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colio_d's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Violence
churstopher's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual content and Violence
crowcrow's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
It's fun. I liked that it was dark and gritty, I'd say it perfectly presented what living in the middle ages must've been like. Minus the ghouls, of course. I was also pleasantly surprised with how complex certain characters were. The book never tried painting anyone as pure evil or good, most were differing shades of gray, and I loved it! Depth! Something different!
There are some low brow moments, but if you can look past those I think you'll have as good as a time as I did.
There are some low brow moments, but if you can look past those I think you'll have as good as a time as I did.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Incest, Sexism, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Sexual assault
msalishajane's review against another edition
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Cursing and Sexual harassment
Minor: Sexual content
ellahoward_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This book throws you in at the deep end, immersing you in magic, mystery and monsters. It helped having context from the Netflix show, but I just loved the sarcastic one liners from Geralt. I would note that you should be aware that at some points there are references about sexual objectification of women that were uncomfortable, but overall was an interesting start to the Witcher world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Violence
Minor: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Sexual content
amelianotthepilot's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
very 'women are evil or whores' :/
i don’t get the hype
but I tried to read it with a grain of salt since it was written in the 90s, is Polish, and at least the fantasy world is fun.
collection of short stories of Geralt of Rivia the Witcher. First a story about a 'striga' who could only be cured/defeated by spending the night with her in the castle, then thee was a beauty and the beast-esque story, then a snow-white-esque demon slayer, and then a quick story about a beast who terrorized a town to trade with elves, and finally the story of Yennifer a witch who he falls in love with who asks to heal his bard friend.
i don’t get the hype
but I tried to read it with a grain of salt since it was written in the 90s, is Polish, and at least the fantasy world is fun.
collection of short stories of Geralt of Rivia the Witcher. First a story about a 'striga' who could only be cured/defeated by spending the night with her in the castle, then thee was a beauty and the beast-esque story, then a snow-white-esque demon slayer, and then a quick story about a beast who terrorized a town to trade with elves, and finally the story of Yennifer a witch who he falls in love with who asks to heal his bard friend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexism, and Violence
Geralt is violent and fights a lot of people/monsters. The book is innately misogynistic and sexist. All women are either evil or whores and even the badass ones bend to his every beck and call.lidia7's review against another edition
adventurous
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Xenophobia, and Murder
Moderate: Infertility, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Abortion
literatureleaf's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
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? It's complicated
3.5
Age: 15+
Reading time: 2 days
Difficulty level: 3/5
Overall Rating: 7/10
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski is the second novel in The Witcher series, but it serves as an excellent starting point into the world of the beloved Geralt of Rivia. Told in short story format, with hints of a longer, overarching plotline in between, this book introduces the reader to who Geralt is, what makes him tick, and the characters who will eventually come to play a much larger role in his story.
The bite-sized tales featured in this novel are entertaining, easy to follow, and manage to keep the focus on Geralt while honoring the uniqueness and differentiation of the other characters in the story. Each one feels distinctly separate from the rest but remains in keeping with the overall mood and tone of the book.
Sapkowski excels at taking the short story format and doing something larger than life within it. He maintains a masterful plot, that contains hints of mystery, romance, and an origin story, despite the appearance of a book that, at first glance, seems to be comprised of separate, contained stories that have little to do with one another, aside from the main character.
Where The Last Wish struggles is with dialogue. The conversation is often stilted and repetitive, and many of the side characters felt like carbon copies of one another because of this. Much of the dialogue gave off the impression that it was not well thought out, and that it was written because Sapkowski felt like it needed to be there, rather than for an actual literary need for conversation.
Repetition in general was an issue throughout this book. Lines of prose were repeated quite often, to the point that it made focusing on the story itself difficult. Many passages felt clunky and, much like with the dialogue, as if they were written simply to fill blank spaces on the page rather than to enhance the story. This book was originally written in Polish, so, admittedly, some of these gripes may result from things that were lost in translation.
At its core, The Last Wish is a beloved fantasy novel with cherished characters who have earned well-deserved video game and television adaptations. Packed with action, fight scenes, and fairy tale parallels, it weaves the riveting narrative of a being who is finding his place in a world where he was created to kill. Hidden within the gory battles and captivating fights are bits of perfectly timed sarcasm and dry humor, expertly penned political and class commentary, and not-so-gentle reminders that real evil can be found lurking within humanity, not monsters.
Reading time: 2 days
Difficulty level: 3/5
Overall Rating: 7/10
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski is the second novel in The Witcher series, but it serves as an excellent starting point into the world of the beloved Geralt of Rivia. Told in short story format, with hints of a longer, overarching plotline in between, this book introduces the reader to who Geralt is, what makes him tick, and the characters who will eventually come to play a much larger role in his story.
The bite-sized tales featured in this novel are entertaining, easy to follow, and manage to keep the focus on Geralt while honoring the uniqueness and differentiation of the other characters in the story. Each one feels distinctly separate from the rest but remains in keeping with the overall mood and tone of the book.
Sapkowski excels at taking the short story format and doing something larger than life within it. He maintains a masterful plot, that contains hints of mystery, romance, and an origin story, despite the appearance of a book that, at first glance, seems to be comprised of separate, contained stories that have little to do with one another, aside from the main character.
Where The Last Wish struggles is with dialogue. The conversation is often stilted and repetitive, and many of the side characters felt like carbon copies of one another because of this. Much of the dialogue gave off the impression that it was not well thought out, and that it was written because Sapkowski felt like it needed to be there, rather than for an actual literary need for conversation.
Repetition in general was an issue throughout this book. Lines of prose were repeated quite often, to the point that it made focusing on the story itself difficult. Many passages felt clunky and, much like with the dialogue, as if they were written simply to fill blank spaces on the page rather than to enhance the story. This book was originally written in Polish, so, admittedly, some of these gripes may result from things that were lost in translation.
At its core, The Last Wish is a beloved fantasy novel with cherished characters who have earned well-deserved video game and television adaptations. Packed with action, fight scenes, and fairy tale parallels, it weaves the riveting narrative of a being who is finding his place in a world where he was created to kill. Hidden within the gory battles and captivating fights are bits of perfectly timed sarcasm and dry humor, expertly penned political and class commentary, and not-so-gentle reminders that real evil can be found lurking within humanity, not monsters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Rape, Murder, Death, Sexism, Misogyny, Incest, and Cursing
Minor: Sexual content
dmathuna's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
I did enjoy I although it was in spite of the female characters being written weirdly and kinda only existing for Geralt to have sex with? There’s a random shitty comment about how a sleeping fat woman isn’t a beautiful sight??? Who looks beautiful when they sleep? No one does! It felt like there was a lot of thought and effort put into the world that Geralt lives in and I am looking forward to reading the other books, I have them bought already so.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Minor: Sexual content
jasminawithab's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
starting my very slow read through of the whole series since i don't like the show, but i love the video games and the fanfics.
the writing feels a bit disjointed at times but from what ive seen, thats because of the translator.
the writing feels a bit disjointed at times but from what ive seen, thats because of the translator.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Child death, Incest, Infertility, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content
Minor: Abandonment, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Ableism