Reviews with content warning for Incest - The Last Wish

I feel very, very mixed about The Last Wish.

For the most part, I really enjoyed these stories. I did watch the show first, which made me want to read the books, and these stories are all in the show other than one I believe. I actually really enjoyed the short story format, and I think they were well connected and structured together. I definitely preferred the stories from the second half of the book (which I will probably explain more later.)
I enjoyed most of the characters in this book, Dandilion was one of my favourites but I also liked Calanthe. Geralt is an interesting lead.

I enjoyed the worldbuilding and magic, although I'm hoping this magic will be expanded on in later books. I found myself really enjoying these stories.

But I would be remiss if I didn't mention The Last Wish's glaring flaw (although people will probably complain that I just 'didn't get it' or am wrong, this is an OPINION): this book - especially the first half - was so blatantly sexist and 'male-gaze(y)' at times that I was left with a bad taste in my mouth. I, like an idiot, bought the whole series because I was sure I would love it and it's cheaper to buy them all at once than individually, but I felt like I was dreading reading the others if they were all going to be sexist nonsense. Now, where's the proof?

Here's a cracker from Geralt, as he monologues to a woman who has taken a vow of silence:

'I wanted this girl, sobbing with gratitude, to kiss her saviour on the hands, and her father to thank me on his knees. In reality her father fled with his attackers, and the girl, drenched in the bald man's blood, threw up, became hysterical and fainted in fear when I approached her.'

Yep. This is Geralt's first kill after leaving Kaer Morhen, after he saves a young girl from being raped. And he's disappointed that she didn't thank him for his 'kindness' and hail him like a hero. Not to mention the sexualisation of a 14 year-old in the first story, as well as so many other random women walking around with their boobs out, or completely naked for literally no reason. Not to mention the sympathising of rapists like

Nivellen

. But the Iola scene was probably the worst one to me and it made it hard for me to really sympathise or like Geralt as much as I did in the show.

The Last Wish is a book with strong female characters, Calanthe and Yennefer, for example, but it is also a book with so much random crap. However, I must say that I feel like the later stories did improve significantly, with still a bit of iffiness here and there.

I'm kind of nervous about reading the other books because I have seen such mixed reviews. Some people say Sword of Destiny gets worse, then I saw some reviews saying Blood of Elves is actually quite modern in terms of female representation. I also know that the series is meant to get considerably darker around the middle, which I'm a bit nervous about (yes I am a bit sensitive, sorry?). This is the first grimdark thing I have read really. Despite this, I am interested and do really want to carry on.

So yes, overall I'm rating this 3 stars.

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aominechichi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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mirandanoel's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.5

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theladyjess's review

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adventurous dark funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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aristata9000's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Good fight scenes, but a little degrading to women. I love the show, but was disappointed in the lack of character development in the book.

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burnt_milk's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

Fun and interesting in places. However. I got up to Renfri and I adore her but I'm so sick of how they write female characters. In-between complex discussions of monsterhood it rly has the gall to say 'Renfri was silent for some time, fiddling with a string of pearls wound three times around her shapely neck before falling teasingly between her breasts, their curves just visible through the slit of her jacket.' like what the hell? it takes me out every time and is more often than not entirely unnecessary. Apart from that some cool folklore concepts explored and I love the base concept of witchers and their roles in society, just hard to stomach the misogyny.

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iristhefae's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

5.0

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katmahalia's review

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I will be completely honest and say I didn’t follow the plot of the short stories that closely because I listened to the audiobook while playing video games, but from what I heard I really enjoyed it. The pacing did not feel too slow as it can in fantasy adventuring stories, and the action never felt disjointed or separated from the plot. And I liked the whole the-princesses-are-the-monsters twist on fairy tale plots, it was a nice nod to the fact that every fairy tale and legend has a bigger story behind it.

My only gripe: the love interests are not interesting or lovely, mostly just annoying.

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