEAH
I read that infamous 'her nipples touched his eyelids' scene a few years ago, and Oh My God that set the bar so incredibly low. And yeah it's bad. It's a terribly written scene, and most women (although not all), including the main love interest Yennefer, were just there to be a pair of tits. A feisty pair of tits sometimes, but a pair of tits nonetheless. This single book has more descriptions of breasts than the entirety of A Song Of Ice And Fire.
Yet it still wasn't as bad as I expected. And I guess that's something. I definitely enjoyed some scenes and some of the jokes.
The Dutch audiobook did change some names and words into Dutch 'equivalents' that aren't really equivalent at all. This made the book feel even clunkier than usual, I think. Using 'neuk' instead of every 'fuck' doesn't really work in the Dutch language anymore, even if that is the literal translation.
For some reason they changed Dandelion's name into 'Ranonkel', which means Persian Buttercup, not Dandelion. Ranonkel is a godawful name. Why oh why did the translator do this?
Later translators hated their colleague's decision too apparently, because later in the series his name gets changed into 'Ridderspoor', which means Larkspur and is a little better (still a shit name though).
Jelle Amersfoort acted as the VA for the Dutch version of the audiobook. He read every male character with the same intonation though, and he would often cut off his sentences in weird places, as if he ran out of breath. This sometimes made it hard to distinguish between characters. I wouldn't realize Geralt had said something, instead of some other character, until a sentence ended with 'Geralt said'. Still, this was the first Dutch audiobook I ever read to the end. Usually, the VA is incredibly cringe (which might just be due the Dutch language itself), but I actually managed to listen to Jelle. So kudos to him.
2/5
Was it badly written?
Yeah. It mostly consists of dialogue. And pretty weird, clunky dialogue at that.
Was the romance incredibly rushed?
Yeah. Kind of suddenly happened.
Was it incredibly sexist?
YEAH
I read that infamous 'her nipples touched his eyelids' scene a few years ago, and Oh My God that set the bar so incredibly low. And yeah it's bad. It's a terribly written scene, and most women (although not all), including the main love interest Yennefer, were just there to be a pair of tits. A feisty pair of tits sometimes, but a pair of tits nonetheless. This single book has more descriptions of breasts than the entirety of A Song Of Ice And Fire.
Yet it still wasn't as bad as I expected. And I guess that's something. I definitely enjoyed some scenes and some of the jokes.
The Dutch audiobook did change some names and words into Dutch 'equivalents' that aren't really equivalent at all. This made the book feel even clunkier than usual, I think. Using 'neuk' instead of every 'fuck' doesn't really work in the Dutch language anymore, even if that is the literal translation.
For some reason they changed Dandelion's name into 'Ranonkel', which means Persian Buttercup, not Dandelion. Ranonkel is a godawful name. Why oh why did the translator do this?
Later translators hated their colleague's decision too apparently, because later in the series his name gets changed into 'Ridderspoor', which means Larkspur and is a little better (still a shit name though).
Jelle Amersfoort acted as the VA for the Dutch version of the audiobook. He read every male character with the same intonation though, and he would often cut off his sentences in weird places, as if he ran out of breath. This sometimes made it hard to distinguish between characters. I wouldn't realize Geralt had said something, instead of some other character, until a sentence ended with 'Geralt said'. Still, this was the first Dutch audiobook I ever read to the end. Usually, the VA is incredibly cringe (which might just be due the Dutch language itself), but I actually managed to listen to Jelle. So kudos to him.
2/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Ableism, Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Misogyny, Alcohol, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, and Fire/Fire injury
road24's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, and Violence
Minor: Incest